- Well, Lauri and I are off to Chicago for some fun.
Actually, a buddy of ours has
a reptile place called Chicago Reptile House,
it's a pretty cool place.
You've never been right?
- Probably not, no I don't think I have.
- I don't think you have,
because I've only been there once
and I know it wasn't with you,
so yeah, you didn't ever go, (lauri laughs)
we were off on a five-hour drive gonna go check out
a really cool reptile pet shop.
(loud upbeat music)
And we made it here to Chicago Reptile House
and I'm excited to go in
and see my buddy Brain owns the place,
I've been here once before years ago,
let's go in and see what they've got going on.
(door creaks)
One of the things you may not know about me
is that when I was younger, of course,
I worked at a fish store when I was 15 years old,
We had reptiles as well, but I've always loved fish stuff,
And I used to go to pet shops every single day
Not only the one I worked at,
but I would make a round of like three
or four pet shops every single day
From the time I was like 14-15
'till I was probably 20-21
And I got too busy with the reptile business,
but I used to literally every single day,
seven days a week go
to two, three, four pet shop just to look around,
cause I loved them so much,
coming to any pet shop is absolutely amazing
and it brings back those memories
of when I was younger,
I wish I still had time because I love going to pet shops.
And here we are,
this is actually the reptile section
of the Chicago Reptile House,
again, they have a fish side,
they have a bird side,
it's all really cool, right?
But look at all the reptiles
Laura, what do you think?
- Yeah, there's a lot of really cool stuff here.
- Yeah, did it bring you back
to your reptile pet shop days.
- Oh yeah, as soon as we walked in the door,
I was "like, wow, take me back to being 18 again"
(both laughs)
- 18, how's that been working out?
But there's so much cool stuff,
I mean, look at the little baby Sulcata here,
they are so absolutely adorable,
it's amazing to think that speedy was one day this size,
we should pull one of these guys out.
(loud swoosh)
hey, looking out absolutely adorable these guys are,
this is basically the size that they're born at
and they are so cute.
It's amazing to think that this is what
the third largest tortoise species on the planet,
this one day can be 150 pounds or something like that.
Of course it does take a long time,
Sulcata's live for 150 years or so
but it's always so cute when you see
a little baby Sulcata tortoise
and then look at all these little baby bearded dragons.
They actually look really super healthy too,
when they're this size they eat a lot,
to keep this many in an enclosure,
you definitely have to feed them a tremendous amount
now again, Chicago Reptile House has been around
for literally like 25 plus years,
it's kind of a staple of the Chicago area
and I'm so happy that my friend owns it
and allows me to come here and mess with his animals,
had to stop here 'cause there's some really cool stuff,
we'll just keep on looking.
Brian actually also has been
in the Ball python game for a long time,
he breeds a lot of Ball python
and they're really beautiful.
This happens to be a Banana Sugar Ball Python,
just really cool that sugar gene
is that Calico gene,
it's got that white up his side,
absolutely wonderful mixed with the banana thing,
it's just cool again,
I just am always ear-to-ear smiles when
I'm in a pet shop and I love it
and it's cool that this place has just been
around for so so long.
(loud swoosh)
Eastern Fresh has pastel clown ball python,
but very interesting pattern wise,
definitely different than any clown ball python
that I've seen before, just really interesting,
the way that kind of zigzag almost looks like
it has a puzzle gene in it or something like that,
but these aren't actual puzzles,
in a sense they're a puzzle not knowing what they are,
but they're not actually the puzzle gene,
really interesting animals and super super pretty
then we have these ripper clown ball python
and these are actually banana clown ball pythons,
possibly they have fire gene in them
but the thing that I think that's really interesting
about these is look at the orange
in those animals right there almost looks like
there's an enchi gene in there too.
Again, I don't know the genetics behind it,
I'm just taking a look at things that are generic,
but I definitely know there banana clowns
and they probably have at least one other gene
in them that makes them absolutely beautiful
and I remember seeing the first banana clown ball pythons
down at the Arlington NARBC,
which ironically enough was put on by Brian and Bob,
the owner of this pet shop, that's pretty cool
and I saw that animal and I was blown away by it
and now of course we worked with banana clowns too,
but every time we hatch them they are absolutely stunning.
