- Have you guys ever heard of the Turtle Derby?
The other day, I got a call
from the people that actually run the Kentucky Derby.
You wanna do what? With turtles?
Yeah, I think we could do that.
First Kentucky Derby happened in 1875,
and for the first 60 years
there was a Kentucky Derby every year.
In 1945, at the end of World War II,
they actually canceled the Kentucky Derby
for the first time.
And that's when the first Turtle Derby was actually born,
in 1945. Because they didn't have the Kentucky Derby,
they actually had the Turtle Derby
which turned out to be a huge success.
- Great success
- For the next 75 years, every single year,
there was a Kentucky Derby until of course, 2020.
We all know it happened there. COVID happened.
And there wasn't a Kentucky Derby for only second time.
And they of course replaced it with the Turtle Derby.
So much success happened that they decided
now they're gonna have a Turtle Derby,
along with the Kentucky Derby, every year.
And this year, we're bringing the contestants.
Let's go ahead and pack up these turtles.
(funky music)
So it's actually gonna be eight contestant turtles,
but I figure I'll throw in a ninth with this albino.
Maybe they'll want to use this one.
I really wish I could bring Chopstick the two-headed turtle,
but I have a feeling if I did
the race would be neck and neck.
- My hope here is that he looks really, really excited
and that he'll actually start taking off tongs from us
'cause he's actually already done it before.
There you go, good job.
Now, that's what I want to see.
He was right out the box really amazing.
All we have to do is just encourage the positive
behavior he's already doing.
You see him up front, you open the cage
you walks out on his own already.
So you'd rather eat it yourself?
So you guys notice I'm putting,
like, the tongs kind of close to him.
Sometimes even if he just takes it on his own
he'll see the tongs and he associates that,
that's where his food's coming from.
- Well, it is a Turtle Derby
and they certainly didn't tell me
that I should bring any snakes,
but I'm not gonna pass up the opportunity to
potentially get some people to meet reptiles,
so I figure I'll take Jeffrey.
- That's not a turtle.
- What's the worse that happens, we get kicked out?
- Yeah, that'll get you kicked out.
- The one thing I know for sure is
it's at the Detroit Yacht Club,
it's gonna be fancy and people are gonna be dressed up,
so we're gonna be underdressed.
- Yeah.
- Were we really supposed to dress up?
- I don't know.
- My God.
- Oh. And by the way, Jay's coming with us.
- He said you have to pick it up.
(funky music)
We're so underdress.
- Flashback to when we went to Coyote Peterson's premiere.
- Been away from the party,
I'm gonna be totally honest with you,
I'm super excited to be here
and honored to be a part of the Coyote's premiere.
But I didn't realize that everyone was gonna be dressed up.
- While the boys are having fun,
got a little surprise for you guys.
Well, this is Charlotte, closer to 20 years old now.
And to see how beautiful she is after a molt,
I'll tell you guys, this animal is unbeatable.
I wanted to hold off on pulling this molt
until you guys got here.
Now that she's at her best dressed,
how do you go to Kentucky Derby and not dress up?
Have y'all ever seen the Kentucky Derby?
Cause I mean, they're looking good.
It's like church on Sunday, man.
- Is my hair okay?
I might take my hoodie off at least
so we have the same shirt on.
- Yeah. I can take a picture.
Gotta keep on educating.
- You're good, you're good.
It's like taking off the garter.
- This is two years old.
- This guy.
- There's no denim allowed in the club.
Did they tell you that?
- No. Are you serious?
- We're just hired help, though.
- If they say anything, management,
we do have loaner, like, slacks.
- Okay, good.
There's actually no denim allowed in this club
and we have jeans on,
so there's a chance we might have to get some loner pants
so that we can fit in.
- I should have stayed.
I, I don't even have a belt to win.
- How you doing, I'm Brian.
- Hi Brian, I'm Brian too.
- Oh, that's easy.
- I'm sorry that we're not dressed to the hills, obviously.
- No. So we're just gonna do racing stripes on the turtles.
- Okay? Sure.
- I feel so uncomfortable right now.
- If you want the albino or not.
- OH, I think we have to have him don't we?
We'll call him Bob.
- He's gonna be red.
- Baloney! I'm sitting here mopping.
What is it? The Turtle Derby.
Jay, Jay, Brian.
I wanna be at the Turtle Derby.
Wonder how they're doing?
- As you're gonna hang out in this space, we'll have to.
- No problem. Let's go.
And we have to change.
- They don't dress up.
So I gotta wear a t-shirt with slacks?
Dad, can I just stay in the car?
- No.
- Slacks with Yeezys?
- Where do I change?
- Right here.
- Now we're talking.
- Yep. All right, bye Jay.
This will be interesting.
- Spiffy.
- And then you were like, no, we can stay.
Now look at me.
That's one.
- Yeah, I've done this before.
- None of the turtles are gonna go in there.
(funky music)
- Last one.
- Jeffrey!
- Oh my God, I feel like Britney!
- Look at you!
- Thanks, I got married today.
- Yep, there it is, there it is, there it is.
- This is exactly why we do what we do, you know?
Getting to share the animals, getting to teach people.
Also, watching everybody have a good time.
Jeffrey was kissing that guy's face.
