Pets are amazing additions to any family. Unfortunately, our family has some allergies and ailments that don’t allow us to welcome traditional pets. And, like most traditional families, reptiles never really occurred to us as cuddly pet options…until we were gifted a leopard gecko.

Fast forward a year and throw in a pandemic… and one of the kids finds a snake egg hatching video on YouTube, then another, and another. Eventually, mom is hooked, too, and makes plans to go meet a couple of their favorite YouTube hosts at a “local expo”. Dad hasn’t been involved, but goes along to make it a family trip… though his mantra going in was “we’re not buying anything else we have to feed”.

Turns out, that “local expo” happened to be the Tinley Park NARBC (North American Reptile Breeders Convention), one of the largest reptile shows in the country, where dad is able to see an amazing array of species and the different morphs available and talk to several exhibitors. He was struck by how proud folks were of the animals they had for sale and the peculiar passion that came across in their explanations and answers to questions.

That passion, combined with the collection of people that attended the Tinley Park show because they had or wanted all kinds of critters, very quickly convinced him that selling pets was more than just a business transaction. The exhibitors who truly enjoyed the animals they worked with weren’t just creating inventory. They were breeding animals for other people to love and care for.

Now, add to this new revelation that dad is a bit of a geek, and the idea of developing projects around certain genetics appealed to him. Dad came home after that Tinley Park show and watched an absorbent amount of YouTube videos, read a ton of information on caring for and breeding reptiles… trying to catch up with the rest of the family.

A week after the expo, he sat mom down and talked her into not just buying a pet ball python, but putting a couple honey-do projects on hold to start a family breeding business. They worked together to find and select our first breeders and starting in the spring of 2022, our little family of produced our first batch of babies for other families to enjoy.

Most people we meet still don’t think of snakes and reptiles as “traditional” pets. Some people look at us like we’re completely nuts. However, if someone is the least bit intrigued, we love to share with them our own peculiar passion that we now have for all of our reptile kids, how cuddly they can be, and how much we love watching them grow.

Above anything else, we set out to breed our animals to be cared for and enjoyed as pets and members of their eventual families. That purpose became our namesake… because just like us, our animals are Bred to Love!