(upbeat music)
- You know, I've be keeping reptiles
for 30 plus years and
the interesting thing is that
through that entire time,
we've always called it the reptile hobby.
(upbeat music)
(door sliding)
So I was reading a comment
on another video the other day,
and someone made a point
that I hadn't really thought about
that much, to be honest with you.
And they said like,
"Isn't it weird that
people that keep reptiles
call it a hobby?"
Most other animals with the exception
of maybe fish keeping,
they don't call it a hobby.
I mean, if you think about,
if you kept five dogs,
you wouldn't say I'm in the dog hobby.
So it just started to make me
think about it a little bit.
And I realized that it's semantics, right?
I mean, you know,
whether you call it a reptile hobby or not,
but I do kind of wonder
a little bit about the fact that,
you know, now that reptile keeping
has become so popular
and so mainstream to be totally honest with you,
you know, this is something
that we should think about
because to people that really don't have a lot of,
you know, knowledge about keeping reptiles,
if they hear us say the reptile hobby,
maybe they'll look at it as like,
we don't look at these animals
the same way that we look at other pets.
I mean, the fact is, is that
keeping reptiles is amazing.
The amount of behavior that they have,
the relationships that we're gaining with these
and stuff like that.
And I think that maybe
30 years ago when people were
calling it a reptile hobby,
it was a hobby because we really didn't know
how amazing these animals actually were.
And I want to make it clear
that I'm not criticizing anyone
because I've called it the reptile hobby
my entire life as well.
The other thing that I think
is a little bit weird
and something that we just want to
have a conversation about.
So the fact that whenever I would
get a new animal,
like this knoblochi here,
I would always say that I'm adding it
to my collection, right?
We call all of our animals
a collection in the reptile hobby,
which is a little bit weird, right?
I mean, like, is it really a collection?
Are we collecting toys?
I'm not saying that we're wrong
in the sense that we all have feelings
for these animals.
I'm saying from an optic standpoint,
from people on the outside
of the reptile community,
are people looking at us like,
"Oh gosh, they're just collecting animals
like inanimate objects."
Like, "They don't even think that they have
lives and feelings and stuff like that,"
and I wonder if it's time to maybe
take a little bit of a different task,
now, I don't know what we should call it.
Should we call it reptile keeping?
I mean, fish is like a hobby,
but they also call it fish keeping.
Maybe we should start calling it reptile keeping
and maybe we should kind of get away
from reptiles as a collection
and maybe just call them, you know, our animals.
I'm not really sure,
I'd like to know from you guys
down in the comments,
what do you think about this topic?
It's just something, again,
after I read that comment on someone else's video,
I thought, you know, that's kind of right.
You know, I hadn't really thought about it much,
but we should probably change the semantics
of what we actually talk about
so that people that don't know as reptile people
don't think that we don't
care about these animals
as much as they care about their cats or dogs
'cause I know for a fact
I care as much as I do about my dogs and cats,
and I'm willing to bet
that most of you guys do as well.
You know these terms like hobby and collection,
they don't come from just anywhere.
They actually probably come from
the origins of what we did, right?
Back in the sixties and seventies
it was kind of a hobby.
Hardly anyone kept reptiles
and the people that did keep reptiles,
they probably looked at it as a hobby,
not to mention herping is a hobby.
And what the definition of herping is,
is going out in the wild
and actually collecting animals,
whether you're going to keep them
or photograph them or video them
or whatever the case might be.
And that's most likely where
collection came in, right, too,
is 'cause way back in the sixties and seventies,
people weren't breeding reptiles.
They were actually collecting them in the wild
and then keeping them in their collection.
So you probably understand
where the origins are, right?
It was a hobby back then
and it was a collection back then
because people were collecting,
but over the last 40 years,
things have changed a tremendous amount
and maybe it's time to change.
Now I'm not saying we should,
I'm not saying anything,
and I'm certainly not
telling you guys what to do.
I'm just opening up a conversation
that I thought was kind of interesting.
So enough of all that, I was just curious,
I wanted to get that off my mind,
I wanted to start the conversation.
So down in the comments,
let me know what you guys think.
