We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Will Katcher. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Will below.

Will, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. Let’s jump right into the heart of things. Outsiders often think businesses or industries have much larger profit margins than they actually do – the reason is that outsiders are often unaware of the biggest challenges to profitability in various industries – what’s the biggest challenge to profitability in your industry?

In our industry, the job of producing animals often times in mass, can be quite the challenging task, especially when it comes to having to factor in the need to be a profitable business. When it comes to my operation in particular, this has often times been an issue I have struggled with, as it is quite easy to produce animals however when it comes to minimizing the cost of doing so, often times what I see all too often, is the health and well being of the animals ignored for the sake of saving a few dollars, or on the other hand, the complete opposite. I have seen many breeders pour all of their money into what they believe is the well being of their animals, without taking into account the need for profitability. In reality, as long as the corners cut to achieve profitability do not harm the animals, said profitability leads to a far more sustainable breeding operation, and a breeder who is able to produce the highest quality animals over a long period of time. It is all too often in our industry that we see breeders get in and get out just as quickly, after having spent every last dollar they’ve made on what they think is better care for the animals, without taking into account what the legitimate needs of the animals are. The same can be said for those who cut so many corners it begins to affect the health of their animals, and leads to poor business practices, unhappy customers, and needless to say an ethical dilemma. Thus ultimately I personally have found the balancing act of breeding reptiles to be an always evolving and never ending goal of keeping the animals healthy with enough money rolling in to keep their lights on. Will I ever make millions doing so? Probably not. Will I be able to keep the lights on, food on my table, and roof over our heads, without sacrificing the health of the animals? Id say so, as long as it’s a question I continually re evaluate and keep at the back of my mind. The second we stop thinking about the health and well being of the animals, is the second the ship begins to sink. Furthermore, it helps when my personal stance is that of which I’d do this wether I make a dollar or do it for free, as I love what I do, and seeing that smile on someone’s face when they receive an animal in which I’ve produced, makes it all the more worth it!

Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers.

When I was around 12 years old my parents bought me my first pet reptile, a leopard gecko. In the years following, i had become absolutely infatuated with reptiles as a whole and often times had a hard time putting them down and focusing on school work, or thinking of careers in which did not revolve around working with reptiles. Fast forward to my late teenage years, I had successfully bred bearded dragons and crested geckos for the first time, and was employed at a local pet store. After years of hard work, often times working over 80 hours a week to be able to save up for the next investment quality animal or caging for the babies being raised up, I finally thought I had enough money and inventory to consider the idea of quitting my day job and committing to breeding animals full time. While it hasn’t come without its sacrifices, and far more downs than ups in the beginning especially, it is something I wouldn’t trade for the anything in the world, as every morning I wake up like a kid on Christmas, exited to check the incubators like a child waiting to check to see their gifts left under the tree! Some of the accomplishments in which I have been especially proud of over the course of this journey have been the work I have done in producing some of the most blue bearded dragons in the industry, as well as oddball New Caledonian gecko hybrids that have now acted as foundation stock for multiple other breeders, and insured that the offspring of my animals, and the legacy of my operation, will likely last far longer than I do, meaning generations to come will hopefully get to feel the same joy I felt as a child when I first got what are now the great, great, great grandchildren to the animals as I got as a young boy.

Let’s talk about resilience next – do you have a story you can share with us?

When it comes to resilience to our operation, this season has been quite the story of such. Over the last several years I have focused my business primarily on the breeding of bearded dragons. Unfortunately this season, we lost all of our breeders as a result of a freak fungal outbreak. Heartbreak aside, we had for a long time been breeder a plethora of snake and gecko species, and thus far, have been able to float our operation focusing on such, had it not been for the diversification of our operation in previous years, all things would have come to an end this season.

Have you ever had to pivot?

When it comes to pivots, coming from breeding bearded dragons which are one of americas most popular reptile pets, to not having a single dragon left in the facility, the term pivoting has been one in which has described our entire breeding season this year. We went from producing over 1,000 bearded dragons a year to hatching out over 100 geckos a month in less than a 6 month time frame, and haven’t looked back ever since. While my primary passion with reptiles really began with my first bearded dragon, the geckos have always sat on the “back burner” however having no choice but to focus on this projects has led to so much love for the project that I can’t see ever turning my back on it.

Contact Info:

• Website: Www.willkatcherreptiles.com
• Instagram: Willkatcher.reptiles
• Youtube: Will Katcher Reptiles