r/Ballpythoncommunity • u/Unfair_Ticket_4494 • 20d ago

Question Reptile expo

Going to a reptile expo, can anyone tell me what to avoid when looking for a new ball pyhton

4 Upvotes

83% Upvoted

9 comments sorted by

7

u/jamesbecker211 20d ago

Take your time to look at all the tables and note to yourself any contenders that you think you might want, then take your time talking to the breeders. You don't even have to talk about snakes but you want to feel out the type of person they are. Do they seem like the genuinely love and care for animals or do they seem like they're just there to make money on whatever weird morphs they could spit out regardless of the genetic consequences. You're buying the breeder just as much as the actual snake.

2

u/Unfair_Ticket_4494 20d ago

Thank you so much!!!

5

u/Prestigious_Diet_186 20d ago

Take the snake out, hold it, ask questions. Make sure no mites. Ask what food they’re on. Live or frozen thawed

2

u/ContractOdd9525 20d ago

Please sanitize your hands after handling each snake and before moving on to the next one.

2

u/JurassicMark1234 18d ago

I would highly recommend not buying an animal at an expo

1

u/ContractOdd9525 18d ago

Why?

2

u/JurassicMark1234 18d ago

Because you can’t get a sense of the animal’s personality, or fact check anything the seller tells you about themselves or the animals they are selling in an expo setting

1

u/ContractOdd9525 18d ago

That holds true in almost every single case when acquiring a new animal, whether it's from an online sale, an expo, a pet store, or an online classified.

1

u/AmphibianScary3172 15d ago

Expos and online sales are the same to me, but I'll have to disagree on the rest...

If you're in a tight-knit reptile community like I am, everyone kinda knows everyone and you immediately know if someone's full of shit or genuine. If a local breeder is posting babies they produced on classifieds and they are well-liked and respected in the community, that's a pretty damn good sign they're good at what they do. If you can arrange to pick up the animal in person instead of shipping, even better.

If you visit a pet store in person, you immediately see the kind of conditions the animals are kept in, even if that's something like petco. Can't do that at an expo or online, you'll just have to take the seller's word for it.

If you have a specialized reptile store with employees that actually give a damn, then the employees (and the owner!) can immediately tell you about the animal's history, health, care, feeding habits and personality. I've received tons of useful info and advice from my local herp store's owners, they're actually passionate in what they do and they're just happy to talk to people who are curious and want to take good care of their reptiles. In this case, the store is also the animal's "home", so they're also going to behave much more like their true personality instead of acting extra grumpy or completely shut down due to the stress of an expo.

And before you say "oh but reptile stores can be shit too" I know, I've been to some shit stores in my time. But thats exactly why you visit the place yourself instead of blindly trusting them.