About The Reptile Club

For centuries, breeders of horses, dogs and prize livestock kept their lineages in studbooks that travelled with the animal. As those traditions matured, public bodies formed to keep them: the Jockey Club, the Kennel Club, the Cat Fanciers' Association. Each gathered the records of thousands of breeders into one register that anyone could consult.

Reptiles never had that. Breeders kept their own records anyway, in spreadsheets, notebooks and photos that went with the animal. Some kept careful files for decades and some did not. With no shared standard and no institution to keep them going, many early lineages were lost along with the people who bred them.

The Reptile Club was set up to fill that gap. In its own words, it exists to preserve reptile records, publish Standards, and maintain public resources for keepers and breeders. You can read its story in The Institution Reptiles Never Had.

The Registry

A database keeps whatever is put into it. A registry does not. The Reptile Club Registry reviews every record against its published Standards, and parentage is confirmed by the animal's producer, not by whoever owns it now. Only approved records join the permanent public record.

Each approved animal gets a permanent eight-character RC code and a Certificate of Pedigree naming its producer and its accepted lineage.

The Standards

The Standards are the rules the Registry works by: the terms used for pedigree and lineage, how records are documented, and how species and morphs are recognised. The first, on pedigree terms and lineage documentation, was adopted in 2026. A committee of crested gecko breeders is now drafting the first species Standard, on crested gecko morph names.

What a Certificate of Pedigree shows

This is the real certificate for Funky Monkey, a male I hatched in 2022. Every registered animal has one, at a permanent page anyone can open.

Approved records are locked from ordinary editing, and they stay in the Registry even if the original owner leaves the hobby, sells the animal or deletes their account.

Why tracked lineage matters

A crested gecko's looks come from its parents, and so does a lot of what it will produce. Knowing the sire and dam, and their parents, lets a breeder plan pairings, follow a trait through generations, and avoid pairing animals that are too closely related. For a buyer, a recorded lineage is the difference between "trust me" and something you can check.

It also protects the people who did the work. Producer attribution means the breeder who hatched an animal stays credited with it, however many times it is resold.

The Registry draws each animal's family as a lineage atlas. Here is Funky Monkey's: his parents and grandparents above, and his registered offspring below.

Why permanent records matter

A pedigree is only worth something if it is still accurate years from now. Once a record is approved, it is not rewritten or quietly removed, by the Registry or by the breeders in it. That independence is what makes a registered pedigree more than a seller's word, and what keeps today's lineages from fading the way the hobby's earliest ones did.

Beyond the Registry

The Reptile Club also runs a national directory of reptile expos and a Journal of articles and announcements. Day-to-day record keeping happens in HatchLog, a separate app connected to the Registry, where breeders keep their working records and choose which animals to submit for review.

Registering a gecko you bought from me

If you own a gecko I produced, you can register it yourself and send me an attribution request. When I approve it, your gecko's certificate names Altitude Exotics as its producer, and I record its sire and dam. On the Registry, only the producer can confirm lineage. Parents recorded by an owner are marked as owner-recorded, not confirmed.

1. Create an account at reptileclub.com. Registering an animal uses one Registry credit, bought through HatchLog. The credit is held while your registration is reviewed and only spent if it is approved.
2. Start a registration with Register an animal and fill in your gecko's details.
3. Add photos. Upload them at full quality, in focus and in good light. The first photo is the cover: it must be landscape and show the whole animal (the tail can run out of frame). No text on the photos.
4. Choose "Another breeder produced it" and search for Altitude Exotics. This sends me the attribution request.
5. Add a private note with your order number or the date you bought the gecko, so I can match it to my records. The note never appears on the Registry.
6. Leave the sire and dam empty. I add them when I confirm the attribution.
7. Submit. The Registry reviews your registration, and I check the request against my records. Once both are approved, your gecko has a permanent RC code and a Certificate of Pedigree naming Altitude Exotics as its producer.

Registration is optional, and owning a gecko from me does not depend on it. It is there if you want a permanent, checkable record of where your gecko came from.

Checking a record yourself

Every registered animal has an RC code, eight letters and numbers, printed on its Certificate of Pedigree. Enter it at reptileclub.com to see that animal's public record and lineage. When a gecko I list is registered, its page says so. You can see the animals I have registered at reptileclub.com/breeders/altitude-exotics.