- Hey, good morning everybody.
And welcome to the vlog and the Reptarium's
first virtual reality tour.
Now, the deal is you can watch it
just like normal on YouTube.
If you take your cursor you can actually move around
and see what's going on in the screen.
Or you can use Google Glass or a VR set.
Or even if you take your phone you can actually
move it like this, and you can see around.
We're gonna do a virtual tour today at the Reptarium.
I'm just waitin' for my guy to get here.
We're gonna walk around, show him around.
And you're gonna be part of the tour.
Hey, welcome to the Reptarium.
How are you, it's so great that you
kinda came out and hung out with us.
I'm gonna kind of give you a look
around, see all the animals.
We're gonna have an absolutely great time.
Behind me, of course, is Bowser here.
He's a hundred pound snapping turtle, an alligator snapper.
We got Guacamole over here, of course, my girl Lucy.
She's always a star of the show over there for sure.
But I think I'm gonna go ahead and get started over here.
So, go ahead, follow me,
and I think you'll have a good time.
Let's see, we're gonna go ahead and grab Nova down first.
He's up here, look at how gorgeous he looks right there.
I mean, what an amazing animal.
I'm just gonna get a rock so I can get him,
just pull these rocks over.
And, of course, you can stand
on things here at the Reptarium.
Come on Nova, come on buddy, come on bud.
Come on little buddy, there you go.
Look at this guy.
Of course, this is a beautiful frill dragon from New Guinea.
And, of course, these are like the dilophosaurus
when it comes to the Jurassic Park,
that little dinosaur that frills up.
But Nova is such a friendly animal.
He really never flares his neck up.
And he was recently a daddy actually.
We got some eggs from his momma,
so we're pretty excited about that.
He is super cool and absolutely an amazing animal.
I tell ya, there's so many amazing animals
I can't wait to show you guys around.
As a matter of fact, speaking of something
that blows people's minds, definitely something
you're not gonna see pretty much almost anywhere else.
Because there's only a handful of these in the entire world.
Of course, that is Ben and Jerry.
Just take a look at Ben and Jerry.
That's right, the two-headed snake, that's right.
Ben is on the left, and Jerry is on the right.
And up until recently Ben was doing almost all the eating.
But now Ben and Jerry both eat, which is just really crazy.
But you know they're two separate snakes that have one body.
So they sometimes fight about which way to go.
Sometimes if there's something in the middle of their head
like this they'll like fight to try to get by it.
Just really a goofy animal.
And we're so happy that we're able to show people
this amazing animal here at the Reptarium.
But, again, so much cool stuff to show you.
I can't even think where to start.
Oh, my God, just every cage you see
has something amazing, at least amazing to me.
And I hope that you'll feel the same way.
I'm gonna pull this guy out right now.
This of course is a amazing reticulated python
named Night Fury, oh, my gosh.
And I always say that he's kind of like a living oil slick.
Go ahead and touch, you can touch her, he's super tame.
That's the thing about the Reptarium
is that we won't ever pull anything out
that isn't gonna be 100% docile.
So you have no real chance of gettin'
bitten or hurt in any way.
But he's kinda like a living oil slick, right?
He's just jet black, but that iridescence make
all those amazing rainbows look to him.
And, again, this is the longest
species of snake on the planet.
Reticulated pythons can literally
sometimes get up to 25-foot.
So, certainly, he's just a little guy
at being like six, seven months old.
So he's got a long way to go.
Let's show you this guy here.
He's about two years old, he's actually
an Argentine blue tegu lizard, and he is absolutely amazing.
He's always hiding under this rock
right here, which is his water bowl.
(laughs) Here he is, his name is Tazzy.
Look at Tazzy, isn't he amazing?
And you gotta feel the beading on him right there.
I mean, it's just absolutely incredible.
I mean, it literally is this kinda
smooth beads that are really cool.
You can see these really, real strong paws
right here that are great for climbing.
Although these guys will stay on the ground
most of the time, certainly can climb and grip really well.
So that's why we keep him on the ground a lot.
But look at that beautiful tongue
right there, wow, he's cool.
