Frequently asked questions

The Reptile Club is a public institution for reptile records, Standards, and shared resources for the hobby. It maintains The Reptile Club Registry, publishes Certificates of Pedigree, keeps public Registry lookup pages, maintains Standards, publishes reptile articles and announcements, operates a reptile expo list, and provides HatchLog as the breeder’s working app.

HatchLog is your private working record book for animals, clutches, pairings, photos, notes, feeding, weights, reminders, QR labels, and breeding history. Those records stay private unless you choose to submit an animal for registration.

The Registry is the public, permanent record maintained by The Reptile Club. Once a registration is approved, the accepted Registry information becomes public record and the animal receives an RC code and Certificate of Pedigree.

Registration begins from an animal record in HatchLog or through the Registry registration entry points on reptileclub.com. The breeder submits the animal’s accepted registration information, including species, hatch or provenance details where available, producer attribution, and any sire or dam links that can be supported.

The submission is reviewed by The Registry. If approved, the animal receives a permanent RC code and a public Certificate of Pedigree. Registering an animal uses one Registry credit. HatchLog Pro is not required.

Registering an animal costs one Registry credit. Credit packs are $10 for one, $45 for five, and $200 for twenty-five. Credits are separate from HatchLog Pro and can be purchased by free users.

HatchLog Pro is $8/month or $79/year and adds automatic cloud backup and instant cross-device sync. Pro supports multiple people working on different devices while signed into the same account, so changes to the collection sync between devices instead of going stale.

Pro does not include recurring Registry credits. A user’s first annual Pro subscription currently grants a one-time 10-credit welcome bonus to help establish animals in The Registry.

The local HatchLog app is free for your whole working collection: breeders, clutches, hatchlings, collection animals, local animal records, up to 9 photos per animal, statistics, QR labels, reminders, notifications, and history.

Paid boundaries are reserved for hosted costs and permanent public infrastructure: HatchLog Pro covers cloud backup, instant sync, and same-account work across devices. Registry credits cover reviewed registration and permanent public Registry storage.

An RC code is RC- followed by eight letters and numbers. For example: RC-K7M2QX4P. The RC code is the animal’s public Registry identifier and appears on its Certificate of Pedigree and Registry page.

RC codes are separate from HatchLog’s local HL codes. An HL code can exist for a private HatchLog animal that has not been registered.

Yes. Looking up a pedigree by RC code is free for everyone. No account is required.

Some fields are permanent once the registration is issued. The registration code, species, hatch date, and producer are locked at issue. Sire and dam slots follow a fill-once rule: an empty slot may be completed later with a registered parent, but a filled slot cannot be replaced through ordinary editing.

The keeper of record may amend the animal’s name, sex, morph designation, and photograph. Amendments are recorded in the animal’s Registry history. Genuine errors of fact in locked fields may be raised with registry@reptileclub.com for individual review.

The Registry records morph and trait information cautiously. A breeder’s private morph text in HatchLog does not automatically become a Registry fact. Genetic traits, appearance descriptors, line or locality information, and breeder claims are treated as separate kinds of information.

Where a Reptile Club Standard supports a trait or display convention, the Registry follows that Standard. Where evidence is incomplete, the Registry avoids overstating certainty, especially for traits whose inheritance is not established.

A transfer changes the keeper of record. It does not change the animal’s RC code, producer attribution, species, or lineage. The Registry records transfer events as part of the animal’s history, but The Reptile Club is not a party to the animal sale and does not handle payment, shipping, health guarantees, or other arrangements between keepers.

HatchLog is designed for reptile breeders and keepers. The default My Species set focuses on commonly kept reptiles, with a wider catalog available through species search. The current list is at reptileclub.com/species.

Custom species records may be useful as private HatchLog records, but custom species records are not eligible for Registry registration unless the species is supported by The Registry.

HatchLog is built for iPhone and Android. Store download links will be published when the App Store and Google Play listings are live. The Registry website at reptileclub.com works in a browser and can be used to verify public Certificates of Pedigree without an account.

You can delete your account from within HatchLog or by emailing support@reptileclub.com. The Reptile Club removes account-level personal data as described in the Privacy Policy.

Approved Registry records are different from private account data. A public registration is retained as part of the Registry’s permanent record, even if the account that submitted it is deleted. The record is no longer tied to your personal account. The permanence rules are explained at reptileclub.com/permanence.