Become a Creator today!Start creating today - Share your story with the world!
Start for free
00:00:00
00:00:01
Speedway Stories and Cold Blooded Conversations:
0 Plays2 seconds ago
Wally was joined by reptile enthusiast and expert Steve Nelson to talk reptiles
Network Links
Recommended
Transcript
Introduction with Special Guest
00:01:12
Speaker
What up everybody? How you guys doing tonight? Welcome back to another episode of Speedway Stories and what a conversation. Welcome to the Nonsensical Network. We're seven days a week. We got it on every social media out there. um Tonight, I got a special guest from my reptile community, a good buddy of mine I've become good friends with. um I'm gonna have him come up, introduce himself, and I hope you guys enjoy. If you got questions, please hit us up.
00:01:38
Speaker
what is up what is up what is up everybody it's your boy steve from a reptile i am uh thanks for having me on wally and uh thanks for coming on i'm i'm ready for whatever we got happening man so uh get a things kind of started off uh what got you interested honestly in the in the hobby into the reptile hobby my man um so I kind of feel like it's almost like a two-part question um because there was Steve decided to get animals and then there was Steve decided to immerse himself bully.
Steve's Journey into Reptile Hobby
00:02:19
Speaker
So like i've always been i've I've always been the guy that's gone out herping since but
00:02:27
Speaker
before I even, I didn't even know herping was a thing until like nine years ago. It was just going out and doing what we do here in the Midwest for fun, you know? So I grew up doing that stuff, hitting the creeks and my dad did a lot of fishing. So I spent a lot of time around water. So that's why you see me with a lot of water snakes and things like that. Cause that's just what, that's what I grew up with.
00:02:52
Speaker
ah as i got older i don't know uh maybe it was a midlife crisis i have no idea but uh i scooped me up my first ball python uh which the first one that we got was a pinstripe oh yeah i i'd never i didn't even know that this stuff existed dude i i had no idea that there were various morphs and things like that now there wasn't as many morphs at the time this would have been back in uh like late 2017, early 2018, something like that. why And there was still quite a few, but not like today.
00:03:30
Speaker
so I saw it, I had to have it and I scooped one up, brought it home. ah you know I spent like a grand at the store buying everything that you don't really need because you're you're going through the steps, dude. And anybody that knows, then unfortunately they know exactly what I'm talking about. So like for the ball python, I bought a terrarium. That's not the easiest route to travel when it comes to your humidity and temperamental stuff with the glass and things like
Challenges in Reptile Keeping
00:04:03
Speaker
that. right So lots, lots of growing pains, the adhesive stick on stuff. And, you know, yeah and nobodys I remember that stuff when I got my first corn snake. I mean, ball pythons for me growing up, I mean, you're looking at six, $700 snakes for a normal because it wasn't a big thing growing up until here recently for me. And it's like,
00:04:26
Speaker
Holy cow. Getting it and then of course like you were saying with the stick on stuff, always fighting to make sure it stayed up on the tank and everything else. And it's a big no, no. You don't do it at all. But when you're brand new, you go to the pet store. And when you're novice like that or intermediate, right you know you see the setup. And they're selling you a tank that, first of all, is for a tortoise. ah And then they throw in a couple crested gecko leaves and probably like some of those fake vines. I've seen them. what the i like a cricket bowl and an adhesive temperature gauge. And you're like, sweet, I'm going to be plug and play ready out the door. And it's like, dude, none of this shit makes any sense. No, not at all. it's The height isn't right. It's way too big. But they you know there's progression in the hobby. And you know for those that that keep it going. But anyways, that's how it started. And of course, I got my first snake sick.
00:05:34
Speaker
uh you know i got a respiratory infection and it was just from over loving the animal in that terrarium and missing it in the morning and at night thinking that i was doing what i was supposed to and all of the extra care was going to help, but that glass is very temperature controlled, you know? So once it cooled down just a hair going into winter time, everything changed as for what the husbandry was and got the snake sick. And as I reached out and was looking for information, I just, I couldn't really find anybody that was willing to step up and help.
00:06:19
Speaker
I couldn't find a community. ah It was was pretty nasty out there. And for the most part, people were just like, well, hey, if something happens to your snake, I'll sell you another one. Yeah, they were basically looking for a revenue thing. um I'm animal sensitive. So it's like, well, that's all fine and good. Because I had somebody telling me, you know it's $120 snake.
