Today,
Gabby and I got up early and made the 2.5 hour drive to Des Moines. I was sharing a table with my good friend Mark and his wife Rita. I took 4 of my radixes to show the visitors. I took Big Girl, who is a black and white radix. Her black is almost onyx. Then I took Boomerang, who has some nice red in her. Then my girl Speckle made the trip, she was there for shock effect because of her size and I also took Charlotte. She has a beautiful shade of orange on her laterals.
Within minutes of the doors opening a lady walked by the table and made the comment "Garter Snakes, yuck" That sent me on the defensive and I thought the whole day might be a bust.
Too my surprise it wasn't a bust. Mark sold a few Garter snakes and I had a number of people stop to checkout the snakes. They were shocked to find out they were garter snakes and were amazed by the variety of colors and size. Other than that one lady, everyone was polite. Between Mark and myself we were able to enlighten a few people about the wonderful world of Thamnophis.
We were the only table with Garter snakes and it turned out to be a good day.
Afterwords, it was back to Marks house for a debriefing(has nothing to do with underwear). Usually I leave his house with a few more radixes or parietalis', but not today............. This time I left with a pair of adult(large) hypo Bull Snakes. Very stunning snakes. When holding them they remind me of a good old dog. Very docile and pleasant. I'll post pictures later.