Built by a breeder.
For breeders.
I grew up showing dogs in ABKC and UKC. Today I breed crested geckos and run my own e-commerce platform. I also have 9+ years of professional software engineering experience across healthcare, fintech, and government.
That combination is why I build websites, apps, and digital tools specifically for breeders and pet businesses. I don't need a crash course in your world. I already live in it.
Built for Breeders & Pet Businesses
Your breeding business deserves software
that actually speaks your language.
You've tried the generic tools. The waitlist tracker in Google Forms. The pedigree records in a binder. The website builder that wasn't designed for live animal sales. I've lived all of this as a breeder myself, and then I went and built the solutions.
Whether you're selling puppies through Facebook or geckos on MorphMarket, managing inquiries across platforms gets chaotic fast. A custom sales platform gives you professional listings, inquiry management, and a checkout that handles deposits and holds. All in one place, under your brand.
Weight logs in one app, health records in another, pairing history in a notebook, lineage in your head. A custom records system pulls it all together with genetics tracking, pedigree trees, and a complete history for every animal in your collection.
Buyers judge your program by what they see online. If your site is outdated, hard to navigate on mobile, or doesn't show available animals and your breeding history, you're losing serious buyers to breeders who look more professional.
“I'm not a developer who found a niche in the animal world.
Dusty Mumphrey, founder of Geckistry and ReptiDex
I'm a breeder and handler who happens to be a senior software engineer.”
“Very creative and knowledgeable. Gets the tasks completed quickly and is very thorough. Would definitely recommend.”
Texas Top Notch Frenchies · Google Review
What a project looks like
Breeder Website
Custom site with live animal listings, SEO schema for Google, mobile-first design, and inquiry forms. Built around how your breeding program actually works.
You own the code. No monthly platform fees. No lock-in.
Records & Genetics App
A web or mobile app for your collection: weight logs, feeding records, pairing history, lineage tracking, and genetics tools. Built to your workflow, not a template.
Built on the same system that tracks 259 animals in ReptiDex. Not a spreadsheet with a login screen.
Sales Platform
Full custom storefront for selling live animals: listings, holds, deposits, waitlists, buyer inquiry management. Designed specifically for breeders, not retrofitted from a generic e-commerce template.
Real deposit tracking, waitlist management, and buyer qualification. Not Shopify with a breeder skin.
Full Breeder Stack
Website, records system, and sales platform built as one integrated system. This is what Geckistry is, and it's what serious breeders who want to scale their operation need.
One engineer, one codebase, everything connected. No duct-taping five tools together.
Why Custom Instead of a Template?
Most breeder websites run on template platforms or themed WordPress installs. They look decent at first. Then you try to add a waitlist with deposit tracking and discover the platform does not support it. You try to display a multi-generation pedigree and get a text field. You try to mark a puppy as reserved and realize you have to manually edit the page every time something changes. The template was built for restaurants and photographers. It was never built for you.
A custom-built site does what templates cannot. Live animal inventory that updates when a puppy is reserved or placed. A waitlist system that collects deposits, assigns pick order, and qualifies buyers before they get on the list. Individual animal listings with structured data that tells Google exactly what the page is about, so your dogs show up in search results by breed and location. Pedigree and health records displayed from a real database, not typed into a paragraph.
The difference in cost is smaller than most breeders expect. Template platforms charge $30 to $80 per month, every month, for a site you never own. Over three years that is $1,000 to $2,900 for a WordPress theme. A custom build from Built By Dusty starts at $2,000, you own everything when it is done, and there are no recurring platform fees.
What breeders are saying
Texas Top Notch Frenchies
French Bulldog Breeder · Client
“Very creative and knowledgeable. Gets the tasks completed quickly and is very thorough. Would definitely recommend.”
FruityZebra
Snake Keeper · ReptiDex User
“Excited for this app to grow. Can't wait for more species so I can log my whole collection.”
Verified Reviewer
Ball Python Keeper · ReptiDex User
“Finally an app that gets it. I've been waiting for something like this for my ball python collection. The pedigree tracking alone is worth it.”
Built By Dusty. Used by Real People.
I build my own products and I deliver for clients. Both prove the same thing: I ship real software that real people use and pay for.
Mobile App · iOS · Launched March 2026259 animals tracked. 5.0 stars. Built by one breeder, for breeders.
ReptiDex replaced spreadsheets, notebooks, and guesswork for reptile keepers from day one. 73 users tracking 259 animals across crested geckos, corn snakes, hognose snakes, and more — with weight logs, lineage, genetics, and health records in one place. I built it because I needed it for my own collection and nothing on the market came close. No team. No investors. Just a breeder who could write the code himself.
E-Commerce · Full Platform · LiveWhen off-the-shelf tools couldn't handle a gecko business, I built my own store.
