REPTILE AND ODDITIES SHOW SLITHERS INTO VALLEJO
Baboon, alligator, snakes, sloths, porcupine, turtles and more shown at yearly expo
Fans of reptiles found the place to be Saturday at the Solano County Fairgrounds, where the Vallejo Reptile & Oddities Expo entertained kids and adults with snakes, sloths, baboons, alligators, frogs, salamanders, turtles and other creatures.
Six-year-old Chance Santa Maria, dressed up as a dinosaur, was all smiles.
“I really like all the snakes the best,” Santa Maria said. “I also liked the porcupine a lot.”
“I didn't have any idea there was this many reptiles in the world,” Chance's mother, Christine Santa Maria said. “I didn't know that the porcupine would be as big as it was.”
Putting together the exhibit once again was promoter Wendy Rozonewski, who said the attendance from last year was down a little, attributing it to the increase in gas prices as well as the COVID pandemic.
Still, she was thrilled with all the people that came out to the free event.
“I love this whole thing,” Rozonewski said. “We have a lot of vendors this year, some coming from as far away as Los Angeles. We try to have a lot of diversity and not keep too much of the same thing from last year. Each year we want the event to be different, so we won't always have the same vendors.”
One of the popular vendors was Classroom Safari, an educational adventure, with a sloth, an alligator and a porcupine.
“A lot of people see the porcupine and are amazed,” Charlotte Haslan said. “They walk near it and go, “Oh my gosh, I always thought they were smaller and didn't realize how big they were. A lot of people want to know the porcupine's age and if he shoots his quills. I'm like, `Do people like me and you shoot their hairs?”' I tell them, `Can people shoot their hair?'
“I love seeing the people's reactions to the porcupine,” Haslan continued. “I love it when their face lights up.”
Another popular exhibit was Salmantra. Phil Tomaschke ran the booth and loved educating people on the approximately 50 salamanders he had brought to the show.
“This is my first show ever
actually and I love it so far,” Tomaschke said. “A lot of people have great reactions, even the adults who have never seen an animal like this, or at least aren't very familiar with it. It's most popular in the south eastern part of the United States.”
Rozonewski said she wasn't sure about having salamanders at the show until Tomaschke told her he had the kind that were legal.
“The most popular type of salamander is the tiger salamander but they aren't allowed often because people think they will be used by fisherman as bait,” Tomaschke said. “Mine are a completely different type of species and since there is zero risk of them being an evasive species they are legal.
“People have loved watching them so far,” Tomaschke continued. “Their reaction is crazy and they often ask if it is an eel. Not too many people are familiar with it.”
Rozonewski said her goal was to have as many different types of animals as possible, but admitted the baboon, “Mikey” was the most popular.
“A lot of people want to see Mikey because he's famous from movies, including one with Tom Cruise,” Rozonewski said. “Knowing how popular `Mikey' is we tried to not make the event all about him but instead the whole event. `Mikey' is more of a special guest to this event.”
As soon as the event ends, Rozonewski said she'll been concentrating on the next one — once again scheduled for the third Sunday in July.
“With everything being crazy the last few years, It's been nice to walk around from booth to booth and see so many faces enjoying this,” Rozonewski said. “I don't really have a favorite part of this show, but in the next few days I'll start reading the comments on our Facebook page to see the feedback and what animal people liked the most.”