- Hey, good morning everybody
and welcome to the vlog.
You know it's gonna be a great vlog
when I have a rabbit in my hand,
I've got Lucy ready to go.
Yeah, that's right, we're gonna feed some giant snakes,
and we're gonna feed the rest of the Reptarium as well.
She is ready to go.
Woo! (screams)
That's an adrenaline rush.
That's the way I like to start my day for sure.
I'll tell you what, you never wanna get a food bite
when it comes to an animal like that.
I'll talk more about that in the vlog.
But, again, we're gonna feed our giant snakes.
We have rabbits, we have rats, we have mice.
We're gonna be feeding the entire Reptarium,
it's gonna be a great day.
For those of you that like feeding snakes,
I think you're gonna like this vlog.
Next stop is Ivy, the green anaconda.
She is way up top again.
Not in exactly the best position,
meaning that I have just go right in the cage
and hopefully she is gonna be ready to take it.
Come on, girl!
Oh my gosh, what the heck.
Seriously, this-
Oh my gosh.
Ow!
Okay.
Here you go, Ivy, here you go, girl.
Oh, (laughs)
I kinda figured that was gonna be the case,
that she was gonna jump out at, like that.
She was just so tucked back there,
if I went in with my arm, I knew I was within
striking range and there was nothing I could do.
So I gave her the little butterscotch,
and she took that rabbit like a champ.
Next up is my girl Perdita.
Hey, girl!
And she is definitely lookin' like she is ready to go.
Here you go, baby, want a little food?
Aw, there you go sweetheart.
She is such a gentle soul, I tell you what.
And really there's a couple types of bites, right?
I've talked about this in the past,
and the fact that there's, like the defensive bite
that is, "Get away, I'm afraid,"
They're just trying to get away,
and then there's the food bite.
The food bite is always a mistake
on the keeper's part, right?
It means that somehow I got in the way of them,
thinking that my hand was food.
Maybe they missed the rabbit, missed the rat, whatever,
continued to lunge and grab at you.
That is definitely the worst bite because
they're grabbing, they're constricting,
they're not letting go.
Whereas, defensive bites are typically bam! Bam!
And they're done, right?
Now, again, it's always our fault when we get food bit.
And even then, you know, it's not the end of the world.
I've been food bitten tons of times,
even by really large snakes, and I've
never even been to the hospital.
That's not to mean you can't be,
but I'll talk more about that as we get feeding.
(techno music playing)
Hey guys, check this out this is actually really cool.
Nova and Lilith, of course, down here,
she's always kinda up in the branch way up top,
and he's been kinda courting for the last little bit.
As I walked by I saw him bobbing his head,
and she's down here which is really good,
because, remember, she's laid two clutches,
but it didn't look like she was gonna lay a third.
She's starting to swell up a little bit,
I think she might actually lay a third clutch.
And the fact that they're down together,
he's bobbing, he's courting, probably gonna mate,
that is pretty exciting.
We've got seven more eggs that still look good,
that should be hatching in the next, I don't know,
week and a half, two weeks tops?
The four little babies are doing amazing,
getting another clutch?
That would be pretty awesome.
Next up is the Dominican Red Mountain boa.
Mr.Nubbins here, he is such a cutie.
Come on, little buddy!
There you go.
Aw, that is so awesome.
I love these guys, they're so cool.
They're just a weird kind of boa, you know,
they're long, they're slender, they're cool.
I'm happy that we have one here at the Reptarium,
and he is a beauty.
It's great that Nightfury has graduated-whoo!
It's great that Nightfury has graduated up to rabbits.
He's really putting on some size now.
Here you go, bud.
Oh, wow he's being weird tod-
Oh!-There he goes, he grabbed it now.
He was being a little weird, it's like,
"I don't know if I want that."
Again, sometimmes when you switch them from
rats to rabbits, they can be a little apprehensive.