So after all of that,
let's go and get back to some reptile keeping.
Well guys, guess what?
(chuckling)
I feel like a broken record,
is this deja vu?
Wet floor,
leaking pond.
Our fix didn't work,
now again, I thought that all the problem
was in the waterfall.
Now it apparently isn't in the waterfall,
but again, when Lori cocked the front over here,
it actually stopped leaking for a few days,
but then started leaking again.
So somewhere in here,
the waterfall is backing up and somehow leaking.
Hadn't it just,
mechanism doesn't make sense, right?
Because like I said,
this is actually like
an aquarium essentially, right?
The back and the front and the sides
are an aquarium.
And then the back part
where there are land in the filters,
that's a separate thing.
We know that's not leaking
'cause we can see underneath it
and it's not wet at all.
The wetness comes from underneath here
and we know that it's not
the tank leak either
because when we shut off the waterfall,
it doesn't leak.
So we know it's not (indistinct)
where that water is coming from,
I have no idea.
So back to square one
and trying to figure this sucker out.
- [Camera Man] Whoa, whoa, whoa,
what are you doing?
- I'm just checking out Carl.
Carl.
So obviously this is our emerald green tree boa,
and basically these are,
they're not the nicest snake in the world
and they're not the most "handleable" snake.
So basically we just do never maybe.
Once a month, we'll kind of just
get him off his branch
and take a look at him and see,
make sure he's doing okay.
Obviously we don't want to get bit by this guy.
Emerald green trees have
the largest teeth of any non venomous snake.
So we've seen a couple of his teeth in the past.
I'm pretty sure Brian has a viral video
of him eating or something.
And I don't want to see any holes
or anything in my arm from this guy.
I think he's --
I think I could really be bit
by those scrub pythons.
And there's no way to grab him now.
He just wants pets.
There's no way in God's green earth
am I getting bit by this thing.
I don't want to go get stitches.
I don't want to die.
- [Camera Man] So dramatic, dude.
- I'll be dramatic all I want,
you know how fast these things are?
There he is.
Yeah, look at his colors.
He's so pretty.
We don't even get to see
the top of him all that often
'cause he's always sitting on that branch.
You can see his iridescence.
Don't come off the hook.
Obviously this is kind of what we do,
we just kind of get him out.
Get him on the ground,
make sure he looks good,
you know, no scale, nothing,
no problems.
Obviously we want to make sure
he doesn't have any kind of infections or
you know, he's not too thin, not too fat.
These guys are really known
for getting overweight.
Feeding these guys aren't good,
you know, they're only gonna eat birds
whenever they land on the branch.
This is by far one of my favorite snakes.
This is like the pinnacle snake.
No joke, definitely don't want
to get bit by that snake.
I guess he looks pretty good.
He's not overweight, you can see,
you don't see his bone showing,
he's not skinny, nothing like that.
So I think he's good.
We're going to put him back into his enclosure
without getting bit.
Hi, buddy.
- [Camera Man] He just wants chin rubs, Mike.
- Yeah, that's what I'm doing.
- [Camera Man] He's just misunderstood.
- He's so pretty.
The greens and the yellows
and the iridescence, and the whites.
It's just unbelievable.
- [Camera Man] You sound like an Italian at dinner,
"The mozzarelli, the (indistinct)."
- I don't know what none of that means.
- [Camera Man] Me neither, I made up three of those words.
- I knew "mozarelli", because that's cheese.
Now I gotta get him back.
So the other thing that you guys might notice
is the way that he moves.
See, look how he pushes up
against the hook like that.
So he doesn't necessarily want to bite.
So when those,
when you have that big of teeth,
it's kind of, like, almost painful.
Like
that.
Yeah, I'm good with that.
- [Mike] He's so cool.
Sorry, Carl.
Gotta get your monthly checkup.
- It's a new year and I'm coming back to you
with my friends over at Raycon
because let's start this new year
with a bang, right?
And one of the things I'm telling myself
is that I'm going to do more
like walking and maybe jogging.
And, of course, my earbuds from Raycon
are definitely going to help with that
because I love them.
You guys know I've been using it
for a couple of years now.
This is my original pair, right?
