- Hey, good morning, everybody,
and welcome to the vlog.
I hope the start of your day is amazing.
I know mine is 'cause I have some company in town.
You might remember, I have MJ and Brian Kusko in town.
And you know, when I have friends in,
I'm gonna go ahead and just throw them right into the fire.
What do you say we take out Lucy
and see how they can handle her?
All right, guys.
So, we're gonna go ahead and introduce my friends,
Brian and MJ, to Lucy.
Lucy, are you in a good mood today?
Come on, girl.
What are you doing today?
Come on, baby.
Come on, baby girl.
Oh, she's in a good mood.
We're in good shape.
- [MJ] Oh my God.
(laughing)
- Come on, come on.
(grunting)
- [Man] All right, get the back end, Kusko.
- [Brian] That'd be great,
that'd be great. - [Man] Kusko,
get the back end. - [Brian] Let's go.
There you go.
There you guys go. - All right.
She's really not that big,
I think Brian's just really that small.
- I know, and just so you guys know,
these guys have experience with retics,
so I'm not gonna just throw my friends
into a non-experienced situation.
And Lucy seems to be in a pretty good shape, so.
- [MJ] Woo!
- MJ, have you held held,
I know you've held a lot of big snakes, Brian.
- No, not like this.
Never in my life.
- You gotta just keep spinning around,
and guess who ended up with the back end.
(laughing) - Me.
- [All] Whoa, whoa, whoa.
- Hang on!
- [MJ] Her back end's in my mouth!
- This is the biggest squirrelly snake I've ever held.
- It's okay, baby girl.
It's okay.
(laughing)
- I'm good, I'm good, I'm good.
(squeak)
She's gone.
She gone, she gone.
- [MJ] Oh, there we go.
- [Kusko] She bangs, she bangs.
- [MJ] Wow, bro.
- So Brian, remember that time that we traveled to a cave
in the middle of nowhere to find a reticulated python?
- Yeah, can you imagine we found one this big?
- Oh my gosh.
We just found a little baby.
- Wow, she's strong, dude.
- She is strong, isn't she?
She's a next level animal.
You kinda just gotta spin into her.
(laughing)
- Hi, there!
I didn't think I was gonna be this close to Brian.
- I guess Lucy is bringing us closer.
Lucy brings people close together.
(laughing) - Oh my God.
- Hi.
I guess I might as well kiss you now.
(laughing)
- Oh my God!
- [MJ] I tap out.
- He's tappin'!
She's starting to get worn out now.
Now she's starting to chill out.
Woo, tell you what,
there's a lot of perks to being friends with me,
you know what I mean?
- 100%. - [Brian] MJ,
what do you think, man?
You tired? - [MJ] No, I'm okay.
- You don't need cardio when you have this girl.
- Yeah, this is cardio.
- She's amazing.
What do you guys say we move onto another big snake?
One that's a little bit more chill.
Say, Ivy, the anaconda.
- [MJ] Ivy the anaconda. - Wow, she just wants
to keep moving, man.
- (breathing heavily) She's a good girl.
- Good girl.
Beautiful girl.
- There she is.
There's my baby girl. - [MJ] Hi,
look at you, Lucy! - There's my Lucy.
- [MJ] She's so pretty.
- Now she's happy.
Okay, girl.
Ready?
- That's cool, man.
- [MJ] Now that you're happy, we're putting you back.
None of my snakes are quite this big yet.
- [MJ] No, bro.
- I've got one that's, like, as long,
but not as dense with muscle.
- Yeah, that's the thing.
Like you said, the problem with her,
she's big and she's moody.
She doesn't stop. - Yeah, she's agile.
- So she's like a giant corn snake.
- All right, we can let her crawl back, if you want.
Watch, she'll climb right up in the tree.
She'll go right there.
Watch, every time she'll climb up into the tree.
(squeak)
You watch.
- [MJ] Ah, it's so cool.
- [Brian] And she'll perch like a green tree python.
- [Kusko] Really? - [MJ] Dude, she's like
an enormous super dwarf.
Look at that thing, bro. - [Brian] Yeah, exactly.
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
- [Kusko] That is so neat.
Holy crap.
- [Brian] Isn't that awesome?
- Yeah, I'm a little winded. - I'm spent
- I tell you what, man,
That'll get your juices flowing early in the morning.
- That's a good core workout.
- On to Ivy.
The only problem with getting Ivy out
is this little monkey right here
is guarding my way, but he's in shed,
so I think he's gonna be fine.
He's been very active lately.
You can see he's doing really good.
Now my girl, Ivy, here on the other hand,
is just a gorgeous animal.
Come on, baby girl.
Come out, see Daddy.
Come out and see Daddy.
All right, Brian, this is you.
