- So I just wanna spend a few more minutes
with this absolutely gorgeous monocled cobra
before we move on to some other
pretty deadly snakes, guys. (music squeals)
Hey, good morning everybody and welcome to the vlog.
It is gonna be a fun and adrenaline-filled morning
so we're gonna go on a little adventure together.
And by the way have an absolutely amazing day.
The reason I say that is because I have a little goodie here
that Bruce brought me.
Remember that little tiny cobra that we sexed awhile ago?
That's right, Bruce took this little baby home.
I swear to gosh, it was only like this big
just like literally three months ago.
Now look at how absolutely amazingly large it is.
And Bruce and Jessica have been really working
with some venomous animals that are truly amazing
but look at this leucistic monocled cobra.
Whoo whoo doggie.
That thing is absolutely wonderful.
Again, it's always a pleasure when you're holding
something like this because it's just so absolutely adorable
and you know I've told people this all the time,
you don't want to keep venomous snakes
because you're cowboying it up or you want to be macho
or something like that.
- Now I'm a jerk and everybody loves me.
- But at the same time, you know,
some people ride roller coasters and jump out of planes
and drive fast cars, for me,
it's something about messing with a venomous snake
that just it makes me feel more alive than ever, right.
And you got to be really careful though
because getting bit by one of these guys,
there's no badge of honor, right.
We want to be responsible as we can be.
So, I'm always going to take a lot of precaution.
You know, I don't ever really judge anyone
for the things that they do
but personally I don't ever want a free handle a cobra
without using a snake hook
and being is absolutely safe as possible
because if I get bit that's not good for the reptile hobby,
it's not good for the animal,
it's not good for our image or anything like that.
Regardless, this guy can pack a pretty good punch.
I'm not gonna lie to you, right now.
I mean you don't want to get bit by something like this
mainly because not only is it pretty toxic
but also the fact that you really don't know
how your body is gonna react.
If you have an allergy to venom
and I've never been bitten by a venomous snake,
so I don't know if I have that allergy or not,
so I don't want to take any risk because,
hey if you go into anaphylactic shock with a cobra like this
you're definitely gonna be in trouble.
I had a friend of mine, of course, Ryan over in Africa,
that died last year that was unconscious within 30 second
of just a nip from a black mamba.
That's right, now don't get me wrong,
black mambas are very, very venomous.
It wasn't the fact of the toxicity of the venom,
it was actually the anaphylactic or allergic shock
that actually killed my buddy.
So, I don't ever want to take that chance,
so I always want to be very precautious with this
but cobras are amazing and this one is so well-behaved.
It barely even slightly looks up from time to time.
It is an absolutely unbelievably docile animal
but Bruce tells me that at home it doesn't
act quite this behaved but I'm pretty lucky
to have an opportunity to handle something like this
but he also brought me a couple African vipers
that I'm very excited about
so I just want to spend a few more minutes
with this absolutely gorgeous monocled cobra
before we move on to some other pretty deadly snakes, guys.
The thing I love about monocled cobras is the fact
that they're so polymorphic as far as color mutations,
you know, because with most venomous snakes
it's not a lot of captive breeding for color mutations.
It's kind of the exception with the monocled cobra.
They actually come in a bunch of different colors.
Albinos, leucistic, purple ones,
all kinds of different stuff, Sunglows, oh my gosh.
They are absolutely incredible.
And this leucistic is an absolute beauty.
I tell you what, that is a beautiful snake
and I'm so lucky that I had the opportunity
to meet it today and I hope that you guys enjoyed it.
What do you say we move on to some African vipers?
Oh my gosh,
take a look at this little dude right here.
Of course this is the African puff adder.
These guys are incredible.
I mean one of the coolest little vipers out there for sure
but unfortunately puff adders are responsible
for the most bites over in Africa
as well as fatality as well.
These guys are lightning quick.
Really these and the death adders
are considered the fastest striking snake on the planet
and they have quite a range.
Believe it or not, it may seem
that I'm a little bit far away from this guy
but it has such a strike range,
I'm not getting any closer
because they're actually like little springs.
They'll literally spring their body
forward when they strike.
So, a normal snake might only be able to strike
six or eight inches at this length.
This guy could probably go a foot or a foot and a half
strike range because they're little springs.
They just spring forward.
Of course, they have those hypodermic needles
for teeth that inject the venom
and again it's a pretty dirty venom,
you definitely don't want to get bit by something like that.
