- Well guys, guess what?
Bruce got some more snakes, that's right.
So we're about to check out and unbox some new animals.
I don't even know, Bruce won't even tell me what's in here.
So I have no idea.
- I'm so excited.
- It's gonna be a surprise for both of us.
What do you say, go ahead, put this thing down.
- [Bruce] Y'all are in for a treat, absolutely.
- Ooh, what do we have here, Bruce?
- So this is a male Egyptian cobra, or a Naja haje.
And this is actually, his name is Horus.
- Horus.
- And he is about six and a half, seven feet long.
- He's a nice size animal, there's no doubt about that.
Look at that beauty right there.
Go ahead, get this out right here.
Seems to be pretty well behaved so far.
Whoop, I take that back.
(Bruce laughs)
He's not hoodin', but he did a little jump on me here.
And again, being that I don't know this animal,
I'm gonna take a little bit more precaution
because I have no idea how it's gonna act.
It's a little bit flighty.
Interestingly enough, it doesn't really want to hood on us,
but it is flighty.
So you gotta just be a little bit careful with the latch,
that's when they're flighty like this.
Now, tell me a little bit about this guy here.
- So, Egyptian cobras not only just come from Egypt,
but they actually come from northern Africa as well,
like Ethiopia, places like that.
They come in such variable colors that it's honestly,
sometimes takin' a look at 'em,
you won't really know exactly what species it is
unless you really take a more closer, closer look at 'em.
- It is a absolutely beautiful animal.
I tell you what, that thing is gorgeous,
and it does not want to hood at all,
but it's a little whippy,
which is a little bit interesting,
to be honest with you.
But overall, it's a pretty awesome animal,
and that's a pretty sizable cobra right there.
I mean, just take a look at that beauty right there.
Can't believe it won't hood for us,
because the way it's acting
with this, like, kind of flightiness,
you would think that it would definitely hood for us,
but even kinda giving it a little pet here,
just wants to kinda fly back a little bit.
Reminds me a little bit more of a taipan,
the way it's moving, to be totally honest with you.
Definitely very cool.
Again, typically cobras are a little bit more,
in the sense that they'll stop
and then kinda just display threat, right?
And they of course use that hood as a way to say,
"hey, I'm bigger, I'm badder than you,
don't muck with me," right?
Whereas this guy is, again,
reminds me a little bit more like an Australian elapid,
which of course I've had plenty of experience
with these guys over when I was in Australia,
many times messing with these guys,
but I love this snake here.
Here he goes, got a look.
There he goes, there he goes.
Oh, almost got it.
Let's see, come on buddy.
Come on, let's see what you got.
Come on, bud.
I tell you what, Bruce,
you always bring in some good stuff.
Your collection of venomous snakes
is gettin' to be pretty awesome,
but apparently this isn't the only snake you got.
- Oh, I got, I got,
oh, I got you a snake, my friend.
- You got me.
- I got you a snake, right here.
- So it's gonna be even better
than this Egyptian cobra?
I tell you what, I love this thing,
even if it isn't hooding.
Look at the pattern and coloring on this sucker.
Whoo, doggy, I tell you what.
Again, love starting my mornings with a elapids,
there's no doubt about it.
So, alright, we'll go ahead, put this little monkey away.
Shouldn't say little, it's actually pretty sizable.
And then we'll take a look at
whatever is in this bigger bed over here.
Ooh, there it goes.
Whew.
Interesting, isn't it?
Here you go, buddy.
There you go.
Whoo, doggy.
Alright, there you go.
All set there, bud boy.
What a beauty that is right there.
Cannot wait to see what this next snake is.
You guys ready for the surprise?
I have no idea, but everyone keeps tellin' me
I'm gonna be blown away and it's gonna be amazing,
so I don't know what to expect.
What has Bruce got for me?
Let's check it out.
- I'm actually gonna take a step back on this one.
- Oh no.
(Bruce laughs)
- I knew you would knew exactly what it was
as soon as you took a look at it.
- Oh no.
- [Bruce] At how big this boy is.
