- Hey, good morning everybody
and welcome to the vlog!
Of course I've got Salt and Pepper with me
and I think I've mentioned this in the past
that Salt and Pepper actually don't stay out
on display, they stay in the back,
and they've been together since they were babies.
But now they're getting kind of big
and it is definitely time to move them out front.
I showed you last week that we actually
got their new enclosures in that are front-end loading.
Well, today is the big day.
It's gonna be an interesting one
because I gotta somehow figure out
how to get those tanks out of there
and get the new ones in, get them hooked up,
and eventually get Salt and Pepper out front.
This is when the training really increases
because then we can start working with them everyday
on different things, not just holding,
but also like coming to their name,
clicker training, all kinds of good stuff.
So today's gonna be a really fun filled day
for my pet alligators.
(chill music)
I've got my siphon, I've got my bucket.
And I actually have to redo these cages right here.
These are the ones that Salt and Pepper
will be in full-time now when we actually replace them
for the next probably several months
until they get too big and we have to increase.
Regardless, we do have some challenges today.
I'm not gonna lie to you
because there's some issues with some holes
in the tanks that was sent.
I don't know.
It's gonna be an interesting day.
Hopefully we'll get this thing figured out.
But for now, I have to siphon the water out,
take the bulkheads off, and get these tanks out of here,
and then I can start working on the other one.
So obviously the first thing we have to do
is just really unplug the filters, you know?
That way there's no filtration going on.
And then I have to just get the siphon going
with these guys.
You gotta remember this is kinda alligator water,
so not gonna be really good to ingest it,
but that's just the way it goes.
(chill music)
Next up I just have to actually screw this bulkhead.
(banging)
(clacking)
Now put a bucket of water down here
'cause it's probably gonna drain out.
Just like that as that bulkhead looses up.
Face the other water that can't siphon out will come out.
(loud dripping)
I'll let that just kind of drain down
as I'm unscrewing things here.
Once all this water is out,
I can actually get the bulkheads out.
I'll do the same thing on the other side.
I have to repeat on the next tank.
That way we can actually pull the tank out,
and actually assess what we've got going now.
'Cause like I had mentioned before,
unfortunately I got the new tanks from Universal Rocks,
they had drilled the holes in the wrong spot.
So we have to work on that.
But I'll get to that later.
Right now I'm just gonna try to remove these tanks.
But so far, so good.
Again, just get the bulkheads out,
get the filtration out, get the tank out,
and then we can start working on the other ones.
Got a little bit of a hiccup here.
I forgot we actually glued, PVC glued
this actual whole piece onto the bulkhead.
So there's no way for me to completely
unscrew the bulkhead here because it runs into this.
So I think I'm gonna have to actually
just get like a saw out and actually cut that off
so that way I can unscrew the bulkhead.
I don't think there's any other way to do it.
So okay, well, definitely the first little wrinkle
in what I thought was gonna be a relatively easy removal.
So all right, we'll get the saws out.
- So I'm actually gonna pluck this hibiscus off
and see if we can feed it to Bella.
(chill music)
Bella!
Try hibiscus?
(chill music)
Bell.
I'm goin' in.
- [Man] (laughs) I'm goin' in there!
- All right, how about now?
(chill music)
Now how about this one?
So unfortunately it doesn't look like Bella likes it.
So that means Mathilda gets a nice treat.
(chill music)
That's a little better that Mathilda took it.
How cute was that, guys?
- All right, saw's out.
But you know what?
I'll tell you what.
I actually have some PVC cutters here.
Be better to do this because I don't like the idea
of having some power tools like getting into things.
So let's go see if this works first.
Again, getting around there, I think this will be enough
to just kind of cut that PVC away.
But before we do that, just want to explain
a little bit.
I know it's a wreck down here in the basement.
But listen, we're working on it.
So, basically, this is the actual tanks
that are gonna go in and you can see
that where the bulkheads were cut right here,
two things, number one.
Honestly, they're the wrong size.
They're too big of holes for the bulkheads I have.
And number two, if I had the bulkheads coming up
here and here, it would interfere with the surface area
of the actual alligators because obviously
they need to be in here.
