WHOLESALE ONLY · RETAIL PET SHOPS & QUALIFIED DEALERS
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OUR STORY

Built for the reptile trade since 1977.

From a one-car garage in Costa Mesa to a nationwide wholesale partner for pet shops and zoos.

CAL ZOO HISTORY

Almost five decades in the trade.

  1. 1977

    In Cold Blood

    At 19 years old, Gary Bagnall and college friend Mark Lemke started a reptile company from a one-car garage in Costa Mesa, California. The company was called In Cold Blood.

  2. 1978

    Orange County Zoological

    For a limited time, Gary teamed up with accomplished Elaphe breeder Lloyd Lemke, and the company name changed to Orange County Zoological.

  3. 1979

    California Zoological Supply

    Gary started California Zoological Supply, Cal Zoo, and traveled to Honduras, Egypt, Sierra Leone, Ghana, Nigeria, and Western Samoa in search of reptiles. Cal Zoo was the first company in the United States to bring in Uromastyx aegyptius, Pacific Island boas, and the original four albino Colombian red-tailed boas.

    Historic California Zoological Supply photo of four people holding a large snake outside the business

  4. 1979 to present

    A nationwide wholesale partner

    Ty Dillon joined Gary in 1980 and helped grow Cal Zoo as a one-stop shop for wholesale herps. Gary branched off in the early 1980s to start Zoo Med Labs in the back part of the CAL ZOO warehouse, before locating to San Luis Obispo. Today, Cal Zoo is owned by Ty Dillon and operates from an 8,000-square-foot, two-level facility, supplying quality captive-bred and field-collected reptiles to pet shops and zoos nationwide.

    Historic Orange County Zoological wholesale reptile price list with handwritten price changes
    Historic price list, circa early 1980s.
    View full-size price list ↗
    Historic Cal Zoo office photo of a man seated at a desk surrounded by paperwork and reptile photographs
    Approx. early 1990
    Gary and Ty together at a Zoo Med display in the company’s early days
    The early days of Zoo Med Labs with Gary and Ty.
Ty Dillon’s first reptile book, Reptiles as Pets, displayed on a live animal cargo crate
Ty’s first Reptile book 1976 that started his path into the Reptile Industry.

WHERE IT STARTED

A lifetime in reptiles began with one book.

CAL ZOO TODAY

Captive-raised, field-collected, and built for working stores.

More than 50% of the reptiles and amphibians sold from Cal Zoo are captive-raised from private breeders in the United States.

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Inside California Zoological Supply's two-level Santa Ana facility