ROBERT APPLEGATE

Collecting reptiles by six, trading exotics by eleven, and deep in the trade by eighteen — he began captive-breeding in the mid-1970s and never stopped. Five decades on, Applegate Reptiles is a name built on kingsnakes and their endless morphs, and on the venomous Heloderma — the Gila monsters and Mexican beaded lizards few keepers dare to work. A breeder's breeder who helped lay the groundwork the modern hobby now stands on.