(intense music)
- Whoa, whoa, whoa.
It's okay buddy, it's okay, ow!
Ow, ow, ow, ow, ow, ow, ow!
Get off, get off, ow, ow!
Hey good morning everybody, and welcome to the vlog.
I hope the start of your day is absolutely incredible.
Today I'm gonna get into, I don't know,
a little bit of a controversial topic.
But really as we go on I think you're gonna find out
it's not as controversial, at least my view on it,
and that is wild caught versus farm versus captive bred,
and all that other stuff.
And really, it's kind of a big part
of what's happened in the reptile trade
over the last like you know 30, 35 years or whatever,
as we've expanded.
And really you don't think about ball pythons
and the fact that they used to all be wild caught
and then the farming changed the entire reptile industry.
And what I mean by that is that back in the day
when I was first getting into reptiles,
the only real ball pythons available
were wild caught, adult, normal ball pythons.
Now this is a captive bred one,
but it is a normal ball python.
And the fact was is that those animals came in cheap,
they were widely readily available,
and 98% of them didn't survive
because they wouldn't eat and they were really
just really terrible animals.
Meaning that ball pythons as a whole
were kinda considered garbage animals.
But then everything kinda changed
when a guy named Joe Fauci down in Tampa, Florida
was going to the University of Florida or Florida State,
one of those two, I don't really know.
And he was going to school with a guy from Africa,
over in Ghana, named Emmanuel Noah.
Well they both kinda liked reptiles, and believe it or not,
Ghana was kind of a hot spot for ball pythons.
So together they decided with the fact
that these wild caught adults typically didn't do well.
What would happen if they collected wild caught females
that were gravid and actually let them have their eggs
and hatched them, and then sent 'em over
to the United States.
Now weirdly enough, years later, Joe Fauci was the person
that brought in the first albino ball python.
But I don't wanna jump ahead of myself.
The truth was, they were just hatching
normal captive ball pythons.
And the first time they were really farmed
over in Africa, and guess what?
They did absolutely amazing in captivity.
They were no longer those garbage animals
that wouldn't eat and do well.
They thrived in captivity.
And that first early farming of ball pythons
is really what paved the way for all the farming
of reptiles that happens now.
(bass-thumping music)
(upbeat music)
- And I'm back guys!
Back from Hawaii.
I'm here with the white whale,
you know, they call you the English Enforcer.
(imitates a whale)
- That's right, dude. - That English Enforcer.
- I like that, I really like that.
- 'Cause you got them guns! - Shout out ARs.
- Anyways, you know I'm back from Hawaii.
Can you guys notice, I got a little tan on me?
(sings in Hawaiian)
- I know you wanna lei me.
- Dude you know that?
- Yeah! - Dude, they say that right
when you land! - Oh, I didn't know that.
- They lei you up in their-- - Do they put the thing
on you? - Oh, yeah, I had like
30 of 'em. - Like in the movies?
- You know, I'm a movie star so there was a lot of people
waiting for me, what can I say?
I'm popular.
- That's awesome.
(both laughing)
- Yeah.
- One question though, is it true
the coconut bikini things?
Or do they have--
- Bro, is it true?
- Yeah!
- Bro, I didn't see a single woman not wearing one of them.
- Dang man, I knew it!
I gotta go one day.
I knew it! - Dude, and the best part
too was that they wear these grass skirts, right?
- No way! - They got these grass skirts.
- I'm a smoker I gotta be careful,
that'll go right up in flames!
- Watch out oh, you're on fire!
Oh, oh! - Dude, did you go to the
Kings Hawaiian Roll factory?
- I don't think that's actually in Hawaii.
- Oh, okay, that's, - Yeah.
- You know what, I'm not going.
- I'm not goin'. - They got the
Dole Plant, though. They got a bunch of pineapples.
- Man, that's cool!
- Yeah, it was cool, you know.
A lot of beaches. - Glad to have you back, dude.
- Anyway, I'm back and you know better than ever.
Just getting that cheddar, you know what I mean?
- I guess.
- Jurassic Park 3 on the way, we're directing it.
Thank you guys for staying tuned, peace out.
- And back to Honey the Piebald Ball Python,
what I mean is that although that early days
of farming ball pythons really changed
the entire reptile hobby.
Because really, a cornerstone of any pet snake
seems to be a ball python.
