Royal Reptiles began when Amy and I (CJ) went on vacation to Cuba. We saw many lizards and I remember my wife saying “I’d like a lizard one day, but one that I can hold”. So upon our return, I looked into what lizards were good for holding and easy to take care of. Bearded Dragons were #1 on the list and so my search began. I came across a local ad where one needed a home as it wasn’t getting looked after, along came Spike. Spike was a German Giant and the largest we’ve ever seen. Very friendly and lived for just over 10years, a surprise for us all, as he had a very large growth appear at 8years old which was presumed to be cancerous. We knew something was up the day he passed, as he always basked on the window seal for hours upon hours, but this day he jumped right off and ran to Amy. He bopped his head a few times, she put him back and he came right back to her. He passed in her hands, but he always has a place in our hearts.
After about 4 years of having Spike, a family member advised us that her local veterinary had a surrounded Bearded Dragon, so we called up to see if we can adopt it. Upon meeting her later that day, she was very malnourished and clearly had MBD, told that she has hours, maybe days to live if she’s lucky. She couldn’t even lift her own weight to move. We gave it our best, bathing her up to 3 times a day, liquid feeds and everything we could. She is now one of the fattest dargons we have and is a Leather Back. She is approximately 7years old.
Then came our kids, and with a small family complete, my wifes want for other babies. Along came baby bearded dragons. We started off thinking we would get a baby, then it lead to getting a gravid dragon and here we are today! We presently have 7 Bearded Dragons, 3 Rankin Dragons, 1 Crested Gecko, 4 adult Dwarf Panther Geckos and 6 babies with many more rankins and geckos in the incubators.