And, again, he'll eat mainly like meats, right?
He'll eat anything from turkey,
to beef, to fish, to chicken.
But he does like his occasional banana.
And oftentimes you'll just let him go back home himself.
Go ahead Tazzy, go home buddy, there he goes. (laughs)
I bet you don't see too many lizards
that are trained to go home on their own.
So Taz is a pretty special animal.
And we absolutely love him to death here for sure.
And so do so many people that come.
So I hope that you're enjoying yourself so far,
but we have a lot more animals to see for sure.
Again, we have all kinds of different things.
We have emerald tree boas up here,
and there's blood pythons.
The thing that I love about the Reptarium is that
it is kinda like an exhibit itself.
You walk underneath a banyan tree,
you know, something like that.
So it's kina like we wanted to bring the exhibit,
just kinda wrap it around you if you know what I mean.
You know, a snake this is probably one
of the most sought after snakes here
when people come, everyone always wants to play
with my girl Perdida because she is so special.
Look at that animal right there.
Hoo, hoo, hoo, doggy, that thing is gorgeous.
Again, just like Night Fury,
she's a reticulated python, but isn't she incredible?
And, again, her name is Perdida after the 101 Dalmatians
because she was born pure white
and developed all of that color and pattern
as she's gotten older, just like a dalmatian dog.
But she's coming up on two years old this summer.
So she's got a long way to go,
but she's growing really good.
And, again, one of the animals that when people come here
and are kind of a little afraid of holding animals,
they often hold Perdida just because she's amazing.
You know, I mean, people think, oh, my gosh.
But there's this one here that I can show you
that's another one that's gonna eventually be
one of my biggest snakes maybe down the road.
But they grow relatively slow.
And, of course, that's the anaconda.
Let's see if I can find her
in here somewhere, she's in here somewhere.
Where are you at girl, where are you at, where are you?
Here you are, I can feel you, there she is.
Oh, she's hiding underneath here water dish
right now, that's what's going on.
This, of course, is a green anaconda.
And feel how different she feels compared to so many snakes.
It's because they have really tiny scales,
and they're very tight.
Because these guys will spend a lot of their time
in the water, so they can't have a lot of bacteria
that gets underneath their scales, right?
Because they could get bacterial infections.
So, Anaconda, again, eventually gonna get this big around,
just an absolutely amazing animal.
But Verde is super docile, a great snake.
And you never have to worry about her biting,
that's what I love about her.
And I love that about almost all the snakes
that we have here is that they're just so docile
and habituated to being handled all the time, you know?
Speaking of a really bizarre snake you gotta see this one.
(laughs) This one is crazy.
Of course, this is Joker.
And Joker, you gotta feel this one, this one is crazy.
Joker is a scaleless Texas rat snake.
So it is a scaleless snake, it's lacking keratin.
So much like a hairless cat,
right, you know the hairless cat
is lacking keratin which is making up hair.
This is lacking keratin that makes up the scales.
So Joker is just really cool.
And it's one of those animals that when people see
and feel it they're just like it's so bizarre.
I've never felt anything like it.
And that's one of the things we love here
at the Reptarium is to show you guys things
that maybe you aren't get a chance to see anywhere else.
Oh, speaking of a really cool animal
that is comin' out to say hit to us right now,
take a look at this guy right up here.
This is actually Toothless the black dragon.
Come on Toothless, just come out buddy.
Whoa, he tried to jump on me there.
He's absolutely incredible, you can go ahead and pet him.
Now, he is only about six months old.
He's a black dragon, which is an Asian
water monitor, but a melanistic version.
And he's gonna eventually get like six or seven-foot long.
But you can see how absolutely docile he is and tame.
And, of course, we want to keep him
and all the animals really habituated not only to handling,
but just to be really great animals.
And the biggest thing is to try not
to get them to fear anything, right?
As long as they're not fearing humans
they act amazing and are really incredible.
You know what's really cool, I gotta show you guys this.
This is actually some American alligators.
And in particular we have six of 'em in here.
But this little girl here is one of my favorites.
Her name is Tilde, and Tilde
is about four and a half or five months old.
