JEFFERSON TWP — Garrett Hartle is recognized internationally as the authority and top expert in his fascinating and unique industry, which is housed right here in Butler County.

Hartle is the owner of Reach Out Reptiles on Route 356, which is a breeder and purveyor of dwarf and super dwarf reticulated pythons.

Hartle has 3,000 of the snakes in his building now, as well as the front end of a Willys Jeep to demonstrate his Butler County pride.

“We breed some of the rarest pythons in the world,” he said nonchalantly. “The L.A. Zoo called us last week to get one from us.”

He explained that the super dwarf reticulated python is a native of Karompa Island in the Flores Sea in Indonesia.

Because they have not been scientifically described — or given a two-part Latin name and had a description published in a peer-reviewed scientific journal — and categorized as rare or endangered, they are not protected.

“It might go extinct before it is scientifically described,” Hartle said. “That’s why zoos are so interested in them.”

Hartle said Reach Out Reptiles is the largest and most widely recognized breeder of dwarf reticulated pythons in the world.

He creates the snakes’ unique appearances by breeding various specimens, like an albino and a yellow snake to create a white snake with black eyes and yellow stripes, or an orange snake with a purple one to create a specimen with a colorful net pattern on its back.

The more unique a snake turns out, the more expensive it is to buy.

Hartle sold one snake for $60,000, but most of the 750 or so snakes he sells and ships per year go for around $2,000.

On Wednesday, Hartle pulled snake after snake out of spotless containers to demonstrate the diversity of their appearances.

Unlike many snakes, the nonvenomous dwarf reticulated python is a docile, friendly breed.

“They can bite, but they’re a really nice species,” Hartle said. “That’s why they make such good pets.”

Many of the larger snakes housed in a wall of black boxes in his basement tap on their windows in an effort to interact with Hartle as he walks by.

“There’s no other species quite like this one,” he said. “They want to see you when you come home and curl up and read a book with you.”

The dwarf reticulated pythons at Hartle’s facility enjoy a diet of mice and rats.

“It’s all frozen and thawed out,” he said of the snakes’ diet. “I order $10,000 a month in food.”

Once deemed healthy via careful observation of food consumption and digestion, the baby snakes are put up for sale online.

Once matched with a suitable owner or zoo, they are placed in an insulated, temperature-controlled box complete with a Reach Out Reptiles care guide and birth certificate ,and shipped to their new homes all around the world.

Hartle said some buyers who are major snake enthusiasts keep the pythons in huge, tropical enclosures at their homes and enjoy their new charges as other pet owners would their dogs or cats.

“For me, it’s more about having a relationship with your animal rather than flat owning the animal,” he said of his pythons.

Because one of the missions of Reach Out Reptiles is education, Hartle keeps a few demonstration reptiles on hand to take to schools or events, like his ball python, iguanas and tarantula.

He and Hadley Kennedy, education specialist at Reach out Reptiles, take their reptiles to a couple dozen schools per year, but hope to add more.

Hartle said while boys act tough around snakes, they are more likely to chicken out when it comes to touching them, while girls tend to embrace and befriend the specimens at assemblies.

The long wall of snake enclosures in the basement will soon include an enclosed snake playground with plants and climbing features that snakes stacked in 10 enclosures on either side can enjoy.

The snakes also will be able to visit one another through the doggy doors used to access the playground.

The playgrounds will be interspersed along the wall of enclosures so that all the snakes there can access them.

He said all snakes in his facility are let out of their enclosures regularly, and feeding and watering the animals is constant.

All containers and enclosures are regularly cleaned as well.

While Reach Out Reptiles will continue to breed the dwarf reticulated pythons and match them with appropriate owners around the globe, Hartle is pursuing an additional idea for his building.

Hartle, who bought the former bakery, gift shop and restaurant building two years ago, is creating a reptile museum that will be separate from the breeding business.

While two dozen snakes will be housed in the huge terrarium, the main attraction will be Karma, a 200-pound, 21-foot long reticulated python now living in a large, but temporary, enclosure.

Hartle is renovating a shipping container he has placed inside the building to be the 9-year-old snake’s permanent enclosure, with an emphasis on luxury.

Hartle plans to remove the floors above and below the glass-walled shipping container to create a three-story terrarium complete with a doggy door so Karma and her slithering roommates can access an outside enclosure during temperate months.

The enclosure will include flora and fauna native to Karma’s natural tropical habitat, as well as climbing features for her enjoyment.

Hartle plans to add artificial reality features at the museum so it appears a snake is in the room with visitors, as well as hidden glass children can stand behind to appear as though they are in the terrarium with Karma.

In addition, Hartle plans to transform the building’s loft, or large third floor, into a short-term rental for those who would find it relaxing or exciting to spend a few nights in the house of 3,000 snakes.

A window in the rental will overlook Karma’s enclosure for the renters’ viewing pleasure.

Families or groups will be able to book the museum for birthday parties or private tours and events.

“They will see some of the rarest animals in the world right here,” Hartle said.

The building also includes a studio, where Hartle, Kennedy and others do a late-night show and “Ask the Breeder” forum on the Reach Out Reptiles YouTube channel.

Many of the snakes in Hartle’s building, like Sailor Jerry, Honey Nugget and Dottie the Hottie, have been named by viewers of the channel, which has about 40,000 followers.

Hartle, who was born in Pittsburgh but grew up in Southern California, said he was constantly catching rattlesnakes as a child, bringing them into the house and putting them in an unsecured box, from which they’d escape.

He’d then have to weigh getting in trouble against the potential of a family member being bitten.

Finally, when he was 15, his mother, Gina Hartle, realized her son’s obsession with snakes wasn’t a passing phase and allowed him to get a carpet python named Cypress.

“It was all over after that,” he said. “It was a wonderful experience.”

Hartle said having a pet snake is much different that having a dog or a cat.

“When you own something that has a wild counterpart, you become instantly involved in biology,” he said. “It’s infectious.”

Today, his mother will sometimes pet one of her son’s snakes with her index finger.

“She has softened up quite a bit,” Hartle said.

More information is available at reachoutreptiles.com.