groovygeckos
GroovyGeckos.com
lets see how many people we can come up with on this ? maybe it will happen !!!! tired of the "dirty" one that is held here in illinois !!!


Lee Watson said:Dan:
You have come with a good idea. I would support such a show. My show in Streamwood, IL, has over 50 vendors at each show (2 times a month), and there are 6 vendors selling wild-caught or imported reptiles. This is atrocious! We should hang them! (I was going to say castrate them, but two are female.)
Ophis mentioned the mud. At each show we do our best to have mud available to test the customers, thereby assuring that anyone buying an animal will feed it and not be afraid to touch it. (A person who won't step in mud probably won't touch crickets or mice.)
You're probably right about the crowding: we get over 1,000 visitors at each show. So when you start your show, you should limit the door. Only allow 2 people in for each vendor. That solves the crowding problem. Of course, that will cut your admission numbers, so just charge $50 admission to make up the loss. We only charge $4, so we need more people.
Something else that is probably a good idea: give all your vendors their tables free. I charge $20 per table, $15 outdoors. But with free tables, you would probably get all my vendors to attend (except for the 6 nasty ones you wouldn't want.)
Don't allow feeders to be sold--makes a show dirty. At our show, we sell 250,000 crickets, 4,000 mice, and 2,500 rats. And we turn a good profit catching the loose mice and rats after the show. (We have enough loose geckos to catch the loose crickets.)
Final advice: Don't advertise because it brings in a lot of people and then you multiply the crowding problem. Besides the downside of advertising (causing crowded conditions), it is expensive. So save money by word-of-mouth advertising. Tell each vendor they have to tell 10 people who have to tell 10 people who have to tell etc. I don't do it this way, but what do I know?
If you have a truck, I will be glad to donate the mud free of charge for your show.
Seriously, Dan, the next time you're at my show, introduce yourself.
General Lee
aka Lee Watson
www.reptileswap.com