Our Story

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The Beginning

We started, like all reptile newbie's do with a "gateway animal". His name was Toothless and he was the bearded dragon that sparked our love for reptiles. After 5 years he became ill and he sadly passed away. So we decided to start doing charity work and began volunteering at the National Centre for Reptile Welfare with our best friends and their children. When volunteering we helped with cleaning reptile enclosures, bathing reptiles that needed a little help with shedding or have wounds that needed tending too, preparing feed and feeding the reptiles and sometimes fostering or rehoming those that need extra attention. 

SO IT BEGAN!!

We fell in love with another bearded dragon whilst doing some volunteering and decided to bring her home, we called her Freyjah. On the same day we also found a Royal Python who was a little shy and we decided we couldn't leave him at the centre either so of course he came home with us too, we chose to call him Ekans ( for all you Pokémon fans including Jay ). After a few further months we ended up taking on a welfare case that came in to the NCRW. He was born without his right eye and his owner hadn't looked after him properly as he had burn scars and missing scales along his body. A brief look at each other and he was on his way home with us. Odin, as we chose to call him, lives his days happily with us and gets lots of love and attention. 

Covid-19.

During the pandemic the NCRW was hit hard. No one was coming down to the centre to see the animals meaning there were little to no rehomes happening. All the while the NCRW had animals coming in as people were no longer able to look after them they even had to rescue some reptiles from a few zoo's that sadly had to close doors. Fundraising was at a low as public events were stopped and the centre went through a very unsure period. 

GOOD NEWS!!

Once restrictions had lifted and the "door's were open again" the volunteer team resumed our work and went back to helping the centre, the reptiles and of course annoying Chris at the same time. We were able to start doing events again, and were more importantly able to start raising money for the charity. Time flew by and after some more awesome rehomes and rescue's ( ask us when you see us ) we decided we should look into starting a company ourselves. 

Starting RDJ Reptiles

We initially had a lot to talk about, it started with us looking into insurance as this is a key part to any animal encounters business. We found a great company, thanks to a good friend of ours, Mr Clarke. Then came the step of contacting the local council for the correct license, Medway Council animal welfare team were very helpful and guided us through the process. We registered the company through companies house and officially secured our name RDJ Reptiles ltd. After a few ups and downs and some expert help from the council rep, we got our license and then the hard work began. 

I wont lie, but the process of getting set up correctly was very stressful for lots of reasons, but knowing that we have been correctly sanctioned by the council and with such support from the Herpetology community, and the best people we know around us, We managed it. We now look forward to sharing everything we do with you all, and most importantly showing you all that animal welfare includes reptile's and amphibian's and they are all amazing in their unique way.