- Perdida is probably the snake,
that I think changes the most people's minds.
What are you doing, buddy?
You just hanging out with me?
I know I love you.
I love this thing beyond belief.
(dynamic upbeat music)
Hey, good morning, everybody and welcome to the vlog
with my amazing snakes here, Ben and Jerry.
You know, people ask me all the time,
Brian, if you had to pick one animal, what would it be?
And my common answer is, yo, it's like asking
a mother of four which her favorite kid is,
I can never really choose.
But you know, I thought to myself,
maybe I'll go ahead and challenge myself today
and really try to answer that question,
if I only could keep one reptile and that's it.
I am gonna do my best and in the past, I've done this
and at the end I've said I could never choose,
today I'm promising you guys, I'm gonna actually choose,
I'm gonna actually tell you what it is.
But don't get me wrong, things like Ben and Jerry
have my heart so much, they are so amazing
and there's so many animals
that I love, love, love to death,
but I'm gonna do my best to get to the bottom of this.
In the meantime, I have an extremely busy day,
so while I'm going through my animals
telling you which ones are my favorites
and which one will eventually win that title
of the only animal I would keep,
if I had to just choose one,
I'm gonna go ahead and take you through my day,
because I think I have two tours, a birthday party
and the Reptarium's open, it's going to be a bonkers day,
let's have a great day together, everybody.
So I think I'm gonna start with Karma,
because really he was kind of the first animal
I got as an animal ambassador
thinking about the zoo all those years ago,
it was just kind of a start of the entire process,
but he was kind of the first one
that was like, hey, this guy can eventually go into a zoo
and be one of my animal ambassadors
and I absolutely love Karma,
we certainly have had several years together
and he is an amazing animal.
If you guys have followed me for any length of time,
you will know that he went through a period,
where he had a problem with a leg
and I was so concerned about him
and I love this guy to death,
I'm gonna be totally honest with you,
it is so hard for me to try to pick one animal
that would stand out as like that one animal
I could never live without, I love Karma to death,
but unfortunately he doesn't win this one.
My first tour is here and Colton, it's your birthday, right?
- Yeah. - Oh, my gosh,
well happy birthday, I'm glad you came.
They came from Grand Rapids, Michigan,
which ironically enough is a place,
that I may be opening a Reptarium
and you guys said that you'd be regulars,
if I open up there, so that's awesome.
So Colton, what do you say we get started, alright?
- Alright. - Alright.
Spending a little time with my guy, Elvis here.
I always say he's my pet dinosaur,
he just kind of curls around
and Elvis spends about an hour to two hours a day
just roaming the place, getting himself into trouble.
But Colton, you said that Perdida
was one of your favorites, huh?
- Hm-mm. - What do you think of her?
Isn't she amazing? - Yeah.
- She's awesome.
So once again, I love the fact
that you had never held a snake before,
you weren't even sure you were going to
and it's so awesome that you had an opportunity to do it
and you got the guts up, I'm so proud of you
- Yeah. - and of course, Ben and Jerry
is a great first snake to hold, there you go.
Again, I love when I see that, that's absolutely fantastic.
Lucy, Lucy, Lucy, what can I say about Lucy?
I mean, hatching her about eight years ago,
she has been such a huge part of so many things in my life,
she's an amazing animal,
she's probably the animal that has been the most popular,
when it comes to views on YouTube,
when it comes to the vlog,
so she's not only an amazing animal,
but she has certainly been so special to me
and I tell you what, I've said this a bunch of times,
I like feisty animals and dealing with Lucy
is some of the funnest things that I absolutely do,
I tell you what, I couldn't imagine life without her,
that's for sure and I hope I don't ever
have to actually pick with this one.
But when it comes to Lucy, could I say
that she's the one animal I couldn't live without?
Ah, I hate to say it, but probably not.
I certainly would miss her though,
because she is absolutely amazing.
And of course the polar opposite of Lucy
is her sister, Daisy, such an amazing animal
and the thing that is so hard about narrowing something down
to just one or two or whatever many animals
is the fact that they all are so special in their own right.
Daisy has changed a lot of people's minds,
she's been to schools, she's been to birthday parties,
where kids have held this huge snake.
We've even had her out at the Reptarium,
where we have 50 kids just standing around
in awe of this animal and I know I never have to worry
about her biting or acting up,
so she is certainly an unbelievably special snake.
But again, I think that as I'm narrowing things down,
it's about my relationship with the animal, right,
so it's not just the fact
that I think it's an amazing animal
and what they've done for me over my course of my career
and my life keeping reptiles, but also the fact
that what is the relationship between me and that animal.
