Daytona Beach, Florida - 2004 National Reptile Breeder's Expo This was our first year as vendors at the Daytona, Florida National Reptile Breeder's Expo and we had a GREAT time! There was one big thing effecting this year's Expo...CHARLEY. Hurricane Charley was a problem for quite a few people and strongly affected the attendance of the show. Even with the threat of the hurricane, some of the die-hard reptile enthusiasts still braved the weather to attend the show! It was quite an experience since the city shut down for the storm and getting anything to eat turned into a 2 to 3 hour wait. Also, the Adam's Mark lobby was quite crowded at times and quite a few people had their car windows blown out by the high-speed winds. Some parts of the hotel roof were blown off by the wind so there was lot of leaks and flooding. All in all...it was certainly an experience to be remembered! Here are some photos from the Expo... Daytona Beach, Florida Here is the view of the beach from our room. This was on Thursday so Hurricane Charley was still a day away. The weather was quite nice before the storm. If you faced the beach from the hotel room, the photos show what it would look like from left to right. Set-Up Here are some photos of what the Ocean Center looks like empty. We had pretty much all day Friday to setup, look around at other vendors' tables and just hang out. The Expo Well, the attendance wasn't nearly up to what it's been in the past but you can see that quite a few hard-core-herpers still made it! These photos were taken on Sunday. Saturday's attendance was much less than Sunday's. Our Table We only had one table this year but we will definitely be getting in touch with Wayne Hill to try and get two (or maybe more) for next year! We were table #140. B.H.B. Enterprises Here are some photos of Brian Barczyk's tables. He had a great display with some really awesome looking animals which explains why his area is always PACKED with people! I loved his vertical acrylic display cages. The Super Cinnamon Black Ball and the Hypo Pinstripe were probably my two favorites! That Hypo Pin looks like it was molded out of caramel candy. Brian and Lori have some truly amazing animals! Burke Reptiles From Coral Albinos to Hypo Jungles to Lipstick Sunglows - the Burkes had some killer looking boas at their table. It was very nice to meet Tom and Amanda in person this year. I think I saw them last year but never formally met them. They are some of the nicest people and were kind enough to let me photograph one of their Lipstick Sunglow Boas. This animal is just AMAZING. The color on her is unbelievable and she's in SHED in the photos! The Coral Albino gene can do some truly amazing things! PM Herps I had the pleasure of meeting Paul Mitchell in person this year as well. Paul has a killer looking patternless Hogg Island Boa that I had the opportunity to photograph. The photos below are of the patternless Hogg Island along with one of its siblings. What a COOL looking animal! Ectothermics Kevin and Charlotte had a great display - as always! As you can see, they expanded their display to three tables this year and had a variety of boas and pythons. Kev and Char are a couple of the nicest people you can talk to at the show! That Jonathan Brady is pretty nice too ;-) Peter Kahl Reptiles Peter Kahl had a LOT of animals on display. He had some very nice looking Albino Arabesque Boas and Motley Boas. I really like his banner. It was neat watching them put it up because it seemed to just unroll so easily. Reptile Industries Mark and Kim Bell had a very nice display as always! The Butter Ball and the Pastel Butter Ball were among a couple of the awesome animals they had on display. Reptiles by Mack John and Amy Mack had their BIG, stunning T+ Albino Argentine Boa on display at the show. Their T+ Motley Argentine Boa was really cool too. I can't wait to see what that one looks like when it gets big! N.E.R.D. NERD moved from their usual spot and were in the entrance area this year. I love their Killerbee Ball Python and those Albino Blood Pythons just seem to glow! The Snakekeeper I had to stop by and take some photos of Dan and Colette Sutherland's rare SnoBalls. They also had some pretty nice looking Mojave Ball Pythons and a real nice Bumblebee Ball Python! D&M Breeders D&M had their Axanthadox with them - a paradox Axanthic Ball Python that they produced. This animal has some really cool, subtle but striking patches of yellow throughout the grey/silver coloration. It was a really unique looking animal. Unfortunately, it was difficult to capture the color differences through the display. It's definitely much cooler looking in person! John Piro Reptiles John had an awesome looking Lesser Platinum Ball Python at his table. I snapped some pictures of it but unfortunately, I didn't have the right lens with me at the time. The photos still came out okay but they really don't do the animal justice! Other Vendors Here are some photos of other vendors' tables - DesignerSnakes.com, Constrictors Unlimited, Graziani Reptiles, Roussis Reptiles, Camlon Reptiles, East Bay Vivarium and Napa Valley Snakes, Silverback Serpents, Chondro Coalition, and Bayou Reptiles. Miscellaneous Photos And finally, some miscellaneous photos. A couple of really big Aldabra Tortoises. I took a picture of some kids petting them for size comparison. Another vendor had a few good sized Aldabras for sale. The "Albinistic" Snapping Turtle was really cool too. There's a photo of a cool striped boa and a couple of photos of the Ivory Ball Python that Snakes at Sunset produced. And that's it! Another Expo has come and gone. It sure is nice to be home but we can't wait to be at it again next year! SEE YOU ALL IN DAYTONA 2005!!!