And the reason there's so many fatalities
over in Africa from puff adders,
it's not the fact that they're unbelievably toxic
which they are pretty nasty,
but the truth is it's the treatment, right.
That's why the death adders over in Australia
which are very similar there's hardly any deaths
from those guys because the treatment in Australia
is so much better than Africa
and that's certainly something we have to work on
in continents like Africa
is to get a little bit better health care
so that there's less fatalities from snakebites
as well as just education on these guys.
One of the things that you have to be careful about
with puff adders is the fact that if you ever have to neck
them for whatever reason they can actually poke those fangs
right through the bottom and bite you, so
I tell you what, I know a lot of people have been nipped
by puff adders that way, where one tooth just comes out
and just nicks them from the behind.
So, I don't mess with these guys too much
and one of the things that I think puff adders
are really known for is the undulation when they crawl.
They have that really straight pattern undulation
as opposed to a normal slither, but wow,
what a gorgeous animal and what's crazy
about these guys, they're live-barers.
Believe it or not, there's been reports
of puff adders having over 100 babies.
Could you imagine coming across an exhibit
that has 100 little puff adders in it?
Oh, I tell you what that's a lot of danger noodles.
All right, next up, what I would think as
the other two of the trifecta
when it comes to amazing African vipers.
Oh my gosh, whoo.
That thing is ridiculous.
Again, I'm going to keep myself pretty far away.
These guys are little springs, but unbelievable.
Take a look at that animal right there.
Unreal, of course this is the Gaboon viper from Africa.
One of the coolest snakes on the planet, I think.
I think if you were to say what is the prettiest snake
that you've ever seen on the planet that naturally occurs?
I would say Gaboon vipers or Rhino vipers
would definitely be that animal.
I mean just look at the cryptic color and patterning
and that big head and these guys have the longest teeth
of any venomous snake and adult Gaboon viper
can literally have teeth up to a inch and a half long.
It's crazy.
Of course, they are short and stout.
They're kind of like a blood Python in a way
but in a viper body.
Just take a look that thing.
And again, much like the puff adder,
these guys have an amazing strike range.
So again, you may think that you're fine
and that you're not in the danger area
but they'll just spring out and shoot really quickly.
You do not want to get tagged by something like this.
This is a pretty serious bite right here
but nevertheless unbelievably gorgeous animal.
Again, there's East and West Gaboon vipers
and they're just slightly different
but unbelievably incredible animals I tell you what.
I'm just in awe every time I see a Gaboon viper.
I mean just look at that animal.
- Would ya look at this?
- That is ridiculous.
I don't even know what to say other than the fact
that I feel blown away about this thing.
It's crazy and I've seen a lot of Gaboon vipers.
This one is so clean and so absolutely beautiful.
Oh my gosh.
Wow, guys, I'm just blown away, man.
That thing is, that's like a dream animal right there.
I one day have to own Gaboons and Rhino vipers for sure
because they are just a dream, dream snake but again,
(sighs) stay away from the pokey end, man
'cause that would be a bad, bad day
to get hit by something like that but wow.
Just take a look at that.
- He probably had a look at it and said look at this.
- Wow, that thing is crazy.
All right, the last of the trifecta.
Oh my gosh.
Are you kidding me?
Unbelievable, look at that thing right there.
Holy moly, now okay, I just sat there and said how
I thought that Gaboon viper was the most beautiful thing,
this is like, I thought it I'm in shock.
Of course, this is a Rhino viper
which is very closely related to the gabonicus.
It's just the rhinoceros and
but the color and the crispness of the pattern
is ridiculous, oh my gosh.
I mean, just take a look at that thing.
- Look at it. - Yeah, well.
- What the heck is that (laughs)?
- I don't even know what to say.
I mean that is incredible and again I think
that when it comes to the the vipers of Africa,
certainly the Rhino, the Gaboon, and the puff
are the ones that are like the iconic,
just like unbelievable animals
and don't get me wrong, there's a lot
of amazing snakes in Africa and venomous snakes as well
but for me personally these are the three that stand out
as the unbelievable kinda icons of that continent
and I tell you what, this Rhino viper is unbelievable.
Just take a look at that thing right there.
- Yeah, look at that.
- Whoo, that is unbelievable
and of course you can certainly see
where they get the Rhino name, right?
They've got those appendages that are incredible.
I mean just look at the head pattern on that thing,
that just unbelievably stark arrow and then
that just crazy kinda yellow-blue pattern around it.
Wow, there's no doubt,
well I can understand how people can be so fascinated
with all of these animals, unbelievable.