And if they weren't farmed by Joe Fauci and Emmanuel Noah,
maybe the reptile hobby wouldn't be what it is today.
But that being said, as people reproduced them
because of color mutations, and so on like that,
it kinda took the pressure off of the wild caught animals.
And over in West Africa, they were farming
about 100 to 120,000 a year.
And I don't know that that was
a sustainable thing to take that many animals
out of the wild, have them lay their eggs,
and sure, they were releasing some of the babies back,
but probably not as much.
I know some people over in West Africa
that were trappers that were literally collecting
40 or 50,000 eggs a year at one point,
in the same areas they were hard to get
eight or 10,000 eggs.
So my point is, is that was definitely affecting the wild.
And what happened is,
as we were reproducing them in captivity,
even though the farmed animals were far cheaper,
we were producing normal ball pythons as a byproduct
of some of the mutations.
Now there doesn't seem to be the high demand in West Africa,
and instead of importing 100, 120,000,
they're only importing 20 or 30,000 a year,
which is a great thing both for the hobby
and for the ecology of ball pythons.
Guys I am so excited!
It's been a while since we've had a merch drop,
and guess what?
We have this merch right here that dropped.
We actually have a whole bunch of different things,
but this is really cool.
Of course, Ben & Jerry and Ben & Jerry's Mice Cream.
Let's go ahead and put this on.
That's right, this is absolutely incredible!
So excited about the merch, but it's only gonna be available
for the next couple weeks.
But hey, listen, we've got different colors of this one
and some other ones too, like this one.
(claps)
Like this absolutely cool blue color right here!
But we have a whole bunch of different merch dropped,
so I'm gonna go ahead and see if the crew will wear 'em.
Because usually they're a little bit defiant about this,
but I think I'm just gonna make 'em wear it.
Hey Bruce.
- Whoa, this is sweet!
- I have another white Double Trouble.
I'd like Eric to try it on, but I only have a large.
Maybe it'll work.
Hey, Eric! - Yo!
- Boo! - Whoa!
Oh that's pretty awesome!
It fits pretty good!
- Hey Noah check it out, man.
You got some new merch.
- Dude, this is awesome!
What if it was purple?
(claps)
Oh,
or red!
(snaps)
Whoa, is there any other merch?
- Well it's funny you say that,
there actually is one more of these guys.
- Oh my god, this is awesome!
- That's right, we have a bunch of Ben and Jerry
as well as Bad Choice Noah merch.
And hey, you know, winter is coming
or fall that is, and you might need a hoodie.
We've got this really cool hoodie here.
You can see it's got the emblem there,
we've got Double Trouble on the back.
The sleeves actually have Ben and Jerry
all the way over like this.
I mean this thing is absolutely dope!
And I tell ya what, it is absolutely comfy,
super soft and warm.
But you know what, it's not just Ben and Jerry.
That's right, we actually have
the Bad Choice Noah hoodies as well.
All of these designs you can go ahead and check out,
link in the description
or barczyboys.com
you can buy yours.
But unfortunately they're only available for two weeks.
So you only have two weeks to cop your merch.
Let me know in the comments if you guys
are gonna be getting yours and I hope you'll buy some.
Although I don't really wanna get into a debate about
wild caught versus captive farm, or anything like that,
because I've got mixed emotions on.
You gotta remember, the majority of the animals
that have come into the country that are now being bred,
and we'll talk about that a little later in the vlog,
were wild caught animals and then they were captive bred.
So if we don't bring wild caught animals in,
it's kind of hard for the species to be propagated.
But if we really rely on wild caught animals
as a primary source, it's not really good
for the ecology or even future conservation
of those animals.
The fact is, look at Calabar burrowing pythons for instance.
An absolutely amazing animal,
by the way, this is a captive farmed animal
over in West Africa.
And the vast majority of these guys
come in wild caught adults.
And they don't really do that well in captivity,
quite frankly, but the problem is is the adults,
and even when the babies do come in
which is not very frequently,
they're dirt cheap!
I mean they come in for like 15, 20 bucks.
So the fact that these guys have three eggs,
it's a little bit difficult to really justify.
Like, I'm gonna set up a big breeding colony to produce
a bunch of animals that I can compete with animals
that come out of the wild for $15.
And therein lies the issue.
And I totally get the fact that you've gotta kind of
make it worthwhile breeding stuff, right?
I mean you know it costs money to keep these animals
and to reproduce and oftentimes,
you've got to think about will it be financially worth it.
