The Michigan Captive Bred Reptile Expo

I just wanted to update everybody on what is going on with the show. It is November 2 & 3 in Troy, Michigan (just North of Detroit). I really think it is going to be a great show. I hope you guys can come and check it out.

Some of the vendors so far are: BHB Enterprises, ECO, Mark Bailey, Darin Bell, Turtle Town, Reptiles Magazine, Will Slough, Mike Detloff, Evan Stahl Reptiles and many more. Also at the show will be actor/singer/author Henry Rollins.

There is a best in class/best in show animal contest voted on by the public. Some amazing animals are coming just to be in the contest!

It is 10-6 Saturday and 10-5 Sunday. I hope to see you guys there. Evan

Evan is there a website about it?  Or can you let me know where in Troy its at?  Thanks
Kara

I am having problems with the hosting for the site. If you exit off I 75 at exit number 72, Crooks Rd, it is right off the ramp. I will have signs on the exit ramps during shows pointing you to the hotel. It is super easy to find from North or South. Evan

Here is an update for all who have asked on who is going to be at the show. I still have some space available for kick-butt vendors with top notch critters. Evan

BHB Enterprises/ one of the top collections there is! From dozens of cutting edge ball python morphs to the albino and leucistic western hognose and the amazing cornsnakes they have the goodies.

Darin Bell/ super nice burmese pythons, reticulated pythons, colombian boas, Brazilian rainbow boas (amazing HYPOS) and others. Darin has super stuff.

Will Slough/ if it is really neat and really expensive Will probably has one. Tegus, colubrids, Boa mutations, Ball pythons and more.

Eco/ the best embroidered and printed reptile and amphibian T-shirts, hats and more, that there are, period. Also, a great selection of herp books, magazines, artwork and other stuff.

Turtle Town/ if it is a turtle, from the most common to the most amazing, I bet they have it.

Best Exotics/ great quality husbandry equiptment. Hooks, tongs, probes and much more.

Midwest Frozen Rodents/ super quality at great prices

Bill Wertz/ a great selection of captive bred poison arrow frogs and supplies for them

Evan Stahl Reptiles (yes I know, shameless self promotion)/ one of the world's most complete and genetically diverse Honduran Milksnake collections, lots of neat ball pythons, some really great burmese and reticulated pythons, western hognose, thayeri and much more.

Reptiles Magazine/ if you aren't getting it, you should be.

Mike Detloff/ bearded dragons and a bunch of other great stuff.

Henry Rollins (yeah, that guy from MTV, VH1, TLC, BBC, lots of movies, Black Flag, The Rollins Band and all of the other million things that he finds the time to do)/ Henry is a great guy who really loves reptiles. He is taking some time off from his insanely busy schedule to be at the show. He will have lots of Rollin's goodies with him (books, CD's, etc) so stop by and say hi.

I still have about a dozen vendors that are letting me know in the next few days. I will let you guys know as soon as those guys let me know what they know and then we will all know. I'm working hard to give everybody a great show. I think you will really enjoy it. Stop in. Evan Stahl

Just confirmed: Rob and Amy Zerkel will be at the show. They are just super people! They specialize in asian ratsnakes but also produce lots of other goodies. Evan

A couple more notes for everybody. I have had a bunch of emails asking me about Henry. Yes, Henry Rollins is going to be at the show at the Evan Stahl Reptiles booth Saturday and Sunday. Also, I am getting very close to being out of vendor space. I can fit a couple more good people in. Please contact me if you have any interest. Thanks to everybody who has emailed or called. I hope to see everybody there. I will be displaying most of my coolest critters from my collection (it is nice to finally do a show 10 minutes from home) and many great breeders will be there with awesome animals! Evan

I just heard from Reid of Captive Bred Specialties. He is coming to the show. Reid always has super nice tortoises, lizards, frogs and more. I'm glad he will be here. You should be here too. Evan

Evan,

Just a few questions regarding the CB issue.  what do you consider CB, and how do you go about ensuring that everything at your show will be CB.

Hypothetically,  If I bred some asian water dragons, or collared lizards, or chuckwallas or some other commonly imported animals, what would you require of me as proof that they were indeed CB.

I'm asking because those are just a few of the animals that I am interested in breeding and I am wondering what I would need to do to be allowed to set up at a show like yours.

Thanks

Steve Schindler

First off Steve, I start with vendors like BHB Enterprises, Darin Bell, Eco and many others who have too much integrity to bring wild caught animals to a CB show. Brian and Darin produce so many animals they don't need to sell anything else. Bob, as you know, sells almost all CB stuff except for shipments he imports himself (which are animals that are bred in captivity in other countries).

Second, I personally reserve the right to inspect and remove any animals from any table that feel are not up to par captive or not. Every vendor signs a rule sheet stating so and I will be looking. That is the advantage of a 60 table show over a 300-500 table show. I can individually see every animal on every table at my show and will.

Third, when you have been doing this as long as I have and have seen as many examples as I have of species like the ones that you mentioned, 99%+ of the time I can easily spot the differences between CB and WC. Once in a blue moon there is a WC animal that will look like it is CB but usually only if it is in country a long time. I have some adult WC balls for breeding projects that I have had for 6-12 months that I don't believe anyone could tell the difference, but that is due to extensive husbandry work on my part. A freshly imported ball is very obvious to me.

I hope that I answered your questions. I do make one exception at my show for captive hatched baby balls. It is just a very simple matter that any babies imported during the season a few months ago have to be solid eating, healthy animals or they would have died quite some time ago. I do not have exemptions for other captive born animals like Colombian boas because they very often come into the US with bad respiratory and bacterial skin infections. Just an example. Evan Stahl

Sorry, I forgot. CB in my book is not "captive born" it is "captive bred". That is very simply put, animals produced in captivity from the breeding of adult animals in captivity. Not collecting gravid animals. That is "captive born". Not from having an import lay eggs. That is "captive born". There is nothing wrong with captive born animals, but there is a difference between that and captive bred. Evan Stahl