- Hey, good morning, everybody and welcome
to the vlog and Happy New Year,
and as I've done since I've been vlogging,
I am gonna give you a recap of this amazing year.
I'm gonna be honest with you,
2018 was probably, no, not probably,
it absolutely was the best year of my life.
Just so many amazing things,
and we're gonna take a quick look back at that
and see how crazy it was,
starting with the fact that I hit a million subs
on YouTube 'cause of you guys.
You guys are absolutely amazing.
(laughs) What an incredible experience it was,
and I was down in Mexico
and shared the entire thing with you guys.
One subscriber away from a million.
Who's gonna be my millionth subscriber?
One million!
Whoo!
(laughs)
We just hit a freakin' million subscribers on YouTube!
("Ride of Joy" by DJ Quads) (car engine revs)
(car engine revs)
As like everything, there are a lot o' ups and downs
when it comes to an entire year,
but it was really cool to get my two-headed turtle,
Rick and Morty, even though, as you guys know,
things didn't turn out well, but hopefully in 2019,
we'll get another one.
Here it is!
Hello, little buddy!
(laughs) Oh my gosh.
(laughs) It is the cutest frickin' thing in the world!
(laughs) Take a look at these two.
Oh my gosh, (laughs) they are absolutely so adorable!
I went for a little swim with my girl, Lucy.
This is one of the coolest things.
I did not know it was gonna be this awesome.
(laughs) Oh my God!
Guys, I am trippin' out right now,
'cause you guys know when I have Lucy out
of the cage a lot of times, it's a struggle.
She's all over the place,
and look at her just gracefully going through the water.
She doesn't seem to be stressed out at all.
People absolutely love ball pythons,
so I did my very best to give you guys an option
of buying a ball python closure for under 100 bucks.
People seem to like it.
About a half million of you guys watched it.
Wow, that is frickin' amazing, and again, that costs $99.
I certainly did a lot of snake-feeding videos,
as well as unboxed a whole lot of snakes.
So the first bag of little crazy little monkeys here
that I'm (laughs) excited to see (laughs).
Oh my gosh, let's see what she got.
Ooh, these are absolutely gorgeous.
For Saint Patrick's Day, Eric made me laugh so hard
with a funny skit that we did.
- Would you take me to go get my gold, Lucy?
Would you take me?
If you're not gonna take me,
maybe draw me a map of the directions, Lucy.
- Sometimes my life is pretty crazy, and in this case,
I met some baby grizzly bears.
(laughs) Oh my gosh,
is this the cutest little thing in the world?
(laughs)
- [Woman] He's gonna nibble on that nose.
- What do you say we introduce them to your friends?
- Yes, I would love that. - Let's do that.
- Let's do it.
- Lori surprised me by getting a Great Dane puppy, Phoebe.
What happened, Lori?
♪ You know that I'd do ♪
♪ Do anything for you ♪
- We got a puppy.
- I started my quest off to get a two-headed snake this year
by getting Laverne and Shirley,
the two-headed albino corn snake.
(smooth music)
We decided to breed my girl, Lucy,
and guess what, she got gravid!
Oh my gosh, this is really difficult, guys.
(helpers laugh)
Okay, I can definitely see follicles on this one.
Yeah, Lucy's acting completely fine,
(all laugh) but poor Jessica's
gettin' whipped around. (all laugh)
- She's pulling
me around. (laughs) - She's doing the retic dance.
- Then, like I mentioned, it was an amazing year,
but not everything was perfect.
We certainly had some downs as well.
In this case, Laverne and Shirley didn't make it.
I don't even know what to say about this.
That's Laverne and Shirley, and (sighs)
I told you guys that I was taking a huge risk
because two-headed snakes a lot of times don't make it.
Jessica always does an amazing job with leopard geckos
when it comes to the breeding,
and we had a ton of leopard gecko eggs this year.
- Oh, there we go! - There's one,
there's another good one. - There's another one.
- [Brian] Here's another one!
Look at that, guys!
- [Jessica] Okay, that should be it.
