Newsday.com

Julie Maguire, director of Turtle Rescue of Long Island, plans to bring a shellshocked veteran of poor turtle care to this Sunday's Long Island Reptile Expo at the Hilton Long Island/Huntington in Melville.

"I'll bring Scooter, our 'spokes-turtle,' if it's not freezing cold outside," said Maguire, who didn't want her hometown published for fear people will start dumping their unwanted pet turtles on her front lawn.

Scooter will be transported from his 150-gallon aquarium at Maguire's house and checked into a 20-gallon tank at the expo. A 10-year-old Eastern Box Turtle with a deformed shell due to previous improper care, Scooter's condition demonstrates that pet owners should be educated about turtles, Maguire said. She believes that turtles are "very personable" pets.

Maguire added, "If they are cared for properly, they can live for a long time."

Educating pet owners about how to handle a turtle and other reptiles is an objective of the expo, which will feature about 125 vendors, says Bruce Lowder, owner of Animal Encounters in Putnam Valley, a wildlife education organization upstate that runs 10 reptile expos a year in the Northeast. The show floor will include representatives from reptile rescue organizations and herpetological societies as well as breeders, cage-builders and pet food suppliers.

Vincent Russo, president of the Long Island Herpetological Society, which will have a booth at the expo with animals on display, said that nationwide, reptiles are the fastest growing segment of the pet industry and that as of 2006, 4.4 million households had a reptilian pet. The society counts 150 members and meets monthly at the Copiague Memorial Library, said Russo, a professional snake breeder and the author of "The Complete Boa Constrictor" (ECO, 2007, $59.95).

The society attempts to counter the perception that reptiles are being taken "out of the wild" when in fact, "we emphasize that people should buy captive bred and born animals as pets," Russo said.

Among the lounging lizards will be bearded dragons, which originated in the deserts of Australia but are now available only captive bred in the United States. Resembling miniature dinosaurs, they are among the most popular reptile pets, Lowder said. They "are very tame," he added.

AJ Gutman, a reptile rescuer from West Hartford, Conn., and editor of Iguana, a quarterly journal, will be on hand to seek adoptive homes for iguanas that have been "abandoned or found running around outside because they were deliberately or accidentally released," she said.

Plenty more adult and baby reptilian types - corn snakes, ball pythons, geckos, frogs - will be coiled up or slithering about in their tanks or enclosures. If that doesn't give you the creepy-crawlies, tarantulas will be displayed, albeit enclosed in terrariums. For those who already have a pet python back home, snake treats such as "mouse-icles" and "rat-sicles" (frozen mice and rats) will be available for takeout.

WHEN&WHERE Long Island Reptile Show, 10 a.m.-4 p.m. Sunday at Hilton Long Island/ Huntington, 598 Broad Hollow Rd., Melville. Admission is $9 for adults, $4 ages 7-12; free, ages 6 and under (accompanied by an adult); 845-526-4845, or reptileexpo.com.