- One of two alligators that I bought. Listen.
- I'd get iced out, get me a grill.
- You should know better.
Calm down, calm down. - I can't, I can't, I can't
(relaxed hip-hop music)
- Hey, good morning everybody, welcome to the vlog.
I hope the start to your day is absolutely incredible,
and yes, I did spend $70,000 on three reptiles
here in the last week or so.
You know, to me it's all about the animal, right?
And I've spent a lot of money
on a lot of animals in the past,
I'm gonna be totally honest with you.
This was a little bit of a splurge.
And it was a little bit hard to stomach,
but the fact is is that
they were animals that I absolutely was blown away.
Things that I wanted my whole life,
and I've told people this a million times.
To me, money doesn't really matter that much.
I don't drive around in a fancy car,
I don't wear fancy jewelry. Okay, I do like sneakers.
I kinda spend a lot of money on sneakers, but besides that,
I really don't spend money on a lot of things.
To me, if I have to choose between buying
something expensive material-wise
or buying a really cool reptile or animal,
it's not even a close call.
I'm always gonna buy the cool animal.
Of course, the first of the three expensive animals
was this two-headed snake, Ben and Jerry.
You guys have seen a little bit about them.
I absolutely think they're incredible animals,
and again I know I have this kinda weird tie-up
on two-headed reptiles. I don't know what it is.
I just think they're absolutely amazing and again,
I've seen this with them being here this last weekend.
It created so much curiosity.
People were like, "Oh I came here
"to see the two-headed snake. That's so crazy,"
and I know that those people are gonna tell other people
like, "Oh, you've gotta come to The Reptarium
"to see the two-headed snake," and then they'll come in
and then we can 'em all these other amazing animals,
and the people that maybe like reptiles a little bit
will like 'em more and the people that hate reptiles
might actually become reptile lovers in the future
because that's what it's all about.
And again yes, they were expensive.
But it's like I mentioned, it's worth the investment
for an animal like this that's probably gonna live
another 10 or 12 or maybe even 15 years.
I've said it over and over again,
I don't think I'll ever buy a baby two-headed snake again.
I can't say ever, but I don't think I will
because there's such a huge mortality rate.
Probably 99% of them actually don't make it to adulthood.
And a couple people have even said like,
"Are two-headed snakes even that rare?"
Well, to give you an idea, there's probably only
two, three, maybe four two-headed snakes that are adult
in existence right now.
So yes, Ben and Jerry are pretty rare,
there's no doubt about it,
but they are absolutely incredible.
And hey listen, I think they're worth every penny.
Next up is this cute little monkey here,
of course one of two alligators that I bought, and listen.
(alligator chirping)
Oh my gosh, they are so cute.
Of course it's an albino alligator
and again I did a show about the albino alligator
in The Melanistic Alligator and listen,
when I saw my first albino alligator years ago,
I was absolutely blown away and I thought to myself,
"I don't think I'll ever own one,"
'cause it didn't make a lot of sense.
Because why would I own an albino alligator?
Well now that The Reptarium is here,
it makes complete sense because again,
people are gonna see,
"Oh my God, they have an albino alligator,
"let's go ahead and take a look at him,"
and I think it's the cutest little thing in the world.
Years ago, there was actually a farm in Louisiana.
It used to collect eggs from the wild
that used to hatch 'em almost every year.
But what's probably happening is two hets were breeding
every single year, then they would raid the nest,
they would hatch a little albino.
Then Hurricane Andrew blew through
and probably displaced that pair of hets
and they haven't been producing them for the last
probably seven or eight years.
So really, there's only one person in the world
that I know of that is producing albino alligators,
and he's only producing a small amount.
So listen, yes they were expensive.
Yes, it's absolutely worth it.
To me, I couldn't think of any better way to spend my money.
I mean, look at how cute that thing is!
Gotta go show Eric this new snake.
Eric, I found this 50-foot snake man.
- [Eric] Oh my gosh!
- What do you think man? Oh my gosh!
- What is that?
- We've got, it's a 50-foot snake man.
- Dude, this is a, is this a pillow?
Oh my God!
Holy crap!
Dude!
This is awesome!
(laughter)
- I'm wranglin' him, yeah.
- [Brian] Dude, you could, can you set this up in the,
I just wanna put this in a shoe box.
- Oh, we can fit 'er in a shoe box.
(laughter)
We need a bit bowl of water for this friggin' snake.
Holy crap.
- [Brian] You and Noah take care of this.
This is now your guys's thing, all right?
- This is my favorite kinda snake.
You don't gotta feed it or nothin'.
- [Brian] Noah
- Yeah?
- [Brian] Can you take care of this?
- Yeah, I got this.
This is no problem. - What do you think this eats?
- Fuzzy mice.
- [Brian] It actually only eats six-foot high
Winnie-the-Pooh stuffed animals.
