- The living art is something that I couldn't live without.
I mean, the anticipation of eggs hatching!
What might be in 'em?
What those babies are gonna look like?
It's a little harder to get excited
about a cage like this that's minimalistic.
(upbeat techno music)
Aye, good morning everybody and welcome to the Vlog!
You know, I absolutely love BHB reptiles.
And, I certainly love The Reptarium!
And, I hope the start of your day is absolutely incredible.
You know, I've been breeding snakes
here at BHB Reptiles for almost 30 years.
Although The Reptarium has only been open
for about eight months,
I guess I've been working on it for close to a year now.
It seems like I could almost hardly remember
life without it.
One of the things that I really love about BHB Reptiles,
and again I've been doing this since I was a kid,
is the variety of animals.
I mean, just take a look at all of the different things
I get to mess around with every single day.
This is an albino checkered garter snake.
That's actually het for granite.
The granite is like this speckly animal that is super cool!
We should produce a bunch of 'em this year.
Or, take a look at this anerythristic brooks kingsnake.
The first ones were actually produced
by a guy named Lloyd Lemke, out in California.
When they were first produced they were really weak
and they didn't really reproduce well.
That kinda goes to show ya that sometimes
early on in mutations they're not really strong,
and just with some increased amount of gene pool
they become thriving animals.
Now, anerythristic brooks, and ghost brooks,
and all that type of stuff
are just wonderful, wonderful animals.
They make absolutely great pets as well.
But again, it's about the variety
of all the different stuff here at BHB.
Take a look at this cute little monkey right here.
This is actually a rough scale sand boa.
Oh my gosh!
These are some of the ones that we produced last season.
I tell you what, I love them to death!
And again, for as long as I can remember with BHB,
I've been producing such amazing snakes.
What an absolute honor it's been!
To really have this, my career,
for again almost three decades.
During that three decades to be able to work
with just hundreds of species of animal
and probably thousands of culmores of animals,
and literally produce hundreds of thousands of snakes,
and even geckos.
But on the other hand, it's always been a dream of mine
to have a place like The Reptarium.
I mean, it's like I've said, I basically wanted to create
a place that is what I'd wanna go to when I was a kid.
Even as a kid, I always thought, like, one day
I would work at a zoo.
I never knew I would own a zoo.
I just wanted to be around amazing animals,
so building out The Reptarium has literally fulfilled
a lifelong dream of mine.
One of the big advantages to working with BHB
is just the quantity of animals I'm able to work with.
I love work with all kinds of different reptiles!
I mean, just take a look at this absolutely gorgeous
blade clown ball python.
The fact is with BHB, we're able to do so much.
We're able to breed colubrids, pythons, boas,
leopard geckos, lychees, gargoyles, all that type of stuff.
I mean, take a look at this red stripe,
pin stripe, yellow belly.
That's the thing that's so amazing is that
you're able to work with all these
different colors and flavors of everything!
Look at this one right here!
This is a black pewter lesser cyprus python.
Hoo hoo, doggie!
I mean, it's just amazing to be able to just walk around
and open up cage after cage of such amazing animals!
By running a company like BHB,
which literally breeds reptiles for the pet trade
more or less,
it gives me the ability to kinda justify
working with so many different animals,
as long as we can give them the proper care and housing.
Look at this hypo Brazilian rainbow boa.
He's gonna be breeding some het hypos this year
so with any luck, not only will we produce
some beautiful rainbow boas,
but again we might produce some hypo rainbow boas.
Again, BHB has kind of afforded me the ability
to work with such incredible animals.
That's my girl, that's my girl! (chuckles)
One of the things that was always difficult about BHB,
to be totally honest with you,
was that I couldn't keep some of my dream animals.
I mean, yeah, I ended up getting Bella
before we opened up The Reptarium.
But, it was really difficult to keep animals
like Bella over at BHB because, again,
we were a breeding company and we didn't have
a lot of extra space for a bunch of pet animals.
Don't get me wrong!
Throughout my entire career I certainly had
plenty of pet animals, that weren't really breeders,
but I still needed to kinda justify it,
so it kinda held me back a little bit.
Now I get to work with such amazing animals,
like my absolutely gorgeous girl, Bella, here.
