- You are the very first person at The Reptarium,
to ever handle Chicken Strip.
Yes, I'm heartbroken, yes it's terrible.
And yes I know the definition of insanity,
is doing the same thing over and over again,
and expecting a different result.
And I keep doing it over and over,
and again with 200 snakes.
(upbeat music)
Hey, good morning everybody!
Welcome to the vlog!
How is your day starting?
I hope it's absolutely incredible.
What do you say we head into The Reptarium?
And if you remember correctly,
Noah was doing a 24 hour challenge in with Bella.
So I'm gonna go check up on him.
It's about 7:30,
which means he only has about a half hour to go.
Ah, hey, someones awake!
Look at, you're both awake.
What's goin on?
- Bella just jumped on my head.
- [Host] Did she, again?
- Oh yeah, she loves it up there.
- [Host] How's your night, did it go okay?
- She scratched me one time, but--
- [Host] Gosh, she did get you, didn't she?
- Yeah, she jumped on me, it was like four in the morning.
- [Host] Four in the morning, oh my gosh,
what a way to wake up.
- But, other than that, I slept right through it.
- So you got about 30 minutes left?
You gonna make it this last 30 minutes?
- Yeah, it's easy, I just want it to be over.
(host laughs)
Is there food outside waiting for me?
- We'll get you breakfast,
again, when he gets this done,
I'll put a link in the description to his video,
definitely good job, I didn't think you were gonna make it,
I figured I was gonna wake up this morning,
and you'd be in your bed.
- I wish.
- Okay, well we have a lot to do today,
Noah has to finish up his 24 hours,
and then tonight we open at the Reptarium,
so it's gonna be a absolutely amazing day.
Tried to feed Verde, the anaconda,
a live fuzzy rat, I know I don't show live feeding,
but I wanna try to get her off of chicks,
so let's go ahead and check to see if she ate.
I don't see it anywhere.
Oh, no, I do see it.
Darn it, I thought for a second,
I was like "Oh my gosh, she ate, how cool is that?",
but she didn't.
So let's take a look at this cheeky monkey here,
oh my gosh, she's starting to go into shed again.
Anacondas are so weird!
She shed just a few weeks ago,
she had a huge meal, and now she's back in shed.
Which tells me that she's growing,
because of course when snakes shed,
that means that they're growing.
Basically, what happens is that their outer layer of skin,
or that epidural layer can only stretch so far,
so unlike humans that we just continue to stretch,
'cause we're elastic, basically,
these guys, when they hit the end of their stretch,
they have no choice but to replace their skin,
and then the skin beneath it can grow that much more,
so she's growing, and that's awesome,
Verde, please eat for me, little girl.
Oh my gosh, oh, by the way,
just between me and you, she might be getting
a little special turkey for Thanksgiving,
I'll talk more about that in the next week or two.
One of the things we have goin' on today
is a tour again, I think they're coming all the way
from New York, a different family is coming from New York,
so I'm excited, you guys know I love tours,
I love spending time with people,
so we're gonna have some fun with them.
They should be here,
I think within the next five or 10 minutes.
So you guys actually are from the New York area.
- We are, yes. - Yeah.
- [Host] Oh my god, and you guys drove all this way.
- Yeah.
- 645 miles later.
- [Host] Oh my gosh, well I love you guys for it,
thank you for coming this way,
we'll show you the best time we possibly can,
and make it worth your while for sure.
And by the way, I love the Broncs,
my favorite restaurant, Amelia's on Arthur Avenue.
- Oh yes!
- Favorite restaurant in the world, so there you go.
So you said you're thinking you wanna you know,
maybe do reptiles for a living one day, right?
- Yeah. - That is so awesome,
and you asked me about geckos,
and I said leopard geckos are a good start,
what do you think of that guy?
- I think I'll buy a Texas Scaled Rock Snake,
but I'm choosing whatever he says.
- (laughs) I love it, he's passionate just like me,
this is awesome.
So you said that you've held a corn snake
and a male snake before, right?
- Yeah.
- But this is definitely the first big snake that he's held,
so I figured it's a great opportunity
to take out something like Sunrise,
that's a really good, bigger snake to handle,
but is really easy to handle.
You're doing good, she's heavy, isn't she?
- Yeah.
- You guys are about to witness a first here, you ready?
- Yeah.
- You are the very first person, at The Reptarium,
to ever handle Chicken Strip, besides me.
I never let anyone handle Chicken Strip,
and you get the opportunity to,
because he's just chilling out,
but look at how he's really becoming docile.
It's okay, you did really good,
look at that, Chicken Strip is doing so good,
what a beautiful animal, that's awesome, isn't' it?
- Yeah.
- [Host] Oh my gosh.
- Yeah, I'll definitely make this
on my bucket list to get this.
