- The front elevation is rockstar.
I mean, it's beyond what I ever could have imagined.
(upbeat music)
Today is the big day, guys.
I couldn't be more excited.
That's right, we are gonna get the new drawings,
or the iterations of those drawings, from our architects.
And thankfully, I'm not the one drawing this.
And obviously,
we actually hired a professional architect team
that not only can do some really cool drawings,
conceptual drawings,
which is basically what we're gonna see today,
but also structural, 'cause everything has to fit.
Let's face it, we're putting a lot of water upstairs.
We don't want that water to come downstairs.
You know what I mean?
But in actuality, this is kind of what I told them.
I had an idea.
Listen, I'm praying they're gonna do a lot better job
than I did and I'm assuming they really are.
The thing that's great about architects
is that they really sometimes surprise you
by bringing something to the table
you hadn't even thought of.
And trust me, we really do need this expansion.
Obviously, there are so many reasons to expand,
but none bigger than the fact
that some of our animals are just getting really large
for their enclosures.
Salt and Pepper literally
are gonna be outgrowing their enclosure
within the next probably six to eight months,
so we have to do something. And we have no room for 'em,
so the expansion is definitely gonna be needed.
Now, where exactly Salt and Pepper's enclosure is gonna be,
I'm not sure about that.
We'll talk about that in a few minutes.
Now listen, this is actually step three today
of about a hundred, but hey,
we were on step one a few weeks back,
so we're definitely making progress.
And I've taken you guys on the journey of everything,
the first steps of 1.0, all the way to the finish,
first steps of 2.0, all the way to finish.
I'm taking you guys on every step of 3.0
and essentially 4.0, the aquarium.
Today is pretty darn exciting, but let's not get too excited
because we are still in the very early stages.
I always say, I don't want the largest zoo in the world,
I don't want the best zoo in the world.
Basically, I just want a place that's really cool
where you can go and do experiences
that you can't do anywhere else, or at least not very close.
It's always about what can we add
to make this place more awesome, more experiences,
so when people come, they're like, holy cow,
I can't believe I got to hold Al, the reticulated Python,
or experiences with Salt and Pepper,
or whatever the case is.
And that's what the expansion is really about
is adding more of those experiences.
We already have so many cool things at The Reptarium
and we absolutely love what we're doing,
we're just trying to add on that.
And then, also bring in kind of a new audience
when it comes to the aquarium side.
Something I've always been interested in,
back when I was a kid, I had like 15 aquariums.
I've always loved fish.
I'm not an expert by a long shot and I have a lot to learn,
but again, I wanna make experiences
that are gonna be absolutely wonderful.
And that doesn't necessarily mean
that we have to be the biggest or largest zoo on the planet.
We just have to do what we do and really do it well.
And honestly, the thing that I love about this vlog
more than anything else, of course,
my girl, Matilda, what are you doing, silly monkey,
is inspiring people.
If you would have asked me four years ago, five years ago,
if I was ever gonna open up a reptile zoo to begin with,
I don't know that I could have ever said I was gonna do it,
even though it was a dream of mine for the last 25 years.
And here we are, we opened up the first side,
then we expanded, and now we're about to do
another huge, huge expansion.
And that's the thing.
To me, I just wanna inspire you guys to follow your dream.
Sometimes those dreams seem impossible.
I mean, it doesn't seem like it's even a possibility
to do what we've already done,
let alone doing this next step.
But the fact is is anything is possible
if you really believe in yourself
and you work hard and you don't take no for an answer.
Do you know how many people told me
I should not open The Reptarium?
People told me that it was a waste of money,
that I would never be able to float,
that I would be out of business within a year.
And the fact is, it's been super successful.
And I want you guys to take that same type of attitude
towards everything you do.
Don't listen to the naysayers.
Do things that you wanna do, follow your dreams,
and trust me one day, you'll be hanging out
with a beautiful tortoise like Matilda, just like me.
- I wanted to share a few animals that I have coming up,
hopefully for next year's breeding season, with you guys
that I'm kind of excited about.
One of them, these guys,
you probably haven't seen 'em in awhile.
They are albino applegate gopher snakes.
I really love these.
They're super pretty.
We worked with these years ago.
It's nice to have 'em again.
I'm really, fingers crossed, they'll be up to size
and we can try to breed and produce some of these next year.
The next one that's coming along so good
are these tri-color hognose.
These'll definitely be up to size.
We've got a few females and a male.
These'll be a lot of fun to breed
and we'll definitely have babies, or eggs, I should say,
next year of these guys.
