WHAT I PLAN TO GET AT TAMPA REPTICON 2018
Well, first off I am EXCITED because one of my favorite times of year is coming up…
*drumroll*
Christmas?
Nope. That’s good & all, but what’s coming to the Tampa area sooner than that?
That’s right.
REPTICON.
Repticon, unlike Christmas, comes to my city three times a year. In February of this year, it was my first time attending. That’s where I got my first three reptiles: the wonderful crested geckos Baby Pineapple, Toe Bean, & Pinwheel Shark. Oh, & I also got to HOLD AN OWL.
The second Repticon of the Year was in June. THAT’s where I got Squiggles (my leopard gecko), Frogecoin (my PacMan Frog), & Molly (my Orthoporus Ornatus, also known as a Texas Gold Millipede). As well as a gaggle of crickets & small superworms & an eff-ton of accessories for my new pets.
So what am I heading there for this time?
ROACHES.
Just kidding, but also kind of serious. Roaches ARE one of the main reasons I’m attending. I’m trying to start a breeding colony of discoid roaches for my critters so I can limit having to deal with crickets (which aren’t my favorite 🙃). I went to my second Repticon with the intention of getting some Dubia roaches.
I did not come home with any roaches, & I learned two things. (A) Get your live bugs FIRST before you spend several hours examining everyone’s tables, or else the booth will be out of the bugs you want. (B) Dubia roaches are apparently illegal in Le State of Le Florida. When I asked for the Dubias, the guy made a WFT face at me & told me they were illegal. (He probably thought I was a secret shopper from the government 😂).
Anyways, so about three months ago, I bought eight discoid roaches from a kind-of-local pet store. By “kind of local”, I mean it was like a 20+ mile drive each way. It was the closest one with discoids that I knew about, so that’s why I went. And I only bought 8 because they were $0.75 EACH & they were small, so I figured I needed to get them ASAP so they could start growing out sooner.
Well, all the roaches are doing great! Every single one of them is still alive & I’m pretty sure they’re almost adult-sized. But there ARE only 8 of them. And that’s just not that many. Not enough to get a good colony going any time soon. So I will definitely get some more roaches at the show
I’ll also pick up some extra mealworms while I’m there, because what Squiggles (my leopard gecko) doesn’t eat will join the beetle colony, which just produced its first successful batch of baby mealworms! I probably won’t get any extra crickets though, because I don’t go through those very fast so most of them would die before I used them, & it would end up costing me more than getting them at the pet store.
Another main reason I’m going to Repticon is actually for supplies this time! Squiggles will be upgraded to a 20G long aquarium very soon because he’s currently in a 10 & it’s getting small for him because he’s a growing boy. So he needs bigger gecko houses to put in his bigger cage.
But! I also am SUPER EXCITED because I’m starting to get into bioactive & naturalistic setups for my critters & Repticon is the perfect place to buy stuff for these setups. I never really paid much attention to the supplies part of the show before, but this time supplies are one of the main reasons I’m going. There will be another post about bioactive setups & why I’m so excited about them soon. My PacMan frog will be switched to one the soonest because he/she is already on Eco Earth, so it won’t be that big of a switch. When my crested geckos are big enough, they too will be switched over to bioactive enclosures. They have been having some issues growing but they’re doing well & making a lot of progress, so hopefully it won’t be long from now that they’re ready!
As far as supplies, I’m looking to get the aforementioned gecko houses for Squiggles, as well as some naturalistic hides/plants/etc for Frogecoin especially. If I see something really awesome that I just can’t pass up for my crested geckos, I would get it, but as it will likely be a few more months at minimum before they’re big enough to be in their permanent adult-sized enclosures, their stuff would be better left until the next Repticon. So mostly I’m focussing on naturalistic supplies for my PacMan frog & Leopard gecko.
I’m also hoping to find some of the infrastructure supplies I need for a bioactive setup, such as springtails cultures, while I’m there.
So, what about the animals?
I’m actually not looking to get any reptiles or amphibians this time. While there are some species & patterns I would like to own as part of my reptile collection in the future, what I have right now is pretty good. I might even get some of these species within the next year. But as I’ve went from zero to five herps this year alone, I figure it’s best not to “spend it all in one place”, & instead wait until next year before acquiring more herps.
I will, however, be on the lookout for invertebrates.
Tarantulas, you ask?
Tarantulas are pretty cool & I will probably own one at some point. But my mom thinks they’re the creepiest, so I’m probably not going to get one this time. But you never know 😏
So no. Probably no tarantulas.
But other bugs are up for grabs. I’m especially hoping to find some cool novelty roaches, like the Death’s Head Roach (or green banana roaches, or horseshoe crab roaches, but I’m yet to see either of those two species at Repticon). Or a praying mantis would be cool. Or really any type of non-spider, non-centipede invertebrate. Possibly even including aquatic ones.
And if they have millipedes for sale there, you can bet I will be bringing more of them home because millipedes are awesome & I love them so much ❤️
Another primary reason I’m attending is also so I can do market research on some reptile products I am developing, so attending is actually pretty important for that. And I want to pick the brains of some of the breeders while I’m there.
So, I am so excited for the arrival of Repticon, & I will be waiting impatiently in the corner for it’s arrival.
The countdown is ON!
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