- Hey, good morning, everybody, and welcome to the vlog.
I hope the start of your day
is as incredible as it possibly can be.
One of the jobs I'm excited to get finished today,
of course, is the new Caiman lizard enclosure.
Started to work on this yesterday.
As a matter of fact, if you didn't see yesterday's video,
I'll put a card right up here.
You can actually see that, where we started to do it.
Obviously, we added a ledge here, we added a ledge here.
We need Lori to come back and seam all this.
This just pushed away a little bit,
so I have to foam this on just a little bit.
Let that dry.
Then Lori can come seam,
I can start putting some vines in here,
start putting some greenery in here,
and then, ultimately, we'll be able to put water
in here, and actually put the animals in here.
I'm excited.
Hopefully, this can be done by the end
of the day if everything goes well.
We'll just have to see how things go.
But, in the meantime, we have a lot of other things to do.
I'm going to film this up really quick,
get that dry so Lori can come back and fixture this up,
and then we'll move on to whatever else we have
because it's going to be an amazing day.
Let's just make it amazing together.
Continuing to update you guys on Ivy.
Oh, my gosh.
And, again, what I said yesterday
is the fact that once an animal eats a really large meal
that animal inside, as they're digesting,
kind of bloats up a little bit.
Then they kind of blow up.
And, today, she's probably in the largest phase.
Probably by tomorrow, it'll start to shrink down,
but it looks painful right now,
and it's like, "Oh, my god."
Now, this is, again, typical
for what anacondas do in the wild.
There's nothing that's dangerous about this or anything.
It just looks really painful.
Ivy is an amazing snake, and I want to get a male.
I told you guys about that,
and I've actually even found a couple males online
that seem to be relatively tame.
Lori's not a huge fan of it, and the reason for that is
is that, real rarely, but sometimes
when you breed a snake, it can change their disposition.
Ivy is super tame, and super awesome,
and Lori's worried if we breed her,
will she become a little bit aggressive?
There's always that chance.
I don't know. What do you guys think?
Should I take the risk and try to breed her
because I think it would be really amazing,
or should I just say, "You know what?
Just leave her alone" and just don't even worry about it
and keep her as sweet as she is right now?
Let me know in the comments what you think.
I'm torn, but, boy, it'd be so amazing to see
in this environment what a pair of anacondas would do.
(upbeat techno music)
Before Lori gets going with all the seaming,
I want to make sure I can give her a full palette
of things that I want here so that she can seam things.
I think I'm going to put this right here
if I'm not mistaken.
I think that's what I'm going to do.
I can screw right into this here
because this, of course, is that Polyurea background.
I'm going to go ahead, see if I can't get a screw
in here to kind of keep it here,
and then she can actually go back, and seam this.
(drills loudly)
I think this'll be good.
I'm going to probably...
Gosh, she might be mad at me for this
because I got her messed up over here,
but I want to, again, have more opportunity for them
to climb, which I think will be really good for them.
I'm going to screw this one piece in
down here to make sure this is secured in place.
(drills loudly)
Like that, and then she can, hopefully,
seam all around this, and I think that's good.
And then, the only other thing I think I need to add,
as far as finishing the cage, is the foliage.
You know, greenery and stuff like that.
But now she can come back, seam these edges,
and then I have to think
of where I might want to put plants.
But, again, another little climbing area
so it has a little jungle gym of areas, lots of options.
Get really close to the heat lamp up here.
Get as far away from it as it wants to.
Okay.
Now, it's up to Lori.
- You know, Brian was doing all the work,
trying to put the enclosure together
for the Caimans, so I figured, (laughs)
I got to do the fun stuff.
Got my little red-headed Caiman here,
and I'm going to feed him snails
because snails are one of the really
huge points of nutrition for these guys.
We really got to make sure he's able
to eat these things, and
these guys' jaws, when they're older,
they're so strong, and they can actually crush through them.
It's pretty cool.
(upbeat techno music)
He holds her there like a dog.
Like, "Oh, look, I'm so proud of myself.
I'm so proud."
These guys are actually a South American lizard.
You know, the Tegu is the largest one,
but these guys, they're pretty close
to being one of the bigger ones out there.
Now, these guys are actually found
in pretty swampy, more woodland-type areas.
This is actually probably a mixture
of a more semi-arboreal lizard here.
What really makes them really cool and unique
is that they're actually kind of an aquatic lizard.
That's actually why we're setting up
our cages where they're at.
These guys are from Ecuador, Guyana, Peru, you know?
The Northern part of South America.
There are pretty warm climates where these guys are from,
and, man, some real humid ones, that's for sure.
It actually makes sense why snails are one
of the more main parts of these guys' diet.
If you really think about it, the swampier,
nasty, mucky areas is exactly where you find snails.
Trust me, I know.
I lived in the South for a long time,
and you find those a lot in swamp, that's for sure.
- As usual, it's my job to go behind,
and clean up Brian's messes.
