- So this is the first kind of confirmed
breeding of the year that I've seen it.
The next time that you will see
me or Lori, we will be in Rome.
(electronic music)
Hey, good morning everybody and welcome to the vlog.
Guess what today is?
That's right, we're actually heading to Italy today,
which means I gotta button a lot of things
up here over at the Reptarium, over at BHB,
and get ready for my long journey,
it is going to be absolutely incredible.
But let me tell you what's not incredible
is the fact that my girl, Lucy, didn't shed.
Remember I keep saying, I just wanted her to shed
before I left so that I don't have to worry about her.
Again I'm sure the crew will be completely fine,
I would just feel better if that I was
the one that was handling Lucy
and those guys don't have to go through
the peril of messing with this girl.
I thought for sure she was gonna shed last night.
She didn't, she's still laying there, she still didn't shed.
I guarantee you she's gonna shed tonight,
so I guess I'm just gonna have to leave it
in the crew's hand and hopefully she will be a good girl.
Hi, sweety, how are you?
Yes, certainly one of the hardest things
about leaving the Reptarium and BHB
is leaving the animals for the next week or so.
I am gonna so miss you, pal.
You're such a good girl.
I tell you what, she just comes running down
to say goodbye to me so I am definitely gonna be bumming.
I know she's in good hands with the crew
and everyone's gonna love her
and all that type of stuff, but boy oh boy will I miss you.
Remember we put males in with females with Ball Pythons
yesterday and a few other Pythons and Boas.
So this is the first kind of confirmed breeding of the year
that I've seen and this actually a Super Enchi Pinstripe
bred to an Enchi Woma Ball Python.
Oh my god, that it's so exciting
to finally start to see some things breeding
and it's a really good sign that even after the first day
we actually have things hooked up.
Let's see what else is breeding.
Here we go, we got another lock-up right there of course.
It's actually an Enchi Pin Banana
and it's Spring bred to a Pastel Lesser.
That should be a really nice little clutch
of all kinds of cool little things too.
Holy moly, look at how big Toothless is getting.
He is just absolutely exploding
an unbelievably puppy dog tame.
I love this animal so much and as he's getting bigger
he's just getting more and more incredible.
I tell you what, I can't wait til he's Elvis' size or bigger
and has this amazing disposition, too.
He is gonna be a great, great ambassador animal for sure.
Toothlees, you're absolutely incredible.
This is really cool.
This is actually a Singy Cypress and they spilled
their water all over the place but it's actually
a Singy Cypress bred to a big normal female.
Of course the Cypress and the Singy
are both co-dominate so we can produce
some cool Singy stuff as well as some Cypress stuff
and some various things beyond that.
Exciting to see that all of the little alligators
are just out and about right here.
Just hanging out.
I can see five of the six of them now
are just kind of right in the open,
so they're settling in really well.
Again, I showed you the other day that we're Clicker
training them, so they should be good to go.
I love that enclosure.
This is actually a Clown Het-fer Ghost
to a Double Het Ghost Clown.
So we have some really cool
Ball Python stuff hooked up today.
There's a handful of other ones I didn't wanna disturb,
but regardless you guys get the idea.
Things are going well and hey, it's just the beginning.
So it's only gonna heat up from here.
Another month and a half, two months maybe,
we'll start to see some early ovulations,
and then a couple months from there eggs,
and then a couple months from there babies.
So you see, the process is long.
We're still looking at five, six months away
from baby Ball Pythons, but hey,
at least things are starting off really well.
And Ball Pythons aren't the only thing we're breeding,
we're breeding all the other Pythons and Boas,
as well as the Cribos and even the Blue Tongue Skinks,
so things are well underway for the 2019 breeding season.
You know now that we have the zoo
it's a little bit different when it comes
to the relationship with the animals.
When we're just breeding stuff,
don't get me wrong, we loved them, we took care of them,
but you know, it was just different.
Now we handle them almost every single day
and it kind of just changes the way you feel about it.
So when I'm going away it truly is difficult.
I mean, a girl like Perdida here is a snake
that literally almost everyday except when she's feeding,
I have her out and she's being handled,
so it's gonna be really hard to miss
some of these animals for several days while I'm gone.
I mean, she is just so incredible.
She's certainly far from the only animal
that I'm gonna miss.
Take for instance Taz, here.
The amount of time and energy that we put in
to habituating these animals to being pet and held
and just interacting with us is absolutely amazing.
Which means you get even more attached to the animals.
I've always loved all of my animals
but now it's like, crazy.
It's like when I'm away from them
for one day sometimes I get depressed.
And to be away several days is gonna be pretty difficult,
but the good news is Tazzy and all the other
animal ambassadors here are gonna
get spoiled even when I'm not here.
but I'm gonna miss my little go home, Tazzy trick.
Go ahead, Tazzy, go home, buddy, go home, buddy.
There it is, bud, there you go.
I'll see you soon, Tazzy.
I'm gonna miss you, buddy, I'll see you soon.
And again, that trick, the Go Home trick, never gets old.
Okay, you guys gonna behave yourself
when we're gone, or what?