00:06:45
Speaker
Who cares, dude? Let it go and just get another one because my vet bills ran me like four or 500 by the time I was done. Right. But it wasn't the animal's fault. I'm, I'm the one that got it sick, not knowing in the beginning. Right. So that part out in the community, not to interrupt, but that's the bad part is a lot of people aren't educated or they don't want to take the time to get educated. And then they go on these, like you said, now that we have communities that answer things, they they don't want to do it. And then they get they wonder why stuff happens because they're given the wrong information.
00:07:24
Speaker
but yeah That's really where round two of the question comes in, because you know I wanted to learn about the hobby. I asked a couple breeders locally. I was like, hey, I understand what that this is. I know that people aren't really wanting to show people how to go about this for some
Building a Community for Reptile Enthusiasts
00:07:44
Speaker
reason. But I'll do whatever it takes to get this figured out. I'm very interested in the morphs and the genetics. and it's just It really intrigued me, the scientific side of it. you know I'm kind of a numbers guy. So I liked looking at the flow charts and stuff and what your probabilities are going to be and things like that. And for the most part, people laughed at me. And it sounds funny to say that now, Wally, but I wasn't always the general. I wasn't always Steve from A Reptile I Am.
00:08:19
Speaker
ah And that's where the birth of a reptile I am on Facebook came from. ah I started reaching out to breeders that I respected that I thought could help build a community that if someone did have a question or an answer or any of that type of stuff, you know.
00:08:39
Speaker
um It's a safe place for everybody to go. right You're not going to go into the group. there It's not going to be hammered with sales, which unfortunately, Wally, everybody wants to do that. The problem is that's not how it works, dude because that's not about animals first.
00:08:57
Speaker
So that's kind of what, what started spreading the wings on that. And I had no idea that, you know, now I think the group were like 9,000 strong or something. yeah know as soon as you start I jumped in man, cause I've been following you for a while.
00:09:14
Speaker
like on Instagram and Facebook and I have my own. What a while. And I got my own stuff and I learned quite a bit that I didn't realize and I changed a lot of my husbandry around just because of you and the people that's in that community that I didn't know even doing my own research but it helped better because I've seen people that succeed in this hobby make it and it's helped me a lot with my own personal collection that I have so And see, I love hearing that because that's the whole reason we did this. ah There are some OGs in the group. i do have some ah I do have some friends that have a little bit of clout, and they've come over to the group. But the group was created for the entry level, mid-level. Or like I said, if somebody's having an issue, it's it's not about if we all started out and our setup was perfect.
00:10:09
Speaker
What are you trying to do to kind of try to make it better for the animal down the road? So it's not that you do that you're gonna make a mistake, it's how you correct those mistakes. yeah And then I wanted a group that somebody could feel safe asking those questions without 15 trolls jumping in and being like, oh my God, dude, i't you should never own a snake. What are you doing? Dude, what they're doing is- They put themselves out there admitting that they were wrong. They're trying to help this animal and you're being an ass. Yep, exactly. i did all the like That's what's really going on. Yeah. ah You know, so when people off.
00:10:56
Speaker
and And, you know, people will also jump in and do that to other people, other breeders, because they don't want that other person to start getting any of this so-called clout. Right. Because then they're looking at you as competition.
00:11:13
Speaker
ah And that's just, unfortunately, that's just how it is, man. but and And the sad part is that's in any, any business aspect, really. I mean, even reptile motorsports, I mean, any, anything that. Entitles a business aspect. You're always going to have that asshole. That's going to try to push you to the side because they don't want, like you said, they don't want you to compete with them.
00:11:39
Speaker
even though your goals may be different than that other business. absolutely And they just want to be at, like you said, assholes. And I see it on these other Facebook communities, people asking questions all the time and they get bewildered. And it's like, why are you guys even got these groups started? And it's sad.
00:11:58
Speaker
that to see how many people leave the hobby because of people like that. I mean, it's just ridiculous. And and you said it right there. That's what kills me the most. OK, so for any of these tenured breeders or whatever, so anybody that's been breeding for three or four years, I wouldn't say you're tenured, but you've pretty much got your wheels under you and you understand the process.
00:12:23
Speaker
or you wouldn't have made it three or four. I'm not talking about three or four years keeping, but like breeding. right At that point, you you're probably five years in, maybe six years in. Like I said, you got a pretty good grasp of what's going on, if not even for your own vain reasons. Because a lot of times, like the ones I'm saying that are kind of money gouging or they're worried about that for competition,
00:12:48
Speaker
Yeah. If they help that person, that person will come to them because you're now their snake person.
