St Roberts Show

I was told that people from OK were complaining specifically about OUR animals. The only sick animal I saw was a redfoot tortoise with one hugely swollen eye and one just starting to swell. I was told by the owner that the other eye was normal. NOT.
So if I offended you, I'm sorry. Our animals are not sick and we still have them.

Our burms were hatched the week of that sale. We did have one larger alb. burm from last year's hatch there too that we did sell.
Karen

I was a vendor at the St Robert show...

Yes, there were some problems, but they were fixed. The electric going out was an unforseen problem... not like it was planned. The tables being shorter than they were supposed to was something that was unforseen as well, the city promised the promoters 8' tables... they gave them 6'. I thought they did a pretty good scramble to make up the difference for everyone.

Despite the weather, the move of the show placement and the electricity I thought it was an ok show. I did alright with my sales.

My biggest complaint is against the female promoter... Big Jim was trying to handle everything in a calm and straight forward manner. Michelle came in ranting and raving and causing a big scene in front of all the vendors present! This is not the way to do business!!! I found her to be a very rude and unlikable person.... she just doesn't seem to care about anything but the bottom line. If she is involved with any future expo's I won't be including myself on their vendor lists!!!!!!!

Thanks to Big Jim for remaining calm when Michelle was acting like an idiot!!!!

Jim,
I told you when you asked, that it would be a JOKE! Wasn't far off was I?? I've known you a long time, and I knew you would be UPSET to say the least, and I have known about James Maloy Jr. from 4 Macks pet shop for about 3 yrs. and why you would be SUCKING UP to him, even now is beyond me.!! My ranch is less than 45 min. from St. Robert and I wouldn't give those folks at the so called St. Robert Show or the pet shop there the time of day, I could tell you stories that folks have told me, about all the EXPERT ADVICE they get from the folks that work there and from the owners of the store who work it as well!! It's folks like that, that gives ALL Herpers a BAD NAME If any one has something to say, by all means PLEASE give me a CALL, I have nothing to HIDE, and my comments are FACT, NOT MADE UP EXPERT ADVICE!! For those of you who don't have my # it is 417-588-7900. Jim I'll talk to you later! Hope you learned a lesson!

Lynn (Coach) Peterson

Coach,
If you have proof post it if not see ya. Also, I have never claimed to be an expert, hell I'm always learning something about reptiles.

As for the East Ozark thing, I was told the problem vendor was the vendor in the front right hand corner, that would be East Ozarks position. I have seen East Ozark in St Louis and have not had a problem with them. Jim, if you could give us a location of the " offending" vendor, I can tell you who they were and will talk with them next time around. You can email it to me if you want to avoid this becomming a war.I did not check every animal that came through the door, I had too many other things to deal with to check everyone. Next time, I'll try to have the local vet do a pre show check, if this will settle the problem it will be well worth it.

Karen,
If you could let us know who told you they were complaining about you it would help as well. If you want you can email it to me to avoid this becomming a war.

Jim I realize you were not trying to be an ass to me, but you have to understand that as long as I have a partner in this show, I have to defend her. Its a matter of honor.

To Jim0602

You said and I quote
"I spoke with every vendor there other than the t-shirt guy and I guarantee you we were not the only one's complaining. "

I know of at least two vendors you DID NOT speak to (me being one of them) and who DID NOT complain about the 6' tables or the show in general.

I saw the ad for this show in REPTILES Magazine. I saw it advertised in 2 (TWO) different papers and heard it on the radio and I live 2 1/2 hours from the place.

Your accusations are way out of line and it just sounds like someone who didn't sell much and is crying over it.

Well buddy, I only sold 1 bird and 1 hamster and I'm not on here crying about it. It happens.

I did a bird show in Springfield, IL last year where only 7 buyers showed up. It was the show from hell. Oh well it happens. The month before there were over 700 people and everyone sold nearly EVERYTHING. IT HAPPENS.

