- This is definitely as serious as it gets
when it comes to keeping monitors.
These are not for the novice keeper.
Blue Giant pera, a lemon tree designer animal.
And a Pierre Coffe owl
(Uplifting music)
Hey, good morning everybody and welcome to the vlog.
My girl Pickles here, is looking absolutely incredible,
of course she is a biak green tree python
and I hope the start of your day is absolutely incredible
like I promised yesterday when we picked up
that amazing collection of corn snakes from my friends,
Forest and Desiree, I mentioned that we were gonna look
at some beautiful animals like green tree pythons
and there is no where else better than looking
at green tree pythons, than with my friend Forest.
So he showed me a couple of animals that blew me away.
- We're starting the day off, with some amazing animals
you guys know I love green tree pythons
been keeping these for over a decade
these are three of the most beautiful ones
I've ever had in my collection.
We've got a blue giant pera, a lemon tree designer animal
and a Pierre-coffe owl so they look like that in the wild
on Coffe Owl Island these guys will always have a special
place in my heart. Lets show you guys some more crazy
arboreal animals that we've got hiding behind the door here.
- I tell you what those green tree pythons are ridiculous
I'm not sure that I'll ever have ones that cool
but hopefully one day.
Regardless, next up was a blood python that blew me away
you guys know that I love Sweetie, she is so incredible,
but what was amazing about this animal you guys
are about to see, is the fact that not only is it beautiful
it's absolutely enormous and it still has
the same temperament as my girl, Sweetie.
Oh my gosh, Forest, this thing is a monster, what the heck,
look at this red blood python
- I know she's such a sweetheart too,
just totally tame. Amazing color
- [Narrator] This has got to be the biggest
red blood python, right? I mean,
have you ever seen one bigger?
- No, I'm pretty sure it's the biggest but, who knows
- [Narrator] Oh my gosh. That is - look at this guys,
Oh my gosh and dog tame.
- Yeah, absolutely tame, totally trustworthy
and you can see her spine you know a lot of people
were griping saying that it's obese
but you can see it's got a very pronounced spine,
this is just a very mature large blood line of blood python
- Wow that is one impressive animal I mean and gorgeous too,
oh my gosh. Tell you what I showed you guys the other day
how absolutely amazing toothless is doing
I mean look at how big he is and how incredible he is
and Forest has been really cranking it out when it comes to
monitor lizards he's got a ton of really cool stuff
for sure. But an animal that I've never really actually even
seen in person is a tricolored monitor
and Forest has a really incredible one
- So this is the tri-colored monitor, Varanus yuwonoi,
absolutely an amazing animal.
It's, when they call it tri-color, it's actually because
of the colors on its tongue.
So, when it sticks its tongue out but
- [Narrator] oh wow
- Yeah, but it also has a pretty -
- [Narrator] yeah I thought it was because
of the colors on its body, oh my gosh
- Yeah, its pretty amazing they found this animal
on the expedition to Halmahera, with Dave and Tracy Barker
- [Narrator] really?
- And on that expedition they were actually going
to look for a torquiose monitor but they ended up finding
the morelia tracyae named after Tracy Barker
so this one expedition yielded just some of the most amazing
and rare reptiles in the world.
This one was certainly the most exciting find
in terms of the color and just what an amazing specimen
it's named after Frankie Wanaway who was on
that expedition with Cameron Tapetum.
This tree monitor breeding program is something that's
really important to me. These guys are actually going
CITES appendix I, so they're not going to be able to
import these anymore. So, being able to establish
legal captive stock of these guys is really important
and something I'm super passionate about, so we actually
have five species of tree monitors, they're all captive born
so I'm really excited about the future of working
with these guys. This one is varanus macraei,
the blue tree monitor.
- My abronia actually came from Forest, he hands down
has the best collection of abronia lizard,
or aligator lizards, in the world.
I think there's like 20-something species of abronia
and he has like the majority of them, I mean a few
that he doesn't have, but he has hands down
the best collection of these little monkeys for sure
and he's gonna show us some of his favorite ones.
Forest, definitely loves abronia.
Maverick that was like, one of the things that first like,
kinda made me go like, this guy is a serious collector
because he's collecting crazy cool abronia.
So show me what you got here for us.
- Yeah this is a really rare, really beautiful species
of abronia you know just absolutely incredible colors
you can see those subocular spines coming off the side
of the head there. It's stuff like this that got me
out of morphs you know at first it was just the variety
of them and how many species there were
and that led into the conservation side of things
and that's really where I'm taking my future.