And again, some more cool stuff
that Brian has had out here
these are actually Albino Pied ball pythons.
Again, the albinos recessive,
the Pied is recessive,
really cool Just neat animals,
again, they're not even shedding
These are only a day or two old just out of the egg,
when they shed out they'll even look more beautiful
and have a little bit more contrast for sure.
I love albino pied pythons,
definitely their two combinations are wonderful.
(loud swoosh) You guys probably don't know this,
but like the third or fourth reptile I ever bought,
believe it or not was a little green iguana,
that's right and of course,
you can never guess what name it was,
it was named iggy, that's right it was
I had iggy the Iguana and they are so cute
they definitely get big and they need
a lot of space and time,
of course, now we have Tabasco and Saracha
and of course Heinz and French's
and of course the rhinos and stuff like that,
but there's still something really cute about just
a little green iguana and having
a full tank full of them is absolutely adorable.
(loud swoosh)
Take a look at this little monkey right here
this is actually a Mangrove monitor,
now I've gotten so into monitor lizards
over the last few years,
they have just really stolen my heart
and the mangroves are cool,
I mean, I love their pattern in color
when they get bigger they lose some of this freckling,
so they're not quite as pretty
as they are when they're young
and of course they are great climbers,
but they also love water too
but this guy has little daggers for fingers for sure,
aw, it is so cute I tell you what baby monitors
they steal my heart every time I see them.
(loud swoosh)
It's certainly not every day that you can handle
an Amazon tree boa and not get bit,
you guys are so lucky,
it's definitely not that way
and the majority of them are pretty feisty,
but this one is actually really chill
doesn't seem to have any kind of defensive posture to it,
isn't trying to bite or anything like that
and I definitely need a female to try to breed lucky too.
Unfortunately, this is a male too,
this isn't gonna help me
but this color is really cool
that's the thing that's neat about Amazon tree boa's
are so polymorphic when it comes to their color,
in one litter you can literally have red,
yellow, gay's, oranges, all different colors
and it's really cool.
This one is a pretty darn awesome looking snake.
(loud swoosh) of course,
Lori always gravitates to tortoises.
(lauren laughs)
These are Russian tortoises,
- I know, they're so cute
- [Brian] The thing that's nice about Russian tortoise
is they don't get that big so you can keep them
in a relatively small area and they are super cute.
- Aw - [Brian] I know you like it?
- [Lauren] I love them, they're so cute.
- [Brian] I know they are.
- [Lauren] We need more tortoises.
- [Brian] We do need more tortoises
(lauren laughs)
but where are we gonna put more tortoises?
- I have an idea.
- Which by the way I didn't tell Lori,
Matilda was out the other day,
destroyed your gift shop,
I'm talking like knocked down shelf.
- Yeah, I Know - Destroyed the gift shop.
I fixed it up so I didn't get in trouble,
'cause I knew if I let her know,
she was going to yell at me. - Thank you.
- It's all good but Matilda is a yeah,
Matilda isn't quite as gentle
as this little wonky right here.
(loud swoosh) - Cool little wall
of like little baby collaborates
and little fat tail geckos and stuff like that,
this is of course a little Mexican black kingsnake,
You guys know that I love these guys for sure,
but there's a lot of cool animals
and I like this for a display for a pet shop for sure.
Kind of works out really well
because you can fit a lot of animals
in a relatively small area,
but yet they're displayed pretty well
and there's a lot of cool stuff,
Black and white cow kings,
all kinds of cool little animals in here.
(loud swoosh)
And of course as we travel here to Chicago
and have a good time at my buddy's pet shop,
things are going crazy at the shop,
they're always nuts.
You know, Mike, Jay,
them together what possibly can go wrong, right?
Let's go ahead throw it back,
and find out what they're going on
'cause I just got a phone call saying
that they are absolutely out of control,
we'll take a break from this
and I'll see you guys in a second.
- Hi Jay. - Hi Mike.
- I haven't seen him all day. - Can we just do this?