Breeding and Industry Dynamics
00:12:55
Speaker
Right. so when you don't help those people and they bought that one snake from a pet store, which they probably shouldn't have bought it from a pet store. But now they've spread their wings because I didn't even know there was reptile groups or reptile shows. Right. I didn't even. When I first got into it, like I said, back in 17, 18, I didn't know. And when I bought my first snake from a pet store, mind you, I did everything the way you're not supposed to.
00:13:25
Speaker
Same here myself with my corn snake man. So ah but I, you know, brought it home. And that's when that that kind of got my wheels turning. So I started typing into Facebook a little bit more and finding some of these groups. So you start kind of spreading out. But I didn't see signs for reptile shows. and I've lived in this city my whole I'm in Kansas City, dude, I should have seen that stuff.
00:13:52
Speaker
which says something about that said something in itself because it's not getting out to the open community enough. right for one thing exactly but there's those progressions you know so then i progressed and went to a reptile show which really blew my mind if i thought i had seen something on ball pythons out of the five they had at the store but dude i was not prepared for what was coming but my point is this wallie so i got that one snake and
00:14:23
Speaker
Yes, the snake got sick and I ended up and he's still with us. We're good. Unfortunately, I got him sick twice, though, but I paid the cost to be the boss and he's still with us. And so we're going to go on that. But if if that snake hadn't a made it, we might not be talking right now because it could have broke my heart as an animal lover. And I may never have turned around and bought any of this stuff, which means that i ne you never would have got any assistance from me on any of the groups or any of my YouTube videos or whatever you watched, you know? Because like, dude, we have almost 400 YouTube videos on our page. there's There's so much stuff in there. And it's funny because you can see the progression too, by the way. It's really funny when you go back.
00:15:19
Speaker
ah but me Me staying in and making it past the first snake, guys, that was an additional 360 animals that the community sold. I never bought another one from a pet store again.
00:15:35
Speaker
Every one of those came from the community. yeah So keep that in mind. Now, I'm not saying that that's normal. I've got a sickness. But if you sell a new ball python breeder, a snake, they're probably going to come back for three or four more because when they spread their wings, they start seeing these other genetics you and the addiction spreads. We're not special because we caught the bug.
00:16:02
Speaker
It was already out there. We tapped into it's all we did. if if you If only for one vain reason that you're helping them, you might get a sale out of it. That shouldn't be the reason. But my point is, no matter what your reason is, whether you want to be a good person or a super villain, it being positive and helping someone else, it helps everybody. Because I'm a firm believer that The breeders are actually what keeps the circle going. Yeah. And you get those bad apples of those breeders. Oh, i I agree with you. I've seen so many people since I've been in this community now and really digging into the ball, especially the ball Python community, um,
00:16:52
Speaker
how much positivity is in there but also how much hatred it comes back to that the competition but yet you see these people that have the haters towards other readers you go to their pages well we want to get people to build the hobby but at the same time i want to comment on their well i've seen your posts on this other person's page that's trying to bring new into the show and into the game, but you're bewilling them over the whole ordeal. So how are they supposed to? So, you know, here's the thing with that, dude. It's clicky out there. There's clicks. Very. but that's yeah those so Those clicks will work inside of themselves. Yeah. And it can give the appearance that they're building a community and they're really building three or four
00:17:46
Speaker
breeders right and that's where you see them in other threads. just You know and I even see it the and to bring it up morph market I see comments on people's posts when I scroll through morph market how their dog in this breeder Because this snake in the picture because they don't have the high dollar cameras or technology They're dog in the look of their snakes and it's like don't look at it then get away from it I mean a lot of these people that are on what I found on morph market are
00:18:18
Speaker
I've actually bought a couple of my ball pythons that I got from guys here that I found here in Ohio. Pikeline ball pythons. they're They're good people. I met them. I bought a clown off of him. He made me a deal. I'm working on growing him up, putting him in with my pen stripe and red authentic that I've got. She's growing up. I bought her off of a local person here in town that was getting out of the hobby because once again, couldn't find the help until it was too late and they lost their drive to stay in the hobby even just to keep it as a pet.
00:18:52
Speaker
which you know ah I talk about this all the time. The power is in the animal. yeah we're ah We're only the tools. yep okay Nobody would probably be looking in unless if they didn't know that I didn't have puzzle and paint and acid and all this various stuff. That's that's that's why people tune in. in It's not because I'm special. No, it's our it's your it's the animals. Yep, exactly.
00:19:24
Speaker
You, when I say that, here's what I'm getting at. You also don't have to breed all of the animals. The power is in the animal. So if you have females and they're just sitting there growing, technically you don't have to breed everything. So you can cut back without getting out. There was a lot of fallout in the last few years because there was a lot of ramping up.
