This week, Gecko Time interviews Cody Castellanos of ProGeckos.  Cody is not only a gecko breeder, but also sells a variety of useful gecko related products online.

How did you get started in Breeding and how long have you been doing it?

I have always been an animal lover. I kept tropical fish for many years but never really discovered keeping reptiles until 1998. My first reptile was a box turtle. After having her for a year I acquired a pair of adult leopard geckos. The following year I bred them and produced my first babies. After the first babies hatched I was hooked. Even to this day some 10 years after the first hatchling I get excited to see new babies.

What types of projects or products are you planning for the future?

It’s hard for any reptile enthusiast not to want everything out there. I do plan on continuing to improve my current SHTCT leopard gecko project. The past few seasons have yielded some incredible babies. The babies are now adults and are breeding this year. I also added some new bloodlines and the combination of these two is already promising with just a handful of hatchlings.

Within the next year or so I would like to add patternless and whiteout fat tails along with some Diplodactylus species and expand my current collection of Nephrurus. There are a few other projects in the works but they are secret for now.

As for the supplies I do plan on gradually adding more. I’m not the one to go out and buy everything that’s being manufactured just to sell. I stock products that people want, that work and make keeping a reptile easier. With that said we are working on manufacturing a couple of new products that will be made with geckos in mind. I can’t say what they are right now but I’ll make an announcement when they are ready.

Would you consider yourself a small, medium, or large breeder? What size would you like to grow to?

I consider myself a smaller breeder although most people think I’m much larger. I typically produce 100+ offspring per season. We recently finished a new facility with homemade racks and incubators. With the new setup I can house over 330 individual animals. As long as I can handle the maintenance and up-keep of the collection I would like to grow to a medium size breeder in the future.

Another goal I have is having a separate room dedicated to breeding all my own feeders. I currently produce all my mealworms, superworms and roaches along with a small percentage of crickets. It not only helps the feeder bill but I have access to any size feeder and I know where they came from.

What is your favorite morph?

For any reptile I love bright, vibrant colors. My absolute favorite leopard gecko morph is the super hypo tangerine carrot tail. There is just something about a bright orange to red gecko that is so eye catching. My favorite African fat tail gecko morph is a nice striped amelanistic.

How many breeders do you have in your projects and what types of morphs do you produce?

I have about 50 breeders and that’s including all projects. I have scaled back my leopard gecko morphs to just super hypo tangerine carrot tails. The fat tails include banded, stripe, banded amelanistic and striped amelanistic.

What animals do you enjoy breeding the most?

That’s a tough choice. Leopard geckos were my first breeding project so there is always a special place for them. In recent years though, I would have to say the African fat tail. They are a little more challenging to breed and not as prolific as leopard geckos but they have incredible personalities at any age. With all the new color morphs hitting the market right now there are endless possibilities.

What type of problems or challenges have you faced in starting breeding?

The biggest problem I’ve had is maintaining constant temperatures. My old racks had light dimmer switches to control the heat tape which works great as long as the room temps stay consistent. The area I live in can have highs below freezing in winter and triple digit heat in the summer. This makes the room have a wide range of temps. My new racks now have proportional thermostats that automatically adjust the heat even when the room temperatures change.

Temperatures are very critical so having a space heater, central heating and air conditioning or a portable a/c unit to help maintain a room is a real must.

Are you affiliated with any groups, organizations, clubs, or forums? If so which ones?

I’m a member and participate as much as possible on Gecko Forums, Reptile Culture and Geckos Unlimited. Time is usually not in my favor but I try to post as much as possible. I also have a YouTube channel and Facebook.

Do you offer any other services or supplies other than live animals?

Besides the animals and supplies I’m one of the few breeders that is also a graphic / web designer. I designed everything for Pro Geckos from the website to the business cards. I also offer high quality printing at affordable prices.

How did you get into selling reptile supplies?

I got into selling supplies very unintentionally. My very first product was Pro Gutload which is for feeder insects. Things were picking up and I had customers buying the gutload wanting other supplies in the same order. It makes sense getting as much as you can from one source, right? This is what I thought so I figured out what I could get that people wanted. I gradually started adding new products and have been doing so up to this day. One thing that was essential was to provide a good way to present and sell the products. I upgraded from a Paypal shopping cart to a more professional cart that I’m using now.

