The United Nueva Ecija Exotic Keepers (UNEEK) recently held “UNEEK: The Event” with the multiple thrusts of: providing a venue for exotic animal keepers in Nueva Ecija to interact; to widen the public’s knowledge about their hobbies; and to educate beginners as responsible owners.
During the event, they conducted seminars about various topics, ranging from education about snakes, basic tips for keeping tarantulas, and do’s and don’ts for keeping leopard geckos.
The members of the three groups―EKSo or the Ecijano Keepers Society, NEEC or the Nueva Ecija Exotic Club, and CEES or the Cabanatuan Elite Exotic Group―were all working to share their knowledge about keeping the various exotic creatures, especially to those who were new to their respective hobbies.
The event featured a “Best in Enclosure” competition with two categories: for reptiles and for invertebrates. In this competition, participants were encouraged to show off their artistic side by decorating their enclosures.
There was also an “Astig Pet Competition” in which participants got to show off how beautiful their pets were, featuring their vibrant colors and focusing on displaying how healthy these creatures were. Winners for this competition were a chameleon and an alligator snapping turtle.
Most of the visitors to the event were from Nueva Ecija, with a few others coming from Metro Manila, Cavite, Pampanga, Pangasinan, and Tarlac.
Organizers were delighted to note that this was the biggest exotic event conducted in the area so far, with 116 attendees. Even more important, the event provided a venue for hobbyists both in and out of the province to meet and swap notes on raising their respective breeds.
This first appeared as “Exotic Event in Nueva Ecija” in Animal Scene’s May 2015 issue.
