Conversations with Phillip Lietz

Today we’d like to introduce you to Phillip Lietz.

Hi Phillip, thanks for joining us today. We’d love for you to start by introducing yourself.
I was always keeping reptiles as pets even when I was a little kid. I made a little money doing it while in high school, but most of my family never saw it as a viable career path. After a stint in Berlin for an unrelated career attempt, I took a small risk and spent a decent sum of money on a pair of rare lizards (Uromastyx thomasi) with a plan to breed them.

A year later they bred and I made my money back 5 fold. I realized at that point that I might be able to make Herpetoculture a legitimate path forward. Over the next 2-3 years I expanded my work and kept throwing any money I made back into the business. I was competing in Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu, working with reptiles, and working cleaning windows and gutters or as a server at a Japanese restaurant.

Around 2016 my work with Uromastyx picked up and I was able to focus primarily on reptiles and Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu. With further expansion, I ended up moving into a 2000 sq ft warehouse space in January 2020. Since then I’ve been gradually refining my craft and building as best I can within Herpetoculture.

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?
It has been in no way a smooth road! The challenges were many and frequent. Sourcing suitable breeders, refining methods to ensure breeding success, the inevitable setbacks that come from working with live animals (illnesses or death), incubator malfunctions that destroy entire clutches of eggs, toxic personal relationships that strained my schedule, learning to do paperwork and taxes, learning how to market, learning how to ship, finding ways to minimize food and energy costs, all were complicated and challenging to learn on the fly.

Alright, so let’s switch gears a bit and talk business. What should we know about your work?
I operate Arids Only. I’m a private Herpetoculturist specializing in Uromastyx, a genus of herbivorous desert lizard from North Africa and the Middle East. This group of animals comes from conflict zones and has little to no protection in their wild ranges.

I’ve been working with these lizards for nearly 20 years to both understand their captive care and increase the level of quality of life for these pets in captivity. I’m proud to be one of the world’s most consistent producers of these unique reptiles. I think it’s mostly dedicated to my craft if there is anything that sets me apart from others doing similar work.

Are there any books, apps, podcasts, or blogs that help you do your best?
I’m pretty much constantly devouring podcasts and audiobooks of all kinds. I lean towards more non-fiction in general but enjoy a wide range of titles and topics. A similar array of podcasts decorates my Spotify and apple podcasts stream. I think it’s hard to narrow it down to 1 topic or title since in my line of work and at this time in history, I think it pays to be a bit of a polymath. At least as best you can.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.aridsonly.com
• Instagram: @aridsonly
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@aridsonly491
• Other: patreon.com/aridsonly