So, uh, the more I feed them rabbits,
the more he's gonna be going with it, so,
uh, definitely a nice meal for my buddy Nightfury.
Daisy is definitely ready to eat,
there is no doubt about it.
And, again, what I always say is that
the way you really avoid injury when
you're getting bit is to not pull away, right?
That's why I've never been to the hospital
from a bite, because whether it's a food bite
or it's a defensive bite, I always go with the bite,
and that's kinda how you stay away from rippage, right?
Because that's how you can really get hurt.
But let's go ahead and get Daisy a little meal here,
because she is ready to go.
Here you go, baby!
Here you go.
Oh my gosh.
Whoa!
That was aggressive for her, she normally doesn't
take food that aggressively, so, it's good to see her
turned on like that, but hoo doggy, girl!
She was really ready to eat today.
Next up is Casper!
I can't see Casper's head,
so I have no idea where he actually is.
I have to be a little careful with this one.
Casper! Where you at, buddy?
Where you at, bud?
Where you at?
I don't know where he's at.
Where you at?
Come on, Casper.
Here he is.
Whoa!
Come on, Casper.
Come on, buddy.
Huh.
This is unusual, Casper doesn't ever refuse food.
Come on, buddy, wanna try?
Tell you what, I don't think Casper's gonna eat.
Look it, he's just cruisin' up
like crazy trying to get away,
so, I'll go ahead, skip Casper.
That's kinda how it goes.
Over here at the Reptarium, I'll be honest with you,
snakes almost always eat, but every now and then
they go off, so what can you do?
I'll just leave Casper alone for the night,
and let him cruise around by himself.
Sorry, bud!
(techno music playing)
And I realize that not pulling away from
something kinda striking at you
is totally counterintuitive, right?
Because our reaction is to jerk away as soon as
we're gonna get bit, like we can avoid the bite.
But trust me, it's way better not to.
And speaking about an animal I don't wanna get bit by
Butterscotch is one of 'em.
So let's go see if she wants to eat.
She's usually very acrobatic.
Uh-oh, uh-oh.
here she comes.
Here she comes.
Oh my gosh, come on, girl.
Whoa!
Here you go.
Oh! She is right there.
I love it how she just grabs it out of the air.
And that's kinda-it reminds you of
what they might do in the wild, right?
Something's gonna be coming by and they're just gonna
lunge at and then grab it like that.
What an awesome animal, I tell you.
But as long as I toss it, I'm not in the way,
she can't strike at me as long as I'm tossing the rabbit.
But, I'll go ahead and get her back up in here,
and let her eat in peace.
Sunrise definitely is turned on since
we moved her into this really large enclosure.
She's even more interested in food these days.
So, I'm gonna go ahead and see if I can't just
open this up without getting bitten.
Whoo!
Here you go girl, here you go, baby.
Ah, there it is!
She's always a really good feeder,
there's no doubt about it.
And, again, now that she's got
a little bit more space in here,
look at all this space she has in this enclosure right here.
It's really kinda turned her on to really feeding more.
I think she's gonna grow a lot over the next six months.
Rabbit number two for my girl Lucy!
Hey girl!
Here you go, sweetheart, want another rabbit?
I'm gonna have to in here and get her!
Ah, there you go, sweetheart.
(laughs)
And the thing is, the second time around,
she's always much less aggressive, right?
She's just kinda more like lunge, barely take it away.
That's why my foot is literally
inches away from her face and I'm not worried about it.
After that first rabbit, it's kinda like,
"Okay, I've been fed, now I can take it."
And these are kinda small rabbits,
so, I'm probably gonna give Lucy three rabbits today.
Let's go ahead and see if Pickles wants to eat.
Definitely-whoa!
Yep, I'd say she wants to eat!
Here you go, girl, here you go.
Oh, gosh.
I've never seen her so energetic in my life!
Hey, by the way, guys, while I'm doing this feeding,
do me a favor, go down in the comments
tell me, do you keep reptiles?