- Of course. We're gonna miss you guys.
- Oh yeah. - What do they say in Italy?
Meatball (Italian accent) - A meatball (Italian accent]
- [Brian] That's not what they say in Italy.
- I don't know. I don't know.
- [Brian] What are you guys doing now?
- We're grabbing some super worms for our Bearded Dragon.
- Getting in my way is what they're doing.
- I'm sorry, I'm sorry.
(Laughs)
- We're doing some Bearded Dragon enrichment
if you wanna watch that you can go on my channel.
- Okay cool, definitely.
Alright, so Noah's filming some stuff over there.
Dude, by the way, can you guys do me a favor,
he is so close to 100 thousand followers,
just like 4 thousand followers away.
Go over to his channel, link in the description,
give him a follow, let's get him to 100k.
Please, for me, that's my parting gift.
(laughs) My parting gift to Italy, do that for me.
But you guys are gonna be good, right?
- Oh, we're gonna be good. - Yeah.
- [Brian] Okay, no playing around.
- Hold the fort down. - We never play.
- We even started putting our Mangrove snakes together
so hopefully we'll have some more baby Mangroves soon.
Whoo, doggy, these things are gorgeous.
An animal I have worked with a ton over the last little bit
to be habituated to being handled is certainly Nova.
He's always been a really good animal,
but the fact that so many people
wanna spend time with him means
that he's gotta come out a lot,
and he has done absolutely amazing.
I truly think he loves it because when people are around
he always comes right to the front of the gate
and he's always kinda like tilting his head,
looking like "hey, can I come out",
so he is habituated so well to handling
and it's gonna be a bummer not to see
all those people love him.
That's all right, I'll be back soon enough, Nova.
I'll see you soon, buddy, okay?
All right, see you later, buddy, see you later, buddy.
Jessica, are you exciting we're getting
the breeding season started? - Oh my god.
- Yes, something new to do.
- So, as the Geckos are down, we've put
the next thing on Jessica, which of course
is breeding the Blue Tongue Skinks.
So while I'm gone you're gonna be breeding these guys.
This is the first pairing that we have
and these are two Sunrises and when it comes
to Blue Tongue Skinks, they have been cooled down.
Now they're actually hot.
Sometimes they breed right away, sometimes they don't,
but the one thing you have to do
is you have to keep an eye on them
so poor Jessica has to sit here for hours a day.
- Yep, I gotta babysit.
He looks interested already though.
- Yeah, you can already tell his posturing is like,
he's kinda like "oh, what's going on here?"
And basically what's gonna happen is
he's just gonna kind of sniff around.
Eventually, he's gonna grab onto her
and hopefully breed her.
The downside is that the first time
out of hibernation when they're actually going
can sometimes take like 15, 20 minutes
of just sitting here watching them doing nothing.
Once a male gets going, it's a little quicker, right?
- Oh yeah, he was a really good breeder last year.
So hopefully he does that for us this year.
- And you could see how his posturing,
see how just even touching him, he acts a little bit weird.
See he's kinda moving around a little bit weird.
And being that this is the very first time they're paired,
it actually can take a little time
and Jessica's just tickling the female.
She can see that she's raising her tail,
which is a good sign.
That usually is a really good thing
when a female will raise her tail
as well as wag her tail a little bit,
that's usually the thing is,
it seems like he's not quite ready yet.
- Yeah, maybe that could be. - It's hard to say.
- Yeah, he's just sitting there and seeing what's going on.
But again, this is kind of a process of elimination.
Once they start breeding, they really get going
but we'll leave him for another 15 minutes or so
and then if he breeds great, if he doesn't,
we'll move on to the next and eventually
we'll find the right pairings.
And then you just have to keep doing it over and over.
Sometimes a pair like this might not breed
and then next week you put 'em together
and they breed right away.
- They're weird, sometimes the certain males won't like
certain females or females won't like certain males.
They're picky. - Yeah.
Definitely much more of an art to breeding
Blue Tongues than a science, there's no doubt about that.
But let's hope these guys will eventually breed
and we'll have a bunch of baby Skinks to share.
The truth is, the reason I can go on a trip like this,
especially bringing Lori along
is the fact that I have a wonderful crew of people.
I mean they love these animals, they care
about these animals and they care about the success
of the Reptarium and the educational side of things,
as well as BHB being the success of breeding everything.
So I am just so, so lucky that they one thing
I don't have to worry about when I go
is the fact that the animals are gonna be cared for.
I know they're gonna do an absolutely amazing job
and there's not a worry in the world that I have about that.
Just coming back down to check on some animals
to see the new ones that we've paired up,
and sure enough, this is a pair I was super excited about.
This is actually a pair of Pastel
Leopard Clown Ball Pythons.
So it's awesome that they're together, they're breeding.
That is gonna be one awesome clutch.
As much as I'm kinda a little sad
to be leaving all my beautiful animals
like Casper and all that stuff and the fact that
I'll be away from where I'm really super,
super happy right now, I am really looking forward
to this trip for a number of reasons.
Number one, and I cannot tell you the last time
myself and Lori went on any kind of long adventure together.