- Then, of course, there's my buddy, RJ, here.
Come on, bud.
There you go.
This guy is gonna be on display
and it's gonna be absolutely incredible.
I mean, he's such a cool animal
that I love being able to feed him and interact with him.
He's coming right up.
He's saying, what are you doing, RJ?
You eat that food.
What are you doing?
You coming to bring your food back to dad?
Come on.
Come on, there you go.
Now look at you, ooh, what a silly monkey.
The fact is is I'm trying to decide, RJ, I think for sure,
will probably be, whoa, he missed it!
Come on, bud.
There you go.
Ooh.
There you go, bud.
There you go, thank you, buddy.
I know we're gonna definitely
probably put RJ upstairs, I think.
I was originally thinking maybe Salt and Pepper
would stay on The Reptarium level
and then RJ would be upstairs, or should I do it reverse?
Do I think that RJ should be downstairs?
Would you guys rather see RJ downstairs
and Salt and Pepper upstairs or vice-versa?
Let me know in the comments.
Both of them are gonna have gigantic enclosures,
literally 20-foot long enclosures.
And we're gonna have opportunities
for people to get up and close and feed. Come on, RJ.
One last piece, come on, buddy.
That's a boy.
Ope, there you go, buddy.
It's a nice big piece for him.
Let me know in the comments what you think.
Should we build the enclosure for RJ on the main level
or the upstairs or vice-versa with Salt and Pepper?
'Cause I think I want one downstairs and one upstairs.
Just not sure which one yet.
And keep in mind that we're probably
gonna get some other baby albino alligators
for the main floor of The Reptarium,
so basically where Salt and Pepper are now,
we're hoping we have
maybe a couple smaller albino alligators
and then Salt and Pepper will be on the other side,
either on the main floor or upstairs.
I'm not sure. I'm still kind of a little confused on it.
Let me know what you guys think.
I met with the architects about a month ago
and I basically showed 'em the front of the facade.
I was thinking, so right above The Reptarium sign up here,
I would like that to be the entire roof.
Now, from that side all the way to the other side
will be completely glass.
And then, there'll be a peak that will be glass, as well,
so from the front of the road, you're literally gonna see,
the facade in the front
will be kind of all the rocking-out cave looking stuff.
We'll do some more work to that
because the actual entrance is gonna be way down there
at the end instead of here.
That'll be the entrance you walk into the place.
That's gonna be rocked-out.
And then up top, it's gonna be all glass to look into.
I want the building from the outside
to really be compelling, so people go,
oh my god, that place looks absolutely incredible.
I have to go to it.
Again, don't know what the architects are gonna come up with
with the kind of design I told them,
but I am super excited to see what they do.
As we're doing this expansion and doing the aquarium,
I don't want you guys to worry,
oh, you're getting away from reptiles.
Number one, we're actually adding another third amount
of space to The Reptarium itself
to actually add more reptiles, more snakes, more lizards,
more stuff, and Jeffrey is just so absolutely stunning.
I mean, look at that snake.
That thing is ridiculous.
And also, upstairs in the aquarium,
like I had mentioned, we're gonna have an alligator,
we're gonna have some turtles,
we're gonna have maybe baby alligators up there.
We're gonna have reptiles up there too,
so it's not gonna be just an aquarium,
it's gonna be mainly aquarium, but listen,
I'm a reptile guy, so there's gonna be reptiles.
And we want that molding between The Reptarium
and the aquarium and stuff like that
to where you kind of get the same feel,
like it's the same thing.
We don't want two separate businesses.
We don't want The Reptarium and the aquarium
being completely different.
As a matter of fact, a lot of the facade
that we're using here,
we'll probably use at the aquarium too
so it feels like the same place, just another level.
Again, millions of ideas going through my head
and I am so excited.
And today, I'll actually get a chance to see that vision,
start to actually get it on paper for the very first time.
- Something different.
We're gonna do a little enrichment with the Kong ball
with super worms inside, but with Betty White.
She's never seen a ball before,
'cause obviously, we don't have to ball train these guys,
so we're gonna see how this goes.
She is always food motivated.
Now, I am gonna show her that there is some bugs in here
and we're gonna see what happens.
Ope, and as you can see, she goes right for the bugs.
Now that she knows, look at her,
now she's going inside the ball.
This is so cool to actually see her figure this out.
As you can see, she's looking in the middle part now
'cause she can see 'em inside,
but she doesn't realize how to get to 'em.
You see the hole?
Go in the hole.
Go in the hole, yeah!
How awesome, you guys.
