The Southwest's biggest reptile & exotic pet expo
While you're asleep, 200 vendors are wrestling racks, heat packs, and quarantine paperwork into place. We spent a night on the floor to see how a hollow convention hall becomes a reptile wonderland by sunrise.
Summer electric bills in Phoenix and Las Vegas are brutal enough without running a 100-watt bulb 12 hours a day. Good news: several desert-native species do just fine at the temps your AC already provides — if you set them up right.
Isopods, springtails, and live plants are turning reptile cages into miniature ecosystems — and dry-climate keepers are leading the charge. Here's how the bioactive movement works, what it costs, and how to build your first one without drowning your desert species.
Arizona, New Mexico, Nevada, and Texas each draw the legal lines differently — and a species that's fine in one state can get confiscated in the next. We talked to expo vendors who cross state lines every season to break down what's legal, what needs a permit, and what will get taken at inspection.
That $40 price tag on the ball python booth? It's the entry fee, not the bill. We broke down the real first-year costs of three classic starter reptiles with help from the vendors who sell them — and found out where you can cheap out and where cutting corners costs you later.
Bringing your own animal to the Reptile Holiday Market? Before you load the car, read this: how to build a carrier that survives an Arizona summer, which species raise red flags at state lines, and the heat-stress signs every herp vet wants you to spot early. Plus a pre-trip checklist you can actually print.
Your first reptile expo can feel like Disneyland and a used car lot had a baby. Here's an hour-by-hour playbook for browsing like a pro, dodging impulse buys, and making it to the exit with your wallet (and your willpower) intact.
Raising feeder bugs in Arizona or New Mexico summer is a different sport than the care sheets suggest. From dubia colonies that thrive in the garage to hornworms that cook on the porch, here's how Southwest keepers keep the food chain alive.
Every expo has its must-visit booths, and this year's Reptile Holiday Market lineup is stacked. We caught up with seven breeders and sellers ahead of the show to find out what they're bringing, how they got started, and how to actually get a good conversation (and a good deal) at their tables.
Every year, families walk into the expo, lock eyes with a curious gecko, and make a decision they haven't fully thought through. Here's an honest breakdown of costs, commitments, and which species actually work for households with kids — straight from people who've seen it all at the show floor's exit doors.