But the truth is, if we don't work with animals
that maybe aren't financially worth it,
what is that really gonna do to the wild population?
So I think it's our responsibility as a community
to kinda work with animals that are a little bit cheap
coming out of the wild, and still reproduce 'em.
Take for instance Jackson's chameleons.
These guys still come in, even from Hawaii, very cheap
so a lot of people don't breed Jackson's chameleons.
I mean there are some people that do.
But maybe that's a species that we should
work harder at reproducing.
And maybe there should be a extra value for the fact
they're US captive born in the continental United States,
if you know what I mean.
And it's all kinds of reptiles.
I mean things that aren't necessarily
financially worth it, but I think it's
our responsibility to still try to breed 'em.
So it takes off some of the pressure
of the wild animals, right?
Now I think farming animals can work out in some cases.
It certainly worked out in ball pythons.
It's worked out with blood pythons
and a bunch of other species.
But, you know, still I think it's our responsibility
to try to produce 'em here in the United States.
- We're about getting ready to
finish up the breeding season.
I really only have about maybe a handful of clutches
that I'm still waiting on.
Most people might think that the breeding season
is the most important part of the year
but actually, the important stuff starts right now.
Because now we can start preparing for next season.
What we do now will directly effect
how well we do next year.
And we've already had a pretty good season this year,
so I think next year will be even better.
(bass-thumping music)
- And although I really don't personally
like to keep wild caught animals,
although I do work with some captive bred farmed animals,
the truth is is that I'm not totally against that trade
as long as it's done responsibly.
Let's look at crested geckos as a perfect example.
For those of you guys know,
these guys come from New Caledonia.
And there was a period of time that yes,
they were being collected for the pet trade,
and it may have actually helped decline the population.
But the majority of the population decline came from
deforestation and just kinda overdeveloping property.
And there was a period of time where they thought
that maybe crested geckos were extinct in the wild.
If those wild caught animals hadn't been imported
and wildly produced here in captivity,
both in Europe and in America,
the fact is, is that these guys might have been
wiped off the planet.
And it's certainly a weird example,
where importing animals actually kinda saved the species.
Think about it, you can go into almost any reptile shop
in America and probably all over Europe
and who knows maybe in South Africa,
and find crested geckos.
Whereas for a period of time they thought
they were actually extinct in the wild.
How weird is that?
You can talk into PetSmart and buy one for 50 bucks,
or whatever, but you couldn't find them in the wild.
Now they've kinda re-established some populations
over in New Caledonia, 'cause they found some
on some Insular Islands.
But the fact is is that without those wild caught animals
coming in sure maybe the population wouldn't
have been as stressed with the importation
of animals into the pet trade.
But the fact is with deforestation,
they may have actually went extinct.
And without that backup plan of captive breeding,
who knows what would have happened.
So there's benefits to bringing in animals too.
But it's kind of a tricky subject
and I'm not trying to fall on either side of it.
Again, in my opinion, I really do prefer either
responsibly farmed animals or captive bred animals.
Another example is kinda like
the Chilean rose hair tarantulas.
Lots of people are breeding tarantulas,
but it's really difficult to really breed
animals that come in imported really cheap, right?
So it's difficult to kinda take the cage space up,
the time and everything else,
to produce an animal that is coming in.
So often times the wild caughts are kinda more popular
because they're cheaper than the efforts
that are put into captive bred.
Now listen, I'm not trying to pass judgment on anyone,
and I certainly don't wanna do that,
and my thoughts are that there'll probably be
10 videos that are rebutting almost everything I say.
I'm not trying to say that anyone's doing it right or wrong.
I'm just trying to say that sometimes, myself included,
need to take a look and start working
with some animals that maybe aren't even as
financially worth working with, but are really cool
and could use our help for captive bred animals.
Take for instance like Asian vine snakes.
I mean, they come in relatively cheap
and are a super awesome animal
and often times they do relatively good in captivity.
But you hardly ever see babies that are captive born.
If we could just put some effort into
more animals like that,
I think it's a good thing for the animals,
it's a good thing for the hobby,
and it's overall just what we should be doing.
I'm looking at all kinds of species
that I wanna work with.
One of the ones I'm definitely gonna start
dedicating myself to are Viper boas.
I just think they're absolutely incredible,
and right now, very few people
are captive breeding Viper boas.
