EDMONTON — Five-year-old Erika Armitage loves snakes. She wants one of her own, and she’d name it Charlie or Conor. But her snake, she said, would have to be tiny.

Yet Erika wasn’t scared to pet Shalimar, a Dumeril's boa from Madagascar that is nearly two metres long and over 10 kilograms in weight.

“It feels kind of bumpy, and its head was kind of soft,” she said.

Interacting with snakes was just one of the features of the Edmonton Reptile and Amphibian Society’s spring show, which was hosted Saturday and Sunday at the Sands Hotel.

More than 40 vendors sold or displayed animals, ranging from lizards and geckos to snakes and tarantulas. About 1,500 visitors attended the event, which is geared at educating people about reptiles as pets, and breaking down some fears and stereotypes.

“The stereotypes that we’re talking about are … that bad guys have snakes,” said Apryl Hewlett, vice president of the society. “Or you remember all the way back to Home Alone when the bully had a tarantula. None of the other kids had that, but the bully had the tarantula.”

Hewlett sees more people rejecting those types of views because a wider demographic is attending the show, which is also held in the fall.

“We’re moving away from the individuals who collect between 10 and 100 animals to families who are looking for a first-time pet for their children,” Hewlett said. “And you’re finding so many more families now, especially with the increase in allergies over the years, to be leaning towards reptiles as pets.”

Erika’s allergies were one of the reasons why her mother, Stacy Loke, brought her daughter to the event.

“It’s a good place for her to be able to touch things,” Loke said.

The show also provided an opportunity to collect donations for the society’s Reptile Rescue, which is operated by members Michele and Neil Weldon. The couple take sick and abandoned reptiles into their home and nurse them back to health before finding them new homes. The Weldons have been offering this service through the society since 1999.

“It doesn’t matter if they’re ours or not,” Michele Weldon said. “If they need help, you help.”

While some vendors — like Wrapped Up in Reptiles, operated by Annette Thompson — have attended the show since its inception in 1994, others made their first appearance this weekend.

Antennae Inc., which features butterflies, insects, arachnids and crustaceans, had participated in only one other reptile show before attending the Edmonton event, and its owner, Anshul Fernando, was pleasantly surprised by the turnout.

“It’s an overwhelming positive response,” Fernando said. “People are totally fascinated.”

The event also marked the first western Canada showing for Tarantula Canada, which is based out of Montreal.

Owner and operator Amanda Gollaway said she decided to showcase the company’s tarantulas at the show because of its large customer base in the area.

“The response has been great,” Gollaway said, “so I’m pretty sure we’ll be back.”

[sidenote][/sidenote]