Hey, good morning everybody, and welcome to the blog.
I hope the start of your day is incredible.
It's gonna be a busy day with some big snakes
because Lucy shed, I have to take her out.
She looks beautiful by the way,
doesn't have any stuck shed on her
or anything, that's amazing.
But she did blow her cage up, which is completely all right.
So we're gonna have some big state fun today.
And speaking of big snakes, Ares,
actually the Anaconda shed as well.
Now, Ivy is actually in shed, so she's coming up
here pretty soon to see what's gonna happen.
What are you doing Ares, what are you doing?
Yeah, I tell you what, he is definitely getting freaky.
I don't know what the deal is.
He just came like jumping up on me.
I have no idea what he's got going on.
But I'm gonna go ahead and grab his shed out over here.
It looks like a nice perfect shed.
But look at that, perfect.
And, hey Ares, what are you doing?
What the heck is this guy up to?
I mean, you know, he used to be like super,
super docile, and now he's gotten a little bit wonky.
I'm not sure, I'm gonna do my best
to just see if I can't get him out
and see if I can play with him a little bit.
I don't know what he's doing.
Whoa, what are you doing, Ares?
It's okay bud, it's okay buddy.
Ares is definitely a little more freaky than she used to be.
Again, I don't know what his deal is.
I want him to be really docile.
So I'm gonna just spend a little bit of time
with him and make sure that he's just kind
of food aggressive and not aggressive, right?
Because, again, Ivy is great
to take out, but she is really big.
So if someone wants to hold a little bit
smaller Anaconda this is definitely the animal
I was hoping I was gonna be able to get out.
But lately he's just been really wily and kinda crazy.
But thankfully, now that I have him kind of up
a little bit he seems to be doing much better.
The first couple times I touched him
he just swung around, like he was trying to bite me.
But I think it might just be a food thing.
He looks absolutely gorgeous.
So I'm gonna bring him out of the cage
to just kinda take a look at him in the open.
Because this thing is incredible.
Let's hope he doesn't bite me as I'm coming out here.
Whoa, I'll tell you what, he is beautiful now
that he has shed out, what a great thing.
And, again, I am super happy with the fact
that now that he's out and being handled
a little bit he seems to be back
to his old Ares itself, really docile,
doesn't seem to be showing any signs of aggression.
Like I said, the last week or so it's been wild.
I've been going in there and he's just been
like cruising right up to me like he wants to bite me.
I mean, definitely, it's not a huge snake
like Ivy, but even a snake this size,
a bite from it would definitely hurt
because Anacondas have a pretty vicious bite.
(exhales deeply) He's got a nice
little tight squeeze on me a little bit.
I tell you what, unbelievable.
So, this makes me so happy guys.
I was a little worried, today
I was like I gotta get Ares out.
I want to make sure this guy chills out and is cool.
And thankfully he is absolutely being wonderful again.
Do I trust him a 100% yet, I'm not a 100% sure.
Definitely gonna have to spend a little more time
with him before I let like anyone
just handle him all that they want.
But I'll tell you what, the other thing
is he's musking the hell out of me guys right now.
And this again, is something I don't want
when people are here is to get musk,
(gasps) the smell of an anaconda musk
is something else, and it's pretty stringent guys.
And I have a feeling that I'm gonna be smelling
like anaconda musk all day.
Because that's the one thing about snake musk
in particular, whether it's a water snake,
or a colubrid of some sort, or an Anaconda
when it comes to Aries, is that it's pretty strong.
And it's hard to get off.
You can wash your hands and arms a thousand times,
and it seems like it's like a skunk, right?
So I haven't really found the magic elixir
yet to try to get that off.
But I am so happy that my guy Ares here
is chill because I thought for sure
I was gonna get bit when I was first in there.
And Ivy is gonna be shedding here within a few days.
So these guys are gonna be ready
for a potential breeding season.
Right around the end of September,
October is when they typically breed.
Now, I have seen some courtship going on.
So I wouldn't be surprised if here in the next couple
of weeks after Ivy sheds if we see
these guys actually breeding.
