Reptile Show

My daughter and I had such a blast here, coming here today made my year!
I don’t know Sacramento streets too well, so I found parking and went on to the Reptile Show. (Ick! $ 14 later!)
As I walked up, there were two huge lines. One to the atm and the other to the box office to buy your tickets. $ 8 for kids 12 and under, then $ 12 for adults. Luckily, I had cash on me. Upon going in, there were free raffles and a paid raffle. Of course I entered both. (Nope. Won nothing.) Along the way into the right doors, we were directed to where to enter. Everyone was super friendly.
My daughter and I were amazed from the first moment we walked in! It was way more than we had dreamed!
SNAKE, LIZARDS and CREEPY CRAWLYS EVERYWHERE!
The only bad thing we had to say about the set up was that there was really no sense of direction. There were so many people, there all went up to tables and were walking into each other, or wouldn’t move.
They should have people moving right to left on all tables, and buyers off to the left of the table…
There was an amazing woman selling beautiful carnivorous plants! I got a huge Venus fly trap. At first I was sad because I wanted to buy more later on this year or next, but didn’t get a card. However, when I got home, her information was slipped into the plant! She told me where in my yard to keep it and how to feed it. She was so wonderful!
Thank you for am amazing time! I can’t wait until next year when I actually buy a critter!

So I went to this place because I found a deal on groupon which was two for twenty.
It was more of a denios market for reptiles but it was still cool. There were sections that looked like the zoo and there was a few live reptile shows and educational programs. You can take pictures with large reptiles for a small donation.
I ended up getting a ball python and a starter cage for a really good price actually. Almost every vender I saw accepted debit card as well. I cant vouch for the entry since mine was pre-​paid.
Overall its very fun and interesting as long as you know what its about. I am not 100% sure I would pay full price though unless I was going to buy something.

Meh. It cost $ 40.00 for my husband, myself, our two nephews and our 6-​month old to get in. Cash only and the closest ATM was out of service. I have to admit I was disappointed; it wasn’t at all what I expected. The boys were excited because they got to get pictures holding a couple snakes (both required ‘donations’) and an alligator (free). It was mostly vendors trying to sell stuff, which is okay… I just thought there would be more to see, other than things to buy. They were a lot of booths, a lot of junk for sale but I won’t come back, it’s definitely not worth the price for admittance.

A lot of neat critters in there, but I wouldn’t label as a show. Especially for the price to enter. Looks like a tiny convention. Wish everything was a little more interactive. All the kids seemed to enjoy looking at all the neat snakes and reptiles. There was a large variety, but regardless the prices the vendors sold for, and the entrance fee… I won’t refer for next year.

They shouldn’t label this as a show, it was a misnomer. I paid 30 bucks for my family to have a room full of people try to sell me snakes and lizards. Most of the stuff you could find online cheaper, but I don’t know much about the going price of frozen rats. Everyone was out to make a buck.
But, my son did enjoy trying to walk through the crowd to look at stuff. but, he had more fun at the «Farm to Forks» event, that happen to be FREE!
Go to the zoo! It is much cheaper and your kids will learn more. If you are out to buy some of this stuff, check online first.

This reptile show is an annual occurrence in the Sacramento area. This was the 15^th iteration of this event, and my first time as an attendee. It’s a great exhibit of exotic pets and all the supplies you’ll need to care for them successfully. The animals featured range from the staple reptiles — mostly snakes and various lizards, but also turtles and tortoises — to newts to tarantulas to emperor scorpions. The primary focus of this event was on the pet trade, so there’s not very much by way of conservation or education. Most of the exhibits were vendors trying to sell their valuable captive-​bred animals. Most of these vendors were focused on snakes, including the mightily popular boa constrictors, ball pythons, and corn snakes. Less common were sand boas, kingsnakes, etc. There was one rainbow boa at the convention that I noticed (he was my favorite), one green anaconda (with a warning stating that he would eventually be «HUGE»), and probably numerous other species that I can’t name (most were not labeled). Most of these snakes are very young and the prices vary greatly from a couple hundred dollars to nine grand, depending on the color variation, but there were adults in breeding condition that were available for purchase. Lizards featured included the common leopard and crested geckos, various skinks, iguanas, chameleons, and some monitors. There was also a venomous snakes section which never fails to impress. There was a couple of areas where kids could pet some large tortoises, and a display of alligators (including the infamous albino) just sitting in their handlers’ laps. Not sure how I felt about that, since I’d be concerned about the message that they’re sending to kids about alligators as appropriate pets, but I’m sure they were rescued. As a disclaimer, I have not had very much by way of species identification, so I probably did not do this species list any justice.
A major problem that I had not anticipated was the overwhelming popularity of the event. My friends and I tried coming on Saturday around noon, but the line was so long as to be ridiculous (it doubled back on itself perhaps multiple times and stretched the length of the convention center. Save yourself some trouble and just come on Sunday — the lines are much, much shorter and you won’t have to deal with the crowds inside the convention itself (space is rather limited, and I can definitely see pushing around exhibits to be a problem). Another minor inconvenience is that they only take cash payments for admission. This is not too much of a problem since there are ATMs just inside the lobby, but it helps to know ahead of time for planning purposes.
In short, this is a great family event, and the kids will be very impressed!