Critters of all kinds on display at Herps Reptile and Exotics show in Longview this weekend

LONGVIEW, Texas (KLTV) - Things that crawl, things that creep, things that slither, all on display this weekend for prospective East Texas pet owners.

He ‘Herps’ reptile and exotics show is going on in Longview.

A chance to look at or hold a slithering or crawling pet, had the Longview expo parking lot full.

“I think when we started it was more people looking, just trying to get information on if they wanted to go into the exotic pet kind of route. A lot of those people are coming back as customers,” says event organizer Shawn Gray.

With 80 vendors, the show draws big crowds looking for the unusual. particularly snakes.

“Not many people can get into it, something different from a normal pet,” says shopper Teresa Stevens of Hallsville.

While snakes may not be the perfect pet for everyone, a world without them would leave us overrun in mice and rats.

And reptiles make good alternative pets for those who have allergies to fur.

“Kids with allergies to dogs and cats, something a little different,” Gray says.

Like all pets they have to be fed and cared for.

“Always possibilities, something hatches everyday and that’s exciting. You open up the incubator in the morning and you see a little baby gecko there waiting for you,” says vendor Brandon Martinez.

You can see a wide variety of boa’s, pythons, chameleons, turtles, even a south American coati, which looks like cross between a raccoon and a fox.

Not trendy, Gray see’s exotics as mainstream pets.

“Alternative kind of pet. Exotics is a 15 billion dollar industry in the United States,” he says.

The show continues at the Longview fairgrounds expo center tomorrow from ten in the morning until four in the afternoon.

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