Hamm Reptile Show in Germany

Well I'm leaving for Germany soon and taking a train to the Hamm Reptile Show with my wife. It opens on Saturday morning and is a 1 day only event. According to Mike Wilbinks it is "Without a doubt, the biggest, best show in the world!" so I'm pretty excited.

Has anyone else ever gone to this one? This will be my first reptile show (aside from the Hampton Roads show in Newport News last summer). Planning on getting some pics too.

Def get pics! That would be awesome to go to!

Whoa, I totally agree with RealYoda, definitely take some pictures!!!

That sounds so awesome!!

Hope you have a safe and easy trip

I have been to Hamm in the past while I lived in Europe. It was the best show back in the 90's and early 2000's when I went. They had everything under the sun.
One thing you will notice is that the package their animals differently than we do here at shows. The German government has an animal welfare department that passed laws about how the animals can be housed at shows.
Get there early. It can get really crowded but it's awesome. I would rather go to that show than any show here just for the diversity of animals that are offered.
If you get anything you could have it shipped back, there are a few Americans that go to sell animals and they also bring stuff back. It isn't worth it though if you are just going to do it for one or two animals unless you can get one of the American breeders to do it for you.

Totally jealous.

I'm excited for you! Take lots and lots of pictures. Looking very forward to your report.

Sweet! Can't wait for pics.

Thanks everyone! I just got here. I'll post lots of pics and do a report. Now I'm off to get some jagerschnitzel and beer!

HAMM REPORT

We arrived in the main train station of Hamm around 0900, after travelling on the train since 0430 from Heidelberg. It was obvious that there was a reptile show going on because of all the people with insulated storage containers to carry reptiles. The show started at 1000 and we waited outside for a while in the cold with lots of other people queued up in front of the doors. Despite it being 9:00 AM, people were drinking hot spiced wine, called glühwein. Tickets were 10 Euros each.

After getting through the doors I read lots of signs prohibiting all photography and videos. Additionally there were lots of people working as event security all over the place, not to mention signs every 10 feet with a camera and a giant red X through it. As much as a wanted to photograph the animals, I didn’t want to risk getting kicked out for a show I traveled so far to see.

B_Rickard was right about rules for vendors: they are very strict on regulating exactly how animals can be kept on display. Basically they have to have certain sizes for the containers and all animals have to be kept completely separated from others on display and protected from viewers. Also, the reason they don’t have a two day show is because they believe two consecutive days of being on display is too stressful for the animals. There were also rules for transporting animals within the venue. I saw a guy with a stack of about 15 leopard geckos in little plastic containers awkwardly piled in his arms and about to go outside in the cold air. He got ripped a new one by the security and was forced to purchase a large Styrofoam insulated container so they wouldn’t fall and freeze. They had the entire venue heated up well for the animals; they even had humidifiers going at the far end of the building. At the end of the day I admired how well everything was run and understood the reason for their rules, with thousands of people and thousands of animals crammed into one venue, everything worked really well.

The animal diversity was awesome. I can’t compare it to Daytona or other shows, but I was impressed. There were breeders from all over continental Europe, the UK, and even the US. The two big vendors from the US were Mike Wilbanks and Bob Clark. They had huge displays compared to the others with lots of people working for them. I spent a few minutes talking to Bob Clark. He does every Hamm show, and said it’s the biggest in the world in terms of volume of animals sold and the number of people and vendors at the event. Bob also does the Houten show in the Netherlands. In terms of ball pythons there was a range of morphs available from inexpensive morphs up to some high end as well. I loved seeing Bob Clark’s Piebald Retic hatchlings he had for sale, they were stunning. I’ve never considered owning any large snakes, but a UK breeder was showing me a number of beautiful dwarf, and super dwarf reticulated python morphs, which only get around 8 feet. I’d maybe consider getting one someday if I end up living in Germany in a few years. But I’d never buy one in the US thanks to our federal laws and the Lacey Act.

There were lots of other animals for sale too. Many different types of tarantulas, gigantic beetles, millipedes, praying mantises, leaf bugs, …. Lots of different types of lizards: many beardie morphs, uromastyx, monitors, geckos, tons of chameleons, skinks, tegus, and others…Many turtles and tortoises… Pac-man frogs, dart frogs, toads, newts, salamandars, and some other creatures (amphibians) that were all white, lived underwater, and had external gills. My favorite section of the whole show was the venomous area. I saw some stunning eyelash vipers and rhinoceros vipers for sale (tied for first place as the coolest animals at the show).

They also had a big section entirely devoted to rats and other feeders as well as husbandry and racks. I stopped by the LP Racks booth. They’re out of Denmark and make the best displays I’ve seen. Mike Wilbanks is now importing these displays and selling them through his site. When I get a display, this is the one I’ll choose because it’s an awesome use of space with the whole display breaking down into a small aluminum carrying case, vice the bulky/awkward acrylic setup. The majority of displays at the show were from LP racks and seem to be the preferred method over acrylic cases.

After having lunch and chatting with some German ball python breeders, we decided to head out later that afternoon. We had some extra time to kill so we spent the late afternoon wandering around Köln. It’s a beautiful city on the Rhein. Their Christmas market was in full swing with people from all over enjoying the festivities, glühwein, and food. Also below is a picture of the cathedral right outside the train station. The photos with Bob Clark and Mike Wilbanks show the small side venue location, not the main arena. Sorry I don’t have more pics of the show, but I did manage to sneak a few despite the rules.

The Hamm show is the main reason I want to move back to Europe! On top of that show Snake Day is awesome too. Glad to hear you enjoyed the show. I miss it a lot.

Thanks for the info, it sounds like it was amazing, hopefully one day I'll get the chance to go!

I miss home Alex, you made it even worse...
Thanks for the pics too, haven't read anything in german for a long time..