Published online by Cambridge University Press: 15 September 2005
Croft, Falconer and Guy asked: what is the smallest integer $n$ such that an $n$-reptile in the plane has a hole? Motivated by this question, we describe a geometric method of constructing reptiles in $\mathbb{R}^d$, especially reptiles with holes. In particular, we construct, for each even integer $n\ge4$, an $n$-reptile in $\mathbb{R}^2$ with holes. We also answer some questions concerning the topological properties of a reptile whose interior consists of infinitely many components.