Getting started in supplies is pretty straightforward. The biggest thing you need is money as it can be a very heavy investment. A lot of people don’t realize how much up front money is needed. The majority of the manufactures or distributors have minimum orders that can be anywhere from $250 to $3000 per order.

We interview breeders about every other month and are always looking for people interested in being interviewed.  If you would like to take part in this interview series please contact Cory at CSM Gecko.  You can contact Cory through his website www.csmgecko.com or email csmgecko@gmail.com.

Ohio Gecko is a family business run by Thad Unkefer and his two sons Dylan, age 13, and Derek, age 11. Ohio Gecko started in 2006 when Dylan was given a Murphy Patternless and then Thad bought a couple of Mack Snow Hypo leopard geckos from JMG Reptiles. Everything snowballed for them, and their goal is to produce quality geckos while giving the boys good real life business experience.

Where do you see Ohio Gecko headed in the future involving your projects?

We don’t have a goal of where we want to be in 5 years, but we want to keep it fun, make a profit, and produce high quality geckos. As far as our projects are headed, we have African Fat Tails, Leopard Geckos, and this year we added Viper Geckos and Nephrurus Amyae Geckos.

In our AFT projects we are working with Super Zero White Outs, Granites, and Stingers.

In our Leo projects we are working with RADARs, Red Stripes, and some greens and lavenders, and producing some really nice Sunglows, SHTCTB, Giants, Reverse Stripes, and Mack Snows. 

Do you think you have a particular niche in this market?

We do a lot of shows and have produced quality geckos. Because of that we get a lot of repeat business and referrals.  Dylan and Derek do a good job at the shows and most people like to talk to them to find out what they know. There aren’t very many shows that we have seen that have had a 13 and 11 year old running the booth by themselves.

We also offer full genetic backgrounds on the geckos we produce. This includes the parents, grandparents, and great grandparents and their genetics.  While at shows we offer humid hides and full habitats for geckos.

Would you consider yourself a small, medium, or large breeder? What size would you like to grow to?

 We consider ourselves to be a medium size breeder with over 350 geckos and currently adding more. We converted a 10’x12’ room in our basement into our main gecko room that can hold over 400 geckos.

We also use another part of our basement for quarantined geckos and bug breeding.  We breed our own mealworms, superworms, and dubia roaches to cut down on feeder costs.

What reptiles do you enjoy breeding the most? And what is your favorite morph?

We’re not sure which gecko we enjoy the most. The Viper Geckos are cool because they are new and the N. amyae are exciting because we have not laid any eggs yet.
As for our favorite morphs: Thad and Derek really like Super Zero White Out African Fat Tails while Dylan likes the White Out African Fat Tail.

 What type of problems or challenges have you faced in starting to breed reptiles?

Our original problem was getting good info.  There are so many conflicting articles on the web and it was hard to distinguish between the good and bad info.  We really dove into www.geckoforums.net at first as there is a wealth of knowledge and information on that site.

Are you affiliated with any groups, organizations, clubs, or forums? Do you attend any reptile shows?  If so, which ones?

We are part of several forums under the name ohiogecko.  The main forum we use daily is www.geckoforums.net. We attend the Taylor, MI, Columbus and Cleveland, OH shows every month. We also attend the Mars, PA show bi-monthly.

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Big Thanks to Ohio Gecko!

Thanks Thad, Dylan, and Derek for taking time to tell all of us about what you are doing at Ohio Gecko.  You can check the guys at Ohio Gecko out on their website http://www.ohiogecko.com. 

The Next Interview.. Could be you!

Our next Interview is yet to be determined.  And as always if you would like to take part in this interview series please contact Cory at CSM Gecko.  You can contact Cory through his website www.csmgecko.com or email csmgecko@gmail.com.

Eric from The Valley Reptile or TVR as he refers to it contacted me through iHerp to let me know what was going on in his neck of the woods. Eric is the owner and operator of TVR which he started back in 2005 with Crested Geckos only. He is located in Northern Alabama in the Tennessee Valley and here is what he had to say about his breeding projects at TVR.

How did you get started in Breeding and how long have you been doing it?