You can feel the very back right there.
See, isn't she something?
Now, she's gonna eventually get eight to 10-foot long.
But we have a deal with Gatorland.
These guys are so cheeky.
We have a deal with Gatorland where we actually
have these babies for X-amount of time.
And then we send them back.
Oh, get back in there cheeky monkey.
(laughs) You cheeky little dude,
what are you doin', get back in there.
Oh, my God, they are so amazing.
I love American alligators for sure.
And speaking of American alligators
I have a pretty special one I want to show you.
Hey, Noah, can you do me a favor,
and bring Salt the albino alligator over?
- Yes, of course, I've got her right here for you.
- Awesome, all right, cool, oh, my gosh.
Take a look at her, isn't she absolutely,
oh, look at that little girl.
Of course, she's an albino alligator,
and she's chirpin' right now, little Salty.
Now, she's gonna eventually get eight to 10-foot as well.
But we're actually gonna keep her her whole life.
(chirping)
Did you hear that, isn't that the cutest thing in the world?
What an amazing animal, huh?
But she is super cool, again, we'll keep on building bigger
and bigger exhibits for her as she gets bigger.
But we also have a melanistic alligator
named Pepper, so we have Salt and Pepper.
Noah, thank you so much, all right, you can go ahead,
put her up, thank you so much.
She's pretty amazing, right?
Again, lots of different things all over the place.
Here we got geckos, and we've got different types of snakes,
and all kinds of stuff like that.
As a matter of fact I want to you
this really quick, you gotta see her.
She's actually a rhino iguana.
Noah, can you see if we have
some superworms in back really quick?
I'm gonna grab a little tong here for us.
And we're gonna see if we can get Bella
to come down so you can pet her, okay?
But you can take a look at her as I grab my stuff,
all right, I'll be right back.
All right, I'm back with my superworm here.
And let's see if we can get Bella down.
Bella, do you want a superworm girl?
Come on girl, come on down.
There you go girl, there you go sweetheart.
Do you want one, do you want one baby?
Oh, she's being a little bit picky today.
I don't know what her deal is.
But you can just pet her, she loves pets.
So go up here, yep, go ahead
right up here and pet her, she loves it.
The more you pet her the more she'll love you.
(laughs) Isn't she something.
I tell you what, I love that animal.
That is definitely an animal that is one
of the most crazy animals here at the Reptarium.
Just people come and can't believe she's more
like a cat than she is a reptile to be honest
because she loves to be petted and stuff like that.
But I'm gonna show you Potato here.
It's a really cool lizard from Australia.
This is actually what they would call
a central blue-tongued skink.
Here you go, take a pet of that one
really quick, isn't that something.
And, of course, they have that blue tongue.
And that blue tongue is basically there
to kinda ward off predators, right?
Because in the wild things like blues, and reds,
and bright colors are oftentimes poisonous.
So this kinda mocks poison, right?
So that tongue comes out big and wide,
and says I'm a blue-tongue,
don't eat me because I'm poisonous.
Again, it's not poisonous.
But we name him potato because we think
he looks like a potato.
And he kinda acts like a potato.
But, nevertheless, he is a super good animal,
and we love him to death.
And he's just kinda great with the kids too
because he just kinda sits there
and doesn't do a whole lot, which is really good
for showing that's maybe not
as adept at handling snakes, right,
or lizards, or whatever the case is.
We have this animal here
that's just a stunner, she's a beauty.
Her name is Honey, and she's a piebald ball python.
Woo, look at that girl right there.
I mean, unbelievable, she is just gorgeous.
And, of course, that piebald is a recessive mutation
that causes those big white blotching.
And it can be very random when you produce them.
You can have one that has, you know, 5% white.
You can have ones that have almost 90% white.
Honey is about perfect at about 40 or 50%.
And she is a stunner, and also unbelievably beautiful.
Again, for someone that's maybe not as comfortable
with handling snakes Honey's a great opportunity, right?
Because she's not that big,
and she's so docile, and kinda slow moving too.
So she kind of is a good animal if you know what I mean.
But we do have a couple animals that aren't as nice
like tree boas and stuff like that that look beautiful.