Up you go.
Up and over.
- I guess my goal here is to figure out,
you know what, I think that she's,
I don't know if she's lighter than Lucy,
or it's just the fact that she is less squirrelly.
- She's definitely lighter than Lucy.
- Definitely lighter - But she is dense.
- Yeah, she is dense.
So she's definitely smaller than Lucy,
but I'd say she's close as far as weight.
- She's getting heavy.
She is getting heavy,
but there's something about an anaconda,
just that strength and that denseness.
But I tell you what, this girl is legitimately
one of the coolest animals I've ever worked with.
I'm not even kidding you.
You know I love snakes,
but there is something different
about a green anaconda like this.
I mean, like, next level curiosity, just chill.
I mean, you could do anything to this animal,
and she won't do anything to you.
She's amazing. - I love the super slow
curious tongue flick.
That's just like... - [MJ] Yeah, yeah,
it's pretty incredible.
- And she just wants to know,
and you know what the crazy thing is?
Is that I can put that stool, right there,
on the ground over here, and she'll climb back in her cage,
on her own. - On her own?
- Every single time. - Wow.
- Every single time, she'll climb in on her own.
Isn't she amazing?
- I've got this retic
that I would take to educational shows,
and when she was done with the kids, I could tell.
I could set her down,
she would crawl in her little travel box.
- (laughs) She's like, "Let me go back, dad."
- "I need a break."
- But I tell you, I mean,
there's just something about an iconic snake,
like an anaconda, but I'm talking about personality-wise,
like no other snake.
Like no other snake, at all.
- What's the biggest anaconda you've seen in captivity.
- So I saw, at Alligator Alley in Orlando,
with Nick, the owner,
I mean, it's gotta be 250-300 pounds.
Literally to the point where I could not pick up
the first third of the body.
- Wow. - Couldn't pick it up.
Literally, I mean, it's this big around,
and literally, I did everything I could do,
and I couldn't get it off the ground.
That's how heavy it is. - [Kusko] That's crazy.
- So yeah, I mean, this girl's got a long way to go,
but she's crushing down like 12-15 pound pigs now.
- And what is she, like three years?
- Believe it or not, so anacondas grow super slow
the first, like, four or five years of their life.
She was six years old when we got her.
- Really?
- She was about half this size,
and we've only had her a little over a year.
So once they hit like a certain size, they explode in size.
Isn't that cool, MJ? - Dude, yeah,
just the super slow tongue flicks, that was like...
- Almost like she's ready to go to town, but she's not.
- But she's not, she's just curious.
I mean, you can sit down,
and she'll just kind of hang out with you.
I mean, she's just amazing.
MJ, you gotta feel the weight of Ivy.
- [MJ] All right, let's do it.
- It's a little but different.
It's so different then Lucy, because--
- A lot easier to hold then Lucy.
- Yeah, so much easier, because she's so chill.
There you go.
(grunts)
- Oh, man. (laughing)
Oh yeah, she's a lot more doable then Lucy.
- Yeah, she won't move around a lot.
She's just kind of always gonna be chill with you,
and stuff like that.
- [Kusko] Definitely got a different smell.
- [Brian] Yeah, yeah, well,
I think she might have been in heat.
That's the thing. - She wants her daddy.
- Oh, it's okay.
She's good.
Later on, you're going in the water with her, right?
- Yeah.
- All right, guys,
so I'll put a link in the description to his video.
He's gonna go swimming with Ivy a little bit later on, too.
Spend some time.
Trust me, that is a cool experience.
And I want to say, I wish everyone,
you guys know I want there to be swimming experiences,
'cause I want people to be able
to actually see how insanely cool it is.
So Brian, you're gonna only be the second person,
I guess Bruce does it from time to time,
but for the most part, you, me, and Bruce
are gonna be the only people that have ever swam with her,
and she's just amazing.
You're gonna have a good time.
- Oh, I remember the first time,
when you first built this thing, I sent you a message,
I was like, "Dude, I need to swim in there,"
and you were like, "Come over."
- Yeah, yeah.
You know, it's really amazing to have friends,
and I'm gonna be honest with you,
we haven't hardly had any visitors since March, right?
So you guys know, we've just been here filming,
and stuff like that.
So it kind of feels more normal
that my friends are coming from California,
hanging out, we're having a great time.
I mean, it helps me emotionally, tremendously,
to be with people I love, and that I miss so much.
So we're having a great time here.
There's still a lot more to see.
We're just gonna have a fun time the rest of the day.
All right, so Brian,
I want to show you the target training
we're doing with Elvis, here.
So first off, you take that,
and we see if I can get Elvis to come.
Come on, Elvis, let's go.
(tapping)
You wanna come?
Come on, let's go.