00:19:49
Speaker
in the past three years. and ive seen that theres pain It painted a negative picture that this isn't going to work and things like that. it does It works as much as you work it. It's just like any job. And that's the honesty of it, guys. And that's the difference between some people should be hobbyists because when you get to a certain point where it starts becoming business,
00:20:18
Speaker
You know, it's like when you buy a car, Wally, the second that car pulls out of the drive, it's not worth as much as it was 30 minutes ago. If you buy a breeder animal, let's say for $500, so we're we're keeping it very realistic in the ball python world. That's very realistic. So a $500 animal,
00:20:44
Speaker
and you raise it up and it's ready to go and you breed it or whatever and then it's time for that animal to move on because there's also levels. After you have an animal that you've leveled up, if you're not going to use it, open it up to the next person that it can be special again. right You know what I mean? Get them started where they can start off like we do. like we Get them into where, here, give them something that they got that they want to get into it. Here's your turn. I got my turn and I'm stepping up to something else. I get what you're saying, but here's your turn now.
00:21:21
Speaker
This did me well, now it's your turn. You do something special with it now, as it's your now, your animal to get you started into the breeding process. So here's the punch line to this this whole thing. So the animal was $500 and now two years later, you're you're looking to help somebody else with it and you only get $200 for it.
Business Aspects of Reptile Keeping
00:21:48
Speaker
You can't be upset at the price point because each animal should have taught you something um and you're almost funding your own college, so to speak. right So like, it's like I said, the power's in the animal. It doesn't matter that certain of these animals, I'm not getting back what I invested in them.
00:22:10
Speaker
because it's what got me where I am today. And if I didn't have them, I wouldn't i wouldn't be a guest on your show. i wouldn't I wouldn't have a triangle on my head. It just wouldn't, yeah, that's what I'm talking about. oh yeah i it just it It wouldn't exist, you know what I mean? So like,
00:22:32
Speaker
you're europere buying into what you should be wanting to do. And I never brought in a snake that wasn't the coolest thing that I had. You know, there was always that euphoria upfront and the the drive and all of that. And I would never take back any of my purchases because they led me to the St. Louis NARBCs, Tinley Park, Daytona. I'm gonna make it to Tinley so bad. it opened up so many so many avenues of happiness for me and my people oh yeah it's still worth picking up the poop and the pee every morning yep and I mean and then and the thing of it is it's like really with our hobby i sad part is I picked the most two expensive hobbies in my life I like my motor sports and I love my reptiles man I mean besides having kids those are the top three most expensive things you can have
00:23:29
Speaker
for your lifetime, in my opinion. I mean, but it's, but it's what you put back into it. Like you were saying, and if it wasn't for you guys like you, and I'm going to bring up a couple of people, God rest their souls. Brian Barczyk loved the man to death. He was another big, huge influence in my life of getting, getting into the ball Python game, having what I have. I'm setting myself up.
00:23:54
Speaker
to eventually bring. by right now viy I was thinking it too, Benji. I see you. Sorry, Wally, but Benji, he's dropping troops. Oh, yeah. we but Yep. The wife too. Yes, sir. That's lateral with the children, bro. It's just an expensive.
00:24:11
Speaker
yeah yeah but yeah but yeah I mean if it wasn't for people like him people like you I wouldn't be my kids wouldn't show the interest in anything if it wasn't showing them your videos Brian's every day vlog when he was around I still watch Lori and them to this day I cannot wait until they go up take the family we've talked about it when the legacy is done we're gonna go see it I can't wait but guys like you and him have made it and Steve Irwin I mean that was my first animal guy watching dude I mean honestly I I couldn't be more flattered right now that you even um mention my name or
00:24:55
Speaker
Next to these guys you benefit for like but I found another reason I found you and I'm gonna be straight. I Watched you comment on an Instagram post of Brian during one of his vlogs and ever since then I've been following you and Comment and get chit-chatting with you ever since then man. and yeah That's going and that's going way back dude let's going But yeah, I mean that's where I i mean yeah that and just Then to you got your big go to our big-time breeder. I love what the man's doing Justin Kublka The the animals that he is producing and the way he is doing it He's doing it with class, but he's also trying to introduce that and my man up in Canada
00:25:45
Speaker
Got to give it to him. Good old Billy Row at mutation creation. du that him yeah for the boy got a him too man i mean I watch him actually when and it's hilarious right after my shows are done on Monday since I started doing this. I jump on his his thing and hit him up on the live when he comes on when he does his live.