Yeah, whoop!
Can't wait for her to be full-size
like Flaming Hot Cheeto, just that white.
And hopefully with a name like Betty White,
she lives for a long time
'cause Betty White is the number one person.
Look at her, she's just head in, scratching at it now.
There are times I really wish I was that smart
to get that much food.
- Drogo, what in the world are you doing up there?
What a silly little dude.
Look at him.
Hi, baby.
How you doing, sweetheart?
You doing okay today?
I know.
He's so absolutely amazing.
And the fact is is that Drogo the two-toed sloth
has been such a huge hit here at The Reptarium.
People come every single weekend to do experiences with him,
to see him for the first time, and people love him to death.
And one of the things we're gonna do,
and we'll probably have it downstairs, I'm pretty sure,
is add Asian small-clawed otters.
That's right.
We'll probably add a pair of them into The Reptarium,
and they'll probably be in The Reptarium.
I realize the sloth and the otters aren't reptiles,
but I think that they'll be cool additions to The Reptarium.
We're looking forward to adding our second mammal
to the zoo, and I think that'll be the last mammals we add,
but don't hold me to it.
You never know what's gonna happen in the future,
but for now, that's gonna be it.
And small-clawed otters, yeah, that's gonna be amazing.
And just like all of my visions, I know it's hard
to sometimes see what I'm thinking in my head,
but believe it or not, the BHB offices
and kind of our overflow and all that stuff,
this is all going to be gone.
The offices won't even be here anymore.
Actually, there's gonna be some area upstairs
where all of the offices for BHB, The Reptarium,
the aquarium, everything is gonna be up there.
This area is gonna be part of the new Reptarium.
The actual entrance is gonna be right here
where this office is here.
I know it's weird.
And the staircase is actually gonna be on this side here.
But right here, right here where this wall is
and these lockers are, basically is gonna be a similar type
of enclosure like Ivy, a giant enclosure
with big water feature, big waterfall, stuff like that,
but it's gonna be for a water monitor.
Not sure if it's gonna be Elvis yet, Toothless yet,
or we might get another water monitor.
Not sure.
But again, this will be the entrance right here
when you walk in and you'll see, again, the staircase,
the elevator, to go up to the aquarium.
And then right here,
you're gonna be able to see this giant, huge enclosure
that is really similar to Ivy's.
But again, then the rest of it's gonna be all bunch
of reptiles and stuff like that.
And it's gonna go all the way back to the thing.
It's gonna be, again, adding one third the space
of The Reptarium once again.
3.0 is gonna be here, 4.0 upstairs.
And speaking of upstairs, when it comes to aquatic things,
most of the stuff, you can't actually hold.
Certainly if we add some turtles up there, the baby gator,
stuff like that, there's gonna be able to be interaction.
But a lot of aquatic stuff, you just look at.
But we're gonna try our best to add as many things
that you can't interact with,
like touch tanks and stuff like that.
Obviously, the big thing is gonna be that stingray closure.
I mean, to be honest with you,
that's what I've been dreaming about for years.
Just like having the fish spa or the sloth,
I mean, things that I've been dreaming about forever,
I've been dreaming about a stingray exhibit.
Remember when we went to Utah and swam with stingrays?
(upbeat music)
And like I mentioned, we also did the fish spa,
and that's right, now we've got a fish spa
here at The Reptarium.
Well, stingrays have definitely been on my mind forever.
Having that type of enclosure upstairs is gonna be amazing,
where you can pet them, you could feed them,
and there'll even be an opportunity, if you want,
to get inside the water with them.
I know I've talked about it before, but now I'm just excited
because today is the day that we start to see things going.
Again, step three of a hundred,
but nevertheless, step three is exciting.
We get to actually see drawings and maybe
there might be some inspiration I take from 'em,
'cause you gotta remember,
a lot of times when I give a bunch of information out,
those people are gonna take 'em
and then put their stamp on
and they may actually inspire me to do something
that I hadn't even thought about doing.
It's gonna be absolutely amazing
and I couldn't be more excited about it today.
And I hope that you guys are as excited as I am.
All right, so the time we've all been waiting for,
we're gonna head over to the architect's place
and see these drawings.
Sorry I kept you in suspense the whole time.
Let's hit the road and go see what they've got.
Oh, this is pretty cool feature.
We made it here to the architect place
and right off the bat, I love it.
Maybe we'll add something like that into the aquarium.
Let's go up and meet these guys.
I'm so excited.
I'm nervous, but I'm definitely pretty darn excited.
- Rework the exhibits, as you see fit.
