Any reptile show advice?

[jjhill001]

Also, this being your first show I'm gonna give you a run down of some expectations.

The Cleveland show in particular has mostly CB animals, there is really only one regular vendor that comes to mind that has what I would call "likely" WC animals and almost none of those are snakes so you probably won't have to worry about them.

You'll find that the hobby is much more diverse than stereotypically presented in the media. You'll find people of all ages, races, blue collar people, white collar people, men and women. This is really awesome because it shows that despite the sort of dip in reptile pet popularity, tons of people from all walks of life just love reptiles.

Some characters that are at every show:

The terrified mother being dragged around by her children, she's there to get them a leopard gecko and cringes at everything.

The guy who never showers, I don't know what makes this guy think that his snakes who have one of the best senses of smell in the animal kingdom can't tell that he's dirty.

The overly talkative/hard selling breeder, there is always at least one breeder that will try and talk your ear off about nothing or REALLY try and get you to buy an animal. Some of them can be pretty convincing but just stick to your guns about what you want or at least what kind of setup you have available at home and don't buy something out of impulse.

Guy walking around with a boa or python around his neck. This guy will be there if it was 10 degrees outside, 150 degrees, he doesn't care. His snake usually looks like crap and I don't blame it. Don't say anything to the guy because they are almost always insufferable and clearly don't care about the people around them.

The unnecessary advice person in the crowd, you've bought a new pet and you're carrying it around in its little deli dish. Someone sees it and automatically assumes that they need to tell you how to care for it despite it being obvious that you are just checking out the last few tables and trying to leave. This person will also tell someone who's been breeding their snakes for 10 years how to care for them.

The person who will just stop randomly, the building isn't that big so there isn't much room so expect to stand around a bit. This person will also have a full conversation with the breeder right in front of the majority of the animals you want to see. It's best to just move on and do two laps to make sure you see everything.

Breeder who you will ask a question to and then just walk off. I had asked a question about the price of some Western Banded Geckos that I fully intended to buy if they weren't ridiculous and the lady said let me check and just never came back after like 5-10 minutes of standing there.

Anyways I hope you have some expectations and you have a great time at the show.