Ellen

Last Sunday was another cold day. It was one of those days when you just want to stay home, read a book and drink a nice cup of hot chocolate (like Jacques Torres' hot chocolate but that's another post ^_^). Peter dragged me outside to go to the NY Reptile Expo in Westchester County Center in White Plains, NY. It was a 30 minute train ride from Grand Central Terminal.






After missing the express train, we just looked around to kill some time. Most shops were either just opening or preparing foods for the lunch crowd. Since it was Sunday, Grand Central wasn't packed with NYorkers who live outside the city but work there. And of course, there are always camera flashes from tourists.







There is a shop on the ground floor called Pylones that sell the funkiest looking things for your kitchen or room. There were so many cute things! I specially love wind up salt and pepper shakers and the veggie peelers!











By the time we arrived, it was nearly 1 pm. It was crowded, so taking pictures was almost impossible without someone's body parts end up in the photo. But I managed to sneak in there and click away. Although we don't buy anything, Peter (he's an animal lover) and I go to the show every year to see what they have. Peter loves snakes and enjoys seeing the different types they have at the show. I don't particularly like snakes and I'm afraid of touching them! Eck! I'm a turtle person so I just love seeing the tortoises there. I also really love the Poison dart frogs and would definitely love to own some someday but I don't know if you can legally own them here in the city. In the wild, these frogs are highly toxic but the ones at the show are captive bred and have lost their toxicity. They are unusually tiny--about 1 inch in size--with bold colors! Unfortunately, my pictures of them didn't come out well. But here's a sapphire-blue dart frog from National Geographic's website.

There were plenty of vendors selling different types of snakes, tortoises, Dart frogs etc. Every year there are more parents with their children--and buys them a pet. There was a couple with a son who bought him a turtle and the parents were buying equipments for the turtles housing. While the vendor explained the type of bulbs they should have, I saw that they weren't so happy and probably regretted buying the turtle. They needed more than one bulb! They obviously know nothing about taking care of turtles. The mother got pissed off for some reason and husband said, "You bought it now you take care of it!". They walk away and argue some more while the son just follows and the turtle was in a container. Poor unfortunate turtle!!

I've no problem with parents buying their kids pets but having a pet is like having another child. One must be committed and ready for the responsibility of owning one. You must take care of it! Get the facts first before buying one specially for children! But unfortunately not many people do that and their poor pets just get dump somewhere. Anyway, enough of my whining. These are just some photos that I have taken from the show. You can find more pics in my Flickr Album.

Labels: | edit post
0 Responses