I’m curious – at the expos you visit, what tends to be the percentage of ball pythons versus other kinds of reptiles in terms of animal count?
I am not asking with regard to market saturation type concerns. I am merely curious about the size of the markets versus what we see on MorphMarket, and observations at expos is one way to gauge it.
I will share about what I saw at NARBC but want to hear first.
Central Pennsylvania:
All of the local shows I visit are dominated by BP’s with Geckos coming in at a close second. I’m also seeing an emergence of dwarf retics that gather al lot of attention, but I haven’t noticed anyone purchasing them but just wanting to know more about them. Most of the purchases I see are BP’s and Geckos. Hognose breeders seem to be few and far between, but lately I am seeing more at shows mingled in with other colubrids and there never seems to be a shortage of tortoises.
Not counting dry good vendors I would say small local shows around here are probably 80% ball pythons and 20% everything else which some people attempting sometime will complain about.
I would say in order of popularity at those shows you have
Ball Pythons
Crested Geckos
Bearded Dragons
Misc Colubrids
It would be nice to find more boa breeders, morelia breeders IMO because those are severely lacking.
Atlanta: 60-70% ball pythons but a lot of the ball python folks have other animals too
This observations are in line with what I’ve seen such as at NARBC last week. Most tables are selling BP, although some of those people are selling other animals as well. I still think at least 2/3 of the animals there are probably ball pythons.
The reason I bring this up is as a point of reference for MorphMarket. We have had a nice influx of non-BP since the spring, and at this point our ratios are 2/3 BP and 1/3 other. So I’m thinking we’re fairly well balanced within the exotic reptiles community.
A different thing to compare to would be pet sales in general (think what’s being bought at Pet-smart). Here I think it’d be a much smaller fraction that are BPs - maybe 25-50%. But that’s somewhat of a different market.
At the super show in pamona that I go to every year I see a crazy amount of bp’s compared to everything else. Even small vendors mainly have bp’s. I suppose it’s because it appeals to the vast majority of reptile keepers and that’s why there is a large presence of bp’s at shows. Either way I’m not gonna complain cause I love seeing what vendors have produced!
A few years back, I went to the Reptile Super Show in San Diego. I was actually surprised at the mixed blend of vendors that participated. I do feel that BP’s lead the way in most displayed, however, it didn’t seem like they were every other table like some of the other local expos I’ve attended.
Here are my estimate from the 2019 shows I attended
San Diego: 50% BP
Salt Lake City: 60% BP
Denver: 60% BP
That said, I’m not much of an inverts or lizards guy and I have to assume that perception is probably flawed because of my background and interests: I have been attending shows since 2001, I’m mostly a boa guy, and the variety of animals available has decreased significantly. However, the general health and quality of animals (mostly due to captive breeding) is WAY better.
in nashville, although our expos are smaller and terrible breeders, its about 75%
Yep. I have been to 2 expos in the Nashville area, and i would say it was at least 75% and maybe higher of ball pythons. Last Repticon in Chattanooga was “ball python in a deli cup convention”
I think when it comes to herps at the expo I usually go to here in Canada ball pythons are offered more than anything else. Too bad im not interested in pythons 
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In Hamm I think around 50 to 60% of non venomous part. There is also a seperate area for venomous animals but I don’t usually go there. By the time I finish the non-venomous their mostly already closing because they finish earlier. In Houten in Holland around 40 to 50%. There are around 60% or more who sell ball pythons but a lot of breeders also sell other types of reptiles so ball pythons is only a small part of the animals they sell. That’s one of the nice things I like in Houten. Enough ball pythons but if you want to get any other special type of reptile you can find it too, including bugs, spiders ect. They combine it with an expo for pet rodents. It always looks a little crazy, in one area breeders are selling their mice, rats, hamsters and Guinea pigs as pet, and one door further they sell th same as feeders. The only difference is the price.
In the smaller expo’s it about 60% ball pythons. Boa’s and corns are also very popular here together with the common gecko types and bearded dragon’s. But there are most of the time also breeders of other types of reptiles but not the diversity you find at the bigger expo’s.
Wow, I had no idea that would be true anywhere. 40-50% of vendors at the Hamm reptile show are selling venomous reptiles?
Is there a way we could word this in a poll to give us a rough idea?
I’m with Deb when she says 80% are ball pythons.
If I had to I would break it down as:
BP - 80%
Crested Geckos - 8%
Bearded Dragons - 5%
Other lizards - 5%
Misc Colubrids - 2%
But at all the repticons I’ve been to in Texas it’s almost different
BPs - 40%
Lizards - 50%
Reptile supplies - 8%
Colubrids - 2%
No…I mean that from the people who sell non venomous reptiles 50 to 60% are selling ball pythons. But if you also count the people who sell venomous then the percentage most be lower but I don’t know how much because I don’t know how many people are selling venomous but the space they sell them in is quite big (it’s a seperate hall).
But the amount of ball pythons versus other reptiles must also be lower because a lot of breeders don’t only breed ball pythons but also a lot of other snakes/reptiles. B
In Hamm they sell venomous animals at the expo but in Holland they don’t. It’s not allowed to sell them at a normal expo. They only sell them on Snakeday because this is organised by the European snake society.
In the percentage I only counted the animal selling people. If you count all over including reptile supplies then the presentage is lesser. But there are still al lot of ball pythons around …but also a lot of other animals
Here in Detroit, I was surprised to see the high percentage of BPs. Easily 60%, and likely closer to 75%. So many morphs!
Personally, I wish there were more colubrids. More tortoises. More turtles. But clearly it is the pythons that pay the bills! So, I’m happy they make the expos possible.
I think I can do something like that 
I went to the Norfolk, Va repticon last July and there wasn’t a single hognose snake in the building. I was so disappointed. It was all BP and a few lizards and bugs. I also went this past January and there was one hognose vendor, the rest BP and very little else.
Depends, one expo of the same company may be all crested gecko and hardly anything else. The next one a few months later almost all ball pythons. The last one was a lot of ball pythons. Almost never is there a huge amount of bearded dragons, often times lots of leos.