So we need the bulkheads to be back here, and back here.
Right?
So that way it's not interfering with the surface area here.
So first we have to actually see if we can drill out
new bulkheads for this.
I've never drilled but I got an idea
I can show you guys, and then I have to actually
cap those off in order to do it.
Basically, silicone glass on top of it
to stop it from leaking.
So, hang low, I wish we didn't have
this extra process that we have to go through
but it's just the way it is.
Let's see if these PVC cutters will work.
Okay so we're able to cut the PVC off.
So that's a good thing.
Now we can actually just get
this bulkhead out of here hopefully.
All right.
Now the bulkhead's free.
I can just push it up and pull it out
from the top side.
That way we can roll this out.
Have to do the other side.
And then a-whole-nother tank.
- Oh, that scared me, okay.
- Just walk this thing-- - Okay.
- [Brian] Good?
- Yup, good.
- [Brian] I'll let down first.
- Okay.
- Then I'll help you. - Sure.
- [Brian] Go ahead, get your fingers up, good.
(chill music)
- Pull this out, pull mine a little.
- Got the tank up?
- Good.
- That was a bigger job than I expected.
Getting those bulkheads out were really difficult
in a tight spot.
So we basically need to now drill holes
similar to this in the other tanks,
but to do that we have to go and get a drill.
I have never drilled an aquarium or glass ever before.
But I watched a couple videos so I think I'll be an expert.
(laughs) No, no.
We might crack it, guys.
We don't know.
So, anyways, these guys are happy.
They're sitting here.
We'll do something.
We'll repurpose this somewhere, not sure.
But for now I think we're actually gonna head over
to Home Depot and see if we can get
all the stuff that we need.
Andrea's been working on Santana the Savannah monitor
in ball training.
It's been going well?
- It's been going great, yup. - All right.
Let's try it and see if he's gonna do something.
He's always ready to go.
There you go, buddy.
Oh look at that, right to it.
He knows what the deal is.
Oh, that is awesome.
Oh my God, you did so good with that.
- We're super proud of him.
He's so small but he has a really good food response.
So he's a very good candidate for ball training.
- [Brian] Exactly.
There you go bud, look at him.
He just immediately goes up to that ball.
He knows there's food, touches it, and there you go.
How awesome is that?
Oh my God.
Andrea, you did so good on that.
- Thanks. - I'm super excited.
So just another monitor lizard that is now
target trained for the balls.
Again, as Santana the Savannah monitor gets bigger,
we can start taking him out more,
and get him into an enclosure where people
can feed him and stuff like that.
But that ball training worked absolutely amazing
and Andrea did a great job.
(chill music)
So basically I'm here.
I'm gonna get a diamond bit hole saw
so I can drill through this glass.
I need plumber's tape.
I need some plumber's putty.
And I need some sandpaper.
So that's pretty much it here.
So hopefully we can find it.
(chill music)
Another crazy hiccup.
They had 1 1/4, 1 3/8, and then all the way up to two inch
so we didn't have a one in a half inch bit.
I'm not sure if it's gonna work or not.
But this is the only thing I can do.
So, I'm gonna give it a shot. (laughs)
Now to find the rest of the stuff
and get out of here.
(chill music)
So I actually am gonna turn in this one here.
This is for ceramic tile.
This is actually better
because it actually is diamond blade.
This is what I actually want.
I think this is gonna cut.
Unfortunately, the same thing, 1 3/8's,
no bigger sizes.
So maybe 1 3/8's is gonna be okay for this bulkhead.
So let's give it a shot.
I swear, well no, I don't know what I'm doing,
but so I found the diamond bit, that's awesome.
But then I found this which is the whole system here.
What you want to do is have water
when you're drilling through.
That's why I had the plumber's putty
because I was gonna show you guys a cheat
with this plumber's putty.
You know what?
I'm just gonna go ahead and get it
just so I can show you guys a cheat.
But now that I have this, I don't need the plumber's putty.
But I'll show you both ways anyways.
This is gonna be perfect.
