Baby Veiled Chameleon. So much cuter than a human baby. Mainly because the human baby is tethered to a human mother, who were all screaming at me during the show that it was so crowded that their strollers (now the size of hummers) couldn't navigate. Ok. The show is moving to a new stroller friendly environment for 2008. See the Home page

My daughter, Mia, age 11, President of the Whitmore Elementary student council, is not scared of spiders and snakes. I don't own a shotgun yet, but I've been shopping at Cabellas

Geckos, Dragons and Monitors are the most popular, but the Jeweled Lacerta, I think, is one of the coolest lizards around. Thanks to Laura Vietje (LVJ Reptiles) for breeding these beauties 

Well, I guess Geckos are pretty cool too. These belonged to Predators Reptile Center

In order to let this page, with over a hundred photos on it, load fairly quickly, I had to downgrade the picture quality. So you can't see the wonderful details of my posters. I love the program 'Print Shop' 

Lucky Snake

The Presentations were great! Amanda Sihler on Dart Frogs, Rich Funk DVM on Drug therapy in reptiles, Bill Love on herp photography, Young Cage on the reptiles of Tucson, Paul Hamilton PhD on rain forest reptile diversity and Matt Johnson on Bearded Dragons.

Young Cage (actually getting a bit older) did an exhaustive presentation of the reptiles of Tucson. His pictures are Great. Click here to view my article from Reptiles magazine humorously describing all the reptiles I've seen through the windows of my house. 

Everyone except moms with strollers were happy at the Tucson Reptile & Amphibian Show

Didn't like spiders & snakes, but turtle earrings and a frog necklace did just fine

  

It got a bit crowded with over 6000 people attending. Next year the show is moving to the Tucson Expo Center and will occupy a 34,000 square foot hall, two and a half time the current space. There will also be unlimited free parking.

     

Bearded Dragons are surely the most popular pet lizard, but dwarf monitors like this Red Acky are very cool and have come way down in price

Forgot to wear deodorant 

Billie, Chief Snake-handler for the AHA gave lessons in snake handling at the bar after the show

Searching for cockroaches, a favorite meal

Miss Arizona (note the crown) holding my snake at the TMC safety fair where I had a booth on reptile safety

Male Uromastyx are usually Sweet

But sometimes they like to talk dirty

Dr. Rich Funk put his mustache on crooked the morning of his presentation, but no one had the guts to tell him

Bill Love gave a great Lecture on herp photography. But I know what he really likes to photograph. He let me use the photo of Lena below for a limited production show flier

Erin is holding a Snow Boa. I've heard that the only way to get a Snow Boa is to prick it out of Medusa's hair where she lives in the Antarctic wastes

If you have to ask, you can't afford it

Lisa (right) almost famous writer and ex roller derby  queen, was a bit paranoid with the alligator and giant monitor walking around, wouldn't let her husband set  their daughter on the ground at the show

There was hot tortoise action going on at the show

We let Mistie & Travis out of their cage during parts of the show. They were very well behaved as long as you didn't point a camera at them

My Son Ryan sold a *##$%load of Variable Kingsnakes for me (and his 20% commission) Thayeri are truly the coolest Kingsnake

Travis is part wizard, & is able to change the color of his tunic with a wiggle of his nose

Nikki just gets better with age

She's my favorite photo subject at the show

Fred after a couple of Dos XX kept going up to vendors and asking them to reach for things at the front of there tables or on the floor. Lawyers are easy to keep entertained

Fred was also impressed with the scales of justice on her left arm

Kim has worked with reptiles so much she's developed scales on her legs

Christina and Alex of JC Reptiles. I believe the JC stands for Jon & Christina rather than religious significance

Scott, Jeanine and Nikki of Grand Canyon Reptiles

Reptile Mogul had a red dot special going on Sunday

Laura took her top off so Robert could get a good photo

Reptile Fanatics exemplified the show attitude, we are all pretty much Reptile Fanatics

Thinks young, Is young, Named Young

This hand signal means different things to different people. To me it will always be the sign for lobster we used to use while scuba diving in fridged California waters. To hippies it meant peace. To Nixon it meant nothing.  To WWII vets it meant victory. To John? 

Scott Kilbury & family of the KOLD (CBS) morning show. I've been appearing on the Morning Show for several years bringing cold blooded creatures to help wake up the town to reptiles. I want to be Jack Hanna

Vanessa did some very serious face painting this year. Several hundred kids left the show bearing masterpieces, Vanessa left with very stiff fingers

Hardly a vendor left the show without trading some of their hard earned cash for a stack of written words from Eric of Zoo Books.

We forbade the sale or consumption of human babies at the show (unlike previous years), so Nicole had to keep hers for the time being

The front three of team Tropical Kingdom. Known for exceptional defense against the run

Thing, from the old Adams Family show made a guest appearance and is shown gesticulating with Hannah

Jim prefers to keep a low profile

George & Mel of Kruger's Kritters had a good time at the show. I hadn't the heart to let them know they spelled critters wrong on their sign & shirts

Matt and associates were surprised when I caught them on film rolling a joint

Chris had the coolest collection of pythons this side of Oklahoma City. Did I ever tell you I used to live in OKC next door to Bob Clark, one of the high points of my life (facetious: humorous, flippant)

Even the Kingsnakes are moving here from California

Some of Chris's pythons

Kelly & Dixie sold UV LED flashlights that make scorpions glow like toxic waste from 20 or more feet away. When I brought mine home and looked around I was stunned by the density of the little buggers. Sometimes certain facts should remain hidden

Appetizers for the show barbeque before we grilled them

Robert & Ramona somehow get their baby Alterna to eat. Even though they're beautiful snakes, I gave up breeding them. It was either that or pull the rest of my hair out.