- So we had a really good time,
these guys are gonna come back tonight after four,
right, hang out with me tonight,
so it's cool, you're good, keep that passion,
you're amazing, I love this, I mean,
he reminds me of me when I was a kid,
that's why I had so much fun with him,
so I'll see you guys in a little bit, okay?
- 'Kay.
- [Host] Alright, cool, thanks guys.
- Bye!
- What a great kid, I mean, I absolutely loved
his enthusiasm, his dad was super cool too,
so we had a really good time.
Oh my gosh, a couple hours before The Reptarium opens,
let's go ahead and head over to BHB.
Okay guys, so get ready for a sad story.
You're not gonna see tears from me this time,
this was something that I really knew was coming,
so this didn't take me by surprise at all,
as a matter of fact, this morning I got up,
and I thought I was gonna do a video to you guys
saying that I was very concerned with Cookies and Cream,
because I've been working with snakes long enough
to know the signs of when things are really
turning bad, I had told you in the past,
that we were assist feeding Cookies and Cream
three times a week, just a pinky head,
and it was taking it down,
and I had pretty high hopes that things were gonna go well,
well over the last four or five days,
we started to noticed the thing that I've seen
with baby snakes that aren't doing well.
And basically, what it is is that even with food going in,
their starting to lose weight rapidly.
So Cookies and Cream went from looking pretty good,
not really fat, but she wasn't eating a lot on her own,
to actually starting to lose weight.
So, I kinda was gonna come to you guys
and say I'm not feeling good about it,
I am very concerned.
Well, sure enough, I came in this morning,
and I wanna warn you right now,
number one, if you don't wanna see this,
please click off, or fast forward about 10 or 15 seconds,
I'm gonna just show you what I cam into today,
because I do wanna share this with you.
And again, yes, I'm heartbroken, yes it's terrible,
and it sucks really, really bad.
But sure enough, I came in this morning,
and Cookies and Cream had thrown up what we assist fed
her yesterday, and by the way,
we did assist feed her a slightly larger meal,
she took it down herself,
yesterday, when I looked at her,
like I said, I was concerned,
because even with her takin it down,
it just didn't look right.
Often times when a snake starts to lose weight,
and it can't properly use the nutrition to grow,
they'll actually start to rot in their gut,
and things like that happen.
Again, I was gonna come to you guys today
and say, "Guys, I'm not feeling to good about this,
"she did eat, but listen, it's not looking promising
"for the future."
And I've told you guys right from the beginning,
that I knew that it was an uphill battle
with this particular snake,
because it didn't really look that great,
but I was willing to take the chance.
And yes, I know the definition of insanity
is doing the same thing
over and over again, and expecting a different result,
and I keep doing it over and over, and again,
with two headed snakes because I just love 'em,
I've always been fascinated with 'em my whole life.
And yes, it keeps ending the same way
with them not making it, I understand.
Now, this is why it's not completely a horrible,
sad story that I'm sharing with you.
Yes, it sucks, and yes I'm devastated,
But I'm not crying about it because I kinda knew
it was coming, I knew from the start
that there was about a 10% chance that this animal
would live, with that being said,
I was kinda keeping something from you guys,
and with this situation, I wanna now share it with you guys.
Next week, I'm actually picking up a two-headed snake.
And I know what you guys are thinking right now,
like what, is this guy out of his mind?
He has now lost every two-headed snake he's ever purchased,
why in the world would I buy another two-headed snake?
Well, let me explain.
A good friend of mine produced this snake three years ago,
he has a pretty sizable reptile collection,
and this was his pet.
He had never shown it to anyone,
doesn't do social media,
he whole sells only to the pet trade.
And I've known about this snake for the last three years,
it's a California King Snake,
and I've been begging him
to buy it for the last three years.
Well, he reached out to me about a month ago,
saw the pictures and videos of The Reptarium,
and finally said, "Brian, this snake
"belongs in The Reptarium."
You know, it belongs somewhere where people can enjoy it,
not just in my office where me and just a couple
people see it every day,
so guess what, next week I'm picking this snake up.
(upbeat music)
So the difference between the animals I've had in the past,
and the snake that I'm about to get,
is the fact that it's established, it's an adult.
It's grown from that baby size, all the way to adult,
which tells me that there's not other congenital issues.
Once a two-headed snake makes it passed
that fuzzy mouse stage, it will typically live
12-15 years, this animal is obviously bullet proof.
It absolutely is amazing, and I, again,
wanted a two-headed snake at The Reptarium,
for people to come in and see.
And while right now, I'm devastated that Cookies and Cream
didn't make it because we put so much energy
into that particular animal,
and I just really felt like I could get it to go,
the fact is, the cards were stacked against me
from day one with this animal,
not only are two-headed snakes very, very temperamental,
but this particular snake didn't look that great
to begin with, as a mater of fact,
the week I picked Cookies and Cream up,
a couple in Pennsylvania produced a two-headed albino
corn snake that ended up eating on it's own,
in about a month and a half later actually perished,
they reached out to me, they were devastated,
I felt so bad for them, 'cause I knew what it was,
and that was an animal that was actually eating
and doing well, but once they get passed
that baby stage and get into sub-adult,
and then adult stage, they are bullet proof,
and they are just like any other snake.
