Meet The Team

Click on a picture below to read more information about our team members!

Shane Richins

Rindy Richins

Call Vande Veegaete

Lindsay Bull

Jackson Carter

Makayla Lewis

Marcy Hoffman

Joey Jensen

Jonathan Larsen

Sadie Brownlee

John Diliberto

Kayden Golightly

Chase Gosch

Christian Ruiz

Emery Richins

Get In Touch

Shane Richins

Scales & Tails Utah Founder

Shane’s love of reptiles began as a child who loved to catch and chase snakes and lizards in Utah. His fascination grew with his raising of a pet iguana named Horse.

Shane wanted to know everything he possibly could about the natural world and now has collected a library of books and documentaries on the subject. He has spent time volunteering with a python breeder and Snake Farm & Animal World Zoo in Texas. Shane has also spend many hours working with Danny Conner’s Reptile Adventures and several venomous professionals to gain experience working with crocodillians and venomous snakes.

Shane loves sharing his knowledge and love of reptiles. Knowledge can clear up misunderstandings that many have about these interesting animals.

Rindy Richins

Business Manager

Rindy Richins was born in Moab, Utah. She was raised on a farm and grew up loving the outdoors. She has been a river guide on the Colorado River and presently teaches skiing part-time at Alta ski resort during the winter months. Rindy graduated from Southern Utah University with a Bachelor’s in Business Management with an emphasis in International Business. She uses her management skills to run Scales and Tails Utah as well as a seasonal wildland fire dispatcher during the summer months. She loves to travel and has been to Italy and Thailand as well as several countries in South and Central America. She has had a chance to swim with crocodiles, caiman, sharks and sting rays in her many travels. She became interested in reptiles more than a decade years ago when she met Shane Richins.

Call Vande Veegaete

Entertainer

Call grew up in Taylorsville Utah and was captivated by animals, particularly reptiles, from a young age. Call is currently a theatre major at the University of Utah but has a separate fascination for science. Call got his first job working with animals during high school and has been a passionate advocate for conservation and sustainability ever since. Call holds a special scaly part of his heart for snakes, especially his carpet python Juliet.

Lindsay Bull

Crocodilian Trainer

Lindsay grew up in Oklahoma City, moving to Provo, Utah for university in 2009. After graduating with a Bachelor’s of Science in English in 2013, she began working for Legrand North America, currently for the IP networking company, Luxul, where she does technical writing and manages social media and press. Hardly able to confine herself to a single job, she’s held side positions working for climbing companies since 2014 and currently works coaching recreational climbing classes for a local climbing gym. Lindsay’s passion for animals started as far back as her earliest memories, but she specifically recalls her infatuation with crocodilians beginning with an educational presentation on the reptiles one of her classmate’s fathers did when she was in kindergarten. Since then, she’s always loved the animals and hopes to help pass the interest in them on to the younger generations

Jackson Carter

Show Lead

Jackson is a Utah native and an animal fanatic. S&T is his first venture into working with animals, but he is passionate about animal conservation and educating the public on the important role reptiles play in our ecosystem.

He also has a colorful background in entertainment. After attending college for Theatre, he was a contestant on NBC’s The Biggest Loser where he lost 138 lbs on season 14, he worked as a radio DJ for Mix 105.1, a top 40’s station, and he now currently runs his own company in downtown Salt Lake City called Nightcat True Crime Walking Tours.

Makayla Lewis

Show Lead

Makayla got her start at the Loveland Living Planet Aquarium as an Exhibit Educator where she got to bring animals out for the public to meet and learn about. From there she was lucky enough to work with Utah’s Hogle Zoo World of Flight Bird show where she got the chance to work with eagles, hawks, owls, and many parrot species. Makayla’s primary love for animals has always been for birds. She now does bird training and care for our fantastic feathered Bird Show stars at Scales and Tails as well as educating people of all ages about the amazing world of reptiles!