00:26:05
Speaker
and do you remember Do you remember roughly the beginning when you first came in and saw Billy? He was blowing my mind, dude. Oh, yeah. He was not like anyone else. He said whatever he wanted. Yeah, he didn't care. Literally, he was one of those that there was no filter, no blind. And you know what? You know what? No bullshit, dude. Damn nice guy.
00:26:32
Speaker
is He's hes like talking to him online. I can only imagine what he's like in person. him and he's come well he's kind of on the shot He's come on the show with me a couple times, Kevin McCurley.
00:26:44
Speaker
love have kevin's the she As a matter of fact, I don't know if you saw, I did a video that it was titled like something like, is this the end of the ball python industry?
00:26:56
Speaker
Oh yeah. I remember. Yeah. Did you watch that show? Yes. Because Billy Rose and Kevin McCurley came on. yeah The show was great. Kevin stole the show though. Oh my god dude. Halfway through the show he took over and it was just the craziest nerd. i That was the freaking when he brought down the albino buega out the cat eye.
00:27:24
Speaker
You know how you know how you know what it is when me and Billy Rose are like. Oh yeah, you guys were like, and then but then you hear Billy, I definitely will be calling you Kevin. I need to get me one of those. I remember that night because I, that was that honestly, that night, I think I was like six hours we were on that night and I had to be at work the next morning and the wife's going, you need to go to bed. I said, Oh no. So she ended up laying over on the phone, watching with me and I'm like, these are the guys that got me into this. And she's like, Oh my God, you guys are nuts.
00:27:58
Speaker
Well, I tell you what, dude, we've got to get you, we've got to get you an area reptile over there to represent something, dude.
Influences and Social Media Impact
00:28:05
Speaker
So I need to know what, what's not on the air. We'll talk off the air, what some of your passion projects are, and maybe I can help us slide something over that direction. and yeah We'll definitely do that, man. But yeah, those nights, ah but those, you like I said, you're in there with those guys. I mean, but with you and Brian though, I mean,
00:28:28
Speaker
your vlogs you do I mean you didn't do it you don't do it all the time like Brian did but you got you when you do you bring the people in you bring them in also to see the side that nobody actually sees on a day-to-day basis of what it is to do this hobby and actually enjoy it yes it can be frustrating because like you said cleaning days those suck ah yeah It's every day bro but I'm just saying it's but it's one of those deals but you keep going you don't let it defeat you and it's neat I've been looking here lately some of these new members that we've got on the area Facebook page there are a lot of new beginners that are coming in.
00:29:11
Speaker
Yeah. we're taking amazing I don't know if you've noticed, but we're picking up 50 to 100 a month. Yeah. It's not even like five or six or seven here. It's, it's multiple at a time and it's fricking, it's fricking awesome. I love it.
00:29:27
Speaker
But yeah, that's and and it's just my buddy. My buddy just messaged me. My buddy Kryptonite dreams. That's my partner, Wayne. Oh, OK. He just he just messaged me on my phone and he said, buddy, I hate to tell you, but then some big ass shoes to fill. And I'm like, ro you ain't telling me. Holy hell.
00:29:48
Speaker
Hey, i they're there they were like here's here's what I could tell you. i would I would do more of the daily vlogging, but I need some help at this point. right I've taken myself about as far as I can on social media, and I've done good for a boy from the Midwest, but dude, this isn't my forte.
00:30:10
Speaker
So anybody sees this and wants to link, man, you know, your boy could use some help. Uh, I am down for, I am down for whatever the community needs me to be. And dude, it would be a dream come true to be able to try to actually step up into the limelight, like those other guys you're referencing. Cause, uh, I mean, why i do it too well and like I said, with what you're doing alone, I mean, it's still, it's still touch reaching out and touching the people out there in the community.
00:30:40
Speaker
yes we don't have the backing like some of these others do or you know but yet It's there. You're still hitting the people. I mean, come on. You wouldn't have what we have growing in the group in the last two years that I've been part of this group to go where we've been. I remember when I started, you were barely at like 2,000 people, I think it was, when you started that Facebook group. And we're almost at 10,000 now. And it's just the start of 2025. You want to hear something funny about that? I don't know why this is.
00:31:14
Speaker
But are you actually a member? Do you even know? Oh, no, I have not subscribed that part of the membership side yet. I just seen it recently. I knew it won't let me be. It won't let me be a member. I am the first visitor of the group. I am the admin. It's my business and it still won't let you be. I am the first visitor. So the honest number, it's more like 12 or 13,000.