(laughter) - You're gonna have to find...
- Oh don't worry, I've got a basement full.
No, I'm just kidding!
- [Brian] All right guys, get that set up for me, okay?
- All right, let's go. - Yeah!
- Then the last animal was this melanistic alligator.
Oh my gosh, this thing is crazy,
and as much as I love the albino alligator,
and listen there's probably, I don't know,
50 or 60 albino alligators in existence,
the melanistic may be something I actually like more.
I mean, it's hard to say 'cause I love 'em both so much,
but believe it or not, there's not that many melanistics.
I think there's definitely fewer melanistics
than there are albinos, and to the best of my knowledge,
not that it matters that much,
but I think that this is the only place in the world
that actually has 'em on display
where we have a melanistic and an albino.
Again, one more thing that I can put out there
to get people to come hopefully visit The Reptarium
and continue to win 'em over.
But regardless, this is a recessive mutation,
and as they get bigger, they stay really black like this.
I mean, just take a look at how dark those eyes are,
and just the whole, I mean it literally doesn't look real.
The first time I saw one of these was actually at
Kevin McCurley's over at NERD's.
I visited him and I was blown away.
And then of course now Greg Graziani,
the same guy I got the albinos from,
produces these too. Unbelievable.
And again, I don't wanna keep going back to this,
but the point is is I don't really spend money
on myself hardly at all,
so to me buying cool animals and building out the zoo
to where it's unbelievable to people is so worth it to me.
I not only want people to come in and be able to handle
and touch and feel the most incredible animals,
but I want them to see stuff that they're not gonna see
anywhere else in the world.
Hey, I guess it's just an excuse
for me to buy animals that I truly love.
Oh, and by the way, I have this new 50-foot snake pillow
that I absolutely love,
but I'm really realizing like
what am I gonna do with this thing? I have no idea.
Look how much space it takes up. It's crazy.
I was thinking about winding it around this tree
and maybe up and over,
but I don't know if I can even do anything.
In the meantime, I have an amazing, cool,
50-foot snake pillow and it's just sitting in the way.
So let me know what you think I should do with this thing.
Is this thing insanely cool or what,
but definitely need to figure it out
'cause it can't stay here.
Eric, no I have to ask you guys a serious question.
- Yeah, yeah.
- [Brian] If I was able to just write you a check right now
for 70 grand, what would you do with that?
- 70 g's man?
- [Brian] What would you do?
- I'd prob buy that riff raff Cuban link,
that red, white, and blue.
- The American flag one, that one's pretty. That's pretty.
- I'd get iced out, get me a grill.
- [Brian] Would you? I thought that would come from Noah,
but not from you.
- What would I, 70 grand. I think you can buy,
I'm pretty sure you can buy a Demon Hellcat
for about 70 grand. - Yeah, you can buy a
Demon Hellcat, for sure.
- It's a car, it's a car.
- Yeah, I literally don't even know what a Demon Hellc...
I thought that was like a cat that's really bad.
- It's a really fast car. It's a Dodge.
You can Challenger or Charger.
- [Brian] What? So for 70k,
that's how you would spend your money.
- A car, yeah probably.
- [Brian] And you would do a
- I take it back. Flood my basement, saltwater croc exhibit.
I'd buy a saltwater croc exhibit. I'd do that.
- Oh my gosh, guys literally don't ever take
these two peoples' advice on anything.
I was comin' over, I was thinkin'
I was gonna get some serious, you know like,
I would invest it, I'd put it in T-bonds, you know whatever.
- I'd donate it to a church?
- [Brian] Oh my God.
- I'm chasin' the RPM's baby. (sports car engine revving)
- Okay, yeah so, just forget about it.
I don't wanna talk, I'm done.
I've been fortunate enough to be around the reptile hobby
for almost three decades, and I've seen amazing animals
like piebald ball pythons come onto the market for $25,000.
Heck I've seen snakes sell for $50,000, $70,000.
It's absolutely been incredible, but the truth is
that money never got me out of bed in the morning.
I just was never motivated by money.
I only wanted to really make money
so I could buy a bunch of cool animals.
That's all I've ever really wanted to do.
And spending 70 grand, was it a good business decision?
Probably not. Will I make $70,000 through the doors
from the Reptarium by adding an albino and a black alligator
and a two-headed snake? Probably not.
Was it worth it to me? Absolutely.
Like I've been sayin', I don't spend money on fancy things.
I just want really cool animals,
and I want people that come through The Reptarium
to not only be able to see, touch, feel
and hold awesome animals,
but I want them to see animals
that they can't see anywhere else.
Yes, I spent it, and yes, it was a lot of money.
But don't think for one second
that I don't understand how much money that actually is.
I never want you guys to think that I'm flaunting my money,
throwing my money around.
