Here is a review of my first ever visit to an animal expo (two in this case)
I’ll start with the underwater pet expo. This was the first year the underwater expo was run and it was mostly dry goods, although some companies brought interesting fish.
Highlights include various species of unidentifiable fish as well as silver dischotdus, adult Motoro Stingray (first time ever seeing an adult), Mandarin fish, Red Scooter Dragonet and Regal Angelfish.
All of a sudden I spot what looks like another empty marine tank until I spotted a leaf like creature, the extremely rare Leaf Scorpion Fish
It was a great experience but is merely the entree to the main course of the VHS (Victorian Herpetological society) Reptile and Amphibian show.
As with all expos and pet stores in Australia the expo is strictly limited to native species of herptiles but that didn’t stop me seeing some amazing natives including several lifers. My largest problem with the expo was a personal problem and that is the abundance and promotion of jaguar carpet pythons which are basically the carpet python equivalent to spider ball pythons.
Other than that the show was amazing with plenty of reptiles, amphibians as well as invertebrates, a mammal species and a few fish.
Bold= lifer
species are
Mangrove Monitor
Ridge Tailed Monitor
Red eyed Tree Frog (litoria chloris)
Rusty Monitor
Storr’s Monitor
Spotted Tree Monitor
Lace Monitor
Yellow Spotted Monitor
Scrub Python
Oenpelli Python
Green Tree Python
Hosmers Skink
Gidgee Skink
Common Scaly Foot
Hooded Scaly Foot
Curl Snake
Spotted Black Snake
Lowland Copperhead
Red Bellied Black Snake
Collets Snake
Central Bearded Dragon
Eastern/Northern (both subspecies) Blue Tongue
Western Blue Tongue
Carpet Python (diamond, bredls, coastal, Darwin, jungle)
Blotched Blue tongue
Shingleback (regular, goldfields shingleback)
Brown Tree Snake (boiga irregularis)
Common Tree Snake
Perons Tree Frog
Cyclone Larry Leaf Insect
Rough Knobtailed Gecko
Barking gecko
Spinifex Hopping mouse
Stimsons Python
Spotted Python
Children’s Python
Eastern Tiger Snake (mainland and Tasmanian black tiger)
Boyd’s Forest Dragon
Rankins/ blacksoil/ Pygmy/ dwarf Bearded Dragon (Pogona henrylawsoni) (too many common names)
Southern Angle Headed Dragon
Saw Shelled Turtle
Yellow Bellied Snapping Turtle
Strap Snouted Brown Snake
Eastern Brown Snake
Inland Taipan
Land Mullet
Tree Crevice Skink
Macquarie, Mary, Murray and Macleyley short necked turtles
Eastern Long Necked Turtle
Broad Shelled Turtle
Common Galaxias
Green Tree Frog
Green and Golden Bell Frog
Pygmy Mulga Monitor
White Lipped Tree Frog
Long Nosed Dragon
Tawny Dragon
Stripe Tailed Monitor
Woma Python
Black Headed Python
Eastern/Gippsland Water Dragon
Chapel Island Tiger Snake
Common Death Adder
Mulga (King Brown) Snake
Broad Headed Snake
Cunningham’s Skink (regular, New England)
Pink Tongue Skink
Rough Throated Leaf Tailed Gecko
Overall I absolutely loved the experience and will go again.
I’ll start with the underwater pet expo. This was the first year the underwater expo was run and it was mostly dry goods, although some companies brought interesting fish.
Highlights include various species of unidentifiable fish as well as silver dischotdus, adult Motoro Stingray (first time ever seeing an adult), Mandarin fish, Red Scooter Dragonet and Regal Angelfish.
All of a sudden I spot what looks like another empty marine tank until I spotted a leaf like creature, the extremely rare Leaf Scorpion Fish
It was a great experience but is merely the entree to the main course of the VHS (Victorian Herpetological society) Reptile and Amphibian show.
As with all expos and pet stores in Australia the expo is strictly limited to native species of herptiles but that didn’t stop me seeing some amazing natives including several lifers. My largest problem with the expo was a personal problem and that is the abundance and promotion of jaguar carpet pythons which are basically the carpet python equivalent to spider ball pythons.
Other than that the show was amazing with plenty of reptiles, amphibians as well as invertebrates, a mammal species and a few fish.
Bold= lifer
species are
Mangrove Monitor
Ridge Tailed Monitor
Red eyed Tree Frog (litoria chloris)
Rusty Monitor
Storr’s Monitor
Spotted Tree Monitor
Lace Monitor
Yellow Spotted Monitor
Scrub Python
Oenpelli Python
Green Tree Python
Hosmers Skink
Gidgee Skink
Common Scaly Foot
Hooded Scaly Foot
Curl Snake
Spotted Black Snake
Lowland Copperhead
Red Bellied Black Snake
Collets Snake
Central Bearded Dragon
Eastern/Northern (both subspecies) Blue Tongue
Western Blue Tongue
Carpet Python (diamond, bredls, coastal, Darwin, jungle)
Blotched Blue tongue
Shingleback (regular, goldfields shingleback)
Brown Tree Snake (boiga irregularis)
Common Tree Snake
Perons Tree Frog
Cyclone Larry Leaf Insect
Rough Knobtailed Gecko
Barking gecko
Spinifex Hopping mouse
Stimsons Python
Spotted Python
Children’s Python
Eastern Tiger Snake (mainland and Tasmanian black tiger)
Boyd’s Forest Dragon
Rankins/ blacksoil/ Pygmy/ dwarf Bearded Dragon (Pogona henrylawsoni) (too many common names)
Southern Angle Headed Dragon
Saw Shelled Turtle
Yellow Bellied Snapping Turtle
Strap Snouted Brown Snake
Eastern Brown Snake
Inland Taipan
Land Mullet
Tree Crevice Skink
Macquarie, Mary, Murray and Macleyley short necked turtles
Eastern Long Necked Turtle
Broad Shelled Turtle
Common Galaxias
Green Tree Frog
Green and Golden Bell Frog
Pygmy Mulga Monitor
White Lipped Tree Frog
Long Nosed Dragon
Tawny Dragon
Stripe Tailed Monitor
Woma Python
Black Headed Python
Eastern/Gippsland Water Dragon
Chapel Island Tiger Snake
Common Death Adder
Mulga (King Brown) Snake
Broad Headed Snake
Cunningham’s Skink (regular, New England)
Pink Tongue Skink
Rough Throated Leaf Tailed Gecko
Overall I absolutely loved the experience and will go again.