Get the ball, come on.
(rustling)
There we go, so now you give it to him.
Grab another piece of meat real quick.
Keep comin'.
(laughs) Give him a piece,
'cause he's just really lazy today.
Come on, up here.
A little bit more.
Little bit more.
Little bit more, there you go, buddy.
All right, all the way up.
There you go.
Okay, I won't let him,
you can give it to him now,
just so that he doesn't have to,
(crunch)
once he gets on your... (laughs)
Eh, over here.
Okay, that's it.
That's enough, why don't you kneel down for a second,
just 'cause it starts to hurt when you
get to your ribs. - Oh, I don't care.
Yeah, if he gets the ribs, I'm not worried about it.
(laughs)
I'll take some scratches, this is worth it.
- There you go, buddy.
There you go, bud.
Elvis, Elvis.
Elvis, come.
(laughing)
Okay, right here.
Right here. - [MJ] Oh my gosh.
- Right here. (laughing)
Okay.
One last piece.
One last piece, Elvis.
There you go bud, come here.
- [Kusko] He's like, "I don't care, I'm feeling good."
- [Brian] There he goes, all right.
There he goes.
- Come on, get a rib, buddy.
Get a rib.
Oh yeah, I feel that one.
Underneath the shirt. (laughing)
- He's like, "I'll just take your hand."
So what do you think, man?
- That is awesome. (laughing)
Isn't he freaking cool.
- I'm glad you did that.
I didn't tell you I wanted to do that,
but I definitely wanted to do that.
- I mean, that's like him sleeping, too,
you know what I mean?
Like, when he's wide awake,
he'll run up your leg, like, in a second.
He'll be up here, like, in a second, so he was sleepy today.
- Well, if he wants to eat later, dinner tomorrow.
- Yeah, we'll do it again, man,
when he's fired up for your stuff.
(water rushing)
- Brian left his camera sitting here?
He's giving a tour over there,
but he just has the camera sitting right up front.
Brian, you should know,
cameras can get stolen real easy off counters like that.
But all right guys, I wanted to tell you
that since the last time I've been here,
it's expanded a lot.
I haven't been here for, like, two years.
When I was here, this center area behind Bowser's cage,
still not finished,
didn't have rocks on it, or anything like that.
It was just like bare bones, and now that's all finished.
And since then, of course, as you guys know,
there's this huge expansion with Ivy's cage.
And I'm just super proud of the guy
for following his dreams and making this happen,
because, I mean, he's got a tour happening
right here, right now.
People are coming here every day, learning about reptiles,
becoming unafraid of reptiles,
and I'm just super stoked on what he's done with the place.
This is super amazing.
I mean, every square inch of it.
It makes me want to fast forward my dreams
to have something like this going on for me,
and it's just a big inspiration for that.
So I highly recommend that if you guys haven't been here,
you gotta come check it out,
'cause I think it'll change your life.
- So Brian, you've never met Salt, right?
- No, when I was here last time, you didn't have these yet.
- But you met her, right MJ?
- I got to hold Salt.
- Yeah, she was much smaller, I think.
- Yeah, she wasn't too much smaller, but...
- Let me see.
So anyways, she's a sweetheart.
- [Kusko] Oh yeah, she's small.
- She's super, super good.
Calm down, girl.
Yeah, I can literally just keep her to calm down,
I talk to her, tell her to calm down.
Put your left hand out,
right hand's gonna hold just her tail,
I touch her nose,
and she'll literally sit there like that
for as long as you want.
- Super calm.
- [Brian] Isn't that amazing? - Super chill.
- And it's even to the point where--
Hey, stay.
Don't you do it.
So even to the point where, let's say,
like, some kids are around,
I'm keeping as close eye as I can.
One kid comes up, goes like this,
touches her face, she won't even bite.
I can pet her mouth, I can pet her teeth,
I can do anything like that to her.
So we desensitize her to anything like that, right?
- Now, so this girl's super chill,
but what about Pepper? - Pepper's a little but crazy.
I'm gonna go ahead and give MJ this one.
You stay, girl. - Stay.
- [Brian] Stay, girl. - That's so cool, man.
(splashing)
(laughing) - [MJ] Oh my God, Brain.
- [Kusko] Yeah, that's not as chill.
(laughing) - Not as chill,
but it's actually pretty decent.
You have to hold it.
Yeah, you have to hold this one.
That one you don't have to hold at all.
This one you just kind of, you know, don't squeeze too hard,
but, you know, keep an eye on it.
It will come around.
I don't think it'll bite, but I don't know for sure.
(laughing) - Yeah, well, I'll make sure
that it doesn't happen. - This dude, right, bro?
- [Kusko] Oh my God, I guess we'll find out.
- You gonna be all right, girl?
