Opinions on tarantula/inverts show

[Matt Man]

It's interesting to read about the experiences at Repticon. Ours was so tame in comparison. Not crowded, well-behaved kids (and not many of them), and the one seller of tarantulas was a dedicated local invert breeder. I was generally impressed with her tarantula enclosures, which were minimal but allowed hiding places for the spiders. She brought them hungry and fed them to get them to come out so we could see them. We ended up buying 4 and getting a freebie plus some springtails. All were super healthy and are thriving.

Also great prices on substrate and enclosures there compared to big box & online stores. I wish I'd stocked up on more.

Hearing about other experiences, I guess we won't be travelling to the bigger ones further away -- although I was tempted because there might be more variety elsewhere.

The Repticons out East are much better than their West Coast editions. These have the smallest attendance and a greater % of looks-loos versus buyers

 

[jc55]

Out west the invert dealer number is steadily increasing. It used to be 4 per 5 a show, last show there was around 8 or 9.
Also: the shows out west are so much better lots of East Coast Dealers drive cross country to sell here. @ Reptile Nation Pomona there were snake sellers from Atlanta. @ Anaheim, the line to get in Saturday AM looks like a rock concert of a popular band

That is how it was years ago when i was in Florida and attending the Repticon shows and one of the reasons i liked them.There were dealers from all across the US and it gave an opportunity to meet the faces behind the names and provided a well balanced variety of both inverts and reptiles at reasonable prices.Texas had a few local shows that were good but much smaller venues and no consistency to who would be there.