00:31:44
Speaker
um It's just showing you the members up on the list and for some reason it just the first 2000 or so. They're all there. Yeah.
00:31:58
Speaker
But I don't know. i'm i crazy I'm just a visitor in my own home. I play in the backyard every now and then. That's all you get to do. i yeah So on the other side, another question I had you tonight.
Family Involvement in Reptile Keeping
00:32:13
Speaker
um Besides the Ball Python community, I know personally what else you mess with.
00:32:19
Speaker
What other breeds of snakes and also I know you guys dabble in the Crested Gekko game too. We fill in the people about that game. So area is something that we set up and.
00:32:35
Speaker
um I'll put it out there for you, Chris. So there is one more facet that's missing to your first question. And I don't normally put it out there because it's kind of personal stuff. But Jenny was having some really bad health problems, and she's still battling with it. But it's better.
00:32:51
Speaker
good But in the very beginning when we just had the one snake, she had had a heart attack and I was trying to figure out a way to if something horrible was to happen to mom, how could I keep all of the kids connected to me in some way. And that's why we got a couple female snakes okay because my daughters were talking about wanting to possibly be like an exotic pet vet and doing things like that for college. And I thought, what a good idea they can at least get some under their belt.
00:33:25
Speaker
rush That is what started the craze on buying stuff. Okay. ah What was going to happen with Jenny. And we'll just let you know real quick. Everybody that's watching the show, he claims to be the general, but mama's action. Jenny is the general of the show. Don't let him fool you.
00:33:43
Speaker
hey And am real talk, real talk, because I didn't say this, I didn't say this before and I meant to say it. So everybody sees, well, you see a small portion of what's here. yeah It continues down this wall, down that wall, in the other room, in the other room. And I do a lot of traveling. So when it comes to more of the daily maintenance, which is the hard part,
00:34:09
Speaker
Yep. That is the hard part. Yes, sir. A lot of that goes to the first lady. I have a team over here because I trained, I trained the first lady who ended up being better than me and a lot of the stuff. So I guess, I guess that's an advantage, although the masculine or whatever.
00:34:29
Speaker
but And then I trained both of my daughters. And you know, my middle daughter, Arian, she's been in this since she was like seven years old. So she doesn't even know what she knows isn't trivial. You know what I mean? Because she miss yeah she's throughout the process. Yeah, it just keeps getting better for us as time goes on. She's just getting more more of that education by being there because of what you guys have started. I mean, it's so to loop to loop back around to the question you just asked me and why I say it like that is so I have the area a reptile I am so I deal with the snakes and stuff like that.
00:35:14
Speaker
um My oldest daughter has area arachnids. um which She has her own loco and everything too but she's a little gun shy on stepping forward on breeding but she houses like 37 species multiple pairs.
00:35:30
Speaker
na So, she has that side of things if she decides to step on the gas pedal. um My youngest daughter, um she's got her own logo being created right now and she runs our crested geckos, leopard geckos, things like that. man Then my son does ah our feeders, so he works our our super worms, mealworms, and beetles are dubious, things like that. that we Yeah, my wife just jumped in about and was the one that made the comment, you yuck, spider. She's not a big fan of spiders, so. And yeah and then Jenny, of course, has area creations where she has all of our shirts. Yep, right there. That's got Jenny's sweat all over it, I guarantee it. Oh, yeah.
00:36:23
Speaker
Come over here. He was already calling you out. She's hanging out on the other side of the camera, like waiting for me. And I always tell her, dude, I'm like, man. She's part of the crew man come on you in she's more important. I'm just the goofball up front. I'm the clown, dude. I'm the clown. But I'm super excited about something. We'll go ahead and release it and announce it on your show first. OK. We just bought our tickets to Daytona. So the first lady is coming out to Daytona with me this year. And we got ourselves a little place down. I'm not sure we're down off of the beach. I'm not sure where at yet. So I'm super excited to be able to take my lady somewhere. Because like I said, she's always she's always stuck here.
00:37:13
Speaker
Yep, I know. Yeah, and that's gonna be awesome. Enjoy your guys's time when you go down. I can't wait to see videos and pictures when you guys are from down there at the show and stuff. So that'll be awesome. It'll be fun. It's the weirdest thing currently is just not so much just the show itself and meeting all the new people out there because I I don't typically like it. It's gonna be a whole new group of breeders. She never gets to see. Yeah. Right. Down there in Florida is different. I i follow their shows on the social platforms. I've met some people I follow on Instagram from there. They got some, especially the colubrids, they got some pretty sweet stuff down there in Florida.
