Reptile Show, San Diego Ca, 2011

[BadCon]

I went today...some interesting stuff. Having been able to get a look at a couple silkbacks, I can firmly say its the most disgusting thing I've ever seen done to a bearded dragon. There was an adult on display that had terrible retained shed and a couple skin wounds from obvious encounters with other dragons. Granted...many of the issues this poor dragon had were the direct result of poor husbandry, however lacking scales left it open to an assortment of issues that a normal dragon just wouldn't have. I just don't see the appeal to this morph...I can honestly say that if they weren't a byproduct of leatherback breeding they wouldn't be on the market at all.
Anyways, overall it was fun. Was a little underwhelmed with the size...I expected it to be bigger. I was a bit surprised there weren't any feeder vendors selling various worms...I was hoping to pick up some hornworms or silk worms. Considering Mulberry Farms is about an hour away, I was surprised they didn't get a booth. I also didn't find any tegu's...which was sorta disappointing. I don't know if Sat had more or different vendors...I only went today.
It was interesting to see all the herp enthusiasts, and people were having a good time. There were also some nice breeders there with excellent looking animals and setups. The Sandfire Ranch booth had some amazingly colored beardies....was very impressed.

 

[ocrage]

yeah that silkback orange beardie i can honestly say was the first time i thought a beardie was actually ugly, and i felt bad for it. like the person above said, had shed on it, nipped tail, just didnt look happy and the babies they were selling were tiny. i dont know how you missed the feeders though, i got 1000 mealworms for $10, 50 waxworms for $2 and i saw horn/goliath worms as well. not to mention the two stands with huge ice chests full of frozen mice/rats. i also got myself a pacman frog and a new repti-sun bulb.

 

[CRILUND]

yeah that silkback orange beardie i can honestly say was the first time i thought a beardie was actually ugly, and i felt bad for it. like the person above said, had shed on it, nipped tail, just didnt look happy and the babies they were selling were tiny. i dont know how you missed the feeders though, i got 1000 mealworms for $10, 50 waxworms for $2 and i saw horn/goliath worms as well. not to mention the two stands with huge ice chests full of frozen mice/rats. i also got myself a pacman frog and a new repti-sun bulb.

Nice on the pacman. I picked an albino myself, you should head over to frogforum.net

 

[BadCon]

i got 1000 mealworms for $10, 50 waxworms for $2 and i saw horn/goliath worms as well. not to mention the two stands with huge ice chests full of frozen mice/rats.

I saw all the feeders you listed except the horns. Didn't see any hornworms, and I walked the place twice. With the crowds though, it is possible I simply missed them. If you bought some, then they must have been there . I would have really liked to buy some.

 

[GeckoGarden]

i got 1000 mealworms for $10, 50 waxworms for $2 and i saw horn/goliath worms as well. not to mention the two stands with huge ice chests full of frozen mice/rats.

I saw all the feeders you listed except the horns. Didn't see any hornworms, and I walked the place twice. With the crowds though, it is possible I simply missed them. If you bought some, then they must have been there . I would have really liked to buy some.

There where two stalls with the horn worms, granted they where chamelon stalls..

And the silk back..

The one with half the tail missing..

Yeah sad sad

I was annoyed that there where so many silk backs for sale.. I don't think half the people there understood what it takes to care for a silk back.


It was small.. Heck the show in Sacramento last year was bigger.. and it was not the "Worlds Largest Reptile Show"

I was very sad to see that it was mainly silk backs for the bearded dragons, I was looking to get my hands on some extreme reds, no such luck, Leopard gecko wise.. ffffffff all the same colors.. Not one enigma or raptor that I saw.. Mostly tangerine and snows.

I did get my hands on a patternless and a leusitic though, I was happy.. Sadly I didnt see any that really stood out..

I was so mad to see the albino bull frogs.. Not only are they illegal to let into the wild if you get bored of them witch happens all the time.. They pray on endangered species and even baby ducks, its sad that people want to keep them as pets.. Why not go for something nicer like a pac man..

Okay I'm done with my ranting

 

[TASTIGER]

the orange silkie also had mbd his toes were all weird and his lips were parted at the front... :roll:

 

[GeckoGarden]

the orange silkie also had mbd his toes were all weird and his lips were parted at the front... :roll:

he had sand in his mouth too

 

[TASTIGER]

ewww i hate having sand in my mouth poor guy must be really uncomfortable

 

[tempusfugit]

Yup, show was pretty much terrible. Phantom and Sandfire had some pretty dragons, but like someone else mentioned, not a screaming red one at the entire show.

Every adult for sale was underweight or dehydrated. The firehouse breeder had a tupperware of collared lizards in the middle of their beardies(which were underwhelming at best) and they collareds were flipping out because of it. Someone like 25 feet from Sandfire Dragon Ranch was selling what looked like normal dragons as sandfire.

Oh, and do blue tongue skinks like being cramped in a container so small they are almost choking on their tails?

No, it wasn't anywhere near the biggest reptile show in the world. I've been to two that were bigger just in California. It was overbooked and oversold, really poor layout - did anyone else notice the entrance was 20x as packed as the back?

I haven't seen anyone mention Phantom's paradox.. that thing was a trip..

 

[BadCon]

The paradox was neat...but not $5000 dollars neat lol. It was a silkback too, which just adds to the I'm not interested factor.

 

[GeckoGarden]

If anyone has seen my hatchlings you can see how big they where..

Now if you looked at some of the hatchlings at the show..

They where as small as the one that hatched way to early and didnt make it, heck maybe even smaller..


I dont get it at all..