There's quite a few of them coming in from the wild
every year, and some even come in gravid and have babies.
Not a lot, but regardless.
I'm growing a group of animals that are actually
from females that came in from the wild,
that actually had babies, so these are captive born,
although they came from wild caught females.
And I'm growing up a nice group,
and I am just committed to try to breed these guys.
Now will it be financially worth it?
I have no idea,
because they come out of the wild relatively inexpensively.
But I just think they're amazing and I wanna work
with even more animals like these guys, for sure.
- We got a lot of stuff coming over here,
leaving, shipping out, every day.
So it's really important that we stay really organized.
So today I'm just going through and marking
all these babies so they all have
their own tub and their number,
and we can ship 'em out easily.
(bass-thumping music)
- You know there's a million examples of, like,
animals that are either farmed or that come in
that are really cheap compared to captive bred.
Take for instance like Asian water monitors.
They do still come in, but people are breeding 'em
'cause there's mutations that make it worth breeding
and have some off-shoots.
Like Elvis, for instance, was actually an
off-shoot in an albino breeding,
so it's possible to have albino making it worthwhile.
And those captive animals are so much just more tame
and docile and, if I'm speaking about monitor lizards,
Nile monitors would be the same way.
Of course I have Chicken Strip here.
Let me see if I can get this little monkey.
It's always an adventure and hopefully I won't get bit.
- [French Voice] A few moments later.
- Whoa, whoa whoa.
It's okay buddy. It's okay, ow!
Ow, ow, ow, ow, ow, ow, ow!
Okay, yeah!
Get off, ow, ow!
Okay Chick--ow, ow, ow!
Okay Chicken Strip.
It's okay, it's okay bud.
It's okay, it's okay.
Whoa! It's okay.
Okay, it's okay.
Ow, ow, ow!
It's all right, it's all right.
Yeah, he's a feisty lil' monkey,
and we definitely have to work with him a little bit more.
Ow!
Okay, okay, okay.
No more, no more.
No bites, ow, ow!
Okay, okay, ow, ow!
Okay, Chicken Strip, stop.
Okay, okay, okay, okay.
We're calming down, buddy.
Okay, we're good.
All right, okay.
Hoo.
It's a little bit of a challenge to work with him,
as you guys can see.
Ah, no, no, no, no, no, no.
Okay, he's not getting any better.
He's actually getting a little bit more
cantankerous to be sure.
But the point is that Nile monitors
come into the country for literally dirt cheap.
And they're really amazing animals.
Absolutely beautiful,
yet they really should be captive bred
because I think that after two or three generations
of us captive breeding these guys,
they're gonna calm down
and they won't have the same attitude
that Chicken Strip has, right here.
Hoo.
I tell you what, this little monkey.
I haven't handled him in about a week or so
and he changed his attitude a lot.
Whoa.
Tell you what, buddy.
You gave me a run for my money.
So now I think I'm gonna hold him just a little bit,
get him habituated.
Because I tell you what,
he's got quite a little bite on him for sure.
Hoo.
(laughs)
And like I said often times like green anacondas
and again, water monitors, after you get
two, three generations of captive bred
they turn out to be extremely docile
compared to the wild animals.
This was a wild hatched baby right here.
You can see his attitude is just absolutely incredible.
It's really difficult for people to wanna take the time,
the room, and the energy, to breed a normal Nile monitor.
Just because the babies come in so cheap, regardless.
He is still an absolutely gorgeous animal, but
I tell you what, I think he won the battle today, guys.
So there it is, guys.
Let me know in the comments what you feel about this
controversial subject that I kinda broached today.
And like I said, I'm expecting there to be other videos
with my name in it saying that I'm wrong
about everything I think.
Again, I'm not saying who's right, wrong, or anything,
I just am saying that we should probably put as much energy
into those kinda really crazy, obscure animals
that come in wild caught and produce some of those things
because they're absolutely incredible.
And who knows, you know?
Look there are some species of snakes
that are really cheap out of the wild,
but if you captive produce them they're really expensive
like Mangrove snakes, for instance.
So it can still be financially beneficial
if you wanna look at it that way,
but I'm just thinking about the fact of kinda
taking off that pressure from the wild.
Let me know your thoughts,
and let's just end it there if you guys don't mind.
Have an absolutely wonderful day.
I do love your beautiful faces.
Be kind to someone, and I promise
I'll see you guys tomorrow.
(bass-thumping music)