- That thing is crazy.
Have you messed with it much?
- I have a little bit.
- How is it?
- He will posture, he will hood,
but he's a bit on the flighty side,
so make sure you're careful, Brian.
As always, we're always tryin' to be careful,
that's why the big, big, wide area we're working in here.
- [Brian] Ooh, these guys are next level.
So tell me a little bit about it.
- So this is actually the Naja melanoleuca,
so the west African forest Cobra, as many people know it.
So recently these guys have, obviously,
they've been separated into five different species now.
So they're no longer the Naja savannula,
which is, used to be the broader explanation of what it is.
- It's actually being really calm right now,
but forest cobras are known for being next level.
As soon as I opened it up, like, "no, not a forest Cobra."
Oh my God.
- [Bruce] I told you I'd make you sweat today, Brian.
- [Brian] Whoo, dang, I tell you what.
But he's actually being good,
almost like an indigo snake right now.
But I can promise you guys that
when this guy gets fired up, it's next level.
Forest cobras are the one cobra
that I actually really respect
when it comes to the way that they go at you,
because when they start goin',
they'll go quick and they're fast
and they're likely to fly back up on you.
So right now this guy is actually bein' really well-behaved.
But come on, this is a puppy dog, Bruce.
Look at this thing.
- Oh, you know what I do, man,
I got that way with cobras for some reason,
you know, I just lull them into a sense of security
that they just don't care anymore.
- Oh, I don't know about that.
I mean, trust me, this guy, he's a little, he's a pistol.
He's gonna explode on us at some point here.
And you have to be super, super gentle with these guys,
because again, quick movements are definitely not
the way you want to go with forest cobras.
Looks like he's going a little bit opaque right now,
that could actually be causing
his kind of little bit of calmness,
because cobras are pretty visual animals,
they really use their eyesight
way more than a lot of snakes,
to be totally honest with you.
The fact that it looks a little cloudy,
you might be actually calming it down a little bit,
which is good.
So that's what we're lookin' for right here,
look at the back of that skull.
That is absolutely incredible.
Ooh, come on.
We're definitely woke him up now,
he's not messin' around anymore.
Now you're talkin' about the animal
I was lookin' for, for sure.
Ooh, come on, come on,
up here, up here, up here.
Up here, up here.
There you go.
That's the little mock charge goin'.
That's the forest cobras I always remember, right here.
You're okay, bud.
What a gorgeous, again, you see that back, that flare.
Unbelievable.
And you see again how visual it is.
Every time I make the jerk with the hat,
it's immediately just kinda following that hat,
follow it left and right, up and down,
all over the place.
Ooh, he's just lookin' for a chance
to take a pop like that.
That is beautiful, Bruce.
- You know me.
- Wow.
I tell you what, that is absolutely incredible.
Now that is a hood right there.
I mean, this is, you know,
forest cobras oftentimes have that iconic hood,
almost like a king cobra
where they get this high off the ground.
Not many cobras get that high off the ground.
That is absolutely wonderful.
- [Bruce] That's a solid foot, Brian,
he just got off the ground, there.
- Wow, whoa, oh man.
Guys, I'm in love, man,
this thing is so incredible.
Here you go, buddy.
- You know, I'll tell you one thing
that's always really fascinated me about these guys
is that not only are they ferocious,
but they eat everything.
They eat fish, snakes, other rodents,
whatever comes into their mouth, they will eat.
That's why they're called forest cobras,
they're in the forest, man,
they're often considered semi-arboreal because of that.
- I'm glad that he decided to wake up a little bit
and give us a little bit of a show,
because that's absolutely incredible.
Come on, bud.
There you go.
I tell you, this might be my favorite cobra you have, dude.
- Oh, it's startin' to feel mine.
- [Brian] Oh my God, this thing is so cool.
- [Bruce] He's at least right up there
with Jasmine a little bit.
- It's so cool.
I tell you what, man,
some of you guys like those fast cars,
some of you guys like to jump out a plane,
some of you guys like to climb really tall things.
Not me.