Marcy Hoffman

Snake Feeding Specialist/Crew

Marcy is an avid animal enthusiast, with a deep rooted passion for all wildlife and the conservation of it. She works hard to educate the public about animals, specializing in reptiles. In her free time she devotes herself to the deserts here in Utah, field herping and studying native wildlife, specifically rattlesnakes, she has been dubbed “the rattlesnake lady” from locals in a town that she frequents. Marcy has been enthralled with reptiles as far back as she can remember, catching her first snake at three years old!

Joey Jensen

Crew

Joey Jensen grew up locally in Utah, and found his inspiration for working with reptiles through a presentation done by our owner Shane Richins. Since that day, he’s thrown himself into his passion, spending hours watching nature shows with specific interest in The Crocodile Hunter and Gator Boys. He loves having the unique opportunity to work with all the animals at Scales and Tails and educating the public about them in a fun and hands-on environment.

Jonathan Larsen

Reptile Educator/Guide

Jonathan has loved reptiles for a long time he has a soft spot for snakes specifically. That is why he choose to work with Scales and Tails and will even try to make a career out of it! He is currently attending Weber State University to get a degree in Zoology. He likes to play video games, watch movies, and play board games in his free time, but wants to dedicate a lot of his time to taking care of animals of the forked tongue variety.

Sadie Brownlee

Reptile Educator/Guide

Born in Miami, Sadie was chasing lizards and birds by the time she could walk. She shared swimming holes with gators and crocs in the Everglades and enjoyed playing on her family puppy farm. As a young girl, she moved to Alaska where she was often greeted by moose on her walk to school, but she missed finding lizards around every corner. Since landing in Utah, Sadie has created a sanctuary in her home. Of their 16 animals, 11 are reptiles with a couple insect colonies to support them all. Her dream is to own a refuge for birds and reptiles in Florida where she can teach others about these fascinating creatures.

John Diliberto

Show Lead

John Diliberto is from Denver Colorado. He worked in education in the special education program as well as running the drama club and directing for over 21 years and directed musicals for 11 years. He also volunteered and worked at the Wild Animal Sanctuary for two years which harbors over 550 rescued large carnivores, (lions and tigers and bears oh my!) He loves to travel (Italy rules!). His favorite sports team is the Colorado Avalanche. Finally, He has been married for two years to my lovely and supportive wife Allie.

Kayden Golightly

Reptile Educator/Guide

Kayden Golightly grew up in Layton Utah, and from a young age, he loved animals and reptiles, especially snakes whether that be holding giant snakes at fairs or catching snakes in the garden. Kayden has always dreamed of being a zookeeper so naturally, he grew up having insects, lizards, frogs, and fish. He now has grown his own zoo to 5 snakes, a chameleon, 2 bearded dragons, a green iguana, and has 5 tanks with a total of 250 gallons of water. He dreams of adding to his zoo, opening a rescue, and assisting with reptile conservation breeding efforts.

Chase Gosch

Entertainer

Chase has been working with animals in various capacities for almost a decade. From volunteering at Utah’s Hogle Zoo, the Loveland Living Planet Aquarium, and the Tracy Aviary, to working full time at Advanced Veterinary Care in Millcreek, UT. He knows his way around many different species. He also has experience entertaining many people as a magician and variety entertainer.

Christian Ruiz

Media & Advertising Specialist

Christian is from Mission Viejo, California and came to Utah in 2004. Growing up in Sandy, Utah he had two Green Iguanas and ever since then his obsession has grown for all reptiles and other animals! He studied business & marketing for the last 5 years and continues to help grow many businesses in the Salt Lake Valley doing Digital Marketing, e-commerce and Branding. Christian loves to go hiking and camping throughout the year to photo/video-graph native animals and to enjoy the Utah Weather! He came to Scales and Tails Utah because he love the animals, the team, the environment, and is here to help fulfill the mission of educating the community about these amazing creatures!

Emery Richins

Owner’s Daughter

Emery is the youngest of the Scales and Tails crew. Born into the life of reptiles and birds, she is an avid animal enthusiast who likes to teach other children her age about these amazing creatures. Emery loves to show people around the shop by giving tours and demonstrations with snakes, tortoises, and alligators. Emery is the daughter of owners Shane & Rindy Richins.