Great Reptile Shows hosted the Stockton Reptile and Exotic Pet Show at the San Joaquin County Fairgrounds from March 22 to 23.
The expo was the first exotic pet trade show that Plan B Productions, parent company of Great Reptile Shows, hosted in Stockton after over ten years of production. Recent Stockton shows from Plan B Productions included the Christmas at the Fair event from Dec. 12 to 22, 2024.
Around 25 local and regional vendors were invited to the event.
Tickets were $15 for adults, while children less than 12 attending with their parents were permitted free entry into the expo.
A variety of exotic animals were on display at the expo. Reptiles included lizards, snakes, tortoises and skinks. Arachnids included spiders, scorpions and a vinegaroon. Insects included centipedes as well as live feeder insects like fruit flies, roaches and more. Frogs and isopods were also displayed at the expo.
Animals of interest include: a crocodile monitor, the third-longest living lizard in the world; New Caledonian giant geckos, the largest known living gecko species; Mexican beaded lizards, one of the few venomous species of lizard in the world; a ball python with a superfly leopard stranger clown morph, with up to six mutations; the Goliath birdeater tarantula, the largest tarantula in the world; a black widow, a neurotoxic spider and more.
Many of the animals displayed at the expo were available for out-the-door sale. Some of the most expensive examples could cost from $3,000 to $6,000.
Vendors also allowed visitors to hold and photograph themselves with many of the animals, with some charging fees to touch the animals.
“We’re all in this Earth together, and we need to care for each other, whether we have legs or not,” said Rhonda Velez, a vendor at the expo and member of the Bay Area Herpetological Society, a conservational group of amateur and professional herpetologists based in the Bay Area.
A variety of pet-related products were available for sale at the expo like tanks, heaters, animal medicine and food. Animal-themed merchandise like toys, figurines, plushies, stickers and apparel. A variety of plants and related products were also available for purchase, while mineral commodities like crystal, metal and fossil products were also sold at the expo.
The expo attracted many animal enthusiasts, with owners of all experience levels looking to observe or purchase the reptiles and other exotic pets available. Cassidy Sigsworth was one such enthusiast, a worker for Nevada highway patrol and childhood reptile owner who came to her first reptile expo on her birthday. She left with the purchase of a bold stripe Tremper albino morph of leopard gecko.
“Watching them grow and seeing how their interactions are with people and yourself, seeing their personalities in the animal is really cool,” Sigsworth said.
The expo also brought visitors looking to conquer their fear of reptiles and exotic animals, such was the case for Esperanza “11espi” Gonzalez, a Stockton-based social media influencer that came to her first reptile expo to film Snapchat content with her mother.
“Worst fears … how they come about is just being unfamiliar with them, and like all the unfamiliarity with them just triggers the fear to be even worse,” said Gonzalez. “You see a bunch of kids here who grew up with animals so they’re not even fearful of it. So to me, that’s what I think it is that I’ve never been around them ever.”