- Alright, so we have, looks like we have
(laughs) five good eggs, and then we had a couple of slugs.
("Ride of Joy" by DJ Quads)
The one thing you can count on when you work with animals,
and in particular, reptiles,
is you're always gonna be surprised, and Eric came to me,
(laughs) and a snake actually tied itself up in a knot.
- I just checked on this guy to feed him,
and he's literally a knot. - Alright, let's see
if we can get him undone.
- [Eric] Man, he's so tight, too.
- Oh my gosh!
That is crazy!
I visited Gatorland, and my buddy, Mike,
almost got eaten by a crocodile.
- Alright. (phone rings)
- [Woman] Oh my gosh!
- It's Dan.
Dan, you're gonna kill me.
(woman screams)
- (laughs) Hoo doggy, what a year it's been,
and listen, we're only in April.
We had (laughs) our first litter
of blue-tongued skinks born, and believe it or not,
Erwin here, that is so big, was one of these little babies.
- [Woman] They're somewhere back there.
There's some in there hiding.
Oh, how many?
How many do we have?
(gasps) Look at all of 'em!
Oh my goodness!
- (laughs) Went down to visit my buddy in Atlanta,
and a ostrich, actually a rhea, attacked me.
It's okay.
(laughs) Give me my thing back.
Give it back!
Give it back, Steve!
Steve, give it back!
(screams)
(laughs)
I went over to South Africa and got a chance
to get hands-on with black mambas.
There you go, sweetheart.
(upbeat music)
Up we go.
And away you go.
Be free, buddy.
Look at that thing go!
Oh my gosh, that is amazing!
(laughs) And then later in that trip,
I literally almost got killed.
Here's the thing, when we left Jarod's place,
his dad had told us, "If you break down or get a flat tire,
"do not stop because, literally,
"on the sides of the roads here,
"people will come and kill you and take your money."
We're literally broke down in Africa.
Sadly, I visited my buddy, Ryan,
who we later in the year lost to a fatal black mamba bite.
Oh my gosh, and of course, this is the Jameson's mamba.
Oh my gosh, that thing is absolutely incredible.
- They're amazing snakes for sure.
- Very active. - Very little known
about these snakes, unfortunately,
because there's not many people that keep them.
In my experience, these are absolutely one
of my favorite mamba species to keep.
- I surprised Lori with this baby leachie gecko
and look at (laughs) after only five months,
Big Bertha has gotten so large.
- That's pretty cool.
- [Woman In green] Yeah.
- [Lori] It's cool that it's so small still, too.
- [Woman In Green] Mmhmm.
- Certainly one of the most exciting things
in 2018 was building The Reptarium zoo,
and it started with my girl, Bella's cage right here.
This very cage was the first cage we built
for The Reptarium.
So we have a long way to go,
but this is a basic idea
of what these enclosures are gonna look like.
(cheerful piano music)
(laughs) We had the absolutely cutest baby fox visit BHB.
This is a little marble fox,
and it is absolutely adorable (laughs).
Look at this little thing!
And once again, the year of unpredictability,
we actually had a snake prolapse,
so I had to deal with that,
and hopefully taught you guys what you would do
if your snake ever prolapsed.
Really gently see if I can't get it back in.
What you wanna do is make sure that this prolapse gets back
in the body cavity.
We tried to walk Speedy, the tortoise.
- [Eric] Come on, little buddy, let's get a move on here.
(upbeat music)
I gotta be honest with you,
this thing is a total chick magnet.
- A silly (laughs) mom snake actually ate her snake eggs.
Holy moley!
What are you doing, you silly girl?
Oh my gosh, she's eating her eggs!
And you guys always love the fact
that I cut a lot of snake eggs
and show you a bunch of really beautiful babies.
Man, holy moley.
Okay, oh my gosh!
You have to be kidding me!
You have to be kidding me right now!
That is the exact same animal!
That's another five gene animal!
Lucy gave me quite a run for my money
when she laid her big clutch of snake eggs.
You guys seemed to like it because over three million
of you watched it.
It was definitely a lot of fun.
