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GUYS! I am going to Tampa’s 🦎REPTICON🦎 this weekend & I’m super excited! Like SUPER EXCITED! I’ve been dreaming about this for months & I’m almost counting off the hours until I get to go (& annoying my family by constantly talking about it 🤣).

I don’t know what I’m getting yet, but I do know I am getting something (maybe more than one something) (hopefully more than one). My first time at Repticon, I was so overwhelmed by all the awesome things to see that I didn’t look at every species every vendor was selling. I also didn’t know much about the reptile hobby, the species offered, or any species I might be interested in owning sometime, so I didn’t know what I was looking for anyways. So this time I plan on looking at EVERYTHING & making notes on who’s selling what & what the prices are & getting business cards for NEXT TIME.

A lot of my flowchart above is based on the fact that I don’t really know what to expect as far as prices, especially prices for particular morphs. So what I get will depend on what prices I can find on the things I like, how I feel about the seller of that particular thing at that price range, the specific animals they have for sale, what OTHER SPECIES are for sale at Repticon, & whether anything looks at me with its cute little eyes 😍. (Seriously though, I’d never buy something I didn’t know how to care for & hadn’t researched no matter how cute its little eyes were).

Most likely, I will come home with some type of gecko (I’m particularly interested in African Fat-Tailed Geckos & Gargoyle Geckos, but if I found a pretty crested I might get it) & either a second gecko (for a different cage because I’m not into cohabbing them), some sort of frog (like a cool Pacman Frog), Madagascar Hissing Cockroaches, millipedes, gerbils, or even a tortoise! Of course there is a chance I could get something else on this list.

My plan is this: walk around once & look at EVERYTHING but quickly, & skip over things I’m definitely not getting but look at every species & price on things I’m considering, narrow down what I’m buying, buy those things, walk around again & get more details on things & look more at things I might get someday but not NOW, & finally buy the dubia roaches & any bedding or supplies I need.

Because I don’t know what I’m getting, I have been stockpiling general supplies. I bought some more thermostats, I have a heat lamp fixture currently without a bulb (the fixture can also be used with a CHE because it’s ceramic so I’m all set), I have several heating pads, various containers for plastic bin cages, bowls, tanks, etc. I totally plan on going to buy some stuff when I get back home from the show because I know I will most likely need something (if nothing else, I need more plants/hides because I have no extras).

The thing is, usually in the months leading up to Repticon, I have an idea of what I’m going to get. I research the heck out of a species, am totally into getting it, etc. But then a few weeks before I freak out, decide NOT to get the species I was going to get, & then begin extensively researching another species. Last time (aka my first Repticon) I was totally going to get a redfoot tortoise. But then I freaked out about how much care a hatchling requires & a month before the show, I got into & researched crested geckos.

This time, I was totally going to get a Kenyan Sand Boa. Then I realized my mom REALLY doesn’t like snakes. Then I was going to get a Peters Banded Skink, but I balked at that because that are almost always wild-caught & I don’t feel confident in caring for something trickier at this point. So then I began researching all types of things, especially the things with the colored dots on the flowchart above.

One thing I do know: I am DEFINITELY getting some dubia roaches. I am going to breed them as feeders for my critters so I can save money & control the nutrition my pets are getting. Also, crickets are kind of annoying (because they die all the time). I already built the dubia roach cage & I will keep it in a closet.

One OTHER thing I know: I am not bringing home any snakes, spiders, scorpions, mice, rats, or sugar gliders. I promised my mom that. She doesn’t like everything on that list except sugar gliders, & I’m not into getting any gliders at the moment).

Other than that, I can’t make any promises 😏.

Keep an eye on my social media profiles (Instagram, this blog, & YouTube mostly) so you can find out what cool critters I bring home! Also I’ll be taking tons of cool photos, cool videos, & make some more awesome Repticon posts so keep watching this blog for those! 🦎🐸🐢🤩💕🐢🐸🦎