An exotic animal convention is kind of like a flea market when it comes to the crowd.
Everyone thinks of the 35-year-old men with ponytails carrying around seven-foot boa constrictors but forget about the families buying a pet tortoise for the first time. It's a diverse crowd, and this year’s Repticon brought out a bit of everyone.
Repticon, a national reptile and exotic animal expo that makes stops through 23 different states, set up shop at Jamil Temple in Columbia last weekend. Repticon brings together a wide range of animal experts and breeders, while simultaneously serving as a platform to buy, sell and trade animals, supplies, merchandise and more.
It’s predominately reptiles, but plenty of animals were on display for onlookers: anything from paperclip sized chameleon hatchlings to 100 pound snapping turtles to European-imported tarantulas to sugar-gliders on leashes and everything in between. And the attendees were just as diverse as their creatures.
With over 60 vendors booked over the course of two days, every person at Repticon had a story to tell.
After 10 years, Richard Roman of R2Exotics is familiar with the ins and outs of the reptile business — his key to staying afloat is keeping a wide variety. Over the years, his sales have ranged from $200 to $50,000 — the prices ebb and flow, but breeders like him roll with the times.
“We try to be diversified,” Roman said. “Because when the ball python market is bad like it is right now, the bearded dragon or the spider market is better.”
A life in the reptile business isn’t for everyone, but those who get into it stay put. Roman said couldn’t do it without his family, who also happen to be his employees, but having a deep love for what he does drives his business.
“[This business] is different,” he said. “It changes every day. It’s not like a nine-to-five job — I’m up at 7 a.m. taking care of animals, and I’m answering emails and phone calls at midnight.”
And Roman isn’t the only one to work side-by-side with his family — in fact, several vendors were married to their business partners or had their children talking with customers and handling the reptiles.
Sue Dale, co-founder of T&S Xotiks with her husband, has been in the exotic animal industry for 30 years now, and it’s become their way life. Aside from selling a wide variety of snakes and other reptiles, they sell so many rats that it wasn’t possible to keep them in the house.
“We built a garage behind our building that’s actually longer than my house that is especially for our reptiles and our rats,” Dale said.
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It’s clear they have a passion for reptiles, but they can’t keep them all. So they go where the potential buyers go — conventions. It’s not unusual for vendors and enthusiasts alike to drive from states away to attend Repticon or something similar.
“I have a ball going to these [conventions]. It’s a lot of fun,” she said. ”Sales have been great; we’ve sold almost everything on the table.”
Exotic animal enthusiasts can’t be nailed down to one specific demographic and that's what turned a lifestyle into a community.
Most vendors last weekend knew one another — exotic animal breeders have co-dependent relationships that keep businesses from being shutdown by corporate pet stores.
Nearly every attendee of Repticon was an animal expert, from those scanning the booths to the people working them.
Shannon Carlton kept reptiles as pets most of her adult life but got off the wagon once her kids moved out. Now her daughter is back at home, and they’re back to sheltering 12 reptiles, and she brought a leopard tortoise hatchling home from Repticon to add to the family.
Exotic pets can be expensive, high maintenance and even dangerous. It’s a lifestyle, and lifestyles aren’t easy to give up.
“Some people are dog people, some people are cat people,” Carlton said. “They put all that effort into their dogs and cats, so I guess if you’re a reptile person, you don’t really mind putting the effort in.”