(snake roars)
Whoo!
This is crazy!
(exciting music)
Keep her, watch out, watch out, watch out.
One of the crazier things that happened this year was
this Colombian rainbow boa actually had a mummified baby
in it for an entire year,
and we had to actually get it out of her.
Oh, that is so bizarre!
Ah, do you see that?
Ah!
Oh my gosh!
And in (laughs) my Brian persistent, typical ways,
I ended up picking up another baby two-headed snake,
Cookies and Cream.
You can definitely see
that the heads are pretty close together,
and this one on the left seems
to be a little bit tilted down and to the side.
I love it.
I'm gonna do it.
I had a Mexican black kingsnake mamba just tear me up
while I was taking (laughs) her snake eggs away.
No, no, no, no, no, no.
Come on, Mom, it's okay.
It's her, ow, ow.
(laughs) Gosh, she's got me good!
(man laughs) Oh my gosh, Momma! (laughs)
What are you doin'?
I was so excited to finally build Lucy's new habitat.
We're starting to get the idea
of how the big the cage is gonna be.
(upbeat music)
And here it is, guys. (water trickles)
It is finally done.
(laughs) How incredible is this?
Savvy certainly made an unusual friend in a little chick
that seemed to think that Savvy was his momma.
Chick loves Savvy.
Just look at this.
(smooth music)
Oh my gosh, this is so cool.
They're best buds!
I went up to the Dells, Wisconsin,
and met an absolutely huge green anaconda.
Look at the size of that animal.
Oh my gosh!
Is that an unbelievable girth?
I bet ya she's 250, maybe even 300 pounds.
And finally, the day I've been waiting for.
My reptile zoo ended up showing up
and ready to be unloaded.
(smooth music)
And Lucy was the very first snake to go
into her brand-new habitat here at The Reptarium.
Oh my gosh. (water trickles)
Look at that.
Oh my gosh.
Holy Moley!
(all laugh)
I ended up getting Ubusuku, my night Nile monitor,
back, ready for the zoo open.
Take a look at that!
And I tell you what, so far it's absolutely tame.
It's okay, bud.
It's okay.
Whoa, whoa, whoa!
One of the night Niles are back here on display
at The Reptarium.
(tail smacks)
- [Man] Whoa!
- Joey, the king of DIY, ended up flying in
to help me set up Bowser's thousand-gallon aquarium
with all these awesome waterfalls.
Alright, we're fillin' up.
So far, still no leaks.
Fingers crossed.
And there it is, guys. (water trickles)
The waterfall is on, the water is filling up.
Joey, you did an absolutely amazing job.
- I know. - Oh my God.
- I know, right? (both laugh)
The thing I love about him is how modest he is.
(both laugh)
(laughs) And guess what, guys?
The zoo finally opened.
The Reptarium opened.
My dream finally came true.
It's official.
We are unlocking the door and letting people in.
Hey (laughs), guys.
What's goin' on? - What's up?
- I'm good.
- [Brian] How are you, man?
How's everything going? - I'm good, how are you?
- Hi, how are you guys? - How are you?
- Thank you, guys, for waiting.
Go (laughs) on in, how are ya?
(woman laughs)
(upbeat music)
This cheeky monkey, Potato, escaped.
Where the heck is potato?
(catchy music)
But thanks to (laughs) the surveillance video,
we found this little dude.
Oh, wait, wait.
Oh my God!
We got potato!
A couple of people
that visited The Reptarium got engaged right here.
(man mumbles) (water trickles)
(upbeat music)
I was so excited when we went and picked up my boy, Casper.
Lori, remember the first time we went to Orlando
to the reptile show, and Bob Clark had
that huge white Burmese python?
- Yeah.
- That's what this reminds me of.
Look at this thing.
Is that incredible or what?
We ended up picking up Elvis at the exact same time.
Take a look at him!
Oh my gosh.
I think he likes you!
- [Lori] I don't know.
- Problem is I smell like processed meat, so.
- Whoa. - There he goes.
There he goes.
- On that same trip,
we picked up another dream animal of mine.
