Utah college professor breeds reptiles, assists with displaced animals

Joey Mugleston, of Great Basin Serpentarium, with a young Cuvier's dwarf caiman, a reptile native to northern and central South America. They can be up to 5 feet long in the wild.

Joey Mugleston, of Great Basin Serpentarium, with a young Cuvier's dwarf caiman, a reptile native to northern and central South America. They can be up to 5 feet long in the wild. (Mike Stapley)


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LINDON — Joey Mugleston has baby photos of him being bathed in the kitchen sink while a 5-foot iguana watches casually from the kitchen counter. His parents raised iguanas in their southern California home and Mugleston's father gifted him a small lizard for his seventh birthday — it was his first pet of his own.

For Mugleston, that lizard was the beginning of a now-lifelong passion for reptiles.

Following a move to southern Utah, Mugleston's mother encouraged his new hobby and inspired him to consider breeding, rather than simply keeping, his wild discoveries.

A blue tree monitor, native to Indonesia, at the Great Basin Serpentarium in Lindon, Utah. The lizards can be over 3 feet long in the wild.
A blue tree monitor, native to Indonesia, at the Great Basin Serpentarium in Lindon, Utah. The lizards can be over 3 feet long in the wild. (Photo: Mike Stapley)

"I wanted to be a crocodile scientist," recalled Mugleston. "Dinosaurs being extinct, I thought crocodiles were the next best thing."

With an absence of crocodiles in southern Utah, frogs and lizards would have to do. After showing a frog to his mother, she suggested it would further his scientific endeavors if he collected several and tried to breed them.

By the time he hit junior high school, Mugleston was excelling academically but was bored with school and started acting out. It was decided he may benefit from more challenging college courses. He graduated from Dixie State University in what would have been his junior year of high school.

At the same time, his wild adventures were being replaced by an evolving captive-bred reptile hobby in this country, that offered far more variety than was available locally. As his collection of animals grew, he was certain each move to a new school or home would mean having to part with his passion.

"Between my undergrad and graduate work, I moved back to California and then back to the University of Utah," said Mugleston. "A bedroom full of animals grew to a couple of rooms and then a basement full. I moved with them all, each time."

Mugleston's graduate work led to teaching positions. He has taught a variety of university zoology and herpetology courses and now teaches general biology at Utah Valley University.

By 2014 it was clear to Mugleston he needed more space and Great Basin Serpentarium, in Lindon, was born. The facility is currently home to his private collection — Mugleston is a nationally known breeder and seller of both reptiles and invertebrates, such as spiders and scorpions, as well as animals brought to him by the state of Utah and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service that need his care.

This aisle at Great Basin Serpentarium in Lindon, Utah, contains only invertebrates, such as spiders and scorpions, some of which are available for purchase to keep as pets.
This aisle at Great Basin Serpentarium in Lindon, Utah, contains only invertebrates, such as spiders and scorpions, some of which are available for purchase to keep as pets. (Photo: Mike Stapley)

He hopes to soon be able to expand and offer the public a look at many of the animals in a zoo-like setting. His collection includes both rare and venomous species that are highly regulated and cared for separately from his business of breeding and selling animals.

That would include Utah's native Mojave desert tortoise. The desert tortoise is a state and federally protected species that lives in southern Utah's Washington, Iron and Kane counties.

A state Division of Wildlife Resources program allows Utah families living outside those three native range counties to adopt tortoises that have been injured or seized by the state after being kept by people illegally. Great Basin Serpentarium cares for the animals and helps potential adoptive families create suitable habitats, as well as obtain the necessary state permits.

"We're not a rescue. We don't do rescue work associated with typical pet trade animals," Mugleston said. "But, in addition to the desert tortoise, crocodilians and venomous species we can care for, until suitable homes are found for them."

Great Basin Serpentarium works with a variety of venom labs, academic institutions, zoos and licensed private collectors across the country to ensure displaced animals can find suitable permanent homes, according to Mugleston.

A few animals housed at the facility are private surrenders, though. The Serpentarium can accommodate very large species or those with specialized care that may fall outside what a rescue group can easily handle.

Many reptile species live much longer lives than typical pets and some outgrow their owner's abilities or expectations — including a 19-foot-long reticulated python and tortoises that have outlived their owners.

While much of the Serpentarium's captive breeding business is focused on animals readily available in the pet trade, it is also known for rarer species that can no longer be imported into the United States. Mugleston has breeding pairs of the fire-bellied toad, native to Europe and Asia, and the Chinese crocodile lizard.

Captive breeding of the crocodile lizard is helping to ensure the very existence of a species that has little suitable habitat left in its native range, he said.

Though many species continue to be both legally and illegally imported into the United States, Mugleston is pleased that the reptile hobby in America has continued to expand — from one made up mostly of wildly originated animals, into one now supplied predominantly by captively bred ones.

The change is important, as pressure on wild populations has been relieved and pet owners have far fewer disappointments.

Mugleston emphasized that wild-caught and imported animals are often a time bomb of future illness and veterinary bills.

"Anything we offer to the public will be captive-bred, it's a better experience for the animals and for the keeper," said Mugleston.

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