The third weekend of every month, slithering snakes, brightly colored birds, and other exotic animals and reptiles occupy the Kalamazoo County Expo Center. The next Kalamazoo Reptile and Exotic Animal Show is Saturday, May 16th from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m.
Eight years ago, Tony Collison and his wife began the show. Since then, the event has expanded and become the largest show of its kind in Southwest Michigan.
Between tables covered with lizards and snakes Lynne Bennett pets a cockatiel with one hand and prepares its food with the other. Although Bennett is one of the few vendors at the show who isn’t selling reptiles, she says the show has been helpful for her business.
Bennett originally ran a wreath making store called Mother’s Wreaths. But ten years ago, that all changed.
“I had a wreath store and someone brought in a little baby love bird for me to sell, and that started the whole thing. Then the lady started to mentor me and taught me how to hand feed babies and that kind of stuff, and I started breeding and raising birds," she says. "Pretty soon my son took over the wreaths and I took my birds and went home.”
Although Bennett finds it difficult to let go of her birds, she loves the relationships she has been able to develop with the families that buy them.
“Sometimes it’s hard, but usually I know what kind of family they’re going to. I get pictures and emails and people call me or people bring them in here to me to show me their birds. I do wing trims and toe nail trims and I also bird sit out of my house,” she says.
“It’s great because I get to see how much the people are loving them. The kids especially, because the birds grow up with the kids.”
Though birds and reptiles typically are smaller animals, they have long life spans. Many snakes live between 10 and 30 years, while some birds live between 25 and 100 years.
“You figure you get a Macaw and it lives to be 90 or 100 years old, it’s going to go through four or five families. That’s why a bird is a real commitment, it really is. One of these little cockatiels can live to be 25-years-old," says Bennett. "So, you gotta keep that in mind when you buy a bird. So, I don’t do big birds anymore, I just do the smaller ones that can live somebody’s lifetime.”
Show organizer, Tony Collison also feels a unique relationship with his unconventional pets. Collison’s six and a half foot alligator, Freddy typically attends the show. Collison said that some people aren’t able to relate with a cat or a dog like they do with reptiles.
“I think reptiles in general have a much more calming effect. You hold a pet snake and it’s very soothing very calming,” he says.
Collison says that he has always felt a connection with reptiles but that when he was a kid, reptile and exotic animal shows didn’t exist. He thought it was important to start one in the Kalamazoo area so that vendors and customers didn’t have to drive to Chicago or Detroit for the experience.
“You come to a place and you just see reptiles from all over the world and it’s all in one room and you can connect with the people and talk to the breeders and you learn all about these animals,” says Collison.
Collison says he gets a lot of enjoyment out of helping others experience the reptiles and exotic animals.
One of the neat things for me, like today somebody came and they said they had this snake phobia and they were just terrified of reptiles. So they came here and they kind of got to see the nicer side of these animals that terrified them their whole lives. So things like that are really cool. But, a lot of other people just love them and they come to see them. It’s neat to see everybody come and hang out in one area.
Whether you fear these slithering colorful animals or adore them, The Kalamazoo Reptile and Exotic animal show is a one of a kind experience in Southwest Michigan. The next show is Saturday, May 16th from ten to three.