- It's going well.
Jeffrey did great.
- The Kentucky Derby journal
was postponed for the first time in its event history.
in that interim, because of World War II,
they thought, well, if you're gonna race
the fastest animal on land with a human attached to it,
what would we do in, in the opposite of that?
So for one year and one year only the Kentucky Derby
was replaced by the Kentucky Turtle Derby.
Flash forward to 2020,
and the world is hit with the global pandemic.
The Kentucky Derby is postponed for only the second time
in its history, and we will create, again,
the Kentucky Turtle Derby.
Today we're gonna be running eight turtles from our friends
at the Reptarium.
They brought everybody out to us.
The first turtle to reach the blue.
- [Brian] You guys making your bets, who's gonna win?
- Okay. On your marks, get set, go.
(crowd shouting)
- And there we go.
- Five! It was supposed to go slow
and it was the fastest turtle.
- Yeah, it was definitely very fast.
- Albino was going so hard at the beginning.
- It looks like six right here.
Oh, he's finally going.
Six, is he gonna get seventh place?
I think he might get seventh, this guy's coming in.
Maybe eighth? Seventh place here for the albino.
And then the last place, he's coming over here.
I don't know if he's gonna make it or not.
- Seattle Slow, comes in dead last.
- There he goes, he came in last.
There he is.
Thanks guys, I appreciate it.
Hope it was fun, they were fast.
- Man. I'm actually generally surprised, generally.
I'm genuinely surprised they didn't try to sneak Brillo in.
I mean he's, like, armadillo and a half shell,
or like a tortoise that got melted
in the microwave for about five minutes.
I mean, look at him, he's just so cute fluffy.
Who doesn't love an armadillo?
High five? Good boy.
I just taught him that.
- And that's a wrap.
- I come here often.
This is a actually where I have dinner one Wednesday nights.
Oh, there's always something.
- We got in the wrong elevator.
This only does four, five, and six.
- That's how ritzy this place is?
- A different elevator.
- We're probably in a whole 'nother building.
- Long way from home boys.
- Help. It just keep getting better and better.
Oh my God. I, I should have stayed.
Really? Look, right now, what even are you doing?
I'm doing all of the work.
If I take my hand off, that is what happens.
- Back to the shop.
- Yeah, I didn't do that.
I don't how to work the scale.
Oh, I see him. Peek-a-boo.
Oh, that's your butt.
My little chicken nugget.
How dare they not bring the little cutest,
best turtle in the world.
Why does the scale not work?
Boop. Wow!
You little tubby tub.
He's more than,
carry nine,
he's more than doubled what his weight
when we first got him.
Doesn't look like he's getting bigger.
When I first took that first picture,
he was just about the size of my thumb.
Now he's bigger than my thumb.
So cute.
But how? His name's Mike Tyson 'cause he's aggressive. Grr.
He'd have won the race every day of the week.
- And so it begins. The colubrid season is on the way.
This is a Mexican black king snake.
Look at mama right there.
Beautiful black shiny snake.
And I love nothing more than beautiful, white, glossy eggs.
Look at that right there.
Woo-hoo. I tell you what, I am so excited.
The very first colubrid clutch of the year out of this room.
Put these guys right here. We got two, four, six eggs.
And this is the other clutch that we have today.
Look that beautiful clutch of eggs.
This is actually what they call a Het Russo.
Tight to this ripper right here
which is a super pastel Hidden Gene Woma.
And together they produce what they call Russo Soul Suckers.
But look at the clutch right there. Beautiful. Right there.
Let's see, we've got two, four, six, eight wonderful eggs.
No slugs.
- So this is, right here, probably one of the closest things
that you could see to, like, a trilobite.
And look at that,
tell me that's not almost the exact same thing.
So cool that we got this, like,
almost prehistoric, like, bug.
Now, on top of all the really, really cool, all the isopods,
somebody sent us a titan isopod.
Now, that's a nickname that's given to them in the hobby
because they are one of the largest.
You're really into pet isopods this is the one you get, man.
They're so cool, so huge.
The porcellio expansus orange.
Now, these are gorgeous, dude. Look at these things.
They're huge, they're large,
they've got all kinds of color to them. 25 whole dollars.
- [Cameraman] Just for one?
- Just for one, the whole amount would be about $300
for just these few little guys.
I would not spend that amount of money on bugs,
but that being said, this guy was being very generous
with us and he had some extras that he sent us
and that is super cool, man.
- Our buddy Jason, over at Mixed Morphology,
sent us something.
Oh he did it.
Beef jerky, baby.
- Vacuum sealed, baby.
- Oh my gosh.
Oh my God, these are actually wild.
Look at these.
These are 3D printed. These are cool, man.
- It's got a neck and everything.
- Look, you can go like this
and it actually seems like it's moving.
That is cool.
And then they have a snake. Whoa, dude.
- It looks really cool, don't it?
- Dude, that is awesome, man.
Well, thank you buddy.
I appreciate you, Jason.
Beef jerky's amazing, 3D prints' amazing. Pretty awesome.
That was an absolutely amazing time.
But to be honest with you, it was a little embarrassing.
So I'm glad that's over.
Speaking of over, hope you guys enjoyed today's video.
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Have a wonderful day reptile army.