I been saying, The Reptarium kind of afforded me
to get a couple of my dream animals;
I literally never thought I would get.
Don't get me wrong!
Every animal at the Reptarium, I'm in awe of.
I mean, it's so cool to have all kinds
of different stuff that I'd really never worked with.
It was a challenge to kinda learn about 'em, set 'em up,
do all those cool things!
But, I will be honest with you,
there were two animals in particular here at The Reptarium
that I never honestly thought I would personally own.
Of course, Salt is one of 'em.
I remember seeing the first albino alligator years ago
by a guy named Don Kay, who had brokered some
for the St. Augustine gator farm.
He was trying to sell 'em and I remember holding one going,
Oh my God, this is such an amazing animal!
But, there was just no way that I could justify buying one.
Not only was it a lot of money, but,
what was I gonna do with it?
To have a pet that's worth that kinda money
just didn't make sense.
I cannot even tell you how over-the-top happy I am,
and in complete love I am, with my girl, Salt.
Honestly, the other animal I never thought
I would actually own
is either a Galapagos or Aldabra tortoise.
Of course, Matilda, my girl here,
the Aldabra tortoise is just such a beauty.
I guess I always thought that maybe I could get a baby,
but I never thought I could literally keep one
that's a hundred plus pounds,
and eventually several hundred pounds.
Now, we finally can justify getting animals
like Matilda here.
I tell you what, I am so over-the-top happy with her.
She is eating really good now.
I mean, the first three days she didn't wanna eat at all.
Now she is just crushing food!
Not only is she eating tons of the hay in here,
but she's also eating tons of lettuce.
We've got a cactus coming.
I mean, she is doing so well.
Again, an absolute dream animal!
One of the things I couldn't live without
when it comes to BHB, is the living art.
The fact that we can produce such amazing looking animals
like this candy cane tessera cornsnake,
or even this anerythristic cornsnake.
I mean, that's the thing.
Get to bring animals outta hibernation,
or ya start to cool 'em down and you put 'em together,
and you can only dream to produce
such amazingly beautiful snakes.
I mean, certainly 30 years ago I never thought
that we would have a purple snake,
like this lavender snow California kingsnake.
Are you kidding me? (chuckles)
How insane is that?
Or, this granite mex mex, a St. Louis potosi kingsnake.
Now, the St. Louis potosis have been around forever,
but the granite mutation has only been around
for the last 10 or 12 years.
It's just amazing to see these things crawl out of the egg!
What a spectacular experience!
I don't know that I could ever live without it.
But certainly cornsnakes aren't the only thing
that get me excited over at BHB.
Look at some of the leopard geckos we have going on.
I mean, holy cow!
This tangerine super hypo is ridiculous!
Or, take a look at this super snow white and yellow eclipse!
Hoo hoo doggie!
That thing is gorgeous!
How about this white and yellow super raptor?
Holy moly, that thing is cool!
Don't even get me started when it comes to ball pythons!
Look at this animal we produced last year;
this is actually a red stripe vanilla scream yellow belly.
How about this ghost cyprus honey, right here?
Look at how clean that is with that docile striping!
Or, this red stripe super stripe spider ball python,
my point is that the living art is something
that I couldn't live without.
I mean, the anticipation of eggs hatching.
What might be in 'em?
What those babies are gonna look like?
Not to mention, when you produce a lot of snakes,
you always get some surprises where something hatch,
and you're like,
oh my God, I wasn't expecting it!
Sometimes you don't even know what's going on with it.
To me, now, it's not at all about the money;
it's not the finances.
Because BHB is kinda more like a hobby to me,
which I absolutely love.
Which really makes it even that much more fun!
Now, the educational part of The Reptarium
is what I really wake up in the morning,
I get most excited about!
People come in, they're afraid of snakes,
they maybe are excited about snakes,
maybe they're a little tentative about snakes;
and they get a chance to hold them.
They get a chance to hold gators, and lizards,
and tarantulas, and all kinds of different things.
I love the fact that I can spend my life
over at The Reptarium, whether it's a tour,
open to the public, whatever the case may be,
and actually educate people.
That's what gets me up in the morning!
That's what makes me the most excited about life right now!
Is educating people about these wonderful
and sometimes misunderstood animals.