He went and foamed a bunch of these rocks and things
in here for this new enclosure.
Now, I got to go behind, and clean that up,
and then silicone and dust to make it look nice and pretty.
I guess, that's on my docket today.
(ambient techno music)
- It's been a while since I showed you this girl here.
This is actually one of Lucy's babies.
This is a Citron Tiger Reticulated Python here.
That Citron really cleans it up,
makes it absolutely gorgeous.
And, again, she has been a puppy-dog tame animal
since we had her.
Pretty aggressive feeder, I'm not going to lie,
but other than that, really amazing.
I don't know what's going to eventually happen.
If she'll end up over at The Reptarium or not.
I'm not 100% sure.
Maybe in Reptarium 3.0, we'll put her over there.
I'm not 100% sure, but she's such a beautiful animal,
and this is the only baby that I actually held onto
from Lucy, and then a friend of mine,
Corey, has another baby that's still mine,
but he's raising it up, and I think
that one's even a little bit bigger than this one.
And, again, puppy-dog tame.
It's cool to have an animal from Lucy, and it's even cooler
that she doesn't have the attitude of her mother.
Of course, a bunch of my snakes just shed like Al Machino,
and they missed feeding this week.
I go ahead and I just thawed out a few animals
for these guys.
There you go, Al.
There you go, bud.
There you go.
We'll go ahead, and give him a few rats
to beef him up a little bit.
We also have a couple other snakes
that just shed, too, including Moo Moo.
And, of course, she is looking absolutely wonderful
now that she's out of shed.
I mean, what a beautiful snake.
Here you go, girl.
Want a little rat?
There you go.
That's a good girl.
She got it perfect.
That snake is so impressive.
The last python that shed that looks beautiful,
and is going to get a little bit of food,
of course, is Jeffry.
Here you go, bud.
There you go.
Oh! He hit it hard, too.
There you go, buddy.
(chuckles)
He's a good snake.
I figured, I'd go ahead and feed them.
Again, it's a little bit off as far as the feed day.
We normally fed a couple days ago,
and sometimes I'd wait until next week for them,
but they all look so hungry, I figured, what the heck?
We'll thaw out some food, and feed these monkeys up.
(ambient techno music)
- Hey, guys.
I'm actually doing a few of my regular tasks
of the week and stuff like that,
and so I figured we'd take you along,
show you guys some of the stuff that I do.
Right now, I'm actually filling up a little bit of water
for Toothless because Toothless,
like a lot of our Monitors here,
are always in some level of potential shed,
especially the way the little young guy's growing up.
This is the moment I get to use enrichment
to actually get these guys to be a little bit more tamer,
a little more cooler with us.
Actually, even, you know, want to come out.
You know what I mean?
These guys actually thrive in water,
especially our Asian Water Monitors.
[Brunette Man] Where are you?
(taps gently)
- [Camera Man] Looks like that may be her up there.
- [Brunette Man] Oh, you're up there.
- [Camera Man] Justice.
- [Brunette Man] Justice!
There you go.
Hi, buddy.
Go on, get down.
- [Camera Man] Where's he going?
- [Brunette Man] Get down, get down.
What're you doing, big guy?
- [Camera Man] Where you going, Mister?
- Now, you can tell he's already really excited.
When you're doing things that they really find enriching,
they'll get so distracted,
they won't even realize the lid's here.
I honestly feel like I could walk away.
10, 15 minutes later, come back.
He's still here, hanging around, doing little circles.
This is part of one of the reasons
what started anybody's love for reptiles.
Getting this chance to enrich yourself and them.
- Lori has it all fixed up.
Looks really good.
The dusting on all the edges looks and blends really good.
What I have to do is go and vacuum this out,
clean it up as much as I can.
There's going to be some sediment down here
that I'm going to have to fill the water, drain,
fill, drain, fill, drain to get it ready,
and then I'm going to put some plants in here,
and then we can actually move the animals over.
Let's jump in.
(upbeat music)
All right, I think we are done.
I think we're set, we're fixtured out.
Things are cleaned up.
I think it's going to be good.
Interesting to see how these guys will like it.
I'm not 100% sure, but I think they really will
because, again, aquatic all over the place,
plenty of spots, cool side, warm side,
everything to feel comfortable.
Let's go ahead and get one of these monkeys,
and put it in here to see what happens.
These guys are absolutely adorable.
I love them so much, and I really hope that they like this.
Again, this'll be an enclosure that they can stay in
for the next year, maybe even a little longer than a year.
That is if they do well in here.
We have to let them tell us.
I'm going to put this first one in here.
Not exactly sure where I should put it
to be totally honest with you.
Maybe I'll put it right up here, and let it wander around.
Look at that.
That looks so dope!
Oh my god!
I am so excited about the way this looks.
That is...
Oh, my god.
I'm even more excited than I was before.
Look at how great that looks.
All right, I'll get them in here,
get them settled in, and that's it, guys.
Tell me what you think about down below.
