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DEFRITEN

Personal advice

Before you build, buy or rebuild.

An enclosure can be built twice: Once wrong and once right. Or right the first time. I look at your situation and tell you what works, what is missing and what you can save yourself.

Make an enquiryWhat I help withFor businesses

The enquiry is free and without obligation. What a consultation costs you learn in advance: Costs only arise once you agree. For businesses there are also tailored solutions including your own version of the app.

Panther chameleon on a branch

What I advise on

From the first idea to a running installation. If your subject is not listed, ask anyway. I will tell you honestly whether I can help.

Enclosure construction and equipment

From sketch to finished installation: Dimensions, materials, ventilation and escape protection.

  • Planning and dimensions: floor area, height, layout, ordinance minimums
  • Material and construction: wood, glass, PVC, fronts, ventilation areas
  • Heat: basking lamps, heat mats, thermostats, temperature zones, night-time drop
  • Lighting: choosing UV-B, distance and shading, photoperiod
  • Humidity: misting, foggers, ventilation, measuring points
  • Substrate and drainage, bioactive set-ups with plants and clean-up crew
  • Furnishing: hides, climbing options, water section, visual barriers
  • Safeguards: escape protection, cable routing, what to do in a power cut

Choosing a species and keeping it

Which species suits your space, experience and daily life, what it really needs in practice.

  • Choosing a species by space, experience, budget and time
  • A second opinion before buying: is the species you want the right one?
  • Settling in and quarantine for new arrivals
  • Kept alone or in a group: what the species tolerates
  • Diet: feeder animals, size, frequency, calcium and vitamin supplementation
  • Making sense of refused food and weight trends
  • Shedding problems and their causes
  • Managing brumation and the dry season properly
  • Handling and avoiding stress, contact without force
  • Care during holidays, instructions for a pet sitter

Breeding

From pairing to rehoming: Planned rather than left to chance.

  • Breeding plan: condition of the parent animals, timing, pairing
  • Clutch and incubation: substrate, temperature, humidity, incubator
  • Genetics and morphs: inheritance patterns, pairings, expected offspring
  • Raising hatchlings: first shed, starting to feed, housing
  • Rehoming: documentation, purchase contract, proof of origin

Law and authorities (Switzerland)

Permit, expertise, species protection and what the veterinary office wants to see.

  • Clarify whether the intended species requires a permit (Art. 89 TSchV)
  • Certificate of competence: when it is needed and where to get it
  • Applying the minimum dimensions of Annex 2 to your own set-up
  • Species protection and CITES, proof of origin, import and export
  • Keeping a register of animals
  • Preparing for an inspection: which documents should be ready

Collection and special situations

When something changes: Taking over, moving, winding down.

  • Taking over an existing collection: condition, paperwork, next steps
  • Winding down or reducing: responsible rehoming
  • Moving house with animals: transport, interim solution, rebuilding
  • Catching up on inventory and records

Solutions for businesses

For everyone who works with reptiles professionally, including a version of the app tailored to the business.

  • Building and fitting out a commercial facility
  • Daily routines: feeding, cleaning, checks, shift handover
  • Records that stand up to an inspection
  • A version of ReptiCare tailored to your business
  • Training staff on both the animal and the app

In what form

  • In writing

    A detailed answer by email, with sketches and sources.

  • Video call

    Go through the enclosure together and settle questions directly.

  • Phone

    For shorter questions and quick assessments.

  • On site

    By arrangement; travel depending on region and effort.

For businesses

Tailored solutions for businesses: With their own version of the app.

ReptiCare in the App Store is built for private keepers: one person, a manageable number of animals, one device. Anyone working with reptiles professionally needs something else. For that I develop a version of the app tailored to the business and set up the workflows around it.

Who it is for

  • Pet trade

    Changing stock, advising customers, paperwork at the point of sale.

  • Breeders

    Many animals, pairings, clutches, rehoming with paperwork.

  • Rescue centres and animal shelters

    Arrivals of unknown origin, quarantine, rehoming.

  • Zoos and display facilities

    Several staff, fixed procedures, unbroken records.

  • Veterinary practices

    An animal’s history at a glance rather than from memory.

  • Enclosure construction

    Plan installations, document the dimensions, hand over to the customer.

What can be built

  • Several staff, one collection

    Who fed, checked or treated the animal, and when, is recorded on the animal. The shift handover then takes care of itself.

  • Large collections

    Rack systems, bulk tasks and filters instead of clicking through animal by animal. With three hundred animals, that is the difference between usable and unusable.

  • Your own fields and workflows

    Every business records something different. Fields, lists and tasks are cut to fit the way you work, not the other way round.

  • Records at the press of a button

    Register of animals, proof of origin, handover documents and care instructions for customers: As a finished PDF rather than a heap of paper.

  • Your own branding

    The business’s name, logo and colours, where the app is also visible to customers in the shop.

  • Distribution within the business

    Through Apple Business Manager a dedicated version can be delivered only to the business’s own devices. It need not appear publicly in the App Store.

  • Connecting to what you already have

    Export into accounting or inventory systems, provided the other side has an interface. What is possible I clarify beforehand, not halfway through.

What a business project costs

There is no list price, because no two businesses are alike. It starts with a conversation about your workflows: Free of charge. You then receive a written quote setting out scope, effort and timing. Costs only arise once you agree.

One thing up front, so there is no surprise: what is described here is commissioned work. It is developed for you and is not included in the public version of the app.

Business enquiry

How it works

  1. 1

    Make an enquiry

    Fill in the form: The more precise the details, the more precise the assessment. Free and without obligation.

  2. 2

    Response

    A first answer within a few days: what is feasible, what it takes, which questions are still open.

  3. 3

    Quote

    The work and the price are stated in advance. Costs only arise once you agree.

  4. 4

    Consulting

    In the format agreed. At the end there is a summary to read back over.

What it costs

There is no single price, because there is no single question. A brief assessment of which species to choose is not the same as planning a facility with equipment and a permit. The price follows the work involved and appears in the quote before anything begins. The enquiry itself costs nothing.

Other places to ask

These services advise free of charge and independently of ReptiCare. They are not ReptiCare partners – they are simply a pointer for anyone who wants a second opinion.

  • Zürcher Tierschutz

    Runs a free pet advice service together with the Zurich veterinary hospital – open to everyone, not just members. Exotics have their own number: questions about buying, housing, feeding, care and health are answered there.

    • Exotics advice: 044 635 83 43 (Mon–Fri 8–12, 13.30–17)
    • Pet advice: 044 442 14 00 (Mon–Thu 9–12, 14–16)
    To the free pet advice service

Request a consultation

The more you write, the more precise the first assessment. Only name, email and the description are required.

Contact
What is it about?

Multiple selection possible.

About the situation

The details are used solely to handle the enquiry and are not passed on. Details in the Privacy Policy. The reply goes to the address you give; for questions you can also reach me directly at info@marlonschick.ch or on Instagram as @repticare_ch.

What this advice is not: neither veterinary treatment nor legal advice. With a sick animal, the trip to the vet comes first, not last. Binding information on permits comes from the cantonal veterinary office. I help you ask the right questions and prepare the paperwork.

Further reading

Some questions can be settled without a consultation. These articles show how I approach a subject.

All articles