And, at the same time entertaining people.
I know that so many people are going home,
after coming to The Reptarium,
and they're talking about it 'round their dinner tables,
or at night, and they're just saying,
Oh my God, I got a chance to hold a big snake!
I got a chance to meet a tarantula!
I got a chance to hold a two-headed snake
or an albino alligator.
Things that they may never get a chance to do anywhere else.
That is what I absolutely adore about The Reptarium.
I couldn't imagine life without breeding reptiles,
hatching all these amazing things.
I mean, again, it's what I've done for almost 30 years
and it's just part of me.
I mean, it's what I absolutely love to death.
Now, I will say they're are some cons to everything.
It's not all roses people.
The truth is, as much as I love BHB, and I absolutely do,
it's a little harder to get excited about a cage like this
that's minimalistic, for this Pueblan milk snake.
You know, she has a water bowl, a hot spot,
a clean cage and pretty much everything she needs.
But the fact is, is after building out
these naturalistic enclosures over at The Reptarium,
it's not as exciting to just open up a drawer.
Even though I love looking at the snakes, you know,
I kinda am obsessed with these naturalistic cages now.
The truth is that the majority of these animals
are fine in the tubs like this.
As a matter of fact, I've made mention before
that there have been animals we've taken
over to The Reptarium, we put in these nice,
huge naturalistic cages, and they stress out.
And, we have to bring 'em back.
Literally, when they go over to The Reptarium,
they don't eat, they strike, they become mean.
I bring 'em back, I put 'em in the minimalistic cages.
They start eating again, they become placid again.
It's a little bit of a bummer,
but at the same time it's just a necessary evil.
Like I've mentioned before, I wouldn't do this,
I wouldn't put these animals in this type of environment
if I felt that it was somehow neglectful for the animals.
With that said, you have to keep in mind,
if you wanna buy animals at a relatively inexpensive price,
this is the way they're gonna have to be produced.
We give 'em what they absolutely need.
They seem to thrive, they're healthy.
All those type of things.
Are they happy?
I mean, I think they are happy.
But again, I'll leave that to you to decide.
The fact is, if you wanted to free this animals
in huge, naturalistic cages, prices would go
10 times higher because it would cost
you 10 time more to produce.
That's just the harsh reality of it.
Whether you like to or don't like it,
that is just the truth.
The only real negative I can think of
with The Reptarium is the fact that
I'm kinda running outta space.
Running outta time!
I've got so many ideas; there's so many things I wanna do!
I kinda running outta the ability to do it at this place.
Should I expand?
Should I open up another one?
I'm not a hundred percent sure, regardless,
I love everything about this place.
I can't really think of anything negative,
other than the fact that,
wow, with it being as busy as it is,
it's definitely made my life much more busy
than I ever expected!
Too, the fact that I'd like to add more animals
and add more displays but we're kinda getting to the point
where we don't have any space to add anything.
But, don't worry.
We'll figure that part out!
BHB has been such a part of my life,
again, since I was young.
I couldn't imagine life without it.
The truth be told, no matter where I go in the future,
I would've never got there if it wasn't for
the opportunities that were afforded to me,
because of BHB reptiles.
I certainly couldn't be more excited
about the future of The Reptarium.
I don't know what the future is gonna hold,
but I just think it's gonna be amazing.
Whether we just stay here and keep educating people,
or we expand to, who knows?
As a matter of fact, Noah and me were talkin' last night
and he's like,
I think you could have these all over the world!
I really think we could.
Of course, it would be a lot a work.
There's a whole lot a things to that
and I'm not gonna get ahead of myself.
Because the best thing I can do right now, is be patient
and just enjoy the ride.
With that said, I don't know,
there's your BHB Reptarium comparison.
Let me know in the comments what you think.
I mean, do you love BHB?
Do you love Reptarium?
Do you love 'em both?
Let me know what you like about 'em all.
I tell you what, I know I can't ever choose
which one I love more.
Other than the fact that I am really excited
about educating people, now,
and I do love spending time here at The Reptarium.
But at the same time, I love hatching snakes.
So, I guess I can't choose guys.
With that said, have an absolutely wonderful day!
I love you guys so much!
Be kind to someone and I promise,
I will see you guys tomorrow.
(slow techno music)