Big Trade Show Points To Popularity Of Reptiles

Recognizing that you're weary from the holidays and not ready for some heavy reading, here are some gleanings from recent wire-service stories and press releases to usher in your new year:

According to sales and the number of new products offered at the H.H. Backer Associates' 28th Pet Industry Christmas Trade Show recently in Chicago, America's hottest pets are reptiles - iguanas, lizards, snakes and other critters that used to be skinned as belts, according to a Chicago Tribune feature.

"It's amazing; it's a category that is exploding in sales," said Kip K. Atchley, chief executive officer and marketing director of Lixit Animal Care Products, who brought the company's newly developed reptile waterer to the pet-industry show.

The newest, most-innovative pet items for the holiday-buying season were unveiled. Four hundred seven of the pet industry's leading manufacturers staffed a record near-700 exhibits (30 more than 1993) at what is considered the key - and biggest - pet-products trade show in the U.S.

Big turnout

More than 7,000 U.S. and international pet-supply buyers jammed the three-day event to see what's new and exciting - things to eat and wear for dogs, cats, horses, ferrets, hamsters and gerbils. And now, reptiles.

"We found reptiles was a category that was slowly developing," Atchley added. "Reptiles don't make noise and are low maintenance, and anybody can have one."

Atchley's company recently had put on the market its 16-ounce Lixit Reptile Waterer. Easy to clean and fill, "its earth tone blends with terrarium environments," Atchley said. The waterer has a wide-mouth bottle, an anti-tip base and comes with a cricket-guard filter screen. (Crickets try to escape from their fate as reptile meals and get into the water.)

Two sizes of the reptile waterer cost between $5 and $6.

Zoo Med Labs Inc. was offering outwear for iguanas in the form of ponchos. The tiny fleece Mexican ponchos, with a leash attached "so you can dress up your favorite iguana and take him for a walk," said Gary Bagnall, company president, come with a little sombrero. The ponchos retail for $15 to $20 and come in a broad selection of red, orange, purple and teal.

Just like the beach

For the reptile seeking a natural "tan," there was "Repta-Sun," an artistically packaged, long-life, full-spectrum light with the slogan, "The next best thing to a day at the beach for your reptile."

The terrarium tube is touted as closely simulating natural sunlight, which makes reptiles feel better and see better. Made by Fluker Farms, the reptile lights come in sizes from 18 inches to 48 inches, with retail prices ranging from $13.95 to $15.95 .

Premium Nutritional Products introduced ZuPreem, a product the company describes as "an exciting new line of canned diets" for herbivorous and carnivorous reptiles in attractive, easy-to-open six-ounce cans, which retail at about $2.99.

In the case of monitors, tegus and other carnivorous lizards, the diet is made of beef but nutritionally it "replicates the mouse," said a company spokesperson.

The show tends to get a little weird, with people dressed like animals and vice versa. But the touches of anthropomorphism are all in good fun. They also are great product public relations, as in the case of a new, action-packed, half-hour video, "Kitty TV," by Paw Print Video Productions.

"More fun than ripping the drapes!" is the testimonial of Sylvester the Alley Cat on the order form for "Kitty TV," which differs from the milder bird-and-squirrel-watching school of cat-oriented cinema currently on the market. Shot on location in Canada, it is aimed at an audience of cats who, bored by their house-bound existence, want to see some real action. They may paw the screen with excitement when they see footage of restlessly circling sharks or an adult tiger chasing and wrestling with a dog outdoors.

Electronic catnip

"Two Claws Up," say Cisco and Bertie, who reviewed this video as "an electronic dose of catnip." The video retails for about $19.99.

Also along the line of cat entertainment is Chase-`N'-Skratch, a circular plastic toy containing "skratch-pads," corrugated cardboard center inserts for feline self-manicuring that are different than other scratching systems because of a ball that cats can roll along its rim. A flier says the product has received the Ms. Finicky Seal of Approval. Made by APL International Inc., this cat entertainment center comes with jumbo refill pads to replace the used cardboard center pads. Stackable, catnip-fillable, the toys retails for $9.95 to $12.95.

Fun holidays

The Old English sheepdog that was saved last month by the Customs Service from potential poisoning when an inspection at JFK International Airport led to the discovery of 4.8 pounds of implanted cocaine, enjoyed the holidays at the agency's Canine Enforcement Training Center in Front Royal, Va.

The dog has received cards, letters and gifts since her arrival at the modern 150-unit kennel in the Blue Ridge Mountains.

"She has manners," says Carl Newcombe, director of the Customs canine training facility. "She took the dog biscuits off our Christmas tree, one at a time and one per day."

Cokey, whose name will eventually be changed, is doing fine. Since arriving at Front Royal Dec. 8, she's gained eight pounds, and is adapting well.

Cokey remains as evidence and may be brought to court, but law enforcement officials say it's not likely.

Litter dangers

Marina McInnis, a California breeder of Japanese Bobtail cats, lost several kittens from different litters before she realized it was the clumping litter she used that caused their deaths.

It is a product designed to form hard, scoopable masses when it comes in contact with cat urine, thus making cleanup easier and more efficient.

In the January/February 1995 issue of Tiger Tribe: Holistic Health & More for Cats magazine, McInnis says her veterinarian could detect a "hard mass" in the lower abdomen of each of the kittens in a litter McInnis brought in for treatment.

McInnis earlier noticed diarrhea that smelled and looked like clay, accompanied by nasal and eye discharge. She describes the kittens before they died as "thin, dehydrated, frail little skeletons, sunk in apathy."

Kittens from two more litters perished before McInnis made the connection between the deaths and the clumping litter. She immediately switched to a "natural vegetable-based litter."

In the article, McInnis tells of another bobtail breeder whose kitten became ill with a respiratory problem. A veterinarian discovered through X-rays that the animal's lungs were coated with dust from a clumping litter.