So, I tell you what guys,
I hope that you enjoyed the beginning of this vlog
and playing with some deadly animals of Bruce and Jessica's.
And I don't have to tell you
that they're being unbelievably responsible
and cautious with these animals.
They aren't going to ever do anything
that could potentially put them or anyone else in harm
and if you ever do decide to keep venomous reptiles,
you need to keep that in mind as well.
Make sure that you're responsible not only for what you do
but for the safety of people around you
because we don't need someone doing something wrong
but I tell you what, I absolutely love venomous snakes,
I think they're incredible
and I wish I could start every day like this.
Pretty excited, we're actually heading off
to Josh's Frogs right now.
I literally have been talking about
launching the reptile prime backdrops like the Reptarium,
for like, I don't know, close to a year now.
Well, guess what I've ordered every size Zoo Med
and every size of Exoterra tanks.
I ordered from Josh's Frogs, they're in today
so I'm gonna go travel about hour-and-a-half
to Josh's frogs, we'll pick up these tanks,
we'll look around and see some frogs of course,
head back to the Reptarium and then we'll even show you guys
what I mean by these backdrops.
I finally am getting this going, I'm super excited.
(techno music)
And of course, I'm here at Josh's Frogs
just kind of getting the frog tour here.
I'm gonna look at some really cool animals
and then we're gonna try to load up all of the tanks.
I hear that there's so many tanks,
we might not be able to fit them all in the cargo van.
My bad, I figured it was gonna be okay
but hey the way it goes.
So, just gonna look at some cool frogs
and then we'll try to see if we can pack this stuff up
get back to the Reptarium.
Absolutely love the tadpole room.
I mean it's so crazy to see all these tadpoles in here.
There are literally 10s of 1,000s
of little tadpoles in here, unbelievably cool.
I tell you what, I remember coming to Josh's Frogs
when it was like just a small amount of tadpoles,
now it's ridiculous.
(techno music)
Now this is company commitment right here.
Josh himself is loading up my tanks,
so we have to load all of these tanks into that van
and Josh is doing it and me and Jay are going
to get a beer right now, so thanks Josh.
(laughing) No, no, no, we're gonna help.
We're gonna help them load up.
(techno music)
(door slams)
I tell you what guys, we have plenty of room,
I was really stressing thinking that it wouldn't even fit
but we could fit more, maybe we should buy some more stuff.
No, but let's get back to the Reptarium.
I can't wait to see what we have in store with these guys.
It's absolutely going to be amazing.
Been wanting to launch these backdrops for a long time
so we'll get these back in.
We'll do a vlog in the next couple days,
showing you what the backdrops look like
and hopefully they'll be available pretty soon.
This was actually a Yellow-Bellied bred
to a Bamboo Silver Streak Woma,
so we have some really cool stuff here.
I think we have just a Pastel Yellow-Belly here,
really pretty and that tells me
that there was absolutely Yellow-Bellied passing on.
The problem is is that when you get into
some of these animals like this looks
like it's probably just a Pewter Yellow Belly
which is just a pastel a Cinnamon and a Yellow Belly.
It looks like maybe this animal here is, I don't know,
maybe just a Pastel Woma Yellow-Belly
but it looks like, I'm not exactly sure what this one is
and that's where it gets confusing.
When you start really mixing a bunch of genes together
looks like we have another Pastel Yellow-Belly here
but then we get into the Bamboo stuff
and the Bamboo stuff is all over the place.
I mean it's really cool.
These are definitely Bamboo Silver Streaks
and it's hard to say.
I think this one is the Yellow-Belly
because it has kind of those crazy Granited-out sides
and then this would be the non-Yellow-Belly
which is the Bamboo Silver Streak possibly Woma
and then we have these two here
that look like the same thing.
I'm pretty sure this would be
a Bamboo Silver Streak Woma Yellow-Belly
which is the all gene animal
and then I think this one is just
a Bamboo Silver Streak possible Woma
and the last thing we have in here is this little monkey
which looks like a Silver Streak
which is a Super Pastel Cinnamon it doesn't have,
it might be Yellow-Belly, it's hard to really say
but regardless, pretty crazy combination
of animals in this clutch.
If you guys enjoyed the venomous snake handling
at the beginning of this video,
you might want to check this video out right here
or you can watch this playlist,
I think you guys would enjoy it.
Do me a favor and hit
that subscribe button, post notification.
Now be kind to someone today. (techno music)
And I promise I'll see you guys tomorrow.
♪ I need you more ♪