I bought my first pair of Crested Geckos in 2002 after reading an article about them in a reptile magazine. At that time I was looking for a gecko with easy care and something fun for a first time breeding project after talking with a local friend about his Rainbow Boa babies and breeding projects. I spent my first two years just keeping them as pets, learning as much as I could from them and in 2004 I started my first breeding project. After having good success with the Crested Geckos I decided to try other geckos and started keeping Leopards, Pictus or Panther geckos, Gargoyles and a few others.

What types of projects or products are you planning for the future?

The future looks great for TVR. My Crested Gecko projects are already going. I am working with Extreme Harleys and Blonde Harleys now. I also have a Yellow Pinstripe project that I started this year and it has started off better than I expected. I held back a handful of their hatchlings that should make next year very interesting for the project.

I started a Pictus gecko project again this year. Last year I bred normals and since I have a little experience with them now, I decided to try putting some projects together to selectively breed the next few years. I will have Snow and Red projects for the next year and I will then cross some of the offspring to see what comes from that.

With the Leopard Geckos, I am working with Raptors, Enigmas, Snows, Tangerines, and a few others. My biggest project for 2010 will be the Gem Snows, crossing them with Raptors, Trempers, and Enigmas.

I also just picked up a lot of nice additions to these projects and am looking forward to trying other geckos that I have not worked with yet. At the top of my list are N. Milii and R.Leachianus.

Would you consider yourself a small, medium, or large breeder? What size would you like to grow to?

I would consider myself to be a small breeder. I only have one 16’x16’ room dedicated to the geckos. With 80 geckos in my projects including holdbacks from this year the room is big enough but does tend to get a little crowded in the middle of the season with all the eggs hatching. I would like to double that next year and get a small building dedicated to my reptiles. I would like to stay around a medium size breeder range as long as I can keep up with everything.

What reptiles do you enjoy breeding the most? And what is your favorite morph?

Crested Geckos will always be my favorite. They have been my main project since I started keeping them in 2002. With all the colors and patterns out there now, it’s fun to see what comes out of the eggs.

With the Crested Geckos, my favorite morph is the Pinstripes, a nice high contrast Harley or anything with bright orange colors. My favorite Leo morphs are Gem Snows and Raptors; the Enigmas are another good one.”

What type of problems or challenges have you faced in starting to breed reptiles?

I have not had too many problems lately. When I first started I was given bad advice on the Crested Geckos’ diet. I was recommended to use baby food as their main food. After hatching some babies I soon started seeing MBD in some of them and one of my females had a severe calcium crash and nearly died. I switched to the Repashy diet and that took care of all the problems.

I also have a small problem keeping temps right during the summer when it can reach 100 degrees. I had to cover the windows and put in an extra air conditioner to control the heat and that has worked out well for the last few years.

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Do you attend any reptile shows? If so which shows do you attend?

Right now I attend the Dixie Reptile Show 3 or 4 times a year in Birmingham, AL when I have available geckos. I am planning on attending the South Carolina Repticon show next year.

Are you affiliated with any groups, organizations, clubs, or forums? If so, which ones?

I am a member of many of the gecko forums including Pangea, Ciliatus, Repashy, Reptile Culture, Gecko Forums, and iHerp. The Crested Gecko forums really helped me out when I was starting off and would recommend them to anyone just getting into geckos.

Thanks Eric for taking time to tell all of us about what you are doing with The Valley Reptile. You can check Eric and TVR out on his website http://www.thevalleyreptiles.net.

Next Interview is yet to be determined. And as always if you would like to take part in this interview series please contact Cory at CSM Gecko. You can contact Cory through his website www.csmgecko.com or email csmgecko@gmail.com.

I got a chance to ask Daidra from Leopard Gecko Lair a few questions about what she does with her breeding projects and what some plans are for Leopard Gecko Lair. Daidra has been breeding leopard geckos for 3 years. Her basic Mission is to make healthy and vibrant leopard geckos for everyone to enjoy, whether they are breeders or just want to add to their collection of pets. Here is what Daidra had to say.

Who would you say is your mentor for getting started breeding reptiles?