But they aren't exactly the best handling snake.
If you were to handle them you'd probably get bit.
And then, of course, we have big snakes like my girl Daisy
here who is looking absolutely gorgeous right now.
I think she wants to come out
and say hi to you, she is really good.
We've got Butterscotch up top.
We got mata-mata turtles over here.
Oh, let me show you this bearded dragon.
This is actually my guy Fetty Wap.
Let's see what we got here with Fetty here.
All right, he is a bearded dragon from Australia.
And he's one of the older lizards that I have here.
He's been around for about eight years.
Yup, you can feel, and those spikes
are his defense mechanism.
But when you feel 'em they don't really feel very spikey.
So they're just kinda there for looks to be honest with you.
But Fetty is an omnivore, meaning that he'll eat vegetables,
he'll also eat crickets, and roaches,
and superworms, and stuff like that.
But, again, he's unbelievably habituated to handling
and an absolutely wonderful, wonderful ambassador
here at the Reptarium for sure.
Go ahead, shut him up real quick,
and then I'll show you the next thing.
I've got a really good lizard that I want to show you here
in a second that I think you're gonna really like.
It's one of the kinda freakier lizards
in my opinion because they're so unique.
And that, of course, is a chameleon.
But this particular one is a panther chameleon,
a nosy be panther chameleon.
And this guy's name is Karma.
You want to put your hand out, and I'll put it
right on your hand right here, there you go.
That, of course, is Karma the chameleon.
I mean, isn't it cool?
Of course, it has those independent eyes,
has a prehensile tail that can hang on.
It's almost actually like a fifth leg.
Then, of course it has that unbelievably long tongue.
It could literally shoot its tongue out this far
and catch a roach, or a superworm, or a hornworm,
or a cricket, or whatever the case
that it's hunting that particular day.
He's absolutely not only a great animal,
but unbelievably beautiful, and something
that I know everyone comes in is always shocked that like,
oh, my God it is so absolutely beautiful.
But speaking of beautiful I tell you what,
I'm gonna probably end the tour on this one
right here guys if you don't mind.
Again, we didn't get around to see everything,
but we saw enough stuff that was kind of interesting.
And we just have to make sure
this guy knows he's not getting fed
because we don't want to have him come out
and get us like we're food, right?
Let me go ahead and get, Noah, can you do me a favor?
Can you grab a hook for me please?
You know, the thing is that reticulated pythons
in particular, and a lot of snakes are very docile,
but when they think they might be getting fed
they sometimes have a food response.
He has a pretty heavy food response.
But once he actually calms down and realizes
he's not getting fed he is a puppy dog.
All right, thank you so much Noah, I appreciate it.
And all I do is I take a snake hook.
And I just slowly pet him
to where he knows he's not getting fed.
And then I can go ahead and pull him out like nothing.
See, he's just a puppy dog.
And, of course, this guy is named Casper.
Casper, (grunts) is a pretty big reticulated python.
He's a male, he's about 9-foot long, and he's a handful.
I could tell you what, go ahead and pet him.
Phew, that's okay, you don't have to worry.
He's gonna be fine, he's a tame dude, isn't he beautiful?
Again, this is a black eyed leucistic reticulated python.
I tell you what, that is one gorgeous snake.
And he's a mover, he loves to move,
he loves to cruise around.
And he is just a wonderful snake.
I'll go ahead, get him back in his cage.
Again, absolutely beautiful, but definitely likes to eat.
So gotta always keep that snake hook around just in case.
And that's something that we always do
when we're working with bigger snakes anyways.
It's just as a precaution because, you know,
they're very docile, but they're very food
kind of motivated if you know what I mean.
Regardless, guys, that is kind of
about an overview of the Reptarium.
You know, we saw a lot of stuff, but there's a lot of stuff
that we didn't get a chance to see.
Maybe we'll do another tour with you guys later if you want.
If you want to come back it would be absolutely amazing.
Thank you so much, I would love
to bring you into my world again.
So I hope you enjoyed the tour, thank you so much.
Awesome, thank you man, see you later.
(soft rhythmic instrumental music)