Southern Exotics and Reptile Convention 5/20-5/21 Aiken,SC

Originally Posted by audrypayne

I know what you mean. Junk dealers make it hard on the breeders. However, there are still ones that want only high quality healthy animals.

True, but unfortunately there are more "bargain hunters" out there than quality shoppers.

My wife and I did pretty good at the show. We were able to make our money back on the hotel, gas and our tables. And, we were able to come home with some great animals that we wanted. We always manage to come home with more animals than we left with, lol.

There definitely wasn't alot of people who came through the door on either day. In fact, we were told Sunday that less than 500 people came in on Saturday. And I know there was even less on Sunday. The turnout was bad, but, I think it was a good show overall. I would have liked to have made more money. But for my wife and I, it gives us a chance to get away and hang out with some good friends that we only get to see every couple of months. I love being around the animals, and I love sharing stories with everyone.

Thanks to Jungle Habitats Plastics for selling me one of the only cages that they had for sale. Thanks to Alan and Terry, I was finally able to display my Big Blacktail Rattlesnake(my "prize" animal). I am highly impressed with this cage and would recommend Alan's cages to anyone.

I have to agree with everyones comments on WC animals. Some of the WC animals at alot of our shows are horrible. Personally, I am so sick of seeing these awful looking Copperheads, Canebrakes, Cottonmouths, etc. I would like to see a separate section for people who deal with alot of backyard animals. I usually only have 30-50 max at any one time. And, I care for these animals like they are for my own collection. With the fears of parasites and air-born diseases, I don't enjoy keeping my animals next to tables that are loaded with WC. But, that is just part of my opinion on the situation. I know that it will be just about impossible to stop unhealthy WC to enter our shows.

Enough of my babbling. Thanks to Cathy and Danny. DJ and I had alot of fun at the show.

SAL RICCO @ WNCHerps

Sal thanks for the business ... Terry thanks you for buying his cage lol aswell. Was nice to talk you and the wifey again. And your Blacktail is AWSOME !! and they dont look to shabby in that triplex either lol. Im could have alot more fun had i sold more but ehhhh live n learn . Hope to talk to you soon take care
Alan

I didn't come home rich, but at least I got paid something for having a great time. Thanks to Cathy, Danny, Monica & Jason for a great weekend. I love the SHBCT that I purchased from J&M Exotics. Jason, he will make a great sire for the offspring. He's settled in well & has eaten already. I'd also like to thank Brett from Snakehook.net & our friend Jonathan. Also Chuck Hurd. Love ya Buddy. You're wonderful. I'm looking forward to the next show. Til then, y'all take care..

Speaking of chuck herd ....

he hands down had the nicest Canebreak In the show .. that thing was blasting with colors .. pinks blues and chuck was real nice to talk to aswell , Jon Pulliam well hes still trying rogaine for men but is a fun guy to talk to and is alwasy fun to see at the show , Audry she will tell ya how great she is at pool and how she beats the locals in there own poolhall lol , Cathy , Danny Jason & monica are all great people aswell, there are more but im bad with names most of the time ,, oh yeah snake hook pimp was there as audry noted and Brett remember i told ya i needed another set of of long tongs .. sure coulda used them this evening at the river lol Ill be calling ya this week for a set Ohh audry thanks for the use of the "Box" talk to you later

First we would like to Thank everyone who vended and attended the show this past weekend! We do appreciate your support.

Here is where it becomes a long post......

I do agree this was not a good show how ever I do think that it was a ok for most.

There was just under 500 paying attendees...At 3:00pm on Sunday we stopped charging people because there were a number of vendors that were packing up. I would like to say before anyone thinks it was not advertised...This is how we did it.....
We had radio ads running Tuesday through Sunday
Radio Remote on Sat
Fliers from Augusta GA to Greenville SC
Banners running on Fauna, Cornsnakes.com, TRR and a number of other sites
Reptiles Magazine Ad
Signs (realistate type) along the road
Those are the Major and we had lots of minor ones as well.

I am not really sure what if anything else could have brought in more buying attendees. I personally went to 90% of the vendors and asked them what should we have done different... Most were simpathetic and understood that not much more could have been done.
One vendor said that we should do 80 thousand fliers (we did 7000)
The one suggestion that I think would help is to do advertising in the local papers a week or so ahead of time.
We did have a great vendor lineup here is who I can think of ithout looking at my paper work....

G&G Reptile
Diamond Reptile Breeders
SerpenXotics
SunCoast Reptile Distributor
Pullians Pet Center
J&M Exotics
Don Hyatt Reptiles
Chuck Hurd(awesome SC Venomous Display)
Ron Nichols
Apostle Reptiles
Carolina Coastal Herp Society
Once Bitten Exotics (Thanks for the Bags and T shirts for door prizes)
SnakeHook.Net(Thanks for the 2 hooks you donated)
Cricket's Critters
Middle GA Exotics
WNC Herps( Thanks for the baby Bearded Dragon)
Full Spectrum Reptiles(Thanks for all your help)
GA Bearded Dragons
AHP Exotics
Alan Bosch Reptiles
Premium Crickets(Thanks for the Pizza and salad friday night and the 2 boxes
Crickets donated)
CCS Constrictors
New Age Pets
Carolina Constrictors
Dr Bob Herrington
Hot Herps
Mr John's Farm
James and Carrie Brewster (Thank you both You were a great hepl)
NC Geckos
Too Fast Reptile
Cold Blooded Interprise
This Pets For You( Great Cage you donated I think that young Lady that won it was very happy)
Just Lizards Inc
And last but not least...Jungle Habitats Plastics( Thanks for the great door prize you donated)

Ok I may have forgoten some anyways it is getting late and I am tired I will post more tomorrow

Sincerely,
Cathy Elrod

Jason and I would like to thank everyone that came to the show. We had a GREAT time hanging out with all of our friends and can't wait till the next show! Despite everything that went on we can't wait till ..................... Stay tuned folks its coming

Audrey: You will see me at more shows, dont worry, and I will be getting a nice pretty chameleon once i get the proper setup (the only reason i didnt this show is that i do not have the setup at home and i would not dare bring in a 'high care' animal without the proper setup)

Hopefully by the next show I'll be on my way enough to have my own table(s), for now...it's internet sales....though i do have stuff setup with Tom from time to time...

OH MY GOD!!! I can't believe I left off our number one supporter..............
Speaker Showman Extrodinaire "The Big Snake Daddy" himself
MR. Roark Ferguson Please Forgive ME Oh Great One

Oh and A big Thank you to Roark for the awesome interviews with the newspapers and the TV station and for all your help. Those were some great articles about the show!