This show had a lot of things against it from the get go.
1. Memorial weekend. It's time to camp, not buy reptiles.
2. Change of venue, people who came to the first show (which I was at and there were over 600 people) can't find it.
3. New show just getting started.
4. Tornado warnings (don't want to get blown away).

As for the lights going out, I don't think it was a preventable thing, at least by the promotors of the show.
It was a nice venue.

Then you're whining and crying about what people sell their animals for. Well, MYOB is what I have to say. You can sell way below wholesale when you have, say, 60 snakes hatching at once and you want to move them before you have to feed them.

As for WC baby balls. There's no such thing. Those animals are farm raised. You see they catch the mothers and hold them until they lay. Then they hatch the babies. So not wild caught, farmed.

I was late to the show because no one told us the venue had changed. But I'm not whining about it. IT HAPPENS.

I still want to know about the banned crap??? Where did you hear this? Names and places please. You see the 4 years I've worked for them they have done every St. Louis, South County and most Indiana shows they could do.

Karen

My name is Bryan Compton. I am the husband of the promoter Michelle Compton.

Everyone,
I have had no involvement in the planning of the St Robert Show. My only stake is Michelle's involvement. When we arrived in St Robert we entered a room in disarray. All we new were the number of 8' tables that were supposed to be in the room. I almost turned around and went back home. Michelle came into the show, saw the issues and took charge. She spent most of the evening on the phone with the city trying to arrange additional tables and get 8' tables. She had marginal luck, but did get some 8' tables. She then spent the rest of the evening going to a biker rally with a large attendance promoting the show. I went back to the hotel and went to bed (I know it's off topic). She made sure table reservations from prepaid vendors were maintained. Because of the change in the room Jim and Michelle did not agree on the table layout. They were certain to meet their obligations to these vendors. If taking charge of a bad situation for profit means your a bitch, that may be her. Michelle being involved, and my future involvement, with the show will be an Improvement on the organization.

As for those of you who do not want to be associated with “the Female Promoter” please contact Michelle Compton or Bryan Compton @ 573.927.7387. We would be very interested in knowing specifics. We will be involved with the St Robert Reptile Expo in the Future.

Please everyone; let’s not forget that the promoters have to be profitable. Otherwise there could not be a forum for the vendors to sell their goods. The only responsibility of the promoter is to bring customers through the door and have vendors available to sell goods. The promoter cannot mandate what the customer should spend.

Thanks

Well Karen I’ve now decided it was you all. I did talk to you and the guy at your tables for quiet awhile on 3 or 4 different occasions. Not all of the animals were garbage. I had all intentions of buying many animals from your table but never got around to it and you all were packing up when I remembered. But the majority of the balls were terrible. 2 of the vendors in my group are licensed vets with there own practices and 1 is a vet tech.1 thing they do know is quality reptiles. And I certainly don’t need educated on ball python breeding.
The red foot you speak of was not ours and I did not see it but I do not dispute it.
My comments on the advertising were from the people I talked with that run the motel, the guests at the motel, people at walmart, and servers in the restaurant. Not 1 of them had heard about it. But I did only talk to maybe 20 or 25 people about it so it's not like I surveyed the whole town. But like I always do I headed them in our direction. I sold right at nothing but I’m not crying over it. I do 30-40 shows a year and lose money at a lot of them. I do agree it was very poorly planned event for that weekend and this is possibly why there was no one there and no one spending cash. I am not whining and crying about your prices in general because of competition. I really can’t do that since I gave away iguanas to get rid of them. I could have beaten your prices on most stuff but I don’t generally give my stuff away. And mind my own business. Well I was complaining to Jim because he was a friend. When someone like you all come in to the shows he will lose 10 other vendors that are not going to give there stuff away. He will not have a show if it comes down to your 2 tables, the reptile society, and him setup. He will still have your 2 tables at the next show but has lost our 12-15 and several others I spoke with. If he wishes to welcome wholesalers at his shows then it’s his decision not anyone else’s. I was trying to help myself with sales by not being lowballed but at the same time I was trying to help Jim. I’m sure I’ve done many many more shows than he has even attended but I may be wrong.
Brian I do agree that the promoters must also be profitable or you can’t put them on. But when the show is ran like a kindergarten class there’s problems. Part of the promoter’s responsibility should be to insure everyone is as happy as can be. Bend over backwards to satisfy all. Jim tried hard; Michelle tried at it for a little while.
Overall the show was a dismal failure but maybe they can turn it around next time.
jim

