UF animal sciences senior Joe Richichi shares a two-bedroom apartment with about 50 cold-blooded companions.
Sometimes his friends keep him up at night, head-butting the glass behind his bedroom or clawing at the walls, but to Richichi those are just the perks of his job.
On Oct. 17, the 26-year-old will place most of his reptiles up for adoption at ReptiDay Gainesville, a one-day reptile event to be held inside the Paramount Plaza Hotel and Conference Center, located at 2900 SW 13th St., said Bonnie Miller, promotions team leader of Repticon, the event’s host company.
The event will begin at 10 a.m. and close at 5 p.m. It will feature dozens of breeders and vendors looking to sell their exotic animals and animal-care equipment, Miller said.
Live-animal educational seminars will also be held throughout the day, she added.
"They can buy, they can learn and they can build a habitat all in one place," Miller said.
Tickets will cost $10 for adults and $5 for children ages 5-12 at the door. Children under 5 years old can attend for free.
Richichi said the upcoming show would be his 30th or 40th time at ReptiDay Gainesville.
This year, he will be selling reptiles and conducting a seminar on axolotls, a type of salamander.
But for Richichi, his love for reptiles sparked from a love for their ancestors.
"I was a dinosaur kid growing up," he said.
While still in high school in New York, he purchased his first reptiles online. He and his friend ordered five bearded dragons, three of which Richichi kept.
Richichi’s hobby turned into a potential career after he worked at a pet store in his home state. One day, someone brought in an extremely malnourished gecko, and he managed to nurse the animal back to health, sparking his passion for animal care.
Richichi said he spent much of his early life drawing and even received an associate degree in communications and media art in 2009,however, he said he wasn’t happy with the path he was taking and the jobs he was getting.
So, in 2011, inspired by the incident at the pet store, he moved to Gainesville, where his cousin lived, to pursue a veterinary career.
Richichi wanted to get into UF to study animal sciences, but he first needed to fulfill his prerequisites. And more importantly, he needed to pay for it all.
To help fund his education, he and his cousin started a business, Juke Reptiles, which dealt with breeding and selling their animals. The two attended shows like ReptiDay and ran their business for about six months before Richichi said he wanted to leave the breeding industry.
"Every industry has bad eggs," he said. "The more I saw that, the more I realized that more reptiles need to be rescued."
In 2012, his animal-rescue company, Ready To Go Reptiles, was born.
Richichi does all of his business on the traveling-show circuit, attending shows in Florida and, more recently, Georgia. In between shows, he keeps his animals in his apartment.
"Everything’s based out of my apartment," he said. "On average, at least two to three weekends a month, I’m traveling and finding buyers."
At any given time, he said, about 40 to 50 different reptiles reside in his apartment.
Ranging from reticulated pythons to Tegu lizards, the animals usually stay with him for about a month before finding permanent homes.
But sometimes he grows attached.
"I have a big problem with that actually," Richichi said. "I’ve got a connection with so many of my animals."
One such connection is with a 6-month-old red-footed tortoise named Director Fury, who was born with one eye. Richichi originally bought the tortoise from a breeder who was going to have him euthanized.
The tortoise was named after a character from "The Avengers" who always wore an eye patch, he said.
Along with his animal business, Richichi also sells his artwork at shows and on his website, admitting he makes more money from his drawings than from his animals.
Either way, he said he couldn’t picture himself doing anything else besides working with animals.
"I absolutely love what I do," he said. "I wouldn’t give it up for anything."