And it just kinda led me down this path of being obsessed
with Mexican and Guatemalan herpticulture and herptifauna
down there and there's so many species
that are so close to extinction, and its all about
educating people and stopping the deforestation,
educating the locals that they are not poisonous
or venomous - that's a big misnomer down there
so they kill them when they see them and then now,
you know there's been some issues with illegal collection
for the pet trade. So, I'm working with a couple
of top zoo keepers and academics, as well as
private breeders and collectors. I'm starting a new
non-profit to raise awareness for these guys
and hopefully secure a better future.
- I don't know much about abronia but they are incredible
and so polymorphic like you said.
Do they know how many species there are yet?
- Its in the high 20s, I think we're approaching 30
- [Narrator] Oh my gosh, that's crazy, that is so incredible
- And some of them they just have such a small range,
they might only have one little area of bromeliads
up on a cliff and if they go and wipe that, you know,
edge off and some of those are the only ones
that are surviving, those ones that are too hard to reach.
We're gonna be really focusing on conservation
and public education and awareness in the future.
(uplifting music)
These are two rare lizards also found in some of the same
areas as abronia, this is barisia rudicollis
and xenosaurus san martin andes.
And these are just also really, really rare lizards
that I'm excited to be establishing in captivity
and I'm gonna be breeding these this coming year,
this female's actually gravid, this one might be gravid
so, that will be super exciting to have two new species
that really haven't been bred before in captivity.
- Ooh doggy, Forest, she has gotten so big.
Literally the last time I saw her she was like almost a baby
- Yeah, she's grown so much its pretty crazy
I was able to get this as a baby from my friend Joe Setowski
and she's, you know, came in super tame already used to
human interaction she's definitely developed some claws
that aren't so comfortable but yeah, you know
I go in there I interact with her everyday.
When I'm gone I'm always like, you know,
first thing I do when I come home is get Kilo out
and interact with her. This is definitely as serious
as it gets when it comes to keeping monitors
these monitors are not for the, you know, novice keeper
you wanna get an experienced mentor and just not,
they are very, very dangerous but once they get to know you
they can just be the most rewarding captives
of all the reptiles, I think.
- Of course crocodile monitors are kinda known as being,
like, the most intelligent of lizards.
I mean, just look at that thing, look at the eyes,
look at how its interacting with you. It knows you so much
- Yeah it does
- Completely bonds with you. If I were to do this
it would act completely different to me or trust me.
These animals are so unbelievably impressive
and look at the length of that tail, oh my god.
She is gonna be a beast soon.
- The bond I have with her is like a god,
like I just, cannot imagine life without Kilo
- Oh my gosh, look at the prehensile tail right there
curling up like that to hang, oh my gosh.
- Yeah its hard to imagine her as a full grown adult
just I can't wait to watch and grow with her
and just learn more about this amazing species
(uplifting music)
- You guys know that I could spend days here
showing you all of Forest's stuff
we just packed up the corns which was actually
in yesterdays show. But we are heading off
so I just wanted to give you guys a little bit
of a peek at Forests' place. I'm gonna come down here
pretty soon and do an entire day just looking
at all his stuff, because it literally it could be
a 60 minute video of all his awesome stuff.
So down in the comments let me know if you guys
wanna see that. I'll defiantly get back down here.
Plus we're gonna work on some really cool enclosures
for his caiman and crocodiles in the next month or so,
so, plenty more with Forest. But for now,
we're gonna get out of here can get these corns
which we actually packed up yesterday, which is today
because I'm actually giving you guys a little bit of
a jump in time yeah, I'm time traveling today.
Regardless, gonna say goodbye to those guys
and get on the road. You know when I go visit places
like Forests and Desiree's or any collection for that matter
it really inspires me, it makes you come up with
a bunch of ideas like how can I do things better?
What do I need to start focusing on?
What animals would I like to eventually work with?
Forest has some amazing things and I tell you what,
its just unbelievable his and Desiree's passion
for these animals and the fact that he just wants
to collect some really incredible specimens,
helping conservation and just kind of continue to broaden
peoples education about reptiles. So, I came back,
I am fired up to be here at the reptarium.
I got a bunch of new ideas that I'm gonna be implementing
from his place, so cannot thank him enough
for opening his doors. Let me know in the comments
if you guys enjoyed it. Which animals did you love the best?
Because there were some absolutely gorgeous ones.
But as for now I'm gonna go ahead and end the vlog.
And just wish you guys an amazing day, evening,
whenever you happen to be watching. Because, as always,
your support does mean the world to me
and I truly love you guys so much.
Can you do me a couple of favors before we get outta here?
Can you smash that like button.
Turn those post notifications on, so you know
when I upload a video. Like I said, comment down below
because I always love reading about your beautiful faces
be kind and so on and I promise I will see you tomorrow.
(uplifting music)