What does Pugsly eat? “Meat,” Poelsma says. Pugsly is a stunning creature that looks to be from prehistoric times, with claws like steak knives, camouflaged skin, and a muscular tail. Take Ed Poelsma, who’s wandering Repticon with Pugsly, a five-and-a-half-foot-long black-throated monitor that’s a close relative of the Komodo dragon.
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Each of these reptiles found their way to Florida via the pet trade-but while most people acknowledge that’s a leaky pipeline, few agree on whether and how to plug it. And on the outskirts of Florida City, just outside Everglades National Park, egg-eating Argentine tegus could soon raid the nesting grounds of one of the last remaining populations of the endangered Cape Sable Seaside Sparrow. Farther north, Nile monitors-the largest lizard in Africa-have been terrorizing a population of Burrowing Owls in the city of Cape Coral. The Burmese pythons, which stalk wading birds in the Everglades, have become so menacing that the state has hosted derby-style competitions to catch them. To date the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission, or FWC, has identified 50 types of non-native lizards, turtles, crocodilians, and snakes within state limits, more than anywhere else in the world.įor the birds of Florida, this blitz of exotic predators poses an existential-scale threat. But the sub-tropics of South Florida are different, and the best adapted have not only survived in the wild, they have thrived. In much of the continental United States, these cold-blooded creatures aren’t likely to fare well outdoors should they escape or be set free. These shows represent but a tiny sliver of the live-reptile trade, a loosely regulated industry that spans the globe and generates an estimated $1.2 billion in revenue annually, according to the United States Association of Reptile Keepers. Roughly 60 Repticons take place each year, from Phoenix to Oklahoma City to Baltimore, attracting an estimated 200,000 visitors. Another man, who has a three-foot-long lizard slung across his chest like a bandolier, is at a nearby booth admiring a young boa constrictor that’s twirling around his girlfriend’s fingers. A guy strolls by wearing a “Snakes Lives Matter” t-shirt. Others are selling Asian water monitors, gargoyle geckos, yellow rat snakes, and bearded dragons. One vendor’s table is covered in flimsy plastic catering trays that are filled with ball pythons.
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Some have woken early to trek out to the Florida State Fairgrounds to get first crack at the animals of Repticon, a weekend-long extravaganza that’s similar to a baseball card convention, except instead of mint-condition Mickey Mantles and Pete Roses there are green anacondas and meat-eating lizards. It’s a sweaty morning last June on the outskirts of Tampa, and droves of reptile enthusiasts are streaming into an air-conditioned expo center.
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