Then, again, looking at sometime maybe early next year,
March or April, there's a chance we could have
some little baby Ivys and Ares.
I mean, how awesome would that be?
So, I tell you, this makes me so happy.
What a great way to start the day
to be able to handle Ares again
and not get bit by it, that's pretty awesome.
It's such a beautiful snake.
Let's hope we have as much luck with Lucy.
From one crazy snake to the next crazy snake.
Of course, now we have to deal with Lucy.
Again, she kind of blew up her cage,
has a bunch of poop soup in here, you know the routine.
But I definitely want to see if I can get her out.
I'll play with her a little bit
because why not, you know what I mean?
She's an amazing animal.
And I'm so happy she shed, although it was in all kinds
of pieces, she looked completely clean, looks amazing.
I think she's gonna be in a good mood.
That's what I'm predicting.
So let's go ahead and grab her out,
and see if we can have some fun with Lucy.
Hey girl, what's up girl?
Are you a good girl today?
Be good, oh yeah, she's in a good mood.
Oh, she looks so gorgeous.
I tell you what that snake is pretty!
I tell you what, after Lucy sheds
she is just a glowingly gorgeous snake.
Just gotta get her outta here.
Come on baby girl, don't go that way, don't go that way.
(grunts) Gosh, so strong.
I tell you what, people have no idea
how strong a snake like Lucy is until
they actually get an opportunity to mess with her.
Up you go baby.
And much like Ares, Lucy definitely will poop on you
if you give her a chance and musks a little bit.
But I'll tell you what, this isn't an act guys.
This is all my strength to hold this snake up.
(grunts) Okay, baby girl, I tell you what, I love her.
And I love when she's in a good mood
because she is so much fun.
And even though it's a pain in the butt
to clean a cage like this of a big snake
it's worth it because this is amazing.
I mean, look at this snake.
Where are you going, where are you going?
Oh my God, what an absolute pleasure.
I tell you what, these are the days that I am feeling
so grateful for what I have with all these amazing animals.
Look at the length of that snake.
Holy cow, that is one giant snake.
Okay, Lucy, come on baby girl.
Okay, don't go back in, go back in.
Okay, we're gonna try to get her in a tub.
And we'll just get her in here.
Now, you guys know she loves water.
But she doesn't need a soak right now
because she shed so perfectly.
So I think I'm just gonna put her in a tub over here.
And then get to start the cage clean.
It's not terrible, the poop soup's
a little bit gross, but it's not too bad.
But I'll be able to get this.
Whoa, wait, wait, wait, not back in towards this, come on.
No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no.
No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, come on.
Oh my gosh, it is crazy how strong she is.
I love this snake, but holy cow.
Guys, I wish you could have this experience.
And this is kind of the whole idea, right?
What, get back here.
Is that when we get this swimming with snakes thing
with 3.0 you can actually feel an animal like Lucy.
As a matter of fact, I thought Lucy might be the snake
we might use to be totally honest with you.
Because she loves water, and she's always
in a good mood when she's in the water.
And she is so big.
Oh, there she goes again.
No, come on, okay.
All right, wish me luck.
Come on girl, (grunts), come on girl, let's go.
Oh, come on girl, oh my gosh.
Come on sweetheart, let's go, let's go, let's go.
She hasn't peed or pooped on me yet, so that's a good sign.
Come on baby, oh my gosh.
(breathing heavily)
Okay, come on, come on, there you go.
This way, this way. (grunts)
There you go, there you go, off you go baby.
Get in here, come on, stay, stay, stay.
Come on, keep moving, keep moving.
Come on, stay, stay girl.
Okay, gotta keep her going this way.
Stay in there girl, stay in there.
I tell you what guys, that is the best
that Lucy has ever acted.
But holy cow, wait, I'm gonna take
a little nap before I clean this up.
So I'll be back with you guys in about a half hour.
(rhythmic instrumental music)
(vacuum humming)
(rhythmic instrumental music)
All right, guys, time to get Lucy back.
Oh no, we're going back to this again,
back to get Lucy in the cage.