I wanna be on the end of a deadly snake.
That's my, that's what I love in life, right there.
Come on, buddy.
What a beauty.
There you go.
You're alright.
Alright, well, there you go guys.
Forget the coffee, you don't need coffee in the morning,
you just need a nice seven-foot cobra to wake you up.
And welcome to the vlog, Reptile Army.
I hope the start of your day is absolutely incredible.
As you guys know, you can go over to reptilearmy.com,
you can join the movement, join the army.
It's the movement that helps USARK,
it helps education and conservation.
So do me a favor, get your cool swag,
become our soldier, go over to reptilearmy.com.
I mentioned I really respected that forest cobra,
but the truth is, guys, I respect every animal.
Sure, you know, when you're dealing with
a venomous snake or something like that,
it's a little bit more dangerous,
but even Salty here,
you could see that she sometimes gets squirmy.
She is an alligator.
Now, we've had her since she was just a week old
and we've trained her so much.
And listen, I hand her off to people all the time.
But the fact is, is that every time I hand her to someone,
I am looking at every aspect of what she's doing.
I respect all of these animals.
This is an alligator, she can bite,
so we've gotta make sure that that
never happens to anyone, right?
And I take that approach
to every animal I work with, right?
So, you know, even though maybe I'll give
a little bit more respect to, say,
a venomous snake like a cobra,
the fact is, is that, you know,
all these animals deserve my respect
and they certainly have earned my respect,
and I love 'em to death.
And salty is doin' great.
And I mentioned in the past,
every time I hand her off to a bunch of people,
after I'm done, I always set her on the ground
because this is the next training
that I been talking about.
She'll take one or two steps,
and then she'll calm down.
Watch, she'll just calm down and she'll sit there.
And so what I'm gonna do now
is as soon as she calms down and sits down,
I pet her every single time.
And I just want to pet her,
I want to know that she knows
what it feels like to be pet on the ground,
because, listen, she is definitely gettin' big
and she's gettin' that size where it's not much longer
where people aren't gonna be able to hold her at all.
Normally she just sits down and doesn't walk around,
but look at how cool that is.
And look at her, look at her,
she's lookin' at Anthony right now,
like, "hey, are you gonna feed me over there?"
I've never seen her kinda poised up like this before
where she's down on her back.
That's actually like a lunge position right there.
If you got in front of her face, that would be bad.
Well, she's been really good about training,
to be honest, with staying, just sit in one spot.
This is the first time she's challenged me a little bit.
So let's see what that means.
What is she gonna do?
What are you doin', girl?
What are you challenging me for?
What are you doin'?
So again, it's just a slow training.
This is gonna take months and months and months
of rigorous, repetitive training to get her to understand
that she should sit and be able to be petted
without doing anything bad, right?
Because this is the next phase.
But again, like I mentioned,
I respect every animal in this place.
You know, when I first started working with elapids,
much like this little guy here, this famous lizard,
you know, you do get a little bit freaked out.
I think if you do start working with venomous snakes
and don't have a little bit of respect for 'em,
you probably shouldn't be working with them
to be totally honest with you.
But the fact is, is that the more you work with things,
whether it's this guy here,
which we're continually trying to ball train.
Here you go, bud.
And he's doin' really well.
You know, you get more comfortable with things over time.
You know, listen, every time I handle venomous snakes,
and I'm gonna try to see if
I can get this little guy out of the cage.
Come on, on the ground.
And I just show him this ball,
and then, there you go, buddy.
You know, you just get more used to it, right?
But every time I handle a venomous snake,
I still have a tremendous amount of respect for 'em.
I'm never like, doing it, thinking that,
"oh, I'll never get bit," or somethin' like that.
I'm actually doing everything I can do to not get bit,
essentially is what it is.
Come on, bud.
There you go.
Oh, he's such an, absolutely amazing now.
And again, I used to be freaked out by
legless lizards tremendously,
but I've just learned to kinda love this one.
It's so absolutely adorable and so interesting
the way it kinda eats and moves around
and all that type of stuff.