If you do keep reptiles, tell me which kind you keep,
and also, if you keep snakes,
what's your favorite feeding story?
Or, for that matter, what's your favorite bite story?
Right? Because we have been talking about bites.
But Pickles, here, I wouldn't wanna
get bit by her, that's for sure.
She was ready to eat today.
(techno music playing)
My gosh, take a look.
Remember earlier, I said Nova was courting?
Well, he's actually trying to breed right now.
He's actually right on top of Lilith.
How absolutely amazing.
Since I've had Ivy here, she's been feeding like crazy,
but this is the first time I'm gonna
offer her a second rabbit.
I gotta be honest with you guys, these have a crazy strike.
They're not like a normal python or something like that.
This is an animal I don't wanna get bit by,
because I've been bit by bigger anacondas,
it's really a tough bite.
So I'm gonna do the best I can do,
to get her to eat without me getting bit.
There it goes.
Again, you can just see the strength of that strike.
She grabs it, she coils it, she rips it.
That would be an animal that would be hard to follow
through if she grabbed me.
It'd be hard for me to even get in there,
'cause it's such a violent strike
compared to most snakes, but absolutely incredible
And hey!
Ivy just ate her second rabbit,
which means she's just gonna get bigger and bigger.
Gonna go ahead and feed Sunrise another rabbit real quick.
Here you go, baby.
There you go, girl, there you go.
Again, these rabbits are pretty small, so I think it's okay.
And by the way, I have a kinda theory that
maybe rabbit scent is what turned Casper off.
So, I'm gonna try to offer him a rat,
and see if he'll take it.
Again, let's see if this'll work,
I have no idea if it will, but
oftentimes, scent is a big part of snakes.
So, he may not have liked the rabbit scent,
but he may have no problem with the rat scent.
Careful, bud, be careful.
See?
Right off the rip.
I guess I know a little bit about snakes, right?
(laughs) Casper just wanted a rat instead of a rabbit.
Again, sometimes switching from
rats to rabbits, that happens.
It just takes a little while for them to get on it.
He's eaten a couple rabbits, recently,
but now he just wants some rats, which is fine.
So I'll give him a whole bunch of rats today.
I'm gonna try to feed Jeffery for the first time.
And just like what happened with Casper,
you need to get to know your animals
and how they feed, and what's going on.
I'm gonna be honest with you, this is the
first time I've ever fed Jeffery.
So I have no idea what he's gonna be like.
So I'm gonna go ahead and just see if I can figure him out.
Come on.
Here he comes!
Don't have a lot of space-
Whoa!
Yeah!
So I can see he's a pretty energetic feeder,
so next time I've gotta know-
the thing is is that I don't have a lot of space
when I'm going in here, and I don't have
a lot of vertical space.
So when they're striking forward, they could very well
miss that rat and get my hand.
So I definitely took some notes about
feeding Jeffery next time, but I'm glad to see
that his first meal at the Reptarium was success.
My girl Honey, the piebald ball python is up next.
Here you go, sweetheart, here you go.
There it is.
And when a snake grabs a rodent, they actually have
what's called recurved teeth,
so the teeth kinda go backwards, right?
'Cause you gotta remember, let's say a
fuzzy little rodent is running down the way,
It's gotta be able to hold it and grab onto it.
Those teeth have to not only get through the fur,
but when they do actually grab, that animal can't get away.
It's almost like a fishing hook, right?
When a fishing hook gets a fish,
the fish can't back away from it.
The same thing goes when it comes to reptiles.
The good news is, when you do get bit by a reptile,
they have an anticoagulant that helps kinda digest foods.
So a lot of times you bleed a lot,
that's why you really rarely get an infection
when you get a snake bite.
As a matter of fact, with me, I've been bit
a hundred thousand times, and I have never had
an infection even once from a snake bite.
