Husbandry
The complete care system that lets reptiles thrive in captivity: enclosure design, gradients, humidity, light, substrate, ventilation, hydration, cycling, enrichment, and daily observation.
19 Master ClassesTaught by the legends,
→Taught by the legends,
on the record.
Q4 2026
Certifications
Earned credentials, real weight →
Credentials from:
Details →- Focused$199
- Signature$349
- Specialty$499
- Advanced$799
The fourteen disciplines:
Full view →- Husbandry01
- Nutrition02
- Behavior & Handling03
- Socialization04
- Breeding05
- Genetics06
- Anatomy & Physiology07
- Veterinary Medicine08
- Venomous & Toxicology09
- Zoological Operations10
- Conservation & Research11
- Education & Media12
- Legislation & Policy13
- Reptile History14
14 disciplines19 master classesBasic care to mastery
How it is organised
A course of study, not a pile of tips.
Citadel Culebra is organised around fourteen disciplines that together make one educational system for keepers, breeders, educators, researchers and facility operators. They exist to hold on to generational knowledge, raise the floor of modern practice, and give somebody a route from basic care into real mastery instead of a decade of guessing.
Every book in the library files under one of them. So does every course, every exam and every credential.
Nutrition
What reptiles eat, how they digest, and how diet shapes growth, reproduction, immunity, behavior and longevity. Taught as a biological system rather than a feeding routine.
Behavior & Handling
Reading reptiles accurately: body language, defense, stress, feeding response. Then handling them safely and respectfully across species and temperaments.
Socialization & Bond Building
The long relationship between keeper and animal: trust, consistency, desensitization, routine, and predictable low-stress interaction with high-response species.
Breeding
The full reproductive process from pairing strategy through neonatal care: conditioning, cycling, courtship, ovulation, eggs, incubation, and ethical production.
Genetics
Heredity, morphs, selective breeding, lineage, mutation expression and the ethics of the decisions. Moving from random pairings to responsible genetic stewardship.
Anatomy & Physiology
How reptiles are built and how their bodies work: skeleton, muscle, digestion, respiration, circulation, thermoregulation, senses, reproduction, skin, sheds and venom systems.
Veterinary Medicine & Clinical Care
Health monitoring, prevention, treatment awareness, and working properly with a qualified reptile vet. Quarantine, parasites, respiratory infection, mouth rot, wounds, sheds, emergencies.
Venomous Animals & Toxicology
The responsible study, care and management of venomous reptiles: venom biology, bite prevention, antivenom, lock systems, transport, emergency plans, legal compliance and public safety.
Zoological & Large-Scale Operations
Running collections, breeding facilities, education centers, zoos and sanctuaries: facility design, SOPs, biosecurity, inventory systems, staff roles, training and documentation.
Conservation, Research & Human-Wildlife Conflict
Connecting captive knowledge to real-world protection: habitat loss, field research, monitoring, relocation, coexistence, invasive species, partnerships and anti-poaching.
Education, Media & Public Communication
How this knowledge gets taught, filmed, presented and shared: public speaking, courses, demos, documentary, social, podcasts, school programs, safety messaging and storytelling.
Legislation & Regulatory Policy
How reptile law is made, how it gets broken, and how keepers push back. Legislation, government policy, regulatory frameworks, lobbying and community organising, taught as a discipline.
Reptile History
Where these animals come from and how people have kept, feared, revered and studied them. Deep-time evolution and paleontology through to modern herpetology and herpetoculture.
Master classes
Nineteen of them, and the faculty own the material.
A master class is one instructor's whole working philosophy, taken end to end over several weeks, rather than a lesson about a topic. They ladder into the disciplines above. Six of the nineteen are named here.
The Kevin McCurley Master Class
Kevin McCurley
Husbandry
The complete working philosophy of one of the most influential breeders alive. Husbandry systems, collection management, and the operational thinking behind New England Reptile, from the man who built it.
Reptile History
Tom Crutchfield · Kevin McCurley · Ty Park · George Van Horn
Education & Media
How the modern hobby actually got built. The keepers, the breakthroughs, the failures, and the people who cut a path where there was none. The lineage, on the record, while the people who made it are still here to tell it.
Reticulated Pythons
Kevin McCurley and guests
Husbandry · Breeding
The longest snake on earth at depth. Husbandry, scale, temperament, genetics, and the plain realities of keeping and breeding retics without lying to yourself about the room you have.
Large Snakes & Lizards
Citadel faculty
Husbandry · Safety
Keeping and handling the giants. Space, strength, safety, feeding, and the operational discipline that a powerful animal demands whether or not you feel like giving it that day.
Genetics
Kevin McCurley and faculty
Genetics
Heredity, morphs, inheritance patterns, lineage and responsible stewardship. What moves a breeder from pairing whatever is in the rack to making a decision they can defend.
Reptile Conservation
Dr. Steve Dinkelacker · Kevin McCurley · Ty Park
Conservation
Connecting captive knowledge to wild outcomes: habitat loss, field research, relocation, invasive species, and the conservation work that captive expertise makes possible.
The remaining thirteen are published on the school's own curriculum page as they are scheduled.
See all nineteenThe ladder
Four rungs, and each one names what you actually reached.