I know you have kind of the open area retail there-
- Right. - Kind of in this corner.
(crosstalk)
- [Architect] Coming up here, same kind of thing.
There's always this kind of entry point.
This is a different floor.
Again, this is open.
(crosstalk)
A lot of windows.
(crosstalk)
- [Brian] Yeah.
- [Architect] This becomes some more merchandising area-
- Right.
(crosstalk)
It's been pretty amazing.
You guys have done a great job, by the way.
Thank you so much.
I mean, the front elevation is rockstar.
I mean, it's beyond what I ever could have imagined.
I love the flow of the idea of that.
My friend that helped me design a lot of The Reptarium
always said he hates straight lines.
Straight lines.
You are anti-straight line in here, for sure.
That's fantastic.
It makes it more interesting, and so on like that.
The thing is now is I've got a million questions in my head
about functionality, making sure it can work,
before I even get into the cost part of it.
But it is pretty amazing.
And definitely, you guys threw me for a loop
on a lot of things that I wasn't thinking,
but all in good ways.
Nothing bad.
I really like it.
I didn't think about the rear entrance.
I think that looks, not only is it functionally great,
but it looks amazing.
Yeah.
This was, I think we're on step three and a half today.
(laughs) You guys did great.
Thank you so much. - Our pleasure.
- Now my brain is gonna hurt for the next couple of days,
but this is amazing.
I can't wait to show Lori.
All right, so I have the plans in my hand.
They're gonna be emailing me over the actual,
the elevations and everything to show Lori here.
We'll go back to the shop, show Lori all that stuff,
and get her first impressions.
Like I said, guys, now,
it's all the thinking that goes into this.
I mean, they came up with some great ideas.
Now, I have to see what ideas work, what ideas don't,
where do we put things.
I mean, certainly it brought probably
as many questions up as it did answers,
but definitely I love the direction we're going.
Wow. Let me know in the comments what you guys think,
'cause that was, wow, that was crazy.
All right, so you guys ready to see the expansion?
- The expansion?
- [Brian] Yeah, the expansion, I've got the drawings.
Are you ready? - I'm ready.
- [Brian] This is the side view
of what the roof would look like, okay?
- Okay. - There's a little bit of a-
- It looks like a church.
- [Brian] (laughs) yeah kind of a little bit like that,
but that's just the one thing.
I was gonna show you- - Ooh!
- [Brian] This is the actual the aquarium stingray tank.
- I like the floor. - I like that.
- [Brian] The floor plan kind of, this would be
where you would come up and stuff like that.
But- - The otter slide!
Would be right there, oh my god.
- [Brian] I don't know about the otter slide.
- These were not all approved. - But so then-
- That looks awesome, by the way.
- This is where it gets exciting, though.
This is the back of the building.
- Ooh. - Back.
- [Brian] This is the back of the building.
- That looks really pretty.
- [Brian] This is where the staircase would go.
There would be all windows.
- Who's cleaning all these windows?
- We're gonna have to hire a window company.
But if you think those windows are bad,
just wait 'til this next thing.
This is the one that I can't wait to show you.
- How much does a window company cost?
- You guys ready?
It's a lot, I'm sure.
Averaging, it's gonna be a lot.
- We're probably not at that level yet.
- You guys ready?
This is the big one. - Is this the grand finale?
Everything else has been real sexy.
- [Brian] This is the good one.
Ready? - Yeah.
- There you go. - Oh!
- What do you think?
- I think if that can happen,
it will be the most impressive building
in a few square miles.
- What is this?
- This is just the roof.
- If that comes to fruition, that will be very beautiful.
- I know you said the same thing to me,
it's definitely different than when I was picturing.
- What were you picturing? - I'm trying to process that.
I mean, it definitely is a very eye-catching-
- Beautiful building. - Building.
- It's like the car wash down the street.
- By no means.
- You got waves, it's got curvature.
- What more do you want?
It's blue and wavy and curvy.
- Like I mentioned, guys, this is the starting point,
so we do have a lot of work to do.
Definitely have some good ideas,
but we still have to do some tweaking
in order to get it to where we want it to be.
But I'm pretty excited about it.
Let me know in the comments what you're excited about,
what you liked, what you didn't like,
what we can do better and stuff like that,
'cause this is gonna have to be amazing.
And if you enjoyed this video,
you can hit this playlist right over here.
Also on this side, you can subscribe to this channel.
That would mean a lot to me.
Have an absolutely wonderful day, reptile army.
Remember, be kind to someone.
And I promise, I'll see you tomorrow.