Lancaster Reptile Show Cancelled

[GarterGuy]

Just thought I'd get the word out that the Lancaster Reptile Show that was supposed to be this Sat. has been cancelled. From what I've heard, the place where the show was held had been trying to kick them out for a while (due to the "bad press" that reptiles get) and have finally done it. Just wanted to spread the word, so no one is standing outside on Sat. wondering what the heck is going on.
Roy

[mikm]

thank you Roy !! Is this the place that is next to a fire house/hall ???

marian

[Snaky]

Sad to hear such things. And 'bad' publicity... this probably means something happened in a few individuals and now everybody is punished for that.

I wonder why our hobby needs to come in the news with sensation press most of the time. This only feeds the thaughts people have about reptiles and the hobby.

[drache]

When I took Jeff to the local Expo the first time, he said afterwards that "everybody" there was weird sub-culture types. So next time we went, I had him point out the weird people (anybody weirder than me, that is), and it was something like four people.
He's such a suburban boy.
The thing is that the people who are perceived as weird are always going to be more visible to persons who feel threatened by differentness.
It may have been nothing more than that

[Cazador]

Very disheartening to hear, Roy. I wonder if the "bad press" could have had anything to do with people selling sickly animals and the people who bought them seeking compensation? Any ideas?

[Snaky]

Sad enough, I think the 'bad press' is more the articles like:
-Man killed by pet snake
-Extremely poisonous scorpions escaped from owner
-tropical reptiles found in the city, thrown away by the owners
These are the articles most people read...

[drache]

It's true that while there are many wonderful and responsible people (such as the ones here) in the herp world, there are also some prize morons.

[GarterGirl]

Thats just to bad! My mom and I don't go to it but we would be really sad if we did. We go to the one in White Plains. Do any of you go to that one?

[GarterGuy]

Rick,
Well from the sounds of it, it wasn't due to bad reptiles or anything, it was pretty much due to the fact that the place didn't really "like" reptiles. Plain and simple.....just ignorant prejudice.

Marian,
Actually this one was in the Lititz Rec center, next to Warwick High school. Don't remember if there was a fire hall there or not.....kind of thinking there was?????

Yeh, I've heard the "reptile freaks" thing before. When I used to manage a petstore, the owner one time was telling me that he didn't like how I was setting up a section of the store for reptiles (this was many years ago), because he didn't like the kind of people it attracted. I said to him, "Oh, you mean people like me?"....that kind of shut him up. A lot of people think that there's some sort of subculture associated with owning herps, just because all they see is the "bad seeds" who have reptiles just for the shock factor of it. They don't see the dedicated pet owners who honestly love their animals or those of use who work with their critters on an almost professional level. Guess that's just what's going to happen when you work with misunderstood animals......you become misunderstood yourself.
Roy

[Stefan-A]

Come on, you get declared a "freak" if you have more than average knowledge of any subject.

Most people think that even the normal owners are keeping reptiles for the shock value. I understand them though, the further we move away from our own species, the less reason we "should logically have" to care about an animal.

[drache]

it's taken me a while to put snakes into a different light in this yuppy neighborhood we moved into because of the good public school.
The school has been a great place to spread the word.
Mikhaila's teachers have been welcoming my herp visits and the science teacher is really cool.
Next Expo two of Mikhaila's classmates are going - one to shop for a Crested Gecko, the other just to look for now, but he really wants a beardie.
Lots of parents who tell me the are creeped out by snakes, end up holding, or at least touching one at my house, and changing their minds about them.

[GarterGuy]

Yeh, I do talks for middle school kids every now and then as well. The last time I did one, it was at a park where the kids went around to different stations and I had the Reptile Amphibian station. I took along my big PI Kingsnake, so the kids could see and hadle a real snake. Surprisingly enough, every single kid actually held the snake. No one was afraid of it or freaked out by it at all. Was very cool and was able to answer a lot of questions and discredit a lot of misinformation the kids had. Felt kind of sorry for my snake (Babe) though....she was exhausted by the end of the day.....she's not used to getting that much attention...LOL.
Roy

[drache]

Yeah - I find the kids to be generally more open than the parents.
Of course kids also don't want to come off as uncool in front of their peers. That helps them overcome a lot of initial trepidation.
I love it though when one of them, who's had no exposure to herps before, finds that they really like holding a snake, and the snake mellows in their hands.

[Cazador]

It's a great feeling to see a classroom of kids ooo'ing and ahhh'ing at snakes, but it's an even better feeling when the timid kids in the back give way to curiosity, overcome their fears, and then begin to respect the snakes for their amazingly different ways of life :).

[Stefan-A]

April 25th I'll see if I can get 20-year-old kids to start ooing and ahhhing at snakes. We're currently practicing writing scientific texts and so we have to write a report (hjelte, vad är "fackuppsats" på engelska?) on the evolution, taxonomy and ecology on a species or a group of species of our choosing. It's to be handed in and the presentation is on the 25th next month.

Guess what genus I chose. I think I might be a bit ambitious compared to the rest of the class. :p They all chose large mammals that are easily identified (tiger, bear, orca, african elephant last time I checked the list). I, on the other hand, had problems deciding between Thamnophis, Thamnophis sirtalis and Thamnophis sirtalis parietalis. :D