Jim

You did not talk to me. You don't even know who I am. I had the tables next to Larry & Debbie. I had birds & hamsters. We were along the wall and were next to the guy who had the mata mata turtles, then it was the T shirt guy and then Paula with birds and then the herp society. FYI we had the two baby bloods that everyone so liked but didn't buy. Maybe that will help to identify who we are.

The burms did NOT and I repeat NOT have any bites of any kind on them.I don't know whose burms you were looking at but it wasn't ours. They were born the week of the show and hadn't even shed for the first time. That is both albino and normals. We did have one from last year's hatch left and it didn't have any bites on it at all.

If those balls were so terrible, then why do we still have them? According to you they should be dead by now.
Well, we still have them and I fed some today. You can come to our pet shop and see them if you want to.

When you buy in quantity you get them for a much better price. Therefore we sell them cheaper if we buy them cheaper. The idea is to sell them, not keep them forever. We only double our price, not triple, quadruple, etc.

I don't think you know as much as you think you know about reptiles and snakes in general or putting on shows for that matter.


The person who had the redfoot told me she was a vet. So how many vets were at that show if she wasn't with your group? She told me that the redfoot just needed a little Baytril to get it well. She didn't bother to tell me that the Baytril has to be injected but I already knew that. She tried to tell me that one eye wasn't swollen at all but it was swollen. I breed redfoots and I know a swollen eye when I see it. As for selling below wholesale, that redfoot was $50. I've never seen a redfoot anywhere for $50.

The same person who had the sick redfoot had pairs of crested geckoes for $250. I mean come on, that's ridiculus.

I still want to know what we were "giving away"? Our balls were not $12.50. I still think you have the wrong people.

I did see a very skinny subadult blood python at the table on the left as soon as you walk in the front door and other than the sick redfoot that is the only truly poor animal I saw.

As far as giving animals away and lowballing everyone, you need to attend the St. Louis Reptile show this weekend. There is a guy who comes in and lowballs everyone. He usually has about 10 tables. He has everything and I mean everything. Savannah monitors for $10, Corn Snakes for $10, Balls for $8, Alligators for $50, Emperor Scorpions for $3, Fire Belly Toads for $1.50, Adult Tomato Frogs $15, Crickets 1000 for $8 etc., etc., etc. Yet that show is always sold out. As far as that show losing vendors, no that has not happened. As far as I know, no one complains about him. Hell half the vendors buy their stuff from him at the end of the show. Hmmmm maybe you don't know what you're talking about regarding vedors after all.

How is selling albino burms for $99 giving them away?????? I don't think our prices were that bad especially on the stuff we bought to resell. The stuff was priced a couple dollars less than the regular pet shop price. I mean come on I know what they bought the stuff for and I look at all the wholesale lists. Some people overprice their stuff so bad it's crazy. I don't think we should screw the customer.

As far as the stuff we bred, it is our perogative to sell it for what we want to sell it for. It's nobody's business.

Other vendors are not going to stop coming to shows because we have a few animals that are priced less than theirs. It hasn't happened yet, in St. Louis, in Indiana, in South County, so why would it happen in St. Robert?

If you want to overprice your stuff that is your choice, but don't try to make everyone else follow your rules.

IF you had a problem w/us, why didn't you state it at the show? I'm sure Larry would liked to have talked to you about it. He is very particular about his animals and I'm sure he would have liked to explain to you what healthy, newborn, ball pythons and burmese pythons look like.

What is bothering me so much is you made all these accusations and cannot back up a single one. You should have made these comments directly to Larry at the show and not on this forum weeks later. It's as if you didn't have the balls to confront Larry.