It's just a wild, wild snake.
But again, it's a matter of things,
if you want to work with cobras or rattlesnakes
or Gaboon vipers or whatever the case is,
you know, take it slow, you know,
get a mentor, work with them a bit.
And after, you know,
30 years of working with them that I have,
more than 30 years I've been working with them,
you get a lot more comfortable.
Now, I don't work with them on a daily basis.
I'd be even more comfortable
if I worked with them on a daily basis.
But the fact is, is that, you know,
I still feel pretty comfortable
because I've dealt with taipans,
I've dealt with mambas,
I've dealt with, you know, king cobras and every animal,
and that forest cobra was a pistol.
If you want to get that thing fired up,
you've got to give that a lot of respect.
But the fact is, it's just, again,
about working with animals and getting used to 'em.
And this guy is just so cool.
He's becoming, it's interesting how you can have an animal
that freaks you out for a while,
and then after that it becomes one of your favorite animals.
And now legless lizards are absolutely right up there
with some of the coolest animals I work with.
I just think they're absolutely amazing.
And now that we have this one,
I really wanna try to get more,
to be honest with you,
and maybe try to actually produce these,
'cause some captive-bred legless lizards
would be absolutely adorable.
She actually came in this morning
and said that someone left me a note,
a family from Pennsylvania
that actually had sent me a crochet turtle before,
which was super cool.
I guess they visited last night when I wasn't here.
Sorry I missed you.
But she sent a note, said "my family and I visited from PA
and we did a crochet turtle here.
Have fun finding him."
So obviously, somewhere here in the Reptarium
is another cool crochet turtle.
What do you say we go find it?
Alright, so the first thing I'm gonna do
is obviously look in the areas like this.
Make sure nothing's there,
maybe behind this tree here, nothin' there.
I hope they didn't hide it like on top of cages,
but let's see, we'll look behind here.
Don't see anything there, nothin' there,
all the way up here.
Alright, alright.
Better look underneath here.
Nope.
Not underneath there.
I'll continue to look.
It's like, it's kinda cool.
It's like a little scavenger hunt.
No, nothin' over here.
So Lauren, we have a crochet turtle.
Remember the people that made us the other crochet turtle?
Remember that?
- A while ago?
- Yeah, they were here last night,
and they hid one here.
So they left it nowhere to hide,
so I've gotta go find it.
Do you wanna help?
- I like a good scavenger hunt.
Where have you looked?
I just looked down this aisle here,
so I haven't looked here.
- I'm so sorry, I totally forgot.
- [Lauren] It was just exciting that we're matching.
- Yeah, 'cause I said, no one's wore the same shirt yet,
at the same time.
- I know, they're twins.
You guys are twins.
No.
- I wonder if it's in a cage.
- [Brian] Well, let's hope not.
Okay, speaking about the cage,
this has been open all night.
- Did we check the turtle ponds?
- It's not true, it's not true.
She doesn't believe me anything.
I feel like it's over here somewhere.
- Wait, are you serious?
- [Brian] Why?
- Oh my God.
- [Lauren] It's so close.
- [Staff Member] Oh my God.
- [Lauren] Why would you do that?
- [Brian] Oh, I found it!
- [Staff Member] Oh my God!
- Oh God.
- [Brian] This is so small.
Oh my God.
- I was just over here, too,
I was looking for something bigger.
That's good.
- It's super cute, so we found it.
Thank you so much, I love it.
As a matter of fact,
did you see the couple rocks out front, too?
- No, I didn't.
- Someone had a couple painted rocks
that they hid out front, too.
So, I love when people do that,
they hide stuff in here and we have to find it.
So, thank you so much, I appreciate you guys.
Absolutely had a beautiful time with those cobras,
I hope that you guys enjoyed 'em.
If you did enjoy that video,
right here is another playlist
of me handling crazy stuff.
On this side, you could do me a favor
and hit that subscription button,
it would mean the world to me.
Have an absolutely wonderful day, Reptile Army.
Remember, be kind to somebody,
and I promise, I'll see you in the next one.