The 7th of November 2010 saw the end of season breeders meeting put on by the Central Reptile and Exotic Animal Keeping Society (C.R.E.A.K.S). C.R.E.A.K.S is a fairly new society and the end of season meeting was the second they had organised at the Glades Leisure Centre in Kidderminster.
We arrived in Kidderminster at about mid-day, after what seemed like an eternity on the M6 from Leicester and parked the car a short walk from the Leisure centre. As we walked up to the venue it was clear that the show was busy and people were already leaving with all different size tubs holding their new pets. So we wasted no time and flashed our membership cards to the guys on the door and headed on in.
There was probably about 70-100 tables set up in the gym that had become a giant vivarium and nearly every one was taken. As there were people at every table, it took us a good while to see everything – there was so much more than I expected for an amateur meet up. The difference between each display was noticeable, from the amateur back room breeder to bigger breeders with great displays of their animals.
Every table had something different to see and the first thing that really caught my eye was an adult Axanthic Killer Bee Royal Python (Python regius), possibly the only one in the UK according to Jackie from Pi Reptiles, Jackie was also very quick to point out that the beautiful female Axanthic Royal was not for sale!
One thing that did stand out to me was the amount of amazing quality Leopard Geckos (Eublepharis macularius) on show. Being a bit of a Leopard Gecko Lover myself I was like a kid in a sweet shop and had to go round every table about 3 times! Breeders such as Torbay Leopard Geckos and Vale Exotics had some beautiful animals on show including some huge Tremper Giants. One table that really caught my eye was that of Tony Wigglesworth of Lowestoft Leopard Geckos who breeds Geckos as a hobby alongside being a school teacher. Tony was extremely knowledgeable and great to have a chat with. He is mainly breeding tremper albino’s and has just starting producing some beautiful tremper albino eclipses. I had to go away with one of his geckos so acquired a female tremper albino with some jungle patterning on her back.
The snakes at the show where definitely a high light, mostly royal pythons and corn snakes (Elaphe guttata) but with the odd gem on show such as the stunning Green Tree Pythons (Morelia viridis) and the rare and unusual File Snake (Mehelya capensis). One Royal Python Breeder that stood out was Welsh Reptile Breeders who had an amazing collection of Royal Pythons of all morphs. Including pinstripes, spot noses, spiders and a couple of stunning (very expensive) Spied Royal Pythons.
An unexpected stand that I came across at the far end of the hall was that of herpetologist Mark O’Shea. Mark is a leading field herpetologist from the midlands, UK that has filmed many documentaries and presented many wildlife programmes. Mark is now the consultant curator of Reptiles at West Midlands Safari Park. It was great to see a local celebrity supporting the show and he was certainly very busy chatting to his fans.All in all the show seemed to be a great success and I for one thoroughly enjoyed my day and am now really excited for the shows to start next year!
We arrived in Kidderminster at about mid-day, after what seemed like an eternity on the M6 from Leicester and parked the car a short walk from the Leisure centre. As we walked up to the venue it was clear that the show was busy and people were already leaving with all different size tubs holding their new pets. So we wasted no time and flashed our membership cards to the guys on the door and headed on in.
There was probably about 70-100 tables set up in the gym that had become a giant vivarium and nearly every one was taken. As there were people at every table, it took us a good while to see everything – there was so much more than I expected for an amateur meet up. The difference between each display was noticeable, from the amateur back room breeder to bigger breeders with great displays of their animals.
Every table had something different to see and the first thing that really caught my eye was an adult Axanthic Killer Bee Royal Python (Python regius), possibly the only one in the UK according to Jackie from Pi Reptiles, Jackie was also very quick to point out that the beautiful female Axanthic Royal was not for sale!
One thing that did stand out to me was the amount of amazing quality Leopard Geckos (Eublepharis macularius) on show. Being a bit of a Leopard Gecko Lover myself I was like a kid in a sweet shop and had to go round every table about 3 times! Breeders such as Torbay Leopard Geckos and Vale Exotics had some beautiful animals on show including some huge Tremper Giants. One table that really caught my eye was that of Tony Wigglesworth of Lowestoft Leopard Geckos who breeds Geckos as a hobby alongside being a school teacher. Tony was extremely knowledgeable and great to have a chat with. He is mainly breeding tremper albino’s and has just starting producing some beautiful tremper albino eclipses. I had to go away with one of his geckos so acquired a female tremper albino with some jungle patterning on her back.The snakes at the show where definitely a high light, mostly royal pythons and corn snakes (Elaphe guttata) but with the odd gem on show such as the stunning Green Tree Pythons (Morelia viridis) and the rare and unusual File Snake (Mehelya capensis). One Royal Python Breeder that stood out was Welsh Reptile Breeders who had an amazing collection of Royal Pythons of all morphs. Including pinstripes, spot noses, spiders and a couple of stunning (very expensive) Spied Royal Pythons.
An unexpected stand that I came across at the far end of the hall was that of herpetologist Mark O’Shea. Mark is a leading field herpetologist from the midlands, UK that has filmed many documentaries and presented many wildlife programmes. Mark is now the consultant curator of Reptiles at West Midlands Safari Park. It was great to see a local celebrity supporting the show and he was certainly very busy chatting to his fans.All in all the show seemed to be a great success and I for one thoroughly enjoyed my day and am now really excited for the shows to start next year!