Now I've bought tons of them
for other friends of mines
and gifts and stuff like that.
They're absolutely incredible,
about half the price of other premium brands,
but sound just as good.
And with their optimized gel tip,
I tell you, they're comfortable as heck,
and when I am jogging,
which I don't exactly like to do,
but I'm challenging myself to do more of it.
They're not going to fall out of my ears,
I also listen to podcasts
sometimes when I'm editing, I use them.
I mean, they're just great
for everything in the fact that
these have lasted me over two years,
might be time for me to get a new pair,
but they work so great.
I know that you guys
are going to love them as much as I do.
And the thing I love about these guys,
they have eight hours of playtime.
And with this amazing little
pack here that you actually can charge with,
you actually have 32 hours of playtime.
That means if you're going
camping or something like that,
or you're going on a trip,
you don't have to worry about
plugging these guys in for over 32 hours.
I mean, that's pretty amazing,
not to mention they have 48,000
five star reviews.
I mean, come on guys,
you know Raycon is absolutely amazing.
I've been pitching them for a long time
and I love them to death
and everyone I've given them to
loves them to death.
And right now you can actually save 15%,
that's right, save 15%.
Click the link in the description box
or go to buyraycon.com/brianb
to get 15% off your Raycon purchase.
So Mike definitely babies our
albino box turtle, Tyson.
Last time I weighed him, how much was he?
- Eight grams.
- Eight grams, so let's go ahead
and weigh him again, make sure that
he's growing really well.
(upbeat music)
And the one thing we learned
from Sam from Florida Iguana and Tortoise
is weighing your tortoises
and turtles are very important.
So let's just go ahead and see
if Tyson gained a little weight.
Look at that, 11 grams, 10 to 11 grams.
So he gained about two to three grams,
which is good, you know,
that means he's growing and stuff like that.
So this is the best way for us
to kind of get an example
'cause he's so small, it's so hard to tell.
And obviously it's going to change
a little, a gram or two
'cause if he poops or if he eats
or whatever the case is.
He hasn't eaten today
so this is just on an empty stomach,
but again, he could have peed or poo
or something like that
and it's actually a little bit less.
So he's probably somewhere between 10 and 12 grams,
to be honest with you.
So that's good.
Keep it going.
- Yeah.
(laughing)
- [Camera Man] Noah, you comin'?
- Yeah, hold on, man.
- What's going on, man,
you got to poop or is it --
- No, well, I do,
but that's not why I'm limping.
The Alumni,
I played Alumni hockey game last night.
Took a shot off there,
I was in front of the net
and we actually scored on that
by the way.
- Congratulations.
- I was on the ice for
three goals.
- All right, well, let's not make this an excuse
not to work, okay?
- Okay.
- You got your friend?
- It's Clementine.
- Clementine, he's so cute.
Now, I'm not sure if this is,
what this actually is.
It says fragile, handle with care.
I've been waiting for a package
from Facebook that we're sending me stuff so
I don't know if this is it
because it doesn't say Facebook on it.
It's just like a generic thing,
but I don't know what this is, let's see.
- Oh, yeah, yeah.
Handle with care,
I thought this was an animal.
- No, not an animal.
- Oh,
is this it?
- This might be it.
- Is it a glass slipper?
- Doesn't say anything though.
- [Noah] I know, this is so interesting.
- It is from Facebook, yeah!
So Facebook actually sent us
an Oculus Quest 2.
- What?
- So this is dope.
Look at it, from Facebook.
Thank you, thank you so much, Facebook.
It's awesome, they reached out to me
a couple of weeks ago and said,
"Hey, we'd like to send you this
to check out and have fun with."
And so have you ever messed with this?
- No, let's see the side,
does it come with games and all?
Oh, you could do rock climbing,
skydiving.
- This is our note from Facebook.
- Oh, I actually saw this.
This is like a hangout game.
You go and then you hang out
with people with the Quest 2.
- So it's almost like the metaverse, right?
- Yeah, you make your own, like, emoji guy.
- It says, "Thank you for your partnership,
we hope you enjoy your Meta Quest 2
and invite you to explore the metaverse with us.
