| Hamm on Sep. 15th 2001: On September 15th 2001 one of the big and famous herp-events took place in Hamm near Bielefeld in Germany. It was my first herpetological fair and I was very excited about it. At 10a.m. it was supposed to open its doors and my girlfriend and I arrived at the parking lot at 10.10a.m. We were pretty astonished about the huge amount of visitors that were already standing in a long line in front of the entry. After finding a parking space - we were very lucky what this was concerned - we went to the end of the lane and waited three quarters of an hour until we could finally enter the building. At first I was a little disappointed because there were many exhibitors but only little space in front of their stands because of the crowds of people. Only with the use of your elbows it was possible to take a closer look at the stands. After a while I got used to it and was overwhelmed by the great offer of animals and accessories. There was a lot to discover not only for snake-keepers. Everything was being offered: insects, geckos, waranes, kaimans, anolis, frogs and much more. They even had a room for poisonous snakes. What was especially interesting were the different types of colors in which almost all the animals were offered. (It wasn't that exciting anymore though to see the 100th albino-typ corn-snake. Corn snakes were the animals that were presented the most often on this fair.) Since I had never been to a fair before I went there with the intention to form my own idea of what those events are like. That's why I didn't buy anything although that was not always easy... I can say now, that as a newby it is absolutely recommended to go to fairs like this. You can make new contacts and talk to the traders. As long as those people really know something about their animals. It happened to me quite a few times that I asked them relatively easy questions and received answers that were very shocking to me. Most of the times the advices I got were good and I didn't have the feeling that the traders tried to cheat on me. Most of the animals made a vital, and, as far as possible, healthy impression but I also noticed animals that appeared to be ill and suffered from parasites. Those animals would not have made their new owners happy for a long time. I also saw animals that were offered with a wrong scientific name. I can only recommend that if you do not have a lot of experience in the field of these animals and want to go to a fair you take people with you that are already experienced so that you can benefit from the event in the end. For me this day in Hamm was a success. |