(techno music playing)
The white lipped python is always a big striker, for sure.
Again, just knowing your animals and knowing
where you can be is important.
Definitely-whoops!
See that?
That one strikes a lot.
(laughs) He's very energetic.
I love it, 'cause when they strike they coil around
really a ton of times, and they definitely squeeze it
like it's alive.
Those guys are unbelievably energetic,
and super beautiful.
Let's go ahead and see if Verde wants to eat.
She's been a little weird the last couple weeks,
so let's see if she'll take a rat for me.
Come on, girl.
Do you wanna eat?
Here you go, girl.
I don't know what she's got going on over here.
Come on, girl.
Looks like she wants it, but she's just
not ready to take it yet.
But she might just crawl up and open her mouth.
No, maybe not.
I think what I'll do is, I'll just
leave it in there for the night.
She really looked interested,
but she didn't wanna strike it.
She's such a calm girl, so I'll just leave it in there,
and we'll check in the morning and
hopefully she'll have eaten it.
I'm gonna go ahead and give Daisy her second rabbit.
She is definitely fired up today,
there's no doubt about that.
I haven't seen her this, kinda,
excited about food in a long, long time.
There she is, caught it for sure.
I tell you what, that is absolutely incredible.
I love it when she's fired up like this.
'Cause in the wintertime she slows her food down a lot,
unlike Lucy that eats all the time.
But it's so cool to see her.
And just so you guys know, the entire process of feeding
can sometimes take, you know,
for or five hours at the zoo here.
Of course, BHV is completely different, but
just so you guys know how much time is actually takes me.
All right ready for Butterscotch number two!
Let's hope she's all right.
She's coming quick, she's coming quick!
It's okay, girl, it's okay.
Here you go, girl, come on.
Whoa!
Come on, girl, come on.
Here she goes.
Whoa!
Sheesh.
(laughs) Again, missed the rabbit, that-
uh-oh, oh.
That's what I was talking about
with the keeper mistake, right?
I actually had her miss the rabbit,
and when she missed the rabbit she came lunging towards me.
If she would've been a little closer
she could've got my arm.
Trust me, it's happened to me
more times than I ever want to admit.
But in this case, it all worked out.
Number three for Lucy!
Come on, girl!
Come on, sweetheart.
Oh, this is-whoa!
She's coming fast!
I had to step away for a second there.
Come on, baby, come on.
Get over here.
Get over here!
Whoa!
(laughs)
Not really sure what that was about.
She spooked me for a second, she comes flying up,
and then she just kinda opened her mouth
and I put it in there.
So, oh my god, what a great, great snake.
And the very last snake that we're gonna feed
here at the Reptarium is this black headed python here.
Unbelievably beautiful snake.
Come on, little buddy.
You're always happy to eat.
Come on.
Oh! There he goes.
Definitely a monster, there's no doubt about that.
I love that snake.
Definitely a good way to end the feeding.
I tell you what, that was really amazing,
I mean, Ivy ate two rabbits, Lucy ate a few rabbits,
everything ate really good,
even Casper ended up taking a rat.
There's something about when all of your animals eat,
it's like this satisfaction, it's almost
like this is a job well done
in that you can kinda rest a little easy.
I love feeding snakes, and I love it
when my snakes are healthy and happy.
And right now they all have big bellies of food,
there's no doubt about that.
And speaking of bellies of food,
it might be about that time for me
to go get a belly of food.
Guys, there is no doubt that when
you're feeding huge animals, it can be exhilarating.
It's a little bit scary, but I tell you what,
I've been doing it my whole life, and I love it to death!
They're so absolutely amazing.
If you enjoy feeding giant snakes,
here's another video I think that you'll definitely like,
here's a playlist of me feeding all kinds of stuff,
over here you can hit that subscribe button,
while you at it, can you turn those post notifications on?
Have an absolutely wonderful day, and be kind to someone.
I promise I'll see you guys tomorrow.