Slitherers and Hoppers Descend on White Plains

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Whom do you call if you’re leaving town and don’t know what to do with your pet snake or lizard? You can contact ReptileSitters.com, located in Merrick on Long Island.


Such intriguing services, products, and animals were on display Sunday at the New York Metro Reptile Expo at the Westchester County Center in White Plains.


Seanna McCarthy and Tara Snarski traveled to the expo from Scranton, Pa. They, along with their cold-blooded companions, a red-tail boa and a ball python, soaked up the late-summer sun. It was Ms. McCarthy’s third visit to the bimonthly show, which drew about 3,000 attendees this weekend.


“He wouldn’t hurt a soul,” Ms. McCarthy said of her new pet. “Unless it was a rat or mouse,” interjected friend Chris Boyle. This show does not allow venomous snakes to be bought and sold, but Ms. McCarthy said the show in Hamburg, Pa., does.


Rows of vendors offered frogs, tarantulas, monitor lizards, geckos, and tub-fulls of turtles in the auditorium. Mr. Boyle walked around with the boa around his neck. What’s that like? “Well, nobody bumps into me then,” he said.


Bruce Lowder, of Putnam Valley, N.Y., who runs the show and heads a company called Animal Encounters, which offers wildlife education, confirmed that older people tend to be more cautious – at first – than younger folks.


Steve Krum of Coney Island stood with two iguanas perched on his shoulder. Named Mike and Pat, the iguanas belong to the Connecticut Iguana Sanctuary. A.J. Gutman, who runs the sanctuary in Bridgeport,Conn., has 35 of her own iguanas, including one named Asimov. She is an associate editor at a glossy magazine for iguana enthusiasts.


If iguana news wasn’t to one’s taste, there were also quarterlies like “Amphibians” and “Kingsnakes & Milksnakes” sold by Larry Kenton of Maryland Reptile Farm.


Asked to explain what critical information the public ought to know about iguanas, Ms. Gutman said many pet-store customers see “cute little baby” green iguanas for $5, and do not realize they will one day grow to 6 feet long. Secondly, she said, the iguana diet is more complex than many other pets, involving large amounts of fibrous green vegetable and vegetable-based protein. Thirdly, iguanas require ultraviolet light, essential for simulating sunlight. The International Iguana Society has about 300 members, she said. “We’re always looking for more members,” said Carole Saucier, also at the booth.


At a table several feet away sat Lori Green, who was selling turtle-styled “stepping stones” for building backyard paths. She works with others in buying diamondback terrapins sold in Chinatown, having genetic studies performed on them at Hofstra or Rutgers University, and then releasing them at an institute in Maryland. She and her team have set free 107 turtles from culinary clutches to date.


Books for sale at various booths included the title “What’s Wrong With My Snake?” Asked which title was selling the most briskly, Mr. Kenton pointed to “The Reproductive Husbandry of Pythons and Boas” by Dr. Richard Ross and Gerald Marzec. Intrigued, the Knickerbocker asked further about any secrets to such husbandry. “Drop the temperature at night to duplicate temperature in the wild at night.” Their winter, he said, is our summer.


Sean Casey of Sean Casey Animal Rescue works in Brooklyn taking in “rescued, confiscated, neglected, injured, ill, unmanageable or otherwise unwanted animals” from private owners, zoos, shelters, and other organizations. He finds homes for them either through private adoption to qualified individuals or has them legally released into habitats suitable for their species.


Mr. Casey has handled hawks found on the side of the road, alligators, goats, and even a small kangaroo. He recently handled a boa rescued from a sewer in Queens. It had pneumonia, he said.


Also in the healing business was veterinarian Randon Feinsod, who treats dogs and cats, but specializes in what he called “alternatives,” namely, rodents, rats, guinea pigs, monkeys, birds, and other exotic species. He helped an 8-year-old child’s toad last week. It suffered from “insecticide toxicity.”


The first expo that Mr. Lowder hosted 11 years ago drew only 300 people. He mentioned that, over the last decade, the public has become more informed about reptiles, thanks to the Internet. He also noted that the diverse crowd ranged from people in three-piece suits to those decorated with tattoos.


Mr. Lowder said at the present show one vendor was selling a certain – nonvenomous, as per the rules of the show – ball python for $45,000. It has breeding potential.


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