Karen

Like I’ve said from the beginning. I do not know who’s who there. I knew very few there. I did not say names till this last post. I still will not say yes it was your snakes. I really don’t know or even care .I did talk to a guy about 2 bloods. Not sure if yours. They were nice but overpriced for me to buy. The only burm I have stated that had bite marks was the larger 1.not all the babies in the corner. I buy my balls in 500 or 1000 lots but I still don’t think I should sell them to the public for $8.75 ea just because it doubles my money and I don’t want to feed them. I know well beyond what I need to know about snakes and reptiles. I don’t claim to know all there is to know about putting on shows. I only attend them. But I do know the way this 1 was run was 100% wrong.
I certainly wish I had seen the red foot for 50 bux.i surely would have bought it.
The balls were priced on the table for $15.00 ea but they took $12.50 from a customer.
As to talking with Larry about it. That’s not my show so it’s not my responsibility. I told Jim 1 time and dropped it. If he wants to allow wholesalers then fine. It’s his show. He can do, as he wants. It is not my concern if the show makes it or flops. Once again I no longer care.
This original post was not an Ozark reptiles post. It was an over all on the show. I never said names and had no intentions of doing so. I simply stated the show sukked for 99% of the vendors there and I would assume also for the promoters due to the lower than expected turn out. I don’t see where you think I haven’t backed up what I said. The only thing not backed up is the bite marks and that can now never be proven due to the snake being sold. I didn’t say the snake was eaten alive either. I did say I had planned on buying it but was to late.
And bringing it here weeks later?? I didn’t bring it here. It was asked and I replied. I think it was 8 days later. Not weeks.
Only time will tell with this show but in my opinion if done the way it was this last go around it will be a total failure. Now I’m no psychic and have been wrong before so I could be again. For Jim’s sake I hope it makes it.

jim

That $50 redfoot was from one of your tables, a vet owned it, and it is probably dead by now. My God, how many vets were at that show if she wasn't w/you? She also had an ornate uromastyx and a bunch of overpriced breeder geckoes.

The left eye was huge and the right eye was starting to swell. The animal needed medical treatment immediately which it did not get. No one in their right mind would buy it.

The animal was on its deathbed and I'm sure the stress of traveling did it in.

I'm sorry but I don't see you feeding 500-1000 BPs. If they are not fed, then that tells me you have thin ball pythons. So now who is selling sick animals? Animals who have never been fed? You crack me up.

No we didn't sell any balls for $12.50. They were $15. So what, we paid little to nothing for them just as you did. Again, we want to sell ours, not keep them forever like you and screw the public by overpricing things.

All this still boils down to you minding your own business. You had a bad day and you want to bring everyone else down too.

Apparently big Jim knows that he cannot dictate what people sell their animals for that's why he didn't bother to follow up on your complaint. But since you had so many complaints he probably just blew you off.

If the show was so bad, why aren't all the vendors complaining? Well except for the lady who brought 6 or was it 8 animals to sell and didn't sell anything.

8' tables, 6' tables, not the people putting on the show's fault.

Lights going off, not the people putting on the show's fault.

Vendors not showing up, not the people putting on the show's fault.

Buyers not buying, not the people putting on the show's fault. If you really do 30-40 shows a year, then you will know that traditionally summer is when people buy less.

No one showing up, Iffy on whose fault. I knew it was a holiday weekend and I knew it had a chance to backfire with people not coming. So every vendor should have known that too. Also the venue was moved, also not the people putting on the show's fault.

As for advertising, I saw plenty of ads and heard it advertised on the radio and I live 2 1/2 hours from St. Robert. So what if a Wal-Mart employee didn't know about the show. I'm sure 99% of St. Louis doesn't know about the upcoming show on Sunday but that doesn't mean it wasn't advertised.

I'm done with this stupid post.

You dissed good friends of mine and I took care of it. Good luck feeding your 500-1000 balls. Yeah, right.




Karen