Est. 1989 · Plaistow, New Hampshire
The story
Kevin McCurley founded NERD when captive breeding was the exception. Thirty-five years later it is the standard — and this building helped set it.
1989
01 · A breeder, not a pet shop
Kevin McCurley founds New England Reptile Distributors at a time when most of the animals in the trade are wild-caught imports. The premise is the opposite: breed them here, breed them well, and let people see the work.
5,000 → 14,000 sqft
02 · The building grows around the animals
What starts as 5,000 square feet nearly triples into a 14,000-square-foot working facility — breeding rooms, the public floor, the Cave, and the venomous wing. Zoo Creatures, the retail line, grows up alongside it.
On camera
03 · The animals make television
NERD animals and NERD expertise show up alongside Steve Irwin and Jeff Corwin, on Conan, and across decades of productions — long before the YouTube channel brought the breeding room to hundreds of thousands of subscribers directly.
Residents
04 · Wally and the lifers
Not everything at NERD is for sale. Wally the alligator and a cast of permanent residents anchor the public floor — the animals people drive hours to stand in front of.
Today
05 · The reptile superstore
Animals, gear, education, conservation — one building, one standard, and a storefront finally built to match it. Est. 1989 still means what it meant: captive-bred, hand-reared, shown in the open.
The standard
Captive-bred & hand-reared
Every animal NERD sells comes from our breeding room or a known captive lineage — no mystery sourcing, ever.
Live arrival, every animal
If something goes wrong in transit, we make it right. See the Live Arrival Guarantee for the exact terms.
Selective breeding
Every clutch is a deliberate pairing — morph, temperament, feeding response, and form, not random production.
Open facility
We don’t hide the breeding room. Walk in any day we’re open, watch the work, ask whoever’s nearest.