Absolutely what I need if the bulkhead
fits through it, that is.
(chill music)
You guys that don't know this, and Jay didn't know this.
- I didn't know this either.
- But when you go to Home Depot,
you gotta get a hot dog, you know what I mean?
You gotta get a hot dog.
How you doing?
(chill music)
Okay so we got our stuff, we are back to the shop,
and you know what they say?
Nutrition is the biggest part of your day, right?
So I'm not sure that this counts.
But let's get back to the shop.
Take a little break from the tank build
to actually show you the new chameleon.
Remember the female that I told you about
is a translucent?
Basically a recessive piebald chameleon.
It's absolutely gorgeous.
Well we got her setup all like this.
She's actually right next to Karma over here,
but we have a little block
so that they can't see each other.
Because when chameleons see each other,
they can actually get really upset.
Regardless, we have this kind of setup.
We're gonna put some more foliage in here.
But you can see there is a bunch of dirt down here.
Now the whole idea is that she's got infertile eggs in her.
A lot of times they bind up and they can actually die.
So if we can give her a real mellow area
where she's not stressed at all,
we give her a nice place where she can dig
and hopefully lay her eggs.
Hopefully she'll pass those eggs.
Then she'll be completely fine.
She looks great.
She's settling in really good.
She's been eating and stuff like that.
So I think she's gonna be completely fine.
I'll keep you guys updated on how she's doing.
But as for now, she seems to love her new environment.
Super excited, I got a package!
- [Purple Shirt Guy] What is that?
- This is actually something that I ordered from Amazon.
So this isn't a surprise.
- Looks heavy.
- It is heav--
Oh!
- [Purple Shirt Guy] What was that?
- [Brian] What was that?
- How did that just fly out?
What the heck?
- I have no idea what that is.
I have a feeling that that's not part of my package.
- It's metal.
- If somebody ever on Amazon ordered
a metal plate, I got your plate.
So. - What the heck?
- Okay, let's see what's in here.
I'm pretty excited.
First and foremost!
Boom.
- Skeleton hands?
- Skeleton hands, that's right.
And then-- - I'm confused.
- And then check this out.
This is super exciting.
Guess what this is?
- It is a white box.
- Exactly, it's a white box. - Okay.
- But what's in that white box?
- Whoa!
It weighs about a pound, a pound and a half.
- Look what's in this box.
- Get it.
Cocaine!
- Yes, a kilo of--
No. (laughs)
- This is actually plaster of Paris.
Are you excited?
- I don't know what that is.
What's a plaster of Paris?
Is that a platypus?
(he laughs)
- Listen.
I am not gonna say anymore.
I've got plaster of Paris
and I got bag of hands.
More to come with this around Halloween.
(chill music)
All right, so, again, I'm gonna explain
what I was gonna do.
Now I'm gonna show you what actually I can do.
Because someone was smart enough
to actually build a kit that I was able to buy
which includes this little piece right here.
So I was just gonna take a coupling like this
and basically what you want to do,
is when you're drilling, you want there to actually be water
in here because the glass will heat up
and potentially crack.
So what I was gonna do is just gonna build
this putty up right here.
I was just gonna take plumber's putty,
like this, I was gonna basically knead it
into a thing like this.
Ultimately, I was gonna take it around like this.
Do the whole thing.
I would then squeeze this in like this.
Then I would build up like this.
I would actually make a reservoir that was water tight.
I could then now fill up that water into here,
and then the water stays in there.
As I'm drilling the glass stays cool, doesn't crack.
Then I was gonna use this as a template
to put on top of here.
That my drill could guide in
because as you're going in by going brr.
But once it guides in and starts to get into the groove,
then you can take this away.
You can drill the rest away through.
The good news is is that someone really smart did this.
They actually came up with this little mechanism here.
This is the size of the actual bit.
So this bit goes right into here like that.
Super easy.
Now there's little sticky things that you put on the bottom
of this right here, just like that.
You put that down wherever your hole is, like that.
You can put water in this reservoir right here.
And then drill through like that.
I mean that makes my life a lot easier.