So I couldn't be more excited to share this with you.
Yes, I wanted to kinda surprise you guys,
'cause I've known about this for about a month.
But, I didn't want to hold off now,
I don't want this to be a sad story,
and me crying, and feeling bad,
I wanted to say hey, we tried,
we tried hard, we did everything we could possibly do
to keep Cookies and Cream alive,
and it was just stacked against us, guys.
There was nothing we could do.
I mean, I am here to tell you,
I don't think anyone could have kept this animal alive
any longer than we did.
Lori, myself, the crew put so much energy into trying
to keep them alive and it just wasn't gonna happen.
I knew this was coming, again,
I was gonna make a video today telling you guys,
hey, in the next few days, I don't think things
are gonna look good, and it happened today.
So, there it is guys.
Yes, I'm still bummed out, yes it sucks.
And yes, I guess I am insane, because I'm about to go
down that road again, but this time,
the road is a completely different road,
because this is a two-headed snake that's an adult,
that's three years old, and I have no doubt
that you guys are gonna be able to come to The Reptarium
and get to interact with this unbelievable animal,
and my vision of eventually having a two-headed snake
at The Reptarium is now going to be a reality this week.
I'm not sure what day we're going,
but it will be next week, so I will take you guys along
on the journey to go down there,
pick it up, we can decide what to name it, if we so choose
to change it's name.
So there it is, guys.
I don't know what else to say.
I'm not gonna sit here and tell you that I'm gonna be
crying the rest of the day,
'cause again, from the very start I knew this was coming.
We are opening up next door at The Reptarium tonight.
I'm not gonna have this ruin my night.
It is what it is, it sucks, it's horrible,
I wish something else could have happened,
but I know in my heart of hearts,
I did everything I possibly could do,
and that's all I can do.
So there it is, guys.
I mean, I wanted to share that with you.
I'm sorry I had to show you,
I just wanted to show you what happened today,
and that it just happened,
and I wanted to share it with you.
So, I'm gonna collect myself a little bit,
I'm gonna head over to The Reptarium,
I'm gonna try to have the best night possible tonight.
And I'm gonna try to wake up tomorrow,
and know that I can look forward to having
a healthy, happy, adult, two-headed snake,
in The Reptarium, within the next few days.
Okay, so there it is, let's get together,
and let's get over to The Reptarium.
(upbeat music)
- Listen, you could view it tonight,
'cause I'm doing a 24 hour challenge,
and, wait, where am I gonna do it at?
- It took a few to kind of get in the groove tonight,
with people coming in, don't get me wrong,
I was still happy to see everyone,
we had a really good time.
But it didn't feel right in the vlog
to somehow be happy-go-lucky,
so I literally just didn't really do much
of vlogging when people were here,
but nevertheless, it was a successful night,
things went well, we had a good time,
I just, I don't know.
You know the situation, it stinks.
I mean, it's terrible, as much as I knew it was coming,
and as much of a risk as I knew I was taking,
it still feels horrible to lose an animal.
I don't care what it is.
Especially when it's something like Cookies and Cream.
I don't know what else to say,
other than the fact that you know the story,
you know the gig, I've been telling you
from the day one if you followed the vlog
from the day I got it,
I told you that there was a better chance
it wasn't gonna make it than actually making it,
I've been saying it all along,
that there is about a 10% chance
that this animal is gonna live past baby,
so I'm just gonna go ahead and end the vlog here.
Wish you guys an amazing day,
and let you know that things are gonna be okay,
don't worry about me, I appreciate it.
I was ready for this, I mentally prepared for this,
so I will be fine.
I'm sorry to you guys, I hope I didn't let you down.
I tried my absolute best to do the best I could
for Cookies and Cream.
I really did have this vision in my head,
like what if it makes it, and it's 10 years old,
and I can show people, but in the mean time,
we do have another two-headed snake,
the one I showed you, it's gonna be amazing.
People are gonna come in just to see that snake,
and then we can change their perception about other animals.
So, it's a good thing, I'll be okay.
Everything's gonna work out,
and I just wish you guys an absolutely amazing day,
thank you for always understanding when these things happen.
Thank you for not attacking me,
like somehow I'm the problem,
or that somehow I killed an animal,
I mean, I appreciate you guys always being so kind to me.
And with that said, I'm just gonna go ahead and end.
Can you do me a favor?
Can you be kind to someone today,
and I promise, I will see you guys tomorrow,
with what I hope is a happy vlog.
(upbeat music)