Geckistry runs my entire crested gecko breeding business. Buyers browse available animals with full genetics data, see verified lineage, and purchase directly. The site handles deposits, holds, and waitlist management automatically. I built it from scratch because no e-commerce platform on the market could handle live animal listings with morph genetics, proper SEO for individual animals, and deposit workflows. This is the same architecture behind the sales platforms I build for clients.
Client Project · Shopify · LiveA custom Shopify store built specifically for a French Bulldog breeder.
Texas Top Notch Frenchies wanted a professional site that matched the quality of their breeding program and helped serious buyers find them online. I built a customized Shopify store designed around how a dog breeder actually runs their business: mobile-first, branded to their program, and optimized so buyers searching for French Bulldogs in Texas land on their site. This is an ongoing client relationship with continued maintenance and updates.
AI Platform · 1,000+ Active Users1,000 active users across 867 Discord servers. Built and maintained solo.
Scrollbook grew to 1,000+ active users across 867 Discord servers while I was building it evenings and weekends around my day job. It ran six independent microservices and I cut AI operating costs by 90% through prompt caching on the Claude API. I eventually shut it down because the business model did not keep pace with usage. The technical lesson (prompt caching at scale) and the business lesson (monetize before you optimize) both shaped how I build products today.
Services for Every Small Business
For Small Businesses & Startups
I also build for small businesses outside the breeding world. Same engineering depth, same fixed-price model, same approach: build exactly what you need, hand you the keys, no lock-in. Here's where most clients start:
Launch Package
Your idea, live in weeks. Not months.
You have a concept for a booking tool, a customer portal, or a niche app, but no technical co-founder to build it. I take your idea from napkin sketch to live product: design, build, deploy, and hand you the keys.
Business Website
A website that earns its keep.
Not a brochure. A client-acquisition machine. Fast, mobile-first, with clear calls to action and proper SEO structure. For breeder-specific features like live animal listings and lineage pages, see the Breeder Website package above.
Custom Internal Tools
Stop doing manually what a computer should do.
Quoting customers, tracking inventory, managing jobs, following up on leads. If your team is doing it in spreadsheets, there's a better way. Lean internal tools that save real hours every week.
Mobile App Development
An app your customers will actually use.
iOS and Android, built together so you're not paying twice. I've launched my own app to the App Store. I know the submission process, the gotchas, and how to ship something that gets approved and stays approved.
Ongoing Support & Maintenance
Most clients want to keep improving after launch. Here's how that works:
Hosting, security updates, minor fixes
Moderate updates, small feature additions (up to 15 hrs/mo)
Priority support, significant updates, new features (up to 30 hrs/mo)
All packages include hosting and maintenance. Additional hours available as needed.
Not sure which fits? Book a free 20-minute call and I'll tell you straight.
Writing
How I build, what I've learned, and why it matters.
Technical deep dives from real projects, lessons from running a breeding operation, and the things I wish someone had told me before I started building software for the animal industry.
What Buyers Look at Before They Message You
The sale does not start when someone messages you. It starts ten minutes before that, when a stranger is Googling your kennel name, scanning your page, and quietly deciding whether you are worth their time.
Why I Built a Registry Instead of Just Buying One
I went looking for registry software for a gecko breeding community. What I found was a spreadsheet...
What Breeders Actually Need From Software (And What Developers Assume They Need)
It's 11pm. A breeder has three browser tabs open, a Google Sheet with color-coded columns, and a...
I cut Claude API costs by 90% with prompt caching. Here's what I learned before I had to shut it down.
867 Discord servers. 1,000+ active users. $10–11 every time someone played a one-hour D&D...
Puppy Waitlist Software: What Breeders Actually Need
Most breeders manage waitlists in spreadsheets and text threads. Here is what a real puppy waitlist system looks like, from a breeder who built one.
Best Breeder Website Builders in 2026
Comparing Wix, WordPress, BetterBreeder, HeroBreeder, Shopify, and custom builds. An honest breakdown of every major breeder website builder from a breeder who builds software.
The Breeder Newsletter
Practical advice for breeders who run a real business. No fluff.
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
Working Together Is Simple
Tell me what you're building.
Fill out the contact form or book a call. Tell me the problem, not the solution. I'll help figure out the right approach.
I scope it and price it.
You'll get a plain-English project scope with a fixed price and timeline. No hourly rate surprises. No scope creep.
We build and launch.
I build, I test, I deploy. You get updates throughout. When it's done, it's yours. Clean code, real documentation, no lock-in.
You grow with it.
Most clients come back for more once they see what's possible. Ongoing support, new features, or entirely new projects. I'm here.
Let's Build Something
Got an idea? A problem that needs solving? A project that's been sitting on the back burner too long? Tell me about it. No pitch, no pressure.
Send a Message
Get in Touch
Prefer to talk it through first?
Book a free 20-minute call. I keep it short and useful.
Schedule a Free Consultation
Pick a time that works for you. We'll discuss your project and how I can help.