I would have to say a mentor that I looked up to for breeding leopard geckos or any other reptiles I may breed in the future was Steve Irwin, as he truly loved any animal that walked on the earth and also respected them as I do. Reptiles are my favorite animals, like they were his, and I will never forget everything he taught me about animals and how they should be respected. They are a gift from God that should always be respected and cared for as he always showed us.

What types of projects or products are you planning for the future?

I am currently working on producing the Emerald Raptor that has yet to be debuted and many other morphs that are top secret at the moment but when the time comes, I will debut them and everyone will truly be amazed at their beauty.

Would you consider yourself a small, medium, or large breeder? What size would you like to grow to?

I would consider myself a small breeder with around 50 breeder leopard geckos and I hatch about 100+ babies per year. But I am currently downsizing to around 30 breeders, as I will be starting college and won’t have enough time to care for so many geckos then.

What is your favorite morph?

The Emerine is by far my favorite morph, as they have a different array of colors that they come and hatch in, and are in my opinion the most placid of all the leopard geckos I deal with or breed.

Where do you see Leopard Gecko Lair headed in the future?

I see Leopard Gecko Lair growing to large scale breeder of leopard geckos, corn snakes, sand boas, ball pythons, and viper geckos in the future, possibly even savannah monitors.

Do you attend any reptile shows? If so which shows do you attend?

I only attend the reptile shows in the Ft. Meyers area as of now and I will be attending the Daytona National Breeders’ Expo in a few years. I also will attend the other reptile shows in Florida.

That’s a wrap!

Thanks Daidra for taking time to tell all of us about what you are doing with Leopard Gecko Lair. You can check Daidra and Leopard Gecko Lair out on her website http://leopardgeckolair.com.

Our next Small Breeder Interview will be coming from Aliza. And as always if you would like to take part in this interview series please contact Cory at CSM Gecko. You can contact Cory through his website www.csmgecko.com or email csmgecko@gmail.com.

I got a chance to ask Whitney Lowell about her breeding projects and a little info about goReptiles.com.  Whitney started goReptiles as most of us seem to, a hobby and passion that just kept growing over the years.  She has many interesting projects brewing with goReptiles. Here is what she had to say about goReptiles and her projects. 

CSM Gecko:  How did you get started in breeding reptiles and how long have you been doing it?

goReptiles: It all started when I turned 16 and I received my first leopard gecko.  It was a 6-9 month old normal female from a pet store that my dad bought me.  He also bought me all the supplies that the pet store employee told him to.  I named her Banon and did most of my own research.  A month later I bought a small albino then a friend gave me, a male she didn’t want and swore he would not breed because she and his previous owner had both tried with several females.  They lied…he bred with Banon and so I quickly borrowed an incubator.  I got another female, and that’s how things got started.  It was an oops that turned into what it is today, even though there were a few good years in between that oops and my first real breeding pair.  But overall I’ve been raising reptiles since 2003, and steadily breeding since 2006.

CSM Gecko:  What types of projects or products are you planning for the future? 

goReptiles: I hope to continue with high quality crested geckos, as well as various leopard gecko morphs.  I would also like to expand my rosy boa collection to a few more.  I’m hoping to expand to tree frogs, dart frogs, and various tortoise species.  All that will come much later on though.  I’d prefer sooner, but I just don’t have the space at the moment.  I would also like to expand to products such as cage décor one day.  I haven’t been able to determine where and when to take that leap yet.  I have ideas, but it’s just a matter of developing those ideas. 

CSM Gecko:  What is your favorite morph? 

goReptiles: It would probably have to be the pinstripe crested gecko with the cream pinning and reddish back and head.  It’s hard to explain, but they’re really nice. I’ve seen a number of different types of pinstripes, but to me, these are just clean looking.  As for leopard geckos, it’s hard to decide, but a nice red-orange super hypo tangerine has always caught my eye. 

CSM Gecko: Where do you see goReptiles headed in the future? 

goReptiles: Some days I want to say bigger and better things with more variety and more reptile species, but other days nowhere and this day is the last. Most of the time, I hope to continue expanding new projects with species. Space, time and money is needed to expand though. 

CSM Gecko:  Do you attend any reptile shows?  If so, which ones? 

goReptiles:  I’ve attended solely as an attendee, but I know that’s not what you’re asking.  I have not vended at any shows yet, but I would like to vend at some of the shows in Atlanta. 