Of course, Toothless the black dragon.
Look at this monkey right here.
This is another one of those dream animals for me.
This, of course, is a black dragon.
Just take a look at that amazing animal right there.
I met Marshmello.
Well I had an absolutely amazing time with Marshmello here.
Thank you so much for loving my snakes.
(laughs) And then I took one
of the most painful reptile bites I've ever taken
from these cheeky monkeys here, the tokay geckos.
Ow!
Ow, ow, ow.
Ow.
- [Woman] He got you?
- Ow!
Yes, okay, okay, okay.
- [Woman] Does it hurt?
- Yeah, it hurts a little bit.
And even though Laverne and Shirley
and Cookies and Cream certainly didn't work out
the way I wanted to, I wasn't ready to give up,
and I finally ended up getting Ben and Jerry.
(laughs) Oh my God!
They are so amazing and are doing so well.
There you go, bud.
There you go.
Oh my gosh!
It's gonna be so amazing!
- Whoa! - Look at you!
- Is that crazy or-- - Dude, it's massive!
- Yeah, look at you! - Yeah, it's like a
four (mumbles). - Wow!
- And that same week, I ended up gettin' Salt and Pepper,
my albino and black American alligators.
Oh my (laughs) God!
They are so adorable!
Oh my gosh.
(crinkles)
Oh my gosh.
(Lori laughs) (alligator squeaks)
- What do they call that?
- (laughs) And then Ben and Jerry actually ate
for the first time here at The Reptarium.
♪ I love you ♪
(upbeat music)
♪ I love you ♪
(laughs) Just before Thanksgiving,
we actually brought in a pet turkey for everyone to meet.
Here comes the turkey.
- Aw! - It's a turkey!
- [Brian] Oh my gosh!
- Oh my
God!
No, you are not getting a turkey.
- This is Benny the turkey.
Look at this turkey! (turkey squeaks)
And then, of course, Lucy ended up eating a turkey.
Well actually, 20 hours of filming,
she ended up finally not eating the turkey,
but people still seem to like watching it.
It got over a million views in 24 hours.
(smooth music)
So a little reset here.
It's actually been four hours since Lucy took the turkey,
and that's where she's (water trickles)
at right now.
I played with a pretty cool cobra.
Yeah, no getting tagged by this front-fanged elapid.
Your nervous system is gonna start to shut down, ooh!
♪ Make it alright ♪
- So there you guys have it.
The leucistic Moroccan cobra.
We watched our Goliath bird-eating tarantula molt.
Hoo doggy, that was incredible.
(dramatic music)
I had a pretty amazing experience down at Zoo Wildlife Miami
where I was reunited with my chimp, Limbani,
and it seemed to remember me
and gave me an unbelievable welcome.
- Aw. - Aw!
- Oh my gosh! - Aw! (laughs)
He loves you so much!
What!
That is amazing!
Why does he love you so much?
- I love you too.
- He's such a beautiful boy. (man mumbles)
Aw!
- (laughs) With that said, that was 2018.
What an absolutely amazing year!
I can't even believe what 2019 is gonna bring.
We are coming up on two million subs.
That's right, in about a year,
we added another million subs.
Who knows, in 2019, maybe we'll hit three million subs.
You guys are absolutely amazing,
and I truly think that you
are gonna have an amazing 2019 as well.
Your support this last year has been unbelievable,
and I will forever, ever, ever love you guys
for everything that you do.
Let's together make this next year
the biggest banger year of all.
I know we can do it.
Let's keep positive, let's keep a lot of energy,
and let me know in the comments what your favorite part
of my 2018 and what your favorite part of your 2018,
and while you're down there,
let me know what you want from 2019.
I know it's gonna be amazing, and with that said,
I am just gonna wish you a Happy New Year
and shut the vlog down here.
Do me a couple of favors before we get out of here.
Can you smash that Like button?
Turn those post notifications on this year
so you know when I upload a video.
Again, let's get to three million subscribers this year.
Be kind to someone, and I promise I will see you tomorrow.
("Ride of Joy" by DJ Quads)