My name is Nathan Hall, and I’ve had a lifelong passion for reptiles, amphibians, plants, aquaria, and nature.

My family moved to Austin in 1980, and my love affair for all things herp-related started when I found a Texas alligator lizard (Gerrhonotus infernalis) in my backyard when I was like 6. It opened up a world to me that intrigued me more than anything.

We moved to Tucson, Arizona when I was in 5th grade. The Sonoran Desert was this new and fascinating world, and I spent every free moment of my life searching for reptiles and amphibians in the desert behind my house. I would put boards down behind my house and would flip them weeks later to find all kinds of magical animals waiting to be discovered. I was most intrigued with a little desert jewel called a Tucson banded gecko. That began my obsession with geckos.

My family bounced around the US when I was young, so I got to explore so many different biotopes and the flora and fauna in them.

I was equally interested in aquaria, and I got my first job at an aquarium store when I was 15 called Mainland Marine. I bred shell-dwelling cichlids to support my growing herp and aquarium passions.

Fast forward to 1993 I moved back to Austin, TX to attend the University of Texas. I started my first company, which was an aquarium design and maintenance company, and I managed a local reptile store. My gecko collection was slowly growing, and I discovered the fecundity of Paroedura picta.

I moved back to Tucson, Arizona when I was 19 to work at Reptile and Saltwater Solutions and herp the Sonoran Desert as much as possible. I met a lot of heavy hitters in both industries. It was certainly a learning experience, and my herp collection grew to about 75 specimens, mainly geckos.

When I moved back to Austin in 1995, I launched one of the first reptile websites on the internet called the Herpetocultural Information Network, where I shared information and sold surplus animals. It didn’t last too long because I was more concerned with chasing girls and partying.

I moved to Houston to work at one of the largest aquarium stores in the area called Fish Ranch. I worked there for several years, and I had some really nice reef tanks and a growing collection of geckos.

In 1999, I launched Geckos Unlimited. I had a pretty large collection of leaf-tailed geckos, knob-tailed geckos, velvet geckos, and banded geckos. After running the site for many years, I sold it to Marty from MistKing and started a new venture.

With the help of Scott Coltharp and Alberto Cadolini, we launched Rare Geckos. We had one of the rarest collections of geckos in the world and made regular trips to the Hamm show in Germany. I have such fond memories of working with those guys and our trips to Germany. Oh, I’ve got stories!

I wasn’t feeling the passion for the animals because I was dealing with my own demons and trying to figure out what I wanted to do for the rest of my life. After dissolving my partnership with Scott and Alberto, I stepped away from the hobby for several years to pursue other ventures.

My desire to work with herps again prompted me to start Austin Reptile Connection with Scott, and we produced many geckos, skinks, alligator lizards, and snakes. We were regulars at the NARBC shows for several years, and I put on the first North American Gecko Symposium at the Tinley show in 2019.

In 2023, Scott and I made the decision to part ways again because we wanted to pursue our own interests. I decided to change gears from breeding animals in spartan rack systems to keeping all specimens in naturalistic enclosures. I found a serious passion for tropical plants, poison frogs, and gecko species that thrive in naturalistic vivaria.

Austin Vivarium Studio is the culmination of my lifelong passion for reptiles, amphibians, tropical plants, terraria, vivaria, aquaria, field helping, photography, and the outdoors.