Meet Declan McKinney of Reptile Junction

Today we’d like to introduce you to Declan McKinney.

Declan, we appreciate you taking the time to share your story with us today. Where does your story begin?
My dad likes to tell the story of when I caught my first baby rattlesnake at 11 years old, on the bank of the South Fork of the American River, and how I smuggled it home in a 7-Up bottle. I believe he thinks it demonstrates slightly better parenting than my actual first baby rattlesnake, which I caught when I was 5 at Quail Hollow Ranch in Ben Lomond, CA. My mom told me what I’d caught, how dangerous it was, and that I’d better put it down immediately. What was actually the second rattler I caught, the one I brought home in the bottle, was with me for 14 years. We named it TLC, either for Tender Loving Care or Tastes Like Chicken, depending on who you ask. Through good fortune, neither of those first two snakes bit me (although I haven’t always been so lucky since).

My first vocational experience with reptiles was through volunteer work at Pet Shop Santa Cruz, the first, and still only, reptile store in Santa Cruz, CA. Pet Shop Santa Cruz is owned and run by a great family who befriended me and let me hang around for hundreds of hours, learning from them and helping around the shop. It was through them that I developed my passion for caring for and sharing about, reptiles, amphibians, invertebrates, and all sorts of exotic animals that are so popular here in the Valley of The Sun.

I had my first paid experience with wildlife as a zookeeper, tour guide, and reptile handler at the Monterey Zoo, where I was able to draw on my experience to improve the dietary and enclosure practices for their reptile collection. I also got to work with, and take care of animals large and small, like the trained refugee circus elephants who were actually quite sweet and cooperative; Doc, the Binturong, or Malaysian Bearcat; Ed, the African spotted hyena, as well as lions, tigers, and bears, at a separate area of the zoo they called Oz.

In 2017, while visiting a friend who had moved to the Phoenix area, I discovered there were a number of wildlife parks that looked like they might be a good fit for me. I managed to get a three-day tryout with one of them. I didn’t get the job, but in hindsight, it worked out better, because instead, I found a large community of herp enthusiasts like myself, a couple of dozen reptile and exotic pet shops, and a market to support them, throughout the Phoenix area. So later that year I made the move from the Cali coast to the desert.

There are a lot of people in the local herpetology community. Many of us who work at, manage, or are lucky enough to own a reptile shop, have previously worked for at least 2 or 3 of our friend’s/competitors’ shops at some point in the past. I have been very fortunate to have received opportunities, training, and experience as I’ve worked with, and for, and befriended, so many fellow desert “herpers”.

After gaining experience at a couple of other Phoenix area reptile shops, I started working for Shane Weakley and his team at Hold Fast Reptiles and Exotics in Apache Junction in 2019. Working with the shop’s core group of Damon Gaudette, Brandan Box, and Kristal Ewing over the next couple of years, we expanded the shop from two of the four units at 90 S Ironwood Dr, to take over the whole building. In 2021, Shane decided that it was time he moved on to a cooler climate, so my parents and I formed an LLC to purchase the business in October of 2021. Within our first year of owning the company, we were able to qualify for an SBA loan to purchase the building we were in, to assure a permanent home for Hold Fast at Reptile Junction, as we are now called.

The thing that sets our shop apart is that on any given day you will find a variety of animals, free-roaming and interacting with customers around the shop, including, but not limited to, a friendly emu named Rat (for ratite – the group of large, flightless birds that includes ostriches and kiwis), a Patagonian mara, birds, tortoises, maybe a monitor lizard or two, and any number of iguanas climbing around on the branches overhead.

The shop has become a favorite place for families and local schools to come and learn about these and many other animals, and interact with them. We also participate in monthly educational presentations at the Lost Dutchman State Park on local venomous and non-venomous reptiles, and several presentations each year at the Arizona Museum of Natural History, including the annual Beer And Bones and I Love Science events. This year, for the second time, we were invited by the Apache Junction Parks and Recreation department to have a booth at the annual Dino Day celebration at Flatiron Community Park.

We also enjoy working with the Mesa Unified School District and BASIS Chandler Charter Schools to supply animals, accessories, and support for their school pets and projects. We regularly work with Apache Junction Animal Control to recover, rehabilitate, and re-home tortoises and other reptiles who have lost their way or their home.

Alright, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall, and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
Oh, there have been bumps and detours, both personally and professionally.

There was the time I was bitten by a Mojave rattlesnake in the Tonto National Forest. Fortunately, I was herping with two friends (never herp alone!) who got me to the ranger station, having temporarily lost my eyesight. He got me medevaced out, probably saving the use of my hand or arm, at least.

Our first big challenge professionally was when, just after taking over the business, the landlord said if we don’t want to buy the building, our rent was going up by at least $1,000 a month. We looked around for other buildings to lease, but the nature of our business requires a specific type of property to thrive. Most strip malls don’t want to share a wall with a shop that breeds its own feeder rats. We couldn’t afford a conventional loan to buy the building and thought we were going to be locked into a lease agreement we couldn’t really afford, but fortunately, we found out that we could qualify for a Small Business Administration Loan. Hundreds of hoops and miles of red tape later, we now own the building (along with our credit union and the SBA).

Our current struggle is that we have lots of fans and feeder customers, and have loads of people come in and tell us we are their favorite reptile shop. They love to come in and visit with the free-roaming animal residents, and hold and learn about the newest animals for sale, but because of our smaller size, and our desire to house animals as humanely as possible, we aren’t always able to match the prices of some larger brand competitors who deal with volume and sources that we can’t. Gradually though, we’re turning that shop affection into customer loyalty, but in the meantime, it’s a struggle.

I am lucky to have a supportive family and community of friends and coworkers who have been there for me and the shop when we needed them, and I try to be the kind of person who steps up and provides the support others need, in any way I can. I’ve had the good fortune of being able to work toward and realize my dream of getting to share information about, and appreciation for, the many amazing animals I’ve come to know and love. I get to work with great people who care as much as I do about the animals, the customers, the friends of the shop, and the mission of Reptile Junction.

Thanks for sharing that. So, maybe next you can tell us a bit more about your business?
Hold Fast at Reptile Junction sells a wide variety of reptiles and exotic pets, accessories, enclosures, and pet foods.

Our customer service team provides education and recommendations to customers interested in purchasing and successfully housing unique pets. We strive to offer our customers, not just a pet store, but to make each visit an experience as special as the animals we care for. ​

What makes you happy?
Personally, I most enjoy talking to people about native desert wildlife, and eventually, I hope to be able to put more time and energy into educating our local people about our local animals. When I’m at the shop, successfully re-homing animals that have been surrendered or recovered from an unhealthy or unsafe situation is always particularly satisfying. Connecting with families and young people who share our enthusiasm for these animals in need of attentive and caring keepers, is a genuine pleasure for all of us at Reptile Junction.

Whether we are re-homing a lost tortoise, a chameleon we’ve helped convalesce, or placing a clutch of young carpet pythons who have eaten their first live meals and are ready for their forever homes, finding the best match between caretaker and companion, and helping them maintain healthy, gratifying relationships is the goal of everyone here at Reptile Junction. See how I snuck our mission statement in there?

Contact Info:

• Website: Reptilejunction.net
• Instagram: @Holdfastexotics
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Holdfastreptiles