TruGenix started with a need of our own.
After more than 40 years of keeping and breeding reptiles, there were a few things we wanted to make easier in the everyday rhythm of our collection: a reliable and stress-free way to sex offspring, a digital home for our care sheets and breeding records instead of Post-it notes and labels on cages and tubs, and an easy way to carry out routine health testing without taking animals to the vet. So we set out to build them ourselves.
As the digital tools took shape, friends asked if they could use them too. More keepers started using them, and what began as something for our own animals gradually grew into something for the wider community. We decided to make the care sheets and breeding records free for fellow herpetologists around the world. Today, our records are used by thousands of keepers.
DNA sex determination took us down another path. The need extended far beyond the species we kept ourselves, some of which are too delicate for traditional sexing methods when young. So we set ourselves the rather ambitious goal of establishing genetic sex determination for all reptile species. It turned out to be a much bigger task than we initially imagined, but also a very exciting one.
For health testing, we wanted to make pathogen screening a practical part of everyday husbandry. Allowing samples to be collected where the animals are kept makes testing easier and more accessible, whether for routine screening or testing new animals before introducing them into a collection.
Along the way, we have had the privilege of working with breeders, veterinarians, geneticists, evolutionary biologists, and other researchers. What started as a practical need for a few of our own animals has grown into a collaborative effort involving hundreds of people across several continents, all contributing in different ways to the TruGenix project.
Today, we continue to advance genetic sex determination as a reliable, stress-free alternative to traditional sexing methods. With hundreds of species researched and validated, and new species added regularly, TruGenix has become one of the most comprehensive resources for reptile genetic sex determination in the world.
And we are just getting started.
That same curiosity is now taking us into new areas. We are in the early stages of developing tools that can help breeders, zoological institutions, researchers, and conservation projects better understand relationships between animals, preserve bloodlines and genetic diversity, and make more informed breeding decisions. The deeper we go, the more fascinating it becomes.
Thank you for spreading the love about the TruGenix project.
We are happy to play our small part in a global community of herpetologists working to better understand these incredible animals and care for them.