At the Reptile Expo

Reptile Expo Floor

Before leaving work on Friday, I mentioned to my boss that Allen and I were going to be selling herp chotchkas at a reptile expo on Sunday.

My boss, a non-herper, looked bemused. What is a reptile expo? she said.

To answer the question:

It’s a convention hall (in this instance the White Plains County Center) where aisle upon aisle of snakes, lizards, frogs and turtles (as well as spiders, hissing cockroaches, and miscellaneous other animals) are sold for sums ranging from $10 to $10,000.

Most of said animals are displayed in plastic takeout containers or cages, like these snakes.

snakes under glass

Iguanas are kept in wire mesh cages.

Iguana up for adoption

Chameleons are also usually displayed in cages. But sometimes, they're allowed to hang out on a tree branch.

Just hanging around

Bearded dragons, that neither slither nor leap, are shown off for sale in oversized Tupperware tubs and fish tanks.

Juvenile bearded dragons basking

Large beardies happily ride around on an arm, shoulder or other part of the anatomy -- before and after purchase.

John from the Long Island Herp Society

Unconventional traveller

Geckos come in takeout containers.

Not our natural habitat

You'll find frogs in fish tanks.

Dart frogs

Turtles in tanks and tubs.

Red eared sliders

Then there's all the paraphernalia necessary to feed -

Snake food

Packaged food

House -

Critter cages

And maintain your herp collection:

Mostly, I just enjoy looking at the people and the herps.

Turtles on Vacation

Over many years of being married to a turtle lover – my husband Allen – I’ve learned that there are, strictly speaking, only two types of vacations:

1. Those undertaken for the express purpose of seeing turtles
2. Those undertaken for simple rest and relaxation – along with the hope that one will see some turtles along the way.

Last week, we vacationed in Connecticut and Rhode Island – a rest and relaxation vacation. Nevertheless, there were turtle sightings, to wit:

We spied Eastern painted turtles at Mystic Aquarium’s wetlands pond.

At Marble House (below), a Gilded Age mansion in Newport, RI (now a museum), we took a self-guided tour. When we arrived in the kitchen, the narrator on the tape mimicked the sound of chopping off a terrapin head in preparation for cooking. (I guess this was a turtle “sounding” rather than a “sighting.”) Across the room, in a glass-fronted cabinet, was a turtle mold, made of what looked like pewter. Not sure what might have been cooked in the mold. Wasn't allowed to take photos in the house, so no picture of said mold.

And in Connecticut, at a Feast of Green Corn, known as Schemitzun, presented by the Mashantucket Pequot Tribal Nation, we saw rattles, medicine pouches and dream catchers made by tribal artisans from turtle shells and other materials.

Turtle Pond Envy

I have a bad case of turtle pond envy.

Each time Allen and I visit friends who have a) a backyard, and b) a backyard turtle pond, we find ourselves, apartment dwellers that we are, wishing for a little bit more real estate for our turtles.

This weekend, we visited turtle friends who are blessed with both a backyard and a turtle pond/s.

Who wouldn't be envious?




Last year, we visited other turtle friends with a similarly
resplendent outdoor people-and-turtle set up.





Sigh!