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Bob Ashley was born and raised in Michigan and grew up in East Grand Rapids. There, from 8 years old on up, he spent his youth catching turtles and snakes in the swamps and fields of Michigan. He was an active member of the Michigan Society of Herpetologists and started the company Exotics in 1984, supplying mostly pet shops in five states with imported and captive bred reptiles from around the globe. Bob started ECO Wear and Publishing in 1995 offering custom T-shirt designs, art and books and has to date published over 40 books on reptile and amphibian natural history and husbandry. Bob Ashley is the Past President of the International Herpetological Symposium and the current Vice President. Bob started the North American Reptile Breeders Conference and Trade Shows with partner Brian Potter in 2001. He currently co-owns and runs these events that take place in Anaheim, CA, Arlington, Tx and Tinley Park, IL and are the largest reptile events in the United States. On April 1st 2009 Bob opened the Chiricahua Desert Museum in Rodeo, New Mexico. This facility is an educational exhibit of reptiles and amphibians from the Western Hemisphere associated with the deserts of the Southwestern United States and Mexico with a focus on rattlesnakes of the Sky Islands.
Our official greeter Trixie, our fourteen year old White Miniature Schnauzer
Sheri Ashley moved to Portal, AZ with her husband Bob in January 2009. She is the Buyer for the Gift Shop and runs marketing and order fullfillment
for ECO Wear and Publishing.
I'm Michelle Simpler, I grew up in the Portal, Rodeo area. I moved back east for college, but I couldn't stay away from my desert home. Now, I'm back to stay and raising my daughter here. I've been at the Chiricahua Desert Museum since 2010 and love learning about all the desert creatures that thrive here and passing it on to all our visitors.
Zachary “Zak” Hughes is originally from Michigan. As as a boy, he explored the woods, streams, and lakes to find reptiles and amphibians and gained a deep appreciation for natural history. Zak earned his BA from Arizona State University (Tempe, AZ) and his MBA from Embry–Riddle Aeronautical University (Daytona Beach, FL). Currently, Zak is Curator of Herpetology at the Chiricahua Desert Museum.
My name is Hailee, and I've lived in the Portal/Rodeo area since I was five years old and I can't imagine calling anywhere else home! I love meeting people from all walks of life and sharing just how special rural desert living truly is. From the wide open landscapes to the close-knit community, this area has definitely shaped who I am today. My partner and I are expecting a little girl March of 2026, and I'm so excited to raise her here- showing her the magic of a diverse desert landscape and the kindness that comes with a small, caring community.
Sue Burkhart spent her other lives on the East Coast where she was a musical performer and teacher. Now she lives here in Southeast, Arizona as a wannabe cowboy and biologist
Lisa
Crystal Brown
Gordon W. Schuett, Ph.D., is an evolutionary biologist and herpetologist who has conducted extensive laboratory and field research on reptiles. His work has focused primarily on venomous snakes, but he has also published on lizards, turtles, and amphibians. His most significant contributions concern mate competition and winner-loser effects, long-term sperm storage, mating systems, seasonal steroid hormone cycles of male and female pitvipers, and facultative parthenogenesis in snakes.
Currently, he is involved in a long-term study (currently in its 13th year) of the ecology and landscape genetics of a population of western diamond-backed rattlesnakes (Crotalus atrox) in the Sonoran Desert of southern Arizona.
Schuett has published more than 80 peer-reviewed journal articles, 10 peer-reviewed book chapters, and several popular magazine articles. He co-authored a highly acclaimed zoology laboratory text (1997, 2000), and served as chief editor for a peer-reviewed scholarly book (2002), Biology of the Vipers (Eagle Mountain Publishing). This book has been made available online here. He presently serves as chief editor of peer-reviewed book in progress, Rattlesnakes of Arizona. Schuett was the founding editor of the scholarly journal Herpetological Natural History.
Howdy! I'm Kyli I was born and raised here in Rodeo New Mexico, I spent ten years living in Texas before finding my way back home because I missed the desert too much. Ironically, I'm terrified of reptiles. By working here at the Desert Museum, I've been facing my fear one day at a time and learning to love the creatures that make the desert what it is.