Introducing “Raising Reptiles”

[Editor note: This article is a companion piece to an article about Gecko Time that appears on the Raising Reptiles website]

“I believe that education is all about being excited about something. Seeing passion and enthusiasm helps push an educational message.” – Steve Irwin

 

These powerful words are a constant inspiration to reptile educators and enthusiasts around the globe, and rightly so! As we can see every day, they prove remarkably true. Whenever you talk with someone who is truly passionate, truly thrilled about something, you can practically feel their excitement, which generally means that you are more interested in what they have to say. You get a sense of how important their subject is and how much they care about it. As reptile lovers, we enjoy a unique hobby that most others don’t understand yet. They just don’t know enough to appreciate how extraordinary these creatures are. The desire to fill that void is what prompted the founding of Raising Reptiles, an innovative, community centered website that is dedicated to providing amazing information, for beginners brand new to keeping reptiles or experienced veterans.

The Vision

Raising Reptiles first began in March, 2013, started by longtime reptile ambassador and current owner, Abigail Kessler. Our primary objective with this website is to bring top-quality information about a wide range of reptiles, amphibians, and invertebrates to people like you, whether it be through care guides (raising your reptiles to adult care), habitat how-to’s, breeding tips, or product reviews. We also seek to uplift and promote reputable, healthy businesses, magazines, and breeders.

One of the main dreams of Raising Reptiles is to spur and promote habitat research – help others figure out the best possible environment for the reptiles that will be inhabiting it, and teach you how to be create and sustain living (or artificial) vivariums. As you can see in our article, Rainforest Waterfalls, Castles, Rockwalls, More!  we highlighted the works of a truly inventive hobbyist. Designs such as these are quite beautiful and magnify the fact that we, as reptile enthusiasts, can not only create functional environments where our reptiles will live healthily, but also be clever about it. Imagine a custom built waterfall, made with the knowledge of proper humidity regulation, as seen in our article How Do You Maintain Humidity Levels? 

We will continue to publish articles for people with a huge range of interests, from our detailed care guides on species such as the spunky Ackie Monitor  or fascinating Electric Blue Gecko  to simple “Reptile Terminology” guides . This amount of variety is especially helpful to people looking to enter into our hobby and who are ‘testing the waters’, so to speak. When guides and knowledge sources are at your fingertips, you can make the best, most informed decisions about your future pet!

What is Raising Reptiles Up To?

Raising Reptiles is currently working to build a team of equally passionate authors, to provide well-rounded, easy to read articles on a regular, weekly basis. Everyone has a unique story and insight. One of the biggest challenges we, and really any knowledge-centered website faces, is how to find and publish the most worthwhile content. One of the best ways that we have found to find educated, talented authors is personal engagement via social networks like Facebook and Twitter. Here, we are building our community and always, constantly learning from each other and sharing pictures, questions, or stories! Gecko Time is definitely an inspiration, as they have developed a phenomenal system that they use to bring readers the fabulous content we see every week!

Progress

Our long term goal is to be a hub of product and animal care resources. There are many different products available on today’s markets, many of which are fantastic. They don’t all work optimally or for the same reptile, though, so how do you choose which is best? How do you weigh the pro’s and cons? We are currently working to establish a product review system with various manufacturers and small businesses, so real users can bring you unbiased, solid facts. Not only this, but we are also striving to compile a comprehensive list of other resources. For instance, school room worksheets, free, printable ebooks, educational curricula, and more!

Like Steve Irwin said, education and excitement go hand in hand! We are thrilled to think of what the future of the reptile industry holds. People are starting to care more and more about conservation, and keeping reptiles well in captivity, so much so that they will thrive. Raising Reptiles will always advance and continue to forward this goal by connecting with valuable websites like Gecko Time, publishing accurate care sheets, and thoroughly reviewing products, plus bringing you stellar educational materials. The more feedback we get, the better – so let us know your opinion and experiences with your reptiles, by commenting on articles, subscribing to the website feed, or connecting with Raising Reptiles on Facebook! If you are interested in being a published author and contributing to the website, don’t hesitate to send us a message through Facebook or contact us. As always, keep on herping!