00:37:53
Speaker
I've never, I've never been on a plane before. I've never seen an ocean. I've never seen the beach. I've never been this far away from my kids before. So like at the same time, I'm like, this is exciting, but I am terrified. And the whole time, the whole time, Wally, she wants to back out. She's like, Oh no, no, no, no, you're not allowed. You're on, you're on the air now.
00:38:15
Speaker
and you're getting called out, you have to go now. Sorry. Yeah, she's like, I don't know. I don't i don't feel good because the kids can't go. And I just told her, I said, you know what? Then let's put it to the kids. Let's ask the kids if they think that mom deserves some time off from all of the doctor's appointments, everything that goes on with having to get medicine and medication, all the things she's been through, the losses in the family. And I feel like,
00:38:43
Speaker
I'm expected to be there because of the triangle. But when it comes to the triangle, who deserves to be there more is going to be her. And that's I'm being i'm being honest. But you know, I'm repping the night. Thank you again. The wife has got hers too. I appreciate it. So yeah i like i I'm ready to expand a little bit more. But if someone doesn't quit expanding into my spaces,
00:39:11
Speaker
Hey, put your foot down. I don't know who you're talking about, Steve. I will end this show right now, dude. I thought we was better than all that noise.
00:39:24
Speaker
Hey, you know what? She says what she wants about this when we're here. You should see when we're at the damn show, Wally. When she went to Tinley with you, the pictures don't do justice. That busts her out that you posted from Tinley. I've seen your reactions being at Tinley and stuff with everybody.
00:39:44
Speaker
Yeah Oh, yeah the pitch that's what I'm saying buster out with the animals everything else so our last big show we came home with a few and of those few because yeah yeah and Here's the here's the problem is at this point It's not easy to sell me a snake because we've got so much and we're breeding so much. So when she finds one, boy, does she pick one. She finds, so like she finds those bangers,
Humor in Naming Reptiles
00:40:25
Speaker
don't she? That you you, I can't tell you how many used cars are right here on this wall right now. I can only imagine. bob yeah I can only imagine.
00:40:34
Speaker
You would think I would stop abusing myself because then I have to sit and decide what the name of the snake is going to be because of how it looks and what it has in it. And I have to be the perfect name. We do name every animal. Every one of mine's got names too, so don't feel bad. Hey, I remember in the beginning, like the first 50, I used to be like, no, I don't like that. It's going to be blah, blah, blah. There got to be a point where I was like, damn, I'm um flat. I'm running low. We're pulling out books and looking stuff up and we're like, all right, we're naming them after X-Men. That gives us another 14. Welcome to my world. I've got three that I've named after. I got Phoenix. I've got Rogue. yeah yeah And then I've got my iguana that I have that was a rescue. like His name's Zilla instead of Godzilla.
00:41:32
Speaker
But yeah, my buddy Glick on here says easy names are red snake, black snake, long snake, short snake. That don't work over here anymore. do would I did go really simple with the geckos. All of our geckos are named after vegetables.
00:41:52
Speaker
Really? Hey, here's the problem. Here's the problem, though, dude. We had to stop because, like, we were running out of vegetables. Oh, my gosh. There's only so much. Who's got an asparagus? We do. Who's got a tomato? We don't have a tomato yet. Well, there you go. There you go. We don't have an onion. We have a rutabaga. Really? Yeah.
00:42:19
Speaker
yeah oh Yeah, yeah, I've got ah and I've even got a coluia ah Columbia gold tegu I bought at our local pet store, which is the guy's a breeder himself and I named him chompers because every time you get him out he likes to chomp he is he's something now he's a little pistol my wife handles him more than I do he actually is pretty calm with her me he tries to eat me He's a couple years old now. i mean We just let him go. ah We had, well, I let him go before the season. just He was ready to go back to the wild, but we had about a 35-pound snapping turtle. Really? Oh, man. He was cool. and And honestly, I brought him in because I was afraid of him.
00:43:10
Speaker
No kidding. I used to chase those things around on the road all the time as a kid. And I spend so much time in the creeks and stuff, herping. Right. And I've always, it's a fear that was instilled in me when I was younger by my dad yeah because he didn't want me to get next to him. But it's not it's not what I thought it was.
00:43:35
Speaker
ah And I wanted to be able to move past it because it was an unprecedented fear that was inside of me for no reason. I'd never had a bad interaction with a turtle. I've never been bit. There was no reason for it. So it was time for me to evolve and there's not a whole lot that really makes me nervous. so it's kind of one of those face your fears i used to be afraid of heights i jump out of planes now i just don't i don't conform like that dude i'm a rebel bro i'm jumping out of them
00:44:11
Speaker
I'll fly on them, but I won't jump off of them.