- Yeah let's just do this.
- Oh my God, it's already literally wants to attack you,
- Just don't slide her poop please.
- [Videographer] You guys just grab the poop?
- I don't really want to look at that piece.
- [Mike] Just came out that's why.
- [Videographer] Grab it so you can throw it out real quick,
So we don't slid her through the poop.
- [Mike] You got this buddy. - I can't do it.
- [Mike] Yeah you can, you got this
- [Jay] I can't, I gotta get it with-
- [Mike] This is comedy gold.
- Oh my God she's so mad,
okay here's the poop.
- [Mike] All right.
- Where's the trash can.
- [Mike] we don't know.
- Where's the trash can? - [Mike] I thought you knew.
- Where's the trash can?
Get the trash can, Michael. - I don't know where it is.
Michael, get the trash can please.
- All right, all right I'll be right back.
- Bluergh, Bluergh,
Okay, Bluergh, arghh!
Please take the-
Bluergh, take the trash can Mike.
Mike the trash, I can't look at it.
Bluergh, okay I gotta sit down.
- [Videographer] No, no, no, no he's almost here.
- [Jay] I quit.
- Found it, it was like three buildings down.
- I already put it back,
so now you have to pick it up.
- I was gone for like 10 minutes.
- Bluergh, get her in the tub,
get her in the tub,
get her in the tub.
- [Mike] What does that thing bite?
- Does it bite?
- I believe in you Jay.
- Mike, walk with the snake.
- Boo ya you got it Jay.
- Thank you Bruce because Mike sucks.
- [Bruce] I didn't see Mike help at all.
- No ooh, Mike I thought I grabbed the wrong snake,
(jay laughs)
- I grabbed the wrong,
- That wasn't daisy.
(water splashes)
- Get her in, what are you doing?
(lid slams)
- [Jay] Oh, this is why I rather do things alone.
- [Mike] I hate this guy sometimes.
(loud upbeat music)
- Take a look at this young little rhino iguana here,
this just puts a smile on my face
'cause I'm thinking of those few eggs
that we still have from Diddy and Dixie,
praying that they make it,
we still have about two months of incubation left,
hopefully, we'll have some little baby iguanas
but I tell you what,
this one's got a little bit of size to it
and it started to calm down
you remember when Diddy and Dixie was
this size they were out of control,
I mean, you were chasing them around
they were biting you, pooing on you,
everything like that,
this one's actually pretty cool
and I know that this blue dot here,
it means that it's a male
a lot of people that breed iguanas,
they'll put blue dots for males
and then pink dots for females,
just so that when they sell them,
they know what they are because once you put them together,
it's really hard to figure out which one is which, right?
Because they look a lot like when they're babies,
as they get bigger,
you can really tell males and females
because of their head shape,
the female is gonna have a much more narrow head,
males will have that thicker head and stuff like that.
But nevertheless,
this is absolutely amazing for this size to be this docile,
that's pretty awesome,
hopefully, there'll be baby iguanas in our future
I absolutely love little tegus,
it's crazy to think that they can get so large
and they started off at this size,
of course, this is a red tegu just like tamale
and this is the way he looked like as a baby
and then as they get bigger,
of course they get that beautiful red color
these are the Argentines.
Now the Argentines are obviously a little bit more tame
and more handle and stuff like that,
you can also get Colombian,
not reds but black and whites,
they're a little bit more kind of touchy
to be totally honest with you,
this guy is absolutely amazing
I think we're gonna probably have to start with
a baby Tegu to really get a Tamer
'cause you guys know tamale's not
the greatest when it comes to handling,
but if you get them as a youngster
and really handle them like this size,
they get super tamed
and become amazing animals,
chances are we're gonna have to start with
the little one and raise it up
but it's going to take a couple of years,
tamale or whatever tegu we decide to have on display,
We'll be there for the next couple of years
and then we get a little baby like this
and there'll be an absolutely amazing animal ambassador.
- [Videographer] Jay wanted to hold her.
- Can you put her on my shoulders?
Mike don't leave me yet.
- I don't know why you did this to yourself.
Should I tell you now that she was peeing out?
