- Hey, good morning everybody, and welcome to the vlog.
I hope the start of your day is amazing.
I know in these crazy troubling times,
it's a little bit difficult.
I want to first assure you that,
unless something crazy happens,
you will continue to see a daily vlog.
I'm here to help get through this crazy mess.
I'm here to inspire you.
I'm here to try to tell you it's gonna be okay.
With that being said, the Reptarium has been amazing.
It's been incredible, and unfortunately,
we are now shut down for awhile.
Yes, I think that eventually I would have been forced
to shut down potentially,
but I decided to make the decision on my own
before that mandate and keep everyone safe,
my patrons, my crew, my family, my animals, for that matter.
So, as of now, the Reptarium will be closed
until further notice.
I don't know how long that's gonna be.
I'll be honest with you, we're just gonna have to take it
a day at a time, a week at a time, and so on.
We will continue to take care of the animals.
I will be here every day, and if for some crazy reason
down the road we are mandated to be shut in
and not be able to leave our houses
or whatever the case may be,
I will stay here at the Reptarium 24/7.
This will be my home, I will care for these animals.
I will not let anything happen to these animals.
I want to assure you of that.
As for now, I'll kinda tell you as this vlog is going on
what is gonna happen.
What is it gonna look like for us here at the Reptarium,
what the future is, and like I said,
I am gonna try to be here to give you 15 minutes
of smiles every day, the best that we possibly can.
(chuckles) These fish are cool, and yes, we are prepared
to feed our animals, to care for our animals.
We have enough food in the freezer.
We have enough going on.
Nothing is gonna starve.
We're gonna continue to work.
My crew is committed to being here every single day too,
as long as they can.
If for some reason, we're mandated to not be on the roads,
let's hope it doesn't get to that,
but if it does, then myself and Lori will be here.
I will continue to film,
I will continue to put out vlogs.
So, things aren't gonna change and
these little fish are amazing.
You know, obviously, these fish eat the dead skin
on feet and hands and stuff like that,
but you have to still feed them food because
that's not enough nutrition so,
I'm getting a kick out of these guys and by the way,
the fish over in Bowser's tank still all seem
to be there, too, so that's a bonus as well.
(upbeat music)
It's so amazing, Salt and Pepper, our Salt,
absolutely incredible, and remember the other day,
Salt ate for me the first time in her new enclosure?
Well, Andrea yesterday had Pepper crushing food,
so they're both now settling in and eating
and that's a really good thing,
and listen guys, I understand that it's scary right now,
I get it, and you guys know that I'm an anxiety sufferer,
right, I suffer from anxiety.
So, the unknown is what freaks me out, you know,
the fact that I'm anticipating what's gonna happen
is scary, you know?
So, together we need to try to get through this, right?
We need to try to get as normal as we can.
This isn't gonna end the world, you know.
I know people are panicking.
I understand it, it's scary.
I mean, you know, a lot of people are getting hurt.
A lot of people don't have jobs.
A lot of people have to shut their businesses.
A lot of people's daily lives are crazy.
Kids can't go to school, so parents have to worry
about what they're gonna do with their kids, it's crazy.
I want you to know that I'm here for you guys
and that I'm gonna do the best I can do
to keep my life as normal as possible,
even though we won't be open here at the Reptarium.
My crew's still got a job.
I told them this morning that I'm not cutting any hours.
They're gonna have the exact same life that they have.
I'm gonna do the best I can do to kinda keep
their lives at least as normal as possible,
obviously without being open is definitely gonna take a hit
but no one here at least is gonna have a life change.
It's, it's tough guys, but again, we gotta try
to stay positive.
We gotta understand that this will end,
and the world will go back to some form of normalcy
even though it may take awhile for that to happen.
We're gonna get through this.
One way or another, we will get through it.
And I realize this is gonna be a lot of a talking video
because I'm telling you guys a lot of things,
but I also realize that it's freaky even for me, right?
I can't go to a restaurant, I can't go to a movie,
I can't go the gym, this is crazy.
One of the things I am gonna do while we're shut down
here at the Reptarium, I am gonna start a thing
where we can do virtual tours here.
So, I'll put a link the description to the Reptarium.com
and if you wanna spend an hour virtual tour,
Facetime or Skype with me or with some of my crew
or whatever the case may be, I'm gonna do it, you know?