Credentials are earned and they are bought separately, because they carry weight and bundling them into a subscription would take that weight away. Enrolment gets you a discount on every one of them, and it carries all fourteen disciplines whether or not you ever sit an exam.
Focused
$199
One discipline, taken properly
Signature
$349
An expert's own named program
Specialty
$499
Multi-faculty, in depth
Advanced
$799
Venomous and zoological-grade
The three families
- Expert Signature
- A named legend's own program, built and owned by them.
- Specialty
- Multi-faculty programs: behavioural science, venomous, crocodilian, and more.
- Zoological-Grade
- The most advanced work. Large crocodilians, large monitors, large constrictors, venomous species.
Taken separately
- Focused$199
- Signature$349
- Specialty$499
- Advanced$799
- Total$1,846
Enrolment is $79.99 a month at the founding rate and carries all fourteen disciplines, every master class and the whole library. Members pay less for each credential on top.
There is no agency that certifies reptile knowledge.
So the school holds a harder standard and says so on its own front page: our accreditation is the faculty. One expert can be wrong. When McCurley, Crutchfield, Park and Van Horn all tell you the same thing, that is as certified as this field gets.
Before you spend anything
Three things you can do in the next ten minutes.
The school opens properly in September and the courses are behind a door we are still finishing. None of that stops you starting tonight, because the front half of this is free and it is going to stay free.
01Free
Look up any species on earth
10,406 records with taxonomy, range and conservation status, each one stamped with where it came from and when it was last checked. Where there is no record it says so instead of inventing a paragraph.
No account. No email.
Open the database02Free
Read a whole book, free
Croc & Gator Wise in the Americas edition and The Bearded Dragon are free to read right now, front to back, in the same reader the paid titles use. It works on a plane and installs to a home screen.
Starts in one click.
Open the library03Free
Walk through the community before you join
Spaces by species and by discipline, the threads, the faculty. You can read the whole thing as a visitor and decide from the inside, which is the opposite of how every other community in this field works.
Browse first, join later.
Step insideTuition
The Complete Keeper Membership · Founding Class of 2026
Tuition carries all fourteen.
Every discipline, every master class, every book in the library and the software the school runs on. The credentials sit on top and members pay less for them. The founding rate is locked for as long as you stay enrolled.
If you want a cheap pet and a YouTube video, you do not need us. This is for people who are in it for the animal's whole life.
- Every book in the Codex, including the ones still on the press
- Every course, every exam, every certificate
- The species database and the research layer
- Culebra Connect, where the faculty answer questions in the open
- Cerebro Culebra for your own collection records
- Culebra Chronicles, the newsletter, registered automatically
- Orientation
- Wednesday, September 9 · online
- Academic calendar
- Published the last week of August
- Focused credential$199
- Signature credential$349
- Specialty credential$499
- Advanced credential$799
- Every book, published at $4.99–$29.99Included
- The credentials alone, taken separately$1,846
Founding ratenormally $99.99
$79.99/mo
Billed $79.99/month. Your membership renews automatically each month until you cancel. Cancel anytime — no future charges.
Manage or cancel anytime in your account.
Orientation is September 9. Enrol before it and you are in the first class, at the founding rate.
Or $799 a year at the same founding rate, which is $160.88 less than paying by the month.
Founding tuition is locked for the first 15,000 founders and stays locked for as long as you stay enrolled. When those seats are gone the rate is gone, and everyone after joins at $99.99.
No money-back guarantee, on purpose.
We cannot do the husbandry for you and we are not going to pretend otherwise. So instead of a refund promise, the front half is free and always will be: the whole species database, the free books, and the community to walk through before you make an account. Look at all of it, then decide. And if you do enrol, one click cancels and you are never charged again.
Start free
Read something before you enrol.
The species database is open to anyone with no account, and the free books are free for real. Leave an email and you hear when a discipline opens or a title comes off the press.
Straight answers
About the course of study.
01Do I have to take them in order?
No, but the first four are called the core for a reason. Husbandry, nutrition, behaviour and anatomy are what the other ten stand on, and people who skip them end up back at them.
02What is the difference between a discipline and a master class?
A discipline is a subject the whole school is organised around. A master class is one instructor's entire working philosophy on that subject, taken end to end over several weeks. Nineteen exist and they ladder into the fourteen.
03Are the credentials included in tuition?
No, and that is on purpose. They are bought separately because they are meant to carry weight, and something bundled into a subscription stops carrying any. Members get a discount on every tier. Tuition itself is $79.99 a month or $799 a year at the founding rate, and it carries all fourteen disciplines, all the courses and the whole library.
04Is any of this recognised by a licensing body?
Nothing in this field is, by anyone. No agency certifies reptile knowledge, so there is nothing to be recognised by. What a Citadel credential says is which faculty taught the material and which exam you passed, on a page anybody can look at.
05When do exams start?
The academic calendar for the year is published the last week of August and walked through at orientation on September 9. The courses and the exams are built and running behind a sign-in door that has not opened yet, and we would rather say that than announce a date twice.
The Curriculum
Basic care at one end. Mastery at the other.
Read the disciplines, then start with the part that costs nothing.