Oh my gosh, she's got me so tied up right now.
It's not even a joke.
I gotta spin out, it started to get a little tight now.
She wasn't trying to hurt me.
But she's hanging on so tight and she's so muscular
that the black started coming in a little bit.
So the way you kinda do it is you spin
away from it, right, and it unspins her.
Oh my gosh, I tell you what, Lucy is amazing.
Of course, right back up in her tree.
The OCD reticulated python.
I'll tell you what guys, we started the day
with Ares, the anaconda, Lucy, the kinda handful retic.
I think it's time, just make this a big snake day.
Let's go check in on Daisy, my sweetheart.
Again, Daisy is absolutely the much easier animal
to deal with, but she has been
really food aggressive lately.
So just want to make sure she knows I'm not food.
And again, she is an absolute sweetheart, easy to work
with compared to any anaconda or Lucy, of course.
But still an absolutely gorgeous snake.
Now, she's 18 foot, six inches.
She's not as thick as Lucy that's for sure.
She goes on her occasional food strikes where she eats
like maybe once every couple weeks for a while.
Lately, the last like three months
she's been crushing food like crazy.
As much as I feed her she'll eat.
That's why when I first opened up
that cage I'm like, oh my gosh,
I've got to be careful because she will come out.
And she'll come flying out
and be like I'm gonna eat you.
But once she knows you're not food she is incredible.
I mean, just look at how beautiful that snake is.
And again, her and Lucy are siblings.
I've mentioned that before.
They're both 12 years old now.
Again, retics will typically live,
you know, 30, sometimes even 40 years.
So hopefully my girl Daisy here
will be around for a long, long time.
But look at how chill she is.
I mean, this is actually a truly enjoyable big snake
to handle because you don't have to worry
about her whipping around, and flying around,
and kind of struggling with you.
She never really tightens up on you.
She's always just kind of a really
mellow great snake to mess with.
So this is the snake when someone wants
to hold a giant snake we usually take out.
Because, again, you don't have to have
like incredible strength to wrangle her.
Don't get me wrong, she's still a strong snake,
and she's a big snake, but certainly a beautiful snake.
And I love her to death.
I tell you what, one day hopefully I can have a snake
as big as Lucy with the attitude of Daisy, you know?
And I don't think that Daisy will ever get there
because she's just not that giant snake, you know?
And that's the thing, big snakes are all different.
Some snakes grow super big.
As a matter of fact, I could have Lucy
way bigger than I have her now.
I choose to not feed her like over, right?
I don't want her to be obese.
I want her to be mean and lean, right?
If you get them to fat that's gonna shorten their lifespan.
Whereas Daisy here, you know, she's just not
an animal that's gonna eat like that.
So she's always going to stay a little smaller,
but an absolutely wonderful snake.
Toothless is doing so good with the ball training now.
And I've been working on a couple of little tricks with him.
Let's see if we can get them to come out.
Come on Toothless, come on, let's go, let's go.
There you go, good job buddy.
Come on, all the way up, all the way up,
all the way up, all the way up, all the way up.
(grunts) Little monster.
Come on bud, up you go.
(laughs) Oh, my gosh, it's so cool.
There you go bud, up here, up here, up here.
Oh my God, can you come all the way up to my shoulder?
Oh, wait, there you go.
(laughs) I mean, he is really coming a long way.
This way bud, come on, this way, this way, this way.
Down, down, down, down, down.
Hey, no, no, no, not the face.
(laughs) How awesome is that?
It's definitely one of the cooler things
that we've been able to do recently here.
Here you go Toothless, go,
come on over here, come on, over here.
Toothless, over, over, over.
There you go Buddy.
I mean, how cool is that, right,
I mean, a little lizard like this.
And think, one day he's gonna be five
or six foot, and we can have him do this.
That would be absolutely epic.
Big snakes always equal big fun.
That's what I always say.
If you enjoyed this video right over here
is a whole playlist of me handling really big animals.
I think you'll enjoy that.
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Have an absolutely wonderful day.
Remember, be kind to someone.
And I promise I'll see it tomorrow.