So that is going to be absolutely amazing.
I'm looking forward to seeing all that Rome and Milan
and Florence and Venus has to offer us,
as well as the fact that I'm looking forward
to meeting everyone that's gonna come out
to the Milan Reptile Show and kinda hang out with us.
It's gonna be an absolutely great time.
Not to mention, I hope I'm gonna
meet some really cool animals.
Not only at the Reptile Show but hopefully I'll get a chance
to visit a couple cool animal places,
maybe some private collections,
I'm not even sure what's going on.
The funny thing about this trip is,
other than the fact that I know
I'm gonna be in Milan for the Reptile Show,
we don't have a whole lot planned.
I mean, we're gonna head out to Rome
later on tonight, we'll be there tomorrow
and then we're gonna hang out there for a couple days,
head over to Milan for a couple days
then we're gonna do a real quick afternoon in Venus
and then a quick trip to Florence
and then we are back on the plane to get home.
So regardless, if you have any ideas for while I'm in Italy,
if you've been, if you're from or something like that,
go down the comments and let me know
what I need to see both animal-wise as well
as awesome scenery and stuff like that in Italy.
This is gonna be an absolutely amazing trip.
Although it's not gonna be wall-to-wall animals
in the Flocks, I hope that for you
guys that wanted to see Italy,
I can bring you on the journey
and you can see some amazing things
and I'm gonna leave some cameras back here
so we'll be checking in with Eric and Noah and Jessica
and all the crew here to see how things
are still going here at BHB and the Reptarium.
So it's not like we're just walking away
for the time that we're gonna be gone,
but let me know if you guys are excited
about this kinda travel adventure vlog.
I'm gonna do some animal stuff.
I'm gonna try to do animal stuff 'cause I love animal stuff
but there is gonna be some times
where we're just kinda seeing amazing things
like the Colosseum and all this crazy stuff in Italy.
It is gonna be absolutely incredible
but I wanna make sure that you guys are gonna enjoy it too.
- So now we're done to crunch time.
This is the last day and we're getting everything set.
So Brian and I can leave on our trip.
I think I have everything set.
It's been a whirlwind last couple days
trying to get everything ready
but I'm pretty sure I got it covered.
I got everything I needed to do done.
I've got Beth here who is going to handle
everything in the office while I'm gone.
So I'm highly confident that she's gonna do it.
We've also got everybody else here.
I think I've covered everything.
I'm not gonna lie, I'm pretty confident
even if I didn't go over it,
I think everybody here is gonna step up
and be able to to take care of anything that pops up.
Other than that, I'm hoping for a super
and eventful week while we're gone
and I think that we're gonna have a great time
and I can't wait to get to the airport.
- [Brian] Alciez, keep good, let me know if something is up.
I'll see you in a week, alright?
- Alright, have a fun trip.
- [Brian] Alright guys, we'll see you in a week or so.
So thank you for everything. - See ya.
- [Brian] Text me if anything's up, alright?
- I'll keep everyone in line.
- [Brian] I know you guys will do great,
I trust you a hundred percent.
I am outta here, dude. (laughs)
Don't cry. - I'm still crying.
Don't cry until I leave,
it makes me wanna cry, okay?
- Okay, okay, have fun, man.
Italy dude.
- [Brian] Have fun, hold the fort, I'll see you in a bit.
Howdy, Edgra, keep the fort down,
I rely on you at the Reptarium.
I know you'll do great. - Will do.
Have a safe trip.
- [Brian] Alright, alright, we'll see you soon, thank you.
So we're on our way to the airport.
It's about a 40 minute drive to DTW
and then I think we're about two and a half hours early
and then board the plane and then fly
across the world over to Italy.
You excited?
- I am getting excited actually.
- [Brian] Are you, how about you, Noah,
you're not coming but are you excited?
- I mean, I just, I wanna go to Italy but I'm happy
I'm not going 'cause I wanna stay home anyways.
- Yeah, so off to the airport, we will be there soon.
Okay, so we are at the airport heading in,
getting through security and then getting settled in
for a long flight to the other side of the pond.
(machine beeping)
Of course, Lori the troublemaker got pulled
because of her protein bars. - Snacks.
- Snacks. - Every time. (laughs)
- She had too many snacks so they pulled us
but we are through now so we are heading
to the gate and about to board.
I think we have about a good hour so before boarding
so the security went smooth now we just have what?
Like an eight or so hour flight to Amsterdam
and then a couple hour flight to Rome.
And with that said, I think I'm gonna
go ahead and leave the vlog here.
The next time that you see me and Lori
we will be in Rome, Italy.
So I hope that you have an absolutely amazing day.
Even whenever you happen to be
watching with us locked on this trip,
it's gonna be hopefully absolutely amazing.
I hope that you guys were enjoying it.
Your guys' support means the world to me
and I truly love you guys so much.
Can you do me a couple favors before we get outta here?
Can you smash that like button,
turn those post notification on
so you know when I upload a video,
when we're in Italy, of course.
Leave a comment down below
because I love reading about your beautiful faces.
Be kind to someone and I promise I will see you tomorrow.
(upbeat music)