osh Hawley, co-owner of Hawley’s Homebred Reptiles LLC, Spokane Valley’s newest retailer of exotic lizards and snakes, has known since he was a young boy that he wanted to run a critter store.

After selling homebred reptiles online for 10 years, Josh and wife, Sasha Hawley, decided their hobby-turned-business was drawing enough traffic that it could support a brick-and-mortar location.

“We got into it for the love of reptiles,” Sasha says. “They’ve become our life.”

They incorporated the business in March, and in May they opened Hawley’s Homebred Reptiles in a 1,400-square-foot building at 12724 E. Sprague that’s tucked away behind a Thai Bamboo restaurant.

The shop currently carries about 90 critters, most of which are reptiles, including various species of exotic snakes, lizards, and tortoises.

The store will have many more animals on display once the annual hatching season starts.

“Come spring, when everything happens, we’ll be full in here,” Josh says. “We’ll put incubators on display so people can see stuff hatch.”

Some of the reptiles have recently bred or are in a breeding mood now, he says. Usually they lay eggs 30 to 45 days after pairing, and it takes another 55 to 60 days for the eggs to hatch.

“Hatching season starts in February and March and can last until October,” he says.

Most of the reptile breeding and hatching, though, still happens at the Hawleys’ home, where several rooms are dedicated to reptiles.

“In the summer, we can have 1,000 animals at home,” Josh says.

Ball pythons, which are small, docile snakes that evolved in central Africa, are among Josh’s favorite animals, because they can be bred to enhance distinct esthetic traits called morphs. 

“Ball pythons come in hundreds of shades and patterns,” he says.

Most customers like to buy babies rather than adult reptiles, Josh says. “They just want to work with babies and get them tame,” he says.

Depending on the species, Hawley’s will care for the babies four to eight weeks before putting them up for sale.

“We want to make sure they’re eating well on their own before we ‘rehome’ them,” he says.

Some of the more intelligent species of reptiles learn to recognize people who regularly interact with them, Josh says.

Bearded dragons, which are frill-necked, spiny-scaled lizards of Australian origin, are among the most popular species with customers.

“Bearded dragons are a little smarter than some other reptiles,” he says. “They have more personality.”

When they hatch, baby bearded dragons are about three inches long, including their tails, which are longer than their bodies. Hawley’s sells them when they’re four to five inches in length.

Hawley’s has mature bearded dragons on display, but they’re not for sale. The adult dragons, named Wicked, Lizzie, Ralph, Charlie, and Sally, are active-breeding store pets. Each is well over a foot long and quite plump for three-year-old specimens.

Hawley’s also raises and sells a variety of “feeders,” including meal worms and super worms, which helps the animals in the store grow fast.

“They have an endless supply (of food),” says Sasha.

Some reptile species, such as a South American monitor lizard known as a Chacoan tegu, can bond with people. One of Sasha’s favorite store pets is a black and white tegu named Meatloaf, which follows her when she puts it on the floor at feeding time. Meatloaf is approaching two feet in length, and Sasha expects it to grow to exceed four feet in length within a few years.

Josh says, “Each species has its own demeanor. That really keeps my interest.”

Hawley’s reptile prices start at around $20 for baby corn snakes, and range up to several thousand dollars for some lizards, depending on rarity, markings, and color. The typical price for animals kept at the shop ranges up to $250.

“We have some geckos that go for up to $4,000,” Josh says.

Hawley’s valuable animals aren’t on display at the store, though. “We don’t bring the high-end ones in,” he says.

Hawley’s Homebred Reptiles offers payment plans for some of its high-end animals, Josh says.

Hawley’s also carries a few amphibians, which include frogs, toads, and salamanders. One amphibian enclosure contains axolotls, which are nine-inch aquatic salamanders that have branched gills.

For the next project for the shop, Josh says he plans to set up a large tropical display in which enclosures will be embedded into simulated habitat. That will be followed by a desert display, which will be similar in concept, he says.

Hawley’s sells reptile cages with prices ranging from $10 to $350. The shop offers discounts for full outfits.

For those who want everything already set up, Josh says the shop even sells its display enclosures, most of which are glass sided and look like aquariums and terrariums.

The shop also sells reptile accessories, décor, and other supplies.

Josh, now 34, says he’s been fascinated by animals, especially reptiles, since he was a small boy.

He bought his first exotic reptile, a ball python, when he was in first grade.

A few years later, he started breeding red-tailed boas, then came corn snakes.

“Back then, I brought them to pet shops,” he says of the babies.

He started selling reptiles online in 2005, first through Craigslist and later switching to Facebook. 

“We ship all over, and sales have increased every year,” he says.

Now, Hawley’s is breeding 30 species, with sales brisk enough that there’s no looking back to his former job as a warehouse manager for Benjamin News Group.

Josh opens Hawley’s every day and often works till closing. Sasha, who’s an insurance adjuster, has a shift at Liberty Mutual that ends in midafternoon, enabling her to work at the shop in evenings and on weekends.

The shop currently has no other employees. “It’s just us,” Josh says, although he hopes to continue growing the business to the point he can hire some help.

Hawley’s is active on Facebook, and longtime online customers are helping get the word out about the new shop, he says.

Josh says he also spends one or two weekends a month at reptile expositions between March and October, and he shows off 200 animals at each event.

“We’re going to put on possibly two expos here in Spokane,” he says. “We’re shooting for June for the first one.”

Josh advises novices that people shouldn’t buy reptiles simply because they “look cool,” especially if they’re not committed to provide care for them for a number of years.

“It’s like getting a cat or dog,” he says, “They live a long time.”

Ball pythons, for instance can live 50 years, and other reptile species can live even longer.

“We’re already talking to our (7-year-old) daughter about taking over for our tortoise,” Josh says.