Most woman have a natural desire to hold a big thick snake. About 10% of the female population prefer not to

Reptile people tend to be poor spellers. It's 'enough' Don

Delores of Pillows Plus. Seeing that we're dealing with pillows here, and you find them more often than not in the bedroom, why not pornographic pillows? Do you want to roll in the bucks Delores? She would have to sell them in brown paper rappers

She had to buy the iguana, it wouldn't let go of her back 

For years Steve has been trying to whistle. Can't quite get the proper lip action going

Years of pictures of Frank and I still don't have one in which his mouth isn't open. It's bizarre. That's Keith to the right

Some girls prefer lizards to snakes. This is one of Kelly Paul's San Esteban Island Spiny-Tailed Iguanas

AHA snake handler trying to hold back a vicious California Kingsnake that wants to show off its ability to consume small children

Mia & Cathy; my wife and daughter. Can you tell which is which?

Dale turns dead on the road snakes into wallets, belts, knife sheaths, purses, etc. So as not to disrupt his karma he has made arrangements to have himself turned into a set of luggage on his demise

There's nothing funny to say about this guy

To protect the delicate skin on the top of his head, Kelly had a stuffed animal puppy glued in place. It also makes a great hand-hold for his daughter

The Phoenix Herp Society brought the largest Sulcata I've ever seen. Must be 200lbs. +

Come on mom, the kid needs glasses

Debbie and Tony didn't really want to be photographed. Eyes closed, they figured if they couldn't see me, than I couldn't see them. Maybe more than their eye need checking

Jimi has become so intimate with his plants that his feet have sprung roots. He stood too long in one place at the show and it took three of us to pull him out so he could go home

Jeff, an old friend of mine traveled all the way from Studio City where we grew up together (I was kicked out of the city). He's not much of a reptile guy though, so he had to take Billie's snake handling class at the bar on Saturday night

Black-tailed Rattlesnake, looks just like my wallet from Dale (Recycled Road Kill)

Jerry of the AHA, demonstrating the proper way to lick a toad at the AHA toad licking station

Tuesday, the PHX Herp Society alligator, posing with his lunch before consuming

Nick, Mark, Tanya and Wesley, the core show staff

Ann Hoff produces ceramics that are coveted throughout the country. Her jewelry channels mystical powers. I like her despite her weirdness

James Fenn, Mr. Skink. Every year his tongue gets bluer and his arms and legs get shorter

Jared of Reptile Mogul has finely mastered the US postal system*

*sorry, an inside joke

And our next model is Jerry displaying the latest Paris fashion in neck wear. The elite will be sporting snakes rather than Armani ties to the clubs this season. You can pick up this lively Rainbow Boa in the Prada Catalog

See the Snow Boa way above. Another herper who can't spell. Everyone knows Mark is with a 'K'

I sold out of Chinese cloisonné Chanukah ornaments

Tommy (left), head of security for the show, securing a beer and me (right) being far more clandestine with my beer

My daughter Mia was in charge of Jewelry sales and sold everything from $2 necklaces for kids to $200 ensembles to older herper babes

Matt, Ryan, Cathy--Snake Watcher, Snake Handler, Snake Dancer

Chris & Ana had frogs and Geckos, but were the only vendors selling orchids. Orchids aren't reptilian but do resemble members of the mollusk family*

*Look up Georgia O'Keefe

The Fruit Fly Store Dot Com

Click above to get your fruit flies

The T-Rex Museum had an acute case of legal trouble just before the show but still managed to set up their fossil dig for the kids 

Kevin Dunn is back from touring the world. All those rumors, well, almost all, were false

This would be a surprise for a professional dog walker

Tom Boyden (left) an old icon of snake breeding. No longer breeding, just practicing with wife Linda. The guy on the right staring off into space is Jeff Segal a fellow of the Get Smart Trivia Institute

Amanda Sihler( Arizona Dendrobate Ranch) and her dancing frogs. No seriously, the frog roundup was good this year. The markets will be awash in frog meat throughout the coming season

Blue Bellied Water Turtle, lying on its back. Typical pose for the species

Tom demonstrating the incapacitating one finger Jeet Kune Do death grip on B (I could tell you her real name but then I'd have to--well you know)

Dustin & Shann in the red light district

Slithering House, well, slithers!

D& M Reptile Rescue Mission supplies bread and soup to needy reptiles throughout the state

Sam & Bob of the T-Rex Museums use fashion to promote their theory that the T-Rex was actually orange, based on DNA analysis and acid trips

Deana of Top Stitch of Sonoita somehow found a loophole in the Game & Fish regulations and was able to sell this crocodilian species to wealthy & adventuresome herpers

Kat & MC and there son Gophy

Christian Bob and Nikki*

*Christian, you can thank me later for not using 'The Picture' 

The Phoenix Herpetological Society's new giant herp trailer packed an awesome display. We had to partially disassemble the building to get it inside. One reason for our move to the Tucson Expo Center next year

Ron gesticulating, no one knows why

Strange hand movements and signals seem to be a trait of AHA personal. Is it some sort of toxic exposure, nature or nurture? The controversy rages on. I think its tequila

If Pythons were measured the same as horses this one would be about 84 hands

This Gecko would be about three fingers