I work really, really, unbelievably hard to get what I get,
and rather than saving up for retirement
or buying other things, I buy animals
because that's what I love.
But don't ever think that I'm ever saying like,
"Oh, look at me, I'm spending all this money.
"I'm cool, I'm rich, whatever."
I would never do that
because I know you guys work hard for money, too.
And some of you are thinking like,
"70 grand! I could have done so much more with that money,
"I wish I had that money."
I never want you guys to feel bad about yourself.
Just work hard and maybe one day
you'll be as silly as me and buy $70,000 worth of reptiles.
But with all that said,
money money money catches peoples' attention,
but I think we've established now
that it doesn't really matter to me,
although this Mandarin rat snake
certainly caught my attention.
The truth is is one little bit of advice
I will give you guys is don't ever let people tell you
that you're in it just for the money
if you're making money, right?
And don't be embarrassed,
don't be ashamed to make money at what you love.
I mean, after all
a lot of the people that will complain to someone say,
"Oh, he's in it just for the money,"
they're punching a clock and actually working
and getting a paycheck at the end of the week.
Yeah, they're working, in it for the money.
Well, if we work hard at what we love,
don't we deserve to get paid, too?
So don't ever be embarrassed about it.
Don't make money the reason you do things.
But if you get paid for doing what you love,
that's just a bonus.
And again for me it's a situation
where I am all about making the money
so I can work with amazing, cool, new animals,
and I don't need to buy a bunch of material things
to make me happy.
I get these things because that's what makes me happy.
But if you're the other way and you wanna buy
a brand new car or a fancy house,
that's not something you should be ashamed of either,
'cause if you work hard and you earn that money,
you should do whatever makes you happy with that money,
as long as you're being smart about it.
So some of you out there are probably thinking like,
"Holy cow Brian, you spent a lot of money.
"How did Lori feel about it?"
and the truth is, she was pretty supportive I mean.
- Pretty supportive (laughs)
- I mean you were a hundred percent on
with the two-headed snake.
- Yes. That was, I was a hundred percent on, yes.
- The gators, not a hundred percent, but you did okay.
- (laughs) I did okay, he got them.
- I was happy, but I mean, I think it is really important
to have support from especially not only my wife,
but my partner in this business,
and I mean, it was a lot of money,
but do you think we did the right thing,
or was it just completely ridiculous?
- I'd say, it's yet to be determined. (laughs)
- What's gonna determine it?
- I mean, the final outcome, I suppose.
- Well what are we talkin' about the final outcome?
- I mean, whether it works out or not.
I mean, you know as well as I do we've had a lot
of big dollar investments in our businesses over the years.
Some pan out and some do not.
- I think the only thing for this is that they survive.
As long as they survive and thrive.
- Yes, that's a key point, number one.
- That's really the only thing I'm thinking.
As long as they do well and I'm nervous,
I'll be honest with ya.
I'm not nervous about the two-headed snake
'cause I think that's gonna be good.
- Honestly, that's the worst part about this.
I should have already known that's how you would be,
but he literally can't sleep
because he's so worried. - I know I'm so stressed.
I would have just said no to everything
to not have to go through that part (laughs).
- It has been stressful. I mean those poor little alligators
I look at 'em all the time like are they eating,
are they gonna do all right? It's just scary.
It's a lot of money and it's a really cool animal.
You know what's so funny is,
you're that person, you're that person
that I deal with the phone calls and the emails.
Our customers that just bought the $40 ball python,
they're just feeling the same way.
"Oh my God, I've had it for four days
"and it hasn't eaten yet," you know? That's you.
- I know, it is me.
- And you've got how many years of experience.
You should know better.
- I can't, I can't, I can't. - Calm down, calm down.
(laughter)
- But hopefully with fingers crossed, things work out.
We've got the best possible care, setups,
advice from people, so I think
it's gonna work out. - They'll be fine.
- I think it's gonna work out - They look good,
they're healthy, they're just adjusting,
just like I tell everybody.
It takes a little while to adjust to the new environment.
So it's gonna be okay, they're gonna be okay.
- Okay, I'll take Lori's advice on this one,
but between me and you I'm pretty stressed out,
I'm pretty stressed out.
Well we're definitely startin' to feel
the kind of winter feeling here in the Michigan area.
Definitely a cool, gloomy night. But hey, that's okay.
I'm gonna go ahead and end it now
when it's still light outside, which is very unusual,
get some rest.
We have a lot going on over the next several days,
so we're gonna be really busy.
I hope that you enjoyed the vlog today
and I hope that you have an absolutely amazing day,
evening, whenever you happen to be watching.
As always, your support means the world to me
and I truly, truly, truly do 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 notifications on
so you know when I upload a video?
Make a comment down below because I love reading
about your beautiful faces.
Be kind to someone
and I promise I will see you guys tomorrow.
(relaxed hip-hop music)