Got my second tour of the day going,
it's absolutely good, you've got my girl, Perdida out, huh?
(mellow upbeat music)
Second tour is in the can and it was a fun time as always,
I always like showing kids around in particular,
because they're so much fun.
We have one birthday party up
and then we open for the Reptarium
and then I continue to tell you what animal I would choose,
if I only could choose one.
I mentioned that Karma was kind of the first animal I got,
that was gonna be an animal ambassador
hopefully for a zoo in the future,
well, the truth is Feddy was actually pre-Karma,
but it was actually a pet of mine,
I may have mentioned that.
I rescued Feddy, because its eye got scratched
by another bearded dragon and it actually injured its eye,
so I ended up taking it in.
So for a couple of years, I wasn't even thinking about it
as an animal ambassador, I just had Feddy as a pet,
as a matter of fact, we used to call him
Feddy Wop Stevie Why, believe it or not,
now it's just got shortened to Feddy Wop
and he is truly an amazing animal
and when people come to the Reptarium,
they're a little bit scared of animals,
usually Feddy is the first animal I pull out.
Birthday party is just arriving, should be a good time.
A predator comes up, it's gonna feel those spikes
and it's not gonna wanna try to eat it, right?
That's something that's called a Jacobson's organ,
so what happens is that the split tongue comes out
and it tastes the air and then it sucks it back in
and it goes to the Jacobson's organ
and that's how it actually tastes
all those little particles.
This girl's name's Perdida,
she's what they would call a power reticulated python.
(chattering children)
- Yay! - Yay!
- Birthday party is wrapping up, we have T minus 45 minutes,
before the Reptarium opens for the night,
so absolutely bonkers morning,
but hey, I absolutely had a great time.
Then there's my girl, Perdida
and this has gotten so difficult, guys,
because Perdida is probably the snake,
that I think changes most the people's minds in all honesty,
it's the one snake that even people that fear snakes
seem to somehow be gravitated to her.
So what happens is someone will come into the Reptarium
and go, I don't think I'm gonna hold a snake
and for whatever reason,
they see the way she's such a beautiful snake,
not only the way she looks, but the way she acts
and they think okay, that's a snake I can hold.
Again I've mentioned, she's big enough to be impressive,
but not so big that a little kid can't hold her,
so she is absolutely such a special snake
and look, I mentioned it is getting harder and harder,
as I narrow this down to the top animal.
I tell you what, guys,
I wish I wouldn't even have started this journey,
but I have to go through it
and Perdida is certainly one of the most amazing animals
that I keep here at the Reptarium.
As I was going through my head
and trying to figure out what the end result
of this crazy path that I decided to take with this vlog,
I certainly knew that I was gonna miss a lot of animals,
including the one that's behind me right now, Nova,
I'd like to highlight that,
but I don't wanna go through every single animal I have,
because they all are very special to me.
But this one is an interesting one,
this is of course Salt, the albino alligator
and you know, she's relatively new,
I've only had her for a couple of months.
I have a feeling that if I did this video a year from now,
she might be the winner,
because I am absolutely falling in love with her
and I just think she's such an amazing animal,
but as for now, she's only been with me a couple of months,
she's certainly isn't quite at the position,
where I would say she takes the top ranking yet,
but again, maybe a year from now, that'll change.
Sunrise, she certainly is a special snake
and it really started with Sunshine of course,
my snake that I had a long time ago,
that really was one of my biggest ambassadors
back before I even thought about the Reptarium
and unfortunately when she passed, I decided to get Sunrise
and kind of carry on the legacy,
really not having an idea at that point
what it was gonna mean and much like Daisy and Perdida,
Sunrise is an unbelievably placid, beautiful snake
that has changed a lot of people's minds,
when people come to the Reptarium,
she's certainly in the top two or three snakes
to get held all the time,
so she is absolutely certainly unbelievably special to me.
Keeping in mind again that the kind of whole journey
started years ago with my girl, Sunshine
and I still miss her, but I tell you what,
Sunrise is certainly starting to take her spot,
because she has turned into a wonderful snake.
And then of course, there is Elvis,
the amazing Asian water monitor and I think that this one
kind of a little bit falls into that category of Salt,
where I haven't really had Elvis for a long time,
but he certainly has become one of my favorites for sure,
I mean, just look at how incredible this animal is.
He's so curious, he just comes up, he's hanging out,
he's like, hey, what's up, Dad, what's going on?
And when we bring him out, I love the fact
that kids absolutely fall in love with him.