But I wanted to give you that kind of life hack.
If you don't have one of these,
and don't have access to one of these,
again, you could just use plumber's putty,
and you could even use a styrofoam cup,
or a plastic cup, put it around,
make a little bit of a reservoir in there,
that way the water's in there.
Do it, so.
Now things are even easier than ever.
So, if this works out well,
hopefully I won't crack this tank
and we'll have a couple good holes here
in the next 15, 20 minutes.
So as you can see, I just want to place this right here.
This is where the actual intake
is gonna be, and keep in mind that there's gonna be
not only a bulkhead here,
but there's gonna be a pipe sticking out.
So I've got to make sure that it reaches
all around my backdrop on the inside.
Now once I actually have this set down,
this will be water tight.
I can literally just fill this whole thing
up with a little bit of water.
Which is just gonna make that glass
not heat up and crack like I mentioned.
Now you just basically have to drill.
I mean, I'm gonna go in here.
I'm gonna start really slow.
And just kind of slowly go through.
It might take me as long as five to seven minutes
to drill through.
So you don't want to push down.
You just want the weight of the drill to go through.
And the biggest thing is you don't want
any kind of a wobble.
You want straight down, right?
So you just let the weight of the drill slowly go through.
If it takes five minutes, it takes 10 minutes,
whatever it may be, and let's hope
we don't crack this sucker.
(chill music)
All right, so like I mentioned,
I got all four holes drilled.
It went absolutely incredible.
I did kind of jump ahead of myself
because I forgot we still have to patch these holes.
I still have to get the glass and silicone in.
So tomorrow was a little bit ambitious.
But in the mean time, I'm gonna go ahead,
take these up there, get them in their slots,
and then I can start working on the bulkheads tonight
and stuff like that, and get ready.
With any luck, maybe the next day we'll actually
have alligators in there.
But all in all, it went really well.
Ready?
- Yup. - Good.
- Yup.
(chill music)
- We have to walk a little bit less the next time.
I don't want to tilt.
(chill music)
It fit like a perfect glove, so.
That was a lot of work.
But they're in.
(chill music)
And they are in, guys!
Just in case you guys didn't understand
what I was talking about with Salt and Pepper,
is the fact that we used to have to get 'em
from the back side which was a pain.
It was hard, you're like reaching down,
you're trying to feel for them, stuff like that.
Now we can get them from the front with these glasses
and they can have locks on them.
So we can not only put 'em in here
and easy access them.
But now we can start to really clicker train them,
name train them, and stuff like that.
So we can get them to come to a certain point for food.
That's something we can do now
that they're gonna be like this.
So they'll be out here permanently.
Like I said, I still have to patch these holes really quick
and then of course have to do all the plumbing
once I get the other bulkheads
because these just are in here just to see
and make sure that I did the right thing.
For those of you that are thinking,
"Hey, I might need to drill holes in glass,"
I hope that this helped you a little bit.
In the meantime, I am just over the top happy
that it worked out.
So all I have to do is get bulkheads,
seal up those holes, and get these alligators in there.
It's awesome.
I know it's a little departure from the normal vlog,
but hey, this was pretty awesome, I think.
As we're getting close to being finished
with Salt and Pepper's enclosure,
I've got this monkey to worry about pretty soon too.
Because he definitely getting big.
And although he's got a lot of room
and I love this pond, I always have loved this pond,
the fact is, we have some pretty big plans
for RJ's big upgrade coming soon.
Are you gonna be happy, buddy?
I think that once we move him in,
he's gonna be a lot better, and a lot better mood,
if I'm not mistaken.
So we'll just see what happens with him.
The fact of the matter is we'll have Salt and Pepper
done pretty quick here and then we'll move on
to maybe working on RJ.
If you enjoyed this, actually this video right here
is when I got Salt and Pepper,
and over here you can see a whole playlist
of a bunch of really cool stuff.
Over here, if you don't mind,
can you hit that subscribe button?
While you're at it, turn those post notifications on.
Have an absolutely wonderful day.
Remember to be kind to someone.
I promise, I'll see you guys tomorrow.