CSM Gecko:  How many breeders do you have in your projects or collection? 

goReptiles: Off the top of my head, my collection is somewhere around:

• Leopard Geckos – 4.12
• Crested Gecko – 5.14.30
• Rosy Boas – 1.1
• Russian Tortoises – 1.1
• Pacman Frogs – 0.0.3

I’m probably missing a few, but that’s about it I think.

Thanks! That’s a wrap.

 
Thanks Whitney for taking time to tell all of us about what you are doing at goReptiles.com.  You can check Whitney and goReptiles out on her website www.goReptiles.com. 
Our next Small Breeder Interview will be coming from Daidra at Leopard Gecko Lair.  As always, if you would like to take part in this interview series please contact Cory at CSM Gecko.  You can contact Cory through his website www.csmgecko.com or email csmgecko@gmail.com.

Who is CSM Gecko and what is your mission or goals? (Give us a little history)

CSM Gecko is a Leopard Gecko Breeder and Supplies Online Store.  I, Cory, operate CSM Gecko in every aspect.  My wife helps me out with some of the daily tasks of breeding though.  I started CSM Gecko to have a fun project for my daughter and  me to do.  Then I had to decide what I was going to do with all the babies produced and so CSM Gecko was born.  I have always wanted to open and run my own business, and I have been into reptiles since I was a young kid as well .  I have had various lizards, snakes, and turtles as a kid, so it kind of just made sense to start my own business breeding and selling leopard geckos.  I really wasn’t planning on breeding until I bought some geckos from a pet store and they turned out to be sick and I had to take them back.  They had crypto.  And with all the research I did on leopard geckos in order to try and find out what was wrong with them, I learned a lot and decided breeding would be a fun project.  Then I also added on the supplies stuff as an afterthought.

Who, if anyone, would you say is your mentor for getting started breeding reptiles?

Since I am just getting started in my breeding projects I wouldn’t say that I have a set mentor.  I use and have read a lot of the books on leopard geckos that are available.  I am also involved in GeckoForums.net and IHerp, where I ask questions if I am running into any issues.  But along with any good advice on public forums there can be questionable advice, more someone’s opinion that is stated as fact.  So when I am in doubt of an answer I have turned to Steve at Geckos Etc, from whom I have purchased one of the breeders with another on the way.

What types of projects or products are you planning for the future?

I have been thinking about projects for the future once I get everything settled from opening and get this first year out of the way, and I think I leaning towards experimenting with the various morphs in Bell Albinos.  Also I have been working on my own line of hides and décor that I am trying to find the best way to manufacture right now but it is looking like I am going to be custom making a lot of it.  That is all in the works right now and as soon as I can I will be releasing those products.

Do you think you have a particular niche in this market?  If so what do you think that is?

I think the niche in the market that I am going to fill the best is going to be customization.  I mean I am already taking special orders for products not posted for sale on my website.  Dealing with my reptile supplies, if I can get it then you can have it is basically my standing.  The products I am going to release in the future will be able to be customized as well.  Dealing with my leopard geckos will involve using the Bell strain for projects, where not too many people seem to be using that strain.  Everyone seems to focus more on the Tremper strain.

Would you consider yourself a small, medium, or large breeder?  What size would you like to grow to?

I would consider myself at the moment an extremely small hobby breeder because I only have 4 breeders and 1 on the way.  I am going to be expanding quite a bit within the next year, but I wanted to get everything on track before adding too many animals.  I would like to be able to grow to a medium sized breeder within the next 2 years.

Do you attend any reptile shows?  If so, which ones?

I am not planning on attending any shows this year, just not prepared yet.  I will be scoping out shows starting next year to get a feel for which shows I want to attend.  I am planning on attending shows in California, mainly Southern, Las Vegas, and I would like to get to the Raleigh, NC show starting in 2011.

Upcoming Breeder Interviews

This interview is the first installment of a new series of interviews being conducted by Cory from CSM Gecko.  This new series of interviews is going to be done on New and Upcoming Breeders, as well as some Small Low Level Breeders that may not exactly be new.  If you are interested in doing an interview then please contact Cory at csmgecko@gmail.com.  Cory will be randomly picking breeders to interview.  Thank you and I look forward to discussing this interesting hobby with you.