Admission is $8 for adults, $5 for children ages five to twelve, and free for children four and under.  It is a great deal considering it provides several hours of amusement and learning.

If you are looking for a specific reptile or other exotic pet, it is a perfect venue to meet the breeder and haggle a price.  Here is a photographic journey of our experience.

When first visiting an animal convention, we were surprised at how animals were displayed.

Acrylic cases and plastic tubs were ubiquitous.

The plastic containers housed frogs.  I think this picture is a great candidate for speech bubbles!

The containers also housed tarantulas and other eight legged creatures.  This particular specimen, a “Cameroon Giant Red Baboon”, turned upside down for his (or her!) picture.  It turns out this particular tarantula like to burrow.

This leopard gecko also appeared to be a lover of the camera.  I was also a lover of his “tangerine” color.

This bearded dragon gets a healthy diet.  I was very impressed by the passion and obviously well taken care of dragons from the breeders at Carolina Designer Dragons.  Our next future addition to our household may be one of their sweet dragons!

Vendors unknowingly (or perhaps very knowingly) put on a free show.  This albino python was a hefty weight to carry.

One of my favorite aspects of Repticon is the educational aspect.  There are informational shows every 2 hours about reptiles and other creatures.  You are also able to interact with many different types of animals during the show (if you volunteer).  “Hey kids, want to hold a corn snake?”

Overall it was a great experience and well worth the admission price.  It makes me wonder what other type of lovely conventions are out there for me to attend…  My dad and uncle “in-law” recently attended an orchid convention, so obviously they have them for a myriad of interests.   If I attend another random convention, I will post.  If you have a convention suggestion, let me know about it.

Here is a gallery of the images from the Charlotte Repticon January 2010 and 2009.

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