Community Highlights: Meet Maggie Casteller of Glennie Geckos, LLC

Today we’d like to introduce you to Maggie Casteller

Hi Maggie, can you start by introducing yourself? We’d love to learn more about how you got to where you are today?
Well, I guess it all started when my ex-husband was talking about how he used to own geckos. And I’ve always liked reptiles. Had a Chinese Water Dragon once. His name was Ozzy. And it got us talking about geckos. And we learned so much in such a short time on YouTube. Then we came across an account called “Tikis Geckos”, and they were featuring one of their gargoyle geckos named Dracula. And I IMIDEATLY wanted one. We then began the search. And found a Dracula line baby from BHB Reptiles. We jumped on the purchase.

With it being during COVID-19 times, and not working, and having to navigate social distancing, and life back then, depression and anxiety spiked for me. And having geckos really helped me tremendously. I started researching “how to start a business in gecko breeding”, and quickly became obsessed. I got the LLC, bank account, everything, purchased more geckos, set up social media. Just worked as hard as I could. I had the dream of being like the other breeders I saw on YouTube. I wanted to make a sustainable living off of breeding geckos. It was fun, insightful, and rewarding.

Not only was it nice to have the business for myself, and my own needs. It was also nice to be a part of a community of people who understood me. And who shared the same goals, and dreams as I did. And instead of it being a super competitive market, it was one where we all helped each other grow, and I really was excited to be a part of that.

There were a lot of curves, mistakes made, purchases that were heavy on the wallet. LOTS of sleepless nights, long days working full time, and then full time on the geckos. And then managing several different social medias. But the work was so worth it every single time I pulled out a baby gecko. And saw how amazing these little creatures are. And to know that this was MY creation.

We have always tried our best to offer the BEST customer service we can to anyone who supports us. We don’t care about being better then the next guy. We just want whoever comes to us to have the proper information, the support, and to just answer any general questions they may have. We help others who even haven’t purchased from us. Because we care about our animals, all animals. And the people who decide to welcome one of them into their homes.

In a world full of misinformation, we try our best to offer the most accurate and true information we can. With that said, it took a long time to develop our customer base. It is still a growing and developing goal we have. We are still very much in the infant stages of our development. But we are hopeful that one day we will have a wide array of customers, companies that want to sponsor us, EVEN better animals. And the freedom to expand into our other passions as well.

We went from 4 to 20 geckos, and then on and on it went from there. Within 3 years we were already at a good 300 geckos. And the number is just increasing from there. We primarily sell on our Morphmarket. But we have sold some at local reptile expos. We want to go to many more in the future. Our next goal is to make it to the one in Daytona, FL.

To be quite honest, I wouldn’t be where I am without the help of the people around me. This isn’t a one-person job. The help from everyone on social media sharing, commenting, liking, interacting at all helps so much with my growth. Every person who purchases and leaves a review on my Morphmarket, and of course the help from my wonderful boyfriend. He works just as hard as I do, we both are passionate about this. And love what we do, and hope that others can grow to love these animals as much as we do.

Would you say it’s been a smooth road, and if not what are some of the biggest challenges you’ve faced along the way?
This job takes a great deal of perseverance. There were times where I almost wanted to give up. The long hours, the massive amounts of money to care for them. The countless hours spent taking photos, packing geckos, cleaning their enclosures, feeding them, marketing our brand, driving, having to get an actual job to support the business. Having animals get sick, or unfortunately pass away, or need surgery and not be able to be worked into a project we built around them. Almost broke me a million times. BUT I always got back up and kept going. In anything there will be loss, there will be financial burdens, and stress. There will be sacrifices and learning experiences. But we get up and keep going. We learn from them and keep momentum. We know what we want, we know what we love, and we know who we are. And nothing, ever, can stop that.

Thanks – so what else should our readers know about Glennie Geckos, LLC?
We are a small business that selectively breeds geckos, we currently have 4 different species of geckos. And plan on expanding to many more species. We live in Northern MI. We are very interested in making living art, we want to educate people on how simple and easy these animals are to take care of, and how rewarding it is. We want to share what we love about our animals. How much they can help with anxiety, depression, ADHD, Autism. They are vibrant, and colorful, change from dark, to light, are soft, and have sticky feet. They lick their eyeballs and like to hang upside down. They can jump pretty far relative to their size. And they honestly help me so much. I want to share that with others.

I am proud of what I’ve accomplished. I started from nothing, not knowing a single thing, to where I am now, educating others. I am proud of the community of reptile keepers that I’m a part of. I’m proud of the animals I’ve produced. I’m also proud that I can share this with my children as well. And they can learn a lot from me. And develop a new understanding, and love for reptiles.

I hope that when people come to us to purchase their lifelong companion (they live for up to 20 years), that they are never alone. I will always do my best to offer support and answer any questions they have. I promise to do my best to always produce healthy, and strong animals. They will always be able to trust me, I will always be honest and have their best interest at heart. Theirs, and the animals. I am a hardworking individual. I am passionate, and sincere. I am understanding, and I am diligent. I will always be true to who I am. And blend that into my business practices.

Do you have any advice for those looking to network or find a mentor?
Honestly, I sort of just learned this this last year. I thought that I knew it. But it really didn’t hit me until this year. I used to think that all you had to do was remain consistent with social media posts, and YouTube videos, and keep your website stocked, and presentation on point.

But the simple way to answer this is- Be people, with people.

It’s not a complicated business model that requires you to take a long class with a ton of notes. People want to feel connections with other people. People want to be heard, understood, and appreciated. They want to feel like their time is worth something. We all do. I was craving it every time I checked to see if I got a new like or comment on my posts. And that’s when it clicked.

We are all floating around in our own bubbles, and we are too blind to see others it seems in this crazy rat race of a life.

Connection= people being people with other people. Simple.

Contact Info:

• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/glennie_geckos/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/glenniegeckos
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@glenniegeckos
• Other: https://www.morphmarket.com/stores/glenniegeckos/