I know you won't be here, it won't be the same,
but we can take you around and do a virtual tour,
individual, one on one, or however many people on your end,
where we walk around, we pull out the animals you want,
we talk about what you want,
maybe get your mind off of things for an hour,
because I know so many people wanna come to the Reptarium
and visit these animals.
So, at least you can do it virtually.
It'll give us something to do.
It'll give us a purpose while we're not open here
at the Reptarium, so again, launching that today,
down in the description.
If you want a virtual tour wherever you are in the world,
locked up in your homes or whatever, I'll be here for you
and we'll have a great time together.
(upbeat music)
I was just telling everyone that we're gonna keep things
going here, you know, obviously we're not open for business
but there's a lot of work at BHB now, I mean,
obviously you're working with colubrids and stuff like that,
and you know, I had mentioned that we'll probably
maybe even move some hours that when we're open
with the crew to BHB, 'cause there's a lot
to take care of here.
- Oh yeah, there's plenty that needs to be done,
so in reality, it's not gonna be hard to fill those hours
with things and it'll actually help us get caught up
on a bunch of things that we needed to get done
but haven't had time for, so--
- Yeah, you gotta remember, we're at the end
of the python breeding season,
rainbows and other sand boas are breeding now,
coluber season just started,
leopard gecko season is starting.
So, we'll have an opportunity to take some crew hours
that we'd normally spend at the Reptarium
and kind of plug 'em in here at BHB,
so the animals here even get better care
over the next little bit.
So, we're gonna try to keep things running as normal
as possible in these chaotic times.
(upbeat music)
You know certainly, in times of uncertainty,
sometimes it's good to have just some consistency,
and that's what I'm trying to do,
not only with the vlog, but also with my animal work.
I mean, listen guys, these animals still need
to be cared for.
They need to be bred, they need to be fed.
They may not seem like a real high priority
to a lot of people that, will I produce snakes this year?
But the truth is, life will go on, you know.
We will get past this.
As crazy as the extreme measures that are being taken
around the world, maybe that's what we need?
You know, I know some people think it's an overreaction
and quite frankly, I'm not sure if it's an overreaction
either but the truth is is that
we know that that's gonna put an end to this quicker,
and maybe we can take this opportunity to kind of
appreciate a lot of the things that we've had a hard time,
you know, I know I'm super busy and you know,
I hardly ever get time to do things that I love
and a way with not being open for that 15 hours a week
at the Reptarium and I'm just trying to figure out
where this male goes right here, where are you at?
Again, gaining back that 15 hours a week
gives me an opportunity to work with these animals
at BHB a little bit more,
gives me an opportunity to maybe have
a little mental downtime,
maybe spend some more time with the family,
but again, the vlog will go on, the podcast will go on,
life will basically go on.
It's gonna be weird, it's gonna be a little bit different
feeling but again, at least you guys will know one thing's
for sure, consistently, unless something dramatic happens,
you're gonna get a vlog (chuckles) every morning
at 9:00 Eastern Standard Time and you're gonna get
our podcast and together, you know,
let me know in the comments if you guys are freaking out,
what you wanna do.
We'll make that a part of the vlog for a little bit,
how we're overcoming and stuff like that.
So, let me know your thoughts and concerns and maybe
tomorrow I can talk about some of those thoughts
and concerns down in the comments.
In the meantime, I'm just putting males in with females
and getting these ball pythons bred.
(upbeat music)
Ball pythons are definitely looking really good.
We're gonna have a lot more clutches than I expected,
probably outproduce last year, which is really good.
Just a handful of breedings left.
I probably think we're gonna be done breeding the majority
within probably two to three weeks,
so things are looking good down here.
I think we all need something to smile about today,
so I'm gonna show you something that I've been working on
with this guy, of course, Speedy, watch this.
I don't know if it's gonna work.
Speedy, turn around.
Speedy, go that way, go this way, go this way.
Speedy, turn around, turn around.
Go, go, this way, Speedy, go this way.
Go this way, go, go Speedy, go.
Go this way.
(laughs) Go this way, buddy.
(laughs) I'm just getting going with it,
but he's working on it.
C'mon, Speedy, go this way, come on,
and he's listening.
Sometimes, he'll come into the front office
and literally I just have to point
and he'll go the other way.
So, gonna continue to work on it,
but again, it's behavior and intelligence animal
and it's something that I figured you guys would enjoy.
Right Speedy, you're a good boy.
Take a look it, guys.
Nova, what have you been doing, silly,
like whoa, silly girl.
