Once again we trapped Ryan Jarosek of Tiki Tiki Reptiles and forced him to talk with us. Not really, I’m just kidding, Ryan bribed us with free Geckos if we interviewed him…yeah I wish! Ryan has to be one of the best people to interview and is so much fun to talk to. He’s just freaking cool! Anyway, here he is talking about what it’s like to travel to these shows.
RA: Ryan you actually have one, two, three, what six tables here at this show?
Ryan looked somewhat guilty as we laughed, he answered.
Ryan: Yeah.
RA: Are all the animals here or just half?
Ryan: Yeah, just about all of them. We’re kind of winding down and Chad added some bugs this time. So we’re trying to fill the feeder gap.
RA: Now you told me at one time you had how many species that you were working with?
Ryan: About 7 different species of Chameleons, 7 or 8 different species of Gecko, some Skinks, Blue Tongues and Pink Tongues, Tanninbar and Northerns.
RA: Now, how the hell do you guys transport all these animals in one shot to a show?
Ryan: As eloquent as always “Very carefully. (Shared laughs) The containers we use are stackable and lockable. So we just lock them all together and then get them loaded up. Packing them is really the trick we make sure we get everything labeled properly so when we bring it back, it all goes back where it’s supposed to. Especially hets and things like that. So we actually start the day before and start cupping animals, and the day before that we’re figuring out what animals we are going to take…”
RA: How do you select the species that you’re going to bring?
Ryan: It’s mostly what I have available. I also judge the show, if it’s a show that I have been to before that I know a lot of higher end stuff is selling then I will bring more higher end stuff. If I am doing a show in Tucson it’s usually a little lower end so I will bring a lot more $35-$40 dollar Geckos.
RA: As far as setting up these displays that you do, how long does it take you guys to set-up once you get to the actual show?
Ryan: You know we can do it pretty quickly probably in a couple of hours. We drag it out, at least six hours or so you know checking everybody out and we’re all talking because it’s a big social event too. Dragging the stuff in is the hard part but getting everything set up is pretty easy.
RA: How many crew members do actually bring to each show?
Ryan: There’s always four of us. Chad, Darcy, Ryan, and Lisa, then we’ll sneak our daughter in or maybe a couple of friends. We usually do about five or six people.
RA: So, it’s been a great show, did you sell out yet?
Ryan: No, we didn’t sell out but it’s been a great show with lots of people. We were impressed and we’re hoping there will another show next year…Double the size!
For more of Ryan and of course his awesome reptiles take a trip over to Tiki Tiki Reptiles today and let him know you read about him here! Not too mention you catch him in his new venture Jarosek Reptiles and The Reptile Living Room