- Is she? - Yeah.
- On me? I got her, I'm doing it.
Yeah, I'm doing it.
Uh oh, I'm doing it.
(mike laughs)
- Is it peeing? - Yeah.
- Is it? - Yeah.
- Oh no.
- Can you feel it dripping down?
- No I don't.
Oh no, okay I'm all done.
- Just walk her in here.
Wait, can I pick him up with the snake?
- [Jay] Ow.
- [Mike] Pee, oh my god I really hope she pees right now.
- It's actually really salty.
(mike laughs)
- Oh my God Mike get her,
Mike get her, get her, get her
(mike laughs)
- Okay good job Jay,
I'm proud of you
I can't believe you actually held her up like that.
- Yeah, I'm strong,
I've been going to the gym actually.
- Have you?
- Yeah, really come on.
You can't tell? - I don't see you every day,
I don't know. - Argh, Jake,
can you tell that I've been going to the gym?
J, J I've been going to the gym.
(camera stumps)
- Jake what we talking about?
(loud chiming music)
- Well, I had an absolutely amazing time here,
there's no doubt about it if you're in the Chicago area,
you got to stop by and see this place
whether you're into birds,
you're into fish,
you're into reptiles they have
a little bit of everything here.
Absolutely recommend it, wonderful place
and again my friends own it
and they're absolutely incredible.
One of the cooler pet shops for sure,
definitely the best reptile shop in Chicago,
there's no doubt about that,
definitely show them love but for now,
Lori and I are hitting the road and heading back home.
Yeah, you can't tell me that we aren't
the only ones that drive four and a half hours
one way to go to a pet shop?
(lori laughs)
It was well worth it, It was definitely a good time
but did you have fun Lauren?
- I did. - Did you, see?
Chicago's awesome,
Chicago's cool too we are now heading back
to the shop so we'll see you there
and I'm back at the shop,
we had an absolutely amazing time traveling out,
checked out Chicago a little bit,
of course my buddies Chicago Reptile house was amazing,
let me know how you guys liked that, but you know what?
I always loved being back
and we actually had some baby snakes hatch,
and I get to come home too which is pretty cool,
this is literally just a super enchi pinstripe
bred to a normal,
what we have here is everything is going
to be enchi because it's super enchi,
obviously we have some super enchi pinstripes here,
we have some just normal, really beautiful enchi's,
this is actually a really nice looking enchi here,
Yo for some reason,
it's got a lot of blushing in it,
which is kind of unusual,
basically what happens again because of
the super enchi pin everything's enchi,
so it has to be either be enchi pinstripe,
or it has to be an enchi,
basically, that's all you can get out of this clutch,
there's no real surprises here,
but nevertheless, pretty cool stuff,
love coming back to baby snakes every time
I come back here I'm like what's hatched out?
I cannot wait
and then this was actually kind of an interesting clutch,
this is an allelic clutch,
which is a Puma,
which is a yellow belly spark,
again, allelic meaning that when I breed it to a normal,
which I did and this one,
everything has to be either yellow-belly
or it has to be spark
and it's kind of interesting
'cause a yellow belly and a spark
is kind of a similar animal,
right here you can see a really good example
of a yellow-belly ball python,
you've got that really crazy belly pattern right there
and stuff like that and then you can kind of go through
and the ones that aren't quite as much,
are spark animals, I think this one is a spark,
this is definitely a spark here,
it doesn't have that crazy yellow belly,
but I'll be honest with you when you get
into these allelic animals like Pumas and highways,
very difficult to tell the difference
between a yellow belly and a spark
or a yellow belly and a gravel when it comes
to the highway stuff,
we'll have to take a really close look
at these guys and figure out which ones are which,
but nevertheless cool clutches,
awesome time, good to see animals away,
it was well worth the trip and it was awesome
to come back and see some babies snakes.
If you enjoyed this video,
do me a favor right here,
hit that play list for me.
I would appreciate you much.
On this side, you can hit that subscription
because that would mean a lot to me too,
have an absolutely wonderful day reptile army,
remember be kind to somebody
and I promise I'll see you in the next one.