I think that's the perfect picture.
That's what I envisioned in my head
that you would see these guys if they were
in the Amazon and you found them.
I'm over-the-top happy
with the way this enclosure turned out.
If you have any suggestions for me,
let me know down in the comments what you think,
and I'll keep you guys updated on how they're doing.
A couple things to open really quick.
This one is actually Autism Anglers,
but it says "Time sensitive. Open ASAP."
Do you think it's...?
I mean, why would it be time sensitive?
Is it maybe perishable?
I don't know. - I don't know.
- No idea.
- Let's go ahead and open it up and see.
Here's a letter for you.
- Maybe they just didn't want you to wait.
Don, and he has a son, Landon, who is now eight,
and diagnosed with autism, and he, two years ago,
started a non-profit organization called Autism Anglers,
and April is World Autism Awareness Month.
That's why it's time sensitive.
- That's awesome. This is really cool.
This is super cool.
You could do this as a mask.
- As a thank you, yep, for being a part of our daily lives
and being a great mentor to so many people,
please accept this limited-edition, only 36 printed
of their 2020 Autism Acceptance T-shirt.
- Aw, thank you so much, guys.
- He'd love if you wear it.
- Oh, my gosh, I will totally wear it.
Check it. This is a colorful shirt.
This is a cool shirt.
I love it.
Right size, large.
You guys did good.
That is awesome.
I will absolutely support that.
I promise you, I will support that.
That is cool.
Thank you so much.
By the way, I can't wait to get back
so we can do a sensory night here every month
when we're open, and it's one of my favorite nights
of the entire month to be honest with you.
We can't wait to get back to that.
That'll be pretty awesome.
What do we have here?
- Tell me that's what I think it is.
- Oh, my gosh, no, this is cool!
(Lori laughs)
That's awesome!
Look at that.
- "I'm a peacock, dad. You gotta let me fly!"
- Oh, my gosh. This is little Noah!
Okay, I know. - It's little tiny Noah.
- I think that it must've came off my Facebook page.
- Oh, my gosh.
- "We did the tour last March,
and are dying to see the expansion.
Watch you everyday.
I'm down 100 lbs since November--
- Oh my gosh.
- And plan on treating myself to another tour.
Larry Shaffer." - Oh, my gosh.
Congratulations on 100 lbs,
and actually, I remember this.
This was at a zoo.
- Yeah, the Detroit Zoo.
- The Detroit Zoo, and we went up
to a peacock that was behind us.
This was when Noah was probably like,
I don't know, maybe, five? Six?
Something like that?
I'm not even sure.
Thank you!
(laughs)
I can't wait to see what...
- That's funny. To show him.
- I can't wait to see what Noah thinks about that.
(mumbles)
And then, last thing, really quick, we're going to un-box.
This is from North Dakota, and it's Piper Cack.
All right, what have we got here?
Oh! I hope that wasn't a note.
(Lori laughs)
Oh, man!
I'll tell you what, you guys are spoiling me.
You know, I tell you, I never in my wildest dreams
thought that I'd be excited about paper towel, but I am!
I am so excited!
And this'll get us through another couple days,
so thank you so much.
It says, "Hi Brian. Please read this on camera.
In one of your vids, you said
that you don't have very much paper towel,
so when I was at the store, I saw some,
and I thought of you.
My favorite type of snakes are Hognose Supercondas.
If you have one, please show it."
I'll show that for you, okay?
Can we show him a Superconda right now?
Yeah. We got a male. - All right.
Thank you, and as we're cleaning cages,
we'll think of you.
Thank you so much.
I appreciate you, Piper.
All right, Piper, here it is.
This is a Superconda.
Of course, it's a Western Hognose snake.
This is the Super version
of the Incomplete Dominant Anaconda, obviously.
And they're called anacondas
because they look like they have anaconda dots
kind of like Ivy or Verdi,
but, nevertheless, the Supers basically have no pattern,
sometimes a little bit of a stripe.
Thank you for the paper, Piper.
(comedic music)
(laughs) Thank you for the paper, Piper,
and here's your Superconda.
I've said it before.
It's important to be grateful in life.
I want to encourage you, again.
Can you, right now, think of
what you're grateful for right now?
I'm grateful for so many things,
and I know that life is about to get a lot better
over the next couple weeks, so, together,
we are going to get through this, and I'm so glad
that you have joined me for this journey,
and I hope that, as much as I can,
I can be a distraction to you.
I am here for you guys, and I'm telling you
things are going to be okay.
With that said, if you haven't got enough of me,
you can check out the entire playlist over here
of snake eggs because we're right around the corner
from snake eggs cutting.
I know you guys love that.
Up here, you can listen to my podcast called, "Checking In."
Noah and Erik just did a banger.
You guys want to check that one out.
On this side, you can subscribe to the vlog channel.
I cannot thank you enough for that.
Have an absolutely wonderful day.
Remember, be kind to someone, and I promise,
I'll see you guys tomorrow.