.gif)
My experience with reptiles
started at an early age. As a pre-teenager I would constantly be out
in search of different salamanders and snakes to catch and take home
as "pets". Living in Iowa, my searches usually resulted in
garter snakes that my mom wouldn't let me keep and an ocassional tiger
salamander that I would house in fish aquariums in my bedroom. Once
I was older and in college, I started to amass quite the collection
of various lizards and turtles. My first real success with breeding
came with veiled chameleons and sulcata tortoises that I housed in my
heated garage and a fenced in pen in my back yard during the summer.
It didn't take too long for me to realize that snakes are by far the
most low maintenence of all the reptiles to keep and my collection started
to lean that way. Now I exclusively keep pythons and boas.
My personal collection now consists of 25+ snakes, most of which we
have bred or are in our plans to breed. Luckily my wife Emily really
enjoys the snakes as well, and along with Chris Koeppel has been a valuable
contributor to our success. I would also like to thank a friend of ours,
Britt Busch for designing this web page and the graphics for our logo
and T-shirts.
-Chris Rindels
As a child
I was always interested in animals. I would always be out fishing or
catching turtles and salamanders during the summer months. When I was
about ten, my father bought my family a fish tank. We kept the usual
stuff for a few years, but eventually everyone lost interest. The tank
was torn down and stuck in storage. As a teenager, I came across the
tank and excitedly set it up in my bedroom. I started raising African
Cichlids and eventually by college I had acquired many aquariums. My
freshman year I began working at a local pet store and that is where
my love for reptiles began. I strived to learn everything I could about
reptiles, but had a special interest in chameleons. Within a year my
house converted from fish to reptiles and my first breeding success
came with veiled chameleons. Since then I have bred many species of
chameleons, lizards, and snakes.
After college I started working for The Omaha Zoo in the herpetology
department where I soon realized just how much I still needed to learn.
There I began working with venomous reptiles for the first time and
also was able to experiment with different breeding projects and husbandry
techniques on a zoo budget with more experienced herpetologists there
to answer questions I had and to push me to my full potential. I learned
a great deal about managing a large and dangerous collection while maintaining
high quality public exhibits at the same time. I recently moved back
to Iowa where my wife and I use this knowledge to care for our collection
at home which consists mostly of Morelia species and a few chameleons.
Our collection was built of the highest quality animals available and
are cared for with pride.
-Chris Koeppel
Thanks for
checking out the site and feel free to contact us with any questions
you may have.
Chris Rindels | Chris Koeppel
HeadHunters