I think the only thing I can say
is that I've only had him for a couple of months,
so as much as I love him to death,
we haven't had enough time together
to have that unbreakable bond
that some of my other animals have,
but again, I think give it a year or so
and this guy may top the list as well,
because he is absolutely incredible.
What are you doing, buddy, are you just hanging out with me?
I know I love you.
It's that time of day again,
let's go ahead and open up the Reptarium.
Hey guys, hi, how are you?
Hi guys, how are you going, come on in, how's it going?
Oh, that's awesome, well, welcome guys,
welcome guys, how are you?
Welcome, welcome, okay, I like the shirt.
Hi guys, how are you?
Hi, welcome, welcome, come on in, come on in.
I know another beautiful day here at the Reptarium,
Helen's been up getting some love,
we had Nova out a little bit earlier.
Let's see what else is going on here at the Reptarium.
Oh, we've got the pied out,
we've got the coolest hoodies in the place right now,
you guys are awesome. (laughing)
Got the Dumeril's boa out, hey, Potato, hey, Potato.
Look at that, we've got Veriday out over here.
- We've got Cheeto. - Oh, my gosh.
We've got the litchi over here.
Alright, we've got the very good Bertha.
As always, it's popping here, but we're having a great time.
You guys know that I love these stories
every time we open up the Reptarium,
you were pretty scared of snakes.
We got her to hold a chameleon,
she finally held a small snake and now look at her,
I come over here and what are you doing?
You're just holding my snake. - I'm being held captive.
- It's progress, I tell you what, I absolutely love it,
you guys are doing wonderful and you've made my night,
thank you very much. - Thank you.
- I tell you what, as I was going through my head
really thinking about this whole idea,
it really came down to two animals
and of course, RJ was one of them,
because he is absolutely incredible.
The bond I have with him, the relationship,
the amount of hours I've had with him
and I've had him probably longer
than any other ambassador animal I've had,
he certainly got really close to being the one
that I said, yes, this is it and I'll be honest,
I'd almost say maybe this is a 1A, 1B type of situation,
'cause I don't know what I would do without RJ,
I mean, he is so important to me,
he is such an amazing animal,
I love this thing beyond belief
and honestly I am so glad that what I'm going through
with this vlog, it's just hypothetical
and would never actually happen, I don't have to choose,
I get to keep all of these animals
and all the ones that I didn't mention,
'cause there were so many I wanted to talk about,
but I really wanted to narrow it down to a list,
that was achievable in one vlog.
Regardless, RJ is certainly an animal,
that I love more than anything and I could never say
that I could live without this guy,
but again if I had to pick one animal,
RJ, I hate to say this to you, buddy,
you fell just a little bit short,
I know it's so hard to say,
like I said, honestly, I could have chosen him too,
because that's how much I love this guy.
We probably don't give enough love
to the gargoyle geckos here at the Reptarium,
so of course, she said she wanted to pull one out,
I said sure, why not, it's awesome.
Annabella, come here, girl,
come here, sweetheart, come on.
Come on.
Come on, sweetheart.
That's a girl, Bella, how are you doing?
And that's right, guys, I'm not gonna lie
and I can't believe I'm actually saying this,
but I told you I would literally pick one animal,
that has probably stolen my heart more than anything
and that's right, it's my girl, Bella here,
not to say that I would ever wanna be put into a position,
where I have to choose one animal,
because I hope that doesn't happen
and I love so many animals and like I mentioned,
there are a ton of animals I didn't even put in this vlog,
that are unbelievably special,
as a matter of fact, all my animals are special to me,
but the truth is Bella right here
is one of the most amazing animals
and the relationship that I have with her is unbelievable.
Let's face it, a lizard that comes to her name,
that wants to be petted, that wants that type of attention,
Bella, you've got my heart, girl
and if I had to, put on the spot,
had to pick one animal I could not live without,
that's right, guys, it's my girl, Bella.
And as we're wrapping down here at the Reptarium,
I am gonna go ahead and end the vlog.
I hope that you guys understand
my kind of progression of what it is
and the fact that I love all of my animals,
Bella is just absolutely amazing
and I think that you guys would agree,
I mean, the relationship I have with her is ridiculous.
With that being said, I hope that you guys
have an absolutely amazing day, evening,
whenever you happen to be watching.
Your support means the world to me
and I truly love you so much.
We are leaving for Italy in just two days, people,
so it's gonna be absolutely incredible.
Do me a couple of favors before we get out,
can you smash that like button,
turn those post notifications on,
so you know when I upload a video.
Can you make a comment?
Because I love reading about your beautiful faces,
be kind to someone
and I promise I will see you guys tomorrow.
(dynamic upbeat music)