Warm wishes from your friends from Meta."
Thank you, guys, that's awesome.
- Look it, we got Jurassic World too.
- [Brian] What?
- We gotta play this.
- This is going to be so dope, man.
I could see, all right,
we're probably going to have to
skip a week of vlogs
'cause I'm going to be at home
just playing this so
again, thank you guys over at Facebook.
I mean, Meta.
You guys are awesome.
- [Lori] Where are you?
- I'm just looking at,
I don't know what I'm doing.
(laughing)
- You actually,
let me get the right controller.
- You're supposed to pull something out?
- [Noah] There's like, yeah, there you go.
- [Lori] Are you in the metaverse?
Are you in Ready Player One?
- [Man] Are you not allowed
to talk in the metaverse?
(laughing)
- Where are you guys at?
(laughing)
- [Man] Follow the sound of my voice!
(laughing)
- [Camera Man] Are you in the menu?
- Yeah, I'm in the menu.
(laughing)
- [Man] He's in the menu verse.
- This is crazy.
(laughing)
Holy shit, it got dark.
Wait, it says, please stay seated for setup.
- [Camera Man] You're standing.
- Oh wait, I gotta search for wifi.
(laughing)
What's the password for wifi?
(laughing)
- Why is this so funny?
- What is it, Lori?
I can't do anything.
All right, here we go, whoa.
- [Lori] Maybe it's for a younger audience.
- What are you talking about?
- [Man] "I'm young, I'm hip!"
- This is crazy, man.
It is literally,
I can't even tell that you guys are
in the world.
- So you've got nothing on your ears though
so there's no sound?
- [Brian] No, I can hear it,
you guys don't hear it?
- Well, I can tell you
the metaverse seems exciting.
(laughing)
- Setting things up!
- [Lori] Seems really exciting,
I'm excited to try.
- [Camera Man] Seems like a knitting retreat over here.
Is that what you're doing, knitting VR?
- That's more exciting than this.
- It's just, oh shit.
(laughing)
I don't even know where I am.
- [Man] You're doing the controls for her?
- It's just --
- I can't see 'em,
I can't reach 'em.
So it's like, okay,
it's just a big screen in front of you.
It's like I'm sitting at the movies,
but it's really boring because all it is is this.
(laughing)
It says you can remove your headset.
- I had to get the boys and
show 'em something 'cause I actually blew my mind.
So last night,
one of our insects, our new stick bugs,
actually molted.
All right, buddy.
So that's one, now check this big boy out.
That's the molt.
So see how much, like,
there's wings on him and stuff like now too.
- He evolved.
- It's a Pokemon!
- Pokemon.
- Well, it's a female
so females, like in phasmid,
females have underdeveloped wings.
So that's what that is from my understanding.
Again, I'm not an expert on this, but --
- That's crazy.
- Look how huge this guy is.
- That one plugged that one into the charger
and let him evolve overnight.
- It's like real life Pokemon, right?
(laughing)
- These are "Moltsaurs."
- Here, you guys wanna hold one?
Be careful because they just fall off
for no reason at all,
I don't know why they (indistinct)
- [Camera Man] They probably, because it's,
like, you know --
- It's Fall
- [Camera Man] It's Fall so they probably --
- (indistinct)
(laughing)
- This can't use the wings though.
- [Camera Man] What?
- They can't use the wings.
- Yeah, the females can't use their wings.
Males can though.
- It's Fall time,
you see a bunch of leaves falling
and then one of the leaves
fly back up in the tree.
And you're like, What is that?"
- [Bruce] Look at it shaking, isn't that cool?
- [Camera Man] It's shaking like a leaf.
- Yeah, like a leaf in the wind.
- It's almost like that was a saying or something.
- Shake it like a salt shaker,
shake it like a salt shaker.
- Hope you guys enjoyed today's video.
If you did, can you do me a favor?
Here is a playlist right here,
you can roll through a couple more videos.
It would help me out a lot.
You know what else would help me out?
On this side,
you can hit that subscription button,
it would mean the world to me.
Have an absolutely wonderful day, Reptile Army.
Remember, be kind to someone
and I promise,
I'll see you in the next one.