Interest in Specific Reptile Species
00:44:15
Speaker
As for other snake species, dude, um I am tricked out on Asian rat snake species. Oh yeah. I think we're housing like eight or nine different Asian rat species. I remember we only had two two different ones now that man, you've really Wow. no There's a lot there's a lot of stuff that's just kind of growing in the background right now because like I said the power's in the animal. Right. And a lot of the time they're going to be in their enclosure in their tub just growing or whatever you know. ah But I got into the Asian rat snakes because we don't house venomous.
00:44:55
Speaker
um My son is on the spectrum for autism, so I don't want to take the chance of him opening a tub or something and he never has before. but There's a certain level of security that I feel in vetting that people should go through beforehand. And I have not been cleared, so I'm not doing it. um I understand. I totally you understand. It's not always about how safe are you, Wally, or how safe am I? It's everyone in the surrounding area, all the pets, the neighbors, anything can happen.
00:45:28
Speaker
so But I still wanted to continue to step my handling game up and things like that. so be to dealt with I started getting into the beauty snakes, which are really long and known to be kind of whippy.
00:45:46
Speaker
and They are, but with with work and proper handling, they do become tolerant. Really? Nice. So our big ones that we've got now, because those were some of the first ones we've got, I think we've got about a nine and a half foot girl.
00:46:04
Speaker
now uh she's a she's a big girl uh i can go in and i can pet him on the head that's something that i've been working on and as a matter of fact i've been working on it ever since that damn video we were talking about earlier with kevin mccurley oh he was sitting there doing that stuff with some stuff that you should not know oh no that's the big no-no stuff that he was doing it's like wow yeah he that man i tell you what i swear he's the he's the reptile whisper i'm sorry you know what that' so intelligent yes very but he gets downgrade and type of his intelligence people they fear em that's what it is i i'll bluntly say it they fear because the man is a and library. I'm gonna, and he's probably forgot stuff that he wishes that he could still pass on that most of us don't even know about. That he's been doing this for so long. but Just flat out animal eccentric. Yeah. It's not just reptiles. No, everything. I mean, I watched him right before Donnie left. He had his, what was it? Tara brought in,
00:47:20
Speaker
He went, they went somewhere. He was dealing with a monkey. First time ever seeing one of those like little tiny monkey. It was like, he's been around it for 30 years. The thing just sat there and chilled with him the whole time. And it's like, this dude just met this thing and it's like his best friend. I mean, it's just, he's amazing with animals. And some of that stuff with your animals, they sense that stuff, dude.
00:47:46
Speaker
If you come in and you're reserved or you're nervous like horses, they sense that type of stuff. So we'd be naive to think that other species don't in the animal kingdom. Dogs are a prime example. They'll buffalo you if you're nervous around them. I've seen it. They will buffalo the crap out of you. But like you said, if you're calm, cool, collected,
00:48:10
Speaker
let them do their thing with your hand held out flat to them they lick your hand and everything that's baby sex that's respect but there's so many people out there like you said with the snapping turtle you overcame your fear with the snapper but people won't face their fears they don't with their fears comes the judgment of hate and not liking something because they fear it which is
00:48:39
Speaker
they don't understand. yeah way They don't understand and that's the biggest problem with people. They fear stuff they don't understand. and then we stand it all i tell people It's just like you said, it's it's fear from lack of knowledge, which was all it was for me. I knew I wasn't gonna keep this turtle forever, but I've always wanted an alligator snapping turtle. Oh yeah, that's my dream snapper right there, buddy. And I figured starting with ah this snapper would be a better route for me to travel. But like I said, ah the pond I had in my backyard, I was worried about the winter freeze. right And I'm like, he's ready to go again.
00:49:22
Speaker
He's healthy. He's a great big bull. let's Let's let him back out and give him a chance. you know but just educating yourself. And I tell people all the time, it doesn't matter what it is. It doesn't matter even with human beings. If you respect it and respect what it's capable of, you can do whatever you want. That does not mean, oh, I respect this snapping turtle and you put your fingers in his mouth. right Because that's not respecting the fact that he will take them damn fingers like Vienna sausages. Yep, and it's a snack to them. But here's something else I learned. and And guys, don't take this knowledge for anything. I've only ever housed the one. But I was always worried going through the creeks, because I go through a lot of dark, murky water up to the waist. And that's that's where they're going to be, is down at the bottom there, because it's the deepest spