Would you attend a yearly herp show in Minneapolis?

Yes, that room was quite small. When I meant "exotics" I was thinking along the lines of birds and small mammals. But of course it needs to be checked with the local authorities to see what could be done. I can see it now...someone selling boas side by side with someone selling pet "dumbo" rats Someone might get very nervous!

but the end of August is not a very good time for us snake breeders. Most of my colubrid snakes hatch out in July, which would only give me 5-6 weeks maximum to get them eating regularly. Unless you're fairly lucky, most colubrids aren't even THINKING about eating until a week or so after their first shed...which is usually 7-10 days after they hatch. So, we're talking about 3 weeks before they have their first meal. Which leaves 2-3 weeks before the proposed August show. I don't know about the rest of you, but I won't sell any baby snakes until they have become established eaters with at least 5 meals in them! The end of August is cutting it close.

Anybody ever been to Daytonna? I hear it's mostly a ball python show. Ball pythons breed in the winter and can lay eggs in February/March...plenty of time to get the babies established by August. Any colubrids at that show are most likely last years babies.

Also, the State fair is going on during the last week of August. Do you want to compete with that?

As far as what to allow at the show, I'd say definitely NO venomous! There are liability and insurance issues with venomous and most hotels won't allow them on property. I'd stay with strickly c.b.b reptiles ONLY, no wild caught. Anybody want any parasites infecting their c.b.b. collection? I think not. Allowing other animals..i.e. insects, spiders or even mammals is ok by me, if that's what everybody wants. You might want to know though, that most hotels don't allow live rodents or insects that can be considered "pest species".

Hmmm, has anybody considered contacting any of the big vendors to even see if they have any open dates to come to this proposed MN show? One guy I know does over 35 shows a year! Other vendors have to pick and chose which shows to attend because they are on the same dates. Most big vendors already have their "lineup" scheduled.

Just my thoughts on the subject....

Scott Nellis

Those are good points Scott. I hear your thoughts on the colubrids. On the other hand...the "Great Minnesota Get-Together"....mmmhhh??? Why not capitalizing on that huge audience and having the show in the Roseville area close to the State Fairgrounds? Maybe even close to Labor Day weekend which is when the State Fair ends. We would have thousands of people close by.

Regards.

A couple of thoughts....I live in the Twin Cities and the thing I notice in the summer is every weekend there is a mass exodus of people driving "up North" to the cabin or whatever. It's especially bad on Labor day weekend. I don't know if a Labor day weekend show would work...maybe. Yes, you have tons of people at the fair...they usually stay there all day. Most reptile shows I've done run between 9 or 10am to 4 pm on Sundays (Saturday being the travel day). The trick would be to convince people to come to the show instead of the state fair OR running up North for that last long weekend at the lake.

Having it in Roseville might be ok...it would be around I694, I35W, and highway 36. Not too hard to find, but not the easiest for the directionally challenged...lol.

Having been to quite a number of reptile shows around the Midwest as a vendor and customer for the past 10 years, an October show AFTER the NARBC show in Chicago would seem the best bet. Although next year, I believe the weekend before the NARBC is open (Oct 6-7). Having it at a nice hotel along a major freeway is also good....494 in Bloomington is good as is 694 in Maple Grove. Easy access for everyone.

Scott Nellis

I'm thinking out loud here...unless we had it inside the state fairgrounds during State Fair. Can you imagine the attendance if a show such as that would be allowed in there? Yes, we don't have a hotel in there but...just rambling.

One of my good friends at work co-owns the Haunted Mansion at the Mn. State Fair. You can not get into the fair with a booth without being on the waiting list, which Gayle says is about 3 years. Plus, you have to "audition" for the Board of Directors. They are a hard group. The Mn. State Fair is one of the ONLY state fairs that operates at a profit EVERY year.

You do not compete with the State Fair. The Renaissance Festival goes every weekend from Labor Day into Oct. and they have a hard time that last weekend the fair is on.

There are many things we have to make sure we don't conflict with. Holidays and established shows among them. Let's make sure Larry has the Mankato show again. Maybe we could concentrate our efforts on helping him. Mankato is only about 1 1/2 hours from the Twin Cities and a beautiful area. Who knows, if the Mankato show gets big, maybe he'll want to move it to a bigger area? Maybe get a second show going?

Just my 2 cents worth.

Originally Posted by Bill & Amy

Exotic pet show would bring in even more of a customer base. The only thing that I would found out about is anything that may be illegal in the Minnesota/Twin Cities (I think I would not have venomous). Otherwise the show last year also had tarantulas if I rememeber correctly. We will really have to look into several spaces in the area for size and requirements, the spot the show was held last year might be a little small unless they have larger rooms.

Yes... I was there... with the tarantulas. I'm getting in kind of late here and I rarely have time to hit the boards, but I've been interested in a regular show in the Twin Cities as well. You could pretty much count me in.

Botar

Kare,

I was not suggesting "competing" with the state fair. What I meant was why not having it close by, just think about the traffic around the area during that week! I have been there several times and have seen the crowd. If there was a reptile show a few minutes away (Roseville) it would certainly attract a lot of families and individuals.

Regards.

Hit the reply button too soon. We as reptile fans are not going to trade the State Fair for the show. But I bet that there would be a lot of people that gladly would do both, the State Fair and a Reptile or Exotics show.

I think having other live, furry critters may open a whole new set of issues to deal with, like requiring USDA inspectors to be present. I know there are some small "swaps" around here, mostly poultry and such, but many are careful on what they let in for this reason. That, and some require different vaccinations, testing, vet checks, etc to be transported across any state lines or even to be sold in a venue like this. I think that would be difficult to control if no one is well versed on all of these regulations, and wonder if we would want to open that whole can of worms right away? Things like Botar's critters would be great, but I really think we'd need to watch just how far it would go away from reptiles.

Also...most folks I know that attend the state fair make it an all-day affair. With the nightmare it is to get in and get parked, etc. from my experience at the Iowa State fair, no one is going to want to leave and then come back....and are too pooped at the end of the day to bother doing anything else.