You gonna be okay?
Yes, you are.
I don't know if I could do that.
You gonna be good?
Good girl.
I guess it's actually pretty chill.
- Wow, all right.
- Good girl, good girl.
Good girl. - [MJ] Nice work, man.
- Good girl.
So she's actually pretty good.
- Yeah, this is fantastic.
- When was the last time you had both of them,
holding both them out like this?
- It's been a while.
I don't take Pepper out hardly ever,
because it doesn't seem to enjoy it that much, you know?
We take Salt out every single day,
but Pepper doesn't come out much,
but it's actually really chilled out.
Good, Pepper.
Good job.
- [MJ] Good job, man.
- That's actually really cool.
Maybe I need to start working with Pepper more,
because I think there might be potential here.
- Just get 'em a little more acclimated.
- [Cameraman] Dude, you're not kidding, dude.
I didn't know you could even do that.
- Yeah, so it's definitely come around.
Very good, Pepper.
Very good.
Look at those jet black eyes, though.
I mean, jeez!
Just crazy. - [MJ] Almost looks blue.
- [Kusko] It's super cool to see them
contrasted side by side like that.
- I know, ridiculous.
You guys know that I love sharing my animals
with everyone that comes to the Reptarium.
Every single person that comes through,
it's like, it's the best part of my job,
is being able to share these amazing animals.
But it's even more special when you spend so much time
with people like Brian and MJ,
and now I can share these animals.
I mean, MJ was here for the grand opening,
but things weren't completely done,
and Brian hasn't been here ever since
the beginning of the first one.
So he didn't even see the end of the first Reptarium,
let alone the second.
They're doing great, they're having a great time,
and this has just been the day that I needed.
So Laurie, you said you got something,
a gift for me, or something?
- No, it's not a gift for you.
- [Brian] Well, what is it? - But I just got something
for the Reptarium.
- [Brian] You got something, is it gifts?
- Gifts?
No, no, it's live.
- [Brian] It's alive?
You got something for the Reptarium that's alive,
and I didn't know about it?
- Yes, I did.
How does it feel?
- [Brian] It feels weird.
(laughing) I feel violated.
- Okay. - [Brian] What is it?
It's in the arachnid wall?
This is where the millipede was.
- [Laurie] Look it, he's got friends.
- [Brian] Oh my God, you got more millipedes?
- [Laurie] Yeah, I got three of these guys.
- [Brian] What the heck are they?
- They're smokey, they're called
smokey millipedes. - [Brian] Smokey millipedes,
okay. - So they won't get as big
as him, but they can live together.
They get, I guess, kinda fat, but not as big.
- So let me get this straight.
You bought millipedes for the Reptarium.
- I did, I feel like this wall needed more stuff.
- Wow, I don't... (laughing)
I literally don't know what to say.
I mean-- - The kids love 'em,
don't they?
- [Brian] They do. - I know.
- I mean, I'm very impressed.
(laughs)
Thank you, I would have never, in a million years,
thought you would do something like this,
but that's awesome.
- I think they're having fun, getting acquainted.
- Remember that package at the door, Brian?
That was it. - Yeah.
Oh, that was it!
Oh my gosh, holey cow. (laughing)
- That was it. - [Brian] That is awesome.
Well, good job.
Well, I love it.
Thank you, Laurie.
Keep those surprises coming.
(laughing)
- [Cameraman] So MJ?
- What's up, man?
- [Cameraman] Dude, last time we were here
was the grand opening, right?
- 100%. - It was super packed.
How do you feel now, about the Reptarium,
now that you've been here kind of by yourself, though?
- I mean, it's kind of surreal just because, you know,
this is something that I admired on the first trip,
but being on this trip,
and it's more personable, less packed.
I don't know, man.
It's just a crazy experience, man.
I'm literally living a dream right now,
and all I can say is, I'm so proud of this place,
and the future looks bright for the Reptarium.
- What an absolutely amazing time with my friends in town.
I'm gonna put a link in the description
to MJ and Brian Kusko's Triple B, and all that stuff.
Go show them some love for coming out
and having a great time with us.
Plus you'll see, on Brian's channel,
kinda his perspective of what's going on
here at the Reptarium,
so I think it'll be a really good time.
Thank you for watching, you guys are amazing.
If you enjoyed this video,
here is a playlist, you can run through it.
Help my click-through rate
if you click some of these videos, so please do that for me.
Up here, you can actually subscribe to the podcast
that Brian Kusko's gonna be on, and MJ's gonna be on.
I think you guys are gonna love that.
On this side, I hope you're subscribed to this vlog channel.
Turn your post notifications on.
Have an absolutely wonderful day.
Remember, be kind to someone,
and I promise, I'll see you tomorrow.