Lilith is swollen up for sure,
she has definitely got some eggs.
Nova, you are a good boy.
(laughs) Looks like Nova is gonna have some more babies.
You gotta remember, we didn't get our first clutch
from Lilith last year, I think it was like June or July,
so she's ahead of the curve,
and remember she only laid two clutches last year.
Typically, these guys will lay three,
sometimes even four clutches, so the fact that
Nova and Lilith that just ran away over there,
she's somewhere back there, is actually looking like
she's gonna lay eggs soon, that is huge,
because she, because we might be able to,
because we may actually be able to produce
three or four clutches.
Remember, her first clutch was four eggs.
Her second clutch was 11 eggs.
She looks so swollen up right now,
I'd be willing to bet she has 10, 12 eggs
or something like that.
Maybe we'll produce 40 or 50 babies this year.
Oh my gosh, Nova, that's gonna be amazing.
We'll have to definitely sell some or move some this year
'cause we can't keep 50 (laughs) babies this year,
but hey, that's some really good news for sure.
Some rapid shot updates (chuckles) on the Reptarium,
Ditty and Dixie right here are doing absolutely wonderful,
settling, they're finally coming down for food right now,
and pets, so they're definitely habituating well.
Ivy, I don't even know what to say about Ivy anymore,
I'm gonna be honest with you.
Her behavior is so radically different in this enclosure
than anything I've seen.
It's like she's curious about everything.
If I go in there, she will immediately come up
to investigate me, I mean, it's crazy to see just,
you add a water feature like this that she's obviously
extremely happy in, it's crazy to see kinda
her personality change, and we're seeing that happen
with so many different animals.
I mentioned it with Ivy, this girl is freaking me out.
Not only is she one of the biggest boa constrictors
I've ever seen, but I tell you what,
the fact that she just hangs up right on the tree
like this is crazy.
You think about a 70 pound boa and the fact that it's just
chilling up on a tree, I mean, that is ridiculous.
It's becoming one of my favorite enclosures
in the entire zoo.
Look at this, guys.
The Cuban Cross is actually getting so good now.
She'll actually come down when we start to open up
and she'll even let me slowly get over and pet her.
See how she comes down?
Not quite like Bella, yet, she's literally coming down
for pets, I mean, how absolutely amazing is that?
I mean, just one week, she was running away from me
and already now, she's coming down for pets.
I know a lot of people were a little bit concerned,
myself included, of how the black-headed pythons
were cohabitating.
Again, I've seen this happen in zoos
and a bunch of private collections before,
but I was a little concerned about it.
They're doing amazing, I mean,
they use every crack and crevice.
You can see this one's way up on top
chilling on here, this one's crawling around.
It's just one of the coolest displays in here,
I'll be honest with you.
I could sit in front of this enclosure for hours
and just look because they're always active.
They seem to be completely habituated to it,
completely fine with one another.
Again, it is a male and a female, so who knows,
maybe we'll get lucky and produce some babies
here in the future, but nevertheless,
this enclosure turned out amazing.
Now, you know that it's a crazy time
and I wanted to update you on what's going on here
at the Reptarium, what our future plans are,
what we're gonna be doing.
We're gonna be here.
I know it's kind of important to even put out these videos
even more because I know of lot of you guys
are stressing out, I understand, I'm stressing out
(laughs) a little bit too, but we need some positivity.
You'll help me, I'll help you, we're in this together,
and I promise you, we will get through this.
There will be an end to this.
The world is not gonna end.
Yes, a lot of people are gonna get hurt.
Yes, it's a terrible situation,
but we have to realize there will be an end to this crisis
just like there is in everything.
It's historical, guys, I mean I've never lived
through anything like this.
I'm sure you've never lived through anything like this,
but I'm telling you, together, we'll be okay,
and we both need positivity and this vlog is gonna try
to bring that to you the best I can.
I appreciate you guys, stay safe out there.
I promise, I will do everything I can do to continue
to inspire you and entertain you,
even if it's only for 12, 15, 20 minutes a day,
but I'll be here all the time on all the other
social media platforms that I am on,
and if you need anything, let me know down in the comments.
I will do the best I can do to be there
for each and every one of you guys
because you're always there for me.
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get another couple hours off your mind
listening to the podcast.
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Again guys, be safe, try to have an okay day,
be kind to as many people as you possibly can.
I promise, I will see you tomorrow.