calgary reptile expo

Amateur herpetologists will be in heaven this weekend at the Calgary Reptile Expo. Andrea Hersom, TARAS president and owner of Darwins Reptiles, estimates there will be a couple of thousand pythons, tortoises, frogs and other scaly/horned things on hand. To give an idea of the variety, Hersom highlighted a few of the creatures you’ll get to meet.

1. Sulcata tortoise

The big breeds are usually crowd favourites, and sulcatas are the third-largest tortoises in the world. Speedy, who will be visiting from his home at the veterinary clinic in Dewinton, Alta., weighs in at about 50 kilograms. As pets, they’re troublesome because they are so strong. Hersom knows a vendor who kept a pair in his basement. “They actually moved his refrigerator in front of his basement door,” she says. He had to break in to his own basement to move the fridge.

2. Argentine black-and-white tegu

Kids will be able to get up close and personal with these one-metre-plus lizards in the TARAS kids’ corner. “They’re basically opportunistic feeders, so they eat pretty much anything,” says Hersom. “Fruits and veggies, meat and broken protein from insects, shellfish. They’re kind of scavengers.”

3. Ball python

Usually when you think of pythons, you think of the six-metre Australian monsters that swallow dogs whole. Ball pythons are more house-friendly (about a metre and a half at most) and far less intimidating. When scared, “they’ll curl up into a ball instead of striking, which is why they make good pets,” says Hersom.

4. Corn Snake

Also a household-sized (usually just over a metre or so), corn snakes are both active—”they like to move a lot more than heavier-bodied snakes”—and patient—”they’re pretty docile even though they’re very quick,” says Hersom.

5. Asian Rat Snake

This label covers a wide variety of snakes ranging from 45 centimetres to four metres in length and collectively displaying a rainbow’s worth of colours. “They are absolutely beautiful,” says Hersom. “You get the blues and the greens; they almost look more like some of the venomous animals that you can’t actually own.” Hersom will be bringing her albino and leucistic varieties.

6. Gargoyle Geckos

The lizards have a bumpy complexion—”it looks like they have bone spurs on their heads”—reminiscent of their namesakes. And, just like stone gargoyles, they’re easy to care for. “They’re really neat critters, too, because they don’t have any extra heat or lighting requirements,” says Hersom.