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7 JANUARY19,2015 THEBLUEBANNER.NET A day devoted to reptiles! Reptiday comes to Asheville on Jan. 23. A cloy ©vGnt WILLQUANSTROM News Staff Writer ReptiDay, a one-day reptile expo coming to Asheville on Jan. 23, will showcase snakes, spiders, amphibians and other small exotic animals at the. Western North Car olina Agricultural Center. “Western North Carolina doesn’t have really high snake di versity, but they have some endan gered snakes here,” said Landon Ward, a herpetology professor at UNC Asheville. “They have pine snakes. They have timber rattlesnakes, which are becoming less and less common every year. Those species are important to the environment.” Students who attend his travel ing field herpetology class during the summer always say snakes are a lot easier to handle and less .scary than they thought. Ward said; “People think everything’s ven omous. I think a lot of snakes get killed a year,” Ward said. Bonnie Miller, promotions team leader of Repticon, said attendees of Reptiday will have the chance to purchase reptiles from vendors hosted on the premises. “I’m not a real big fan of cap turing and importing lots of spe cies.” Ward said. “Sometimes you see people selling animals they caught, and that’s not really good for the environment.” According to the ReptiDay’s website, no restrictions on selling wild-caught animals are imposed on vendors at their conventions, but they must disclose whether the animals fall into the category of wild-caught or captive-bred. “Well, I think most of them are captive bred. 1 don’t think you can import reptiles,” said Jeff Sansou- ci, a public relations officer for Exo Terra USA, a sponsor of Rep- tiDay. Exo Terra builds and sells ter rariums and accessories tfiat rep licate the natural environment of the animals they house, Sansouci said. “We don’t just build things we think they need. We actually go out and study their natural envi ronment,” Sansouci said. “We have the exact same moss, the exact saihe plants, the exact same lighting. We’re actually recreating the animals’ environment.” ReptiDay formed as a one-day version of the larger Repticon conventions held across the U.S., Miller said. “We are in a lot of areas that simply will not support a two-day show,” Miller said. According to Reptiday’s web site, all animals must be healthy and legal within the state. A veterinarian provides assis tance and checks out the animals in many of Repticon’s larger events. Miller said. “For the most part, we have well-established vendors. They are trustworthy. They know what they’re, allowed to bring in the show and what they’re not,” Mill er said. “I totally support captive breed ing of reptiles,” said Ward, who is a snake-breeder. According to Reptiles Mag azine, wild-caught reptiles are more likely to be highly stressed and to harbor parasites and/or dis ease than captive-bred reptiles. The organizers of ReptiDay sell their merchandise independant of the event’s participating vendors. “We are the host,” said Mill er “We don’t sell anything other than T-shirts. It’s just a great time for everybody and you get to see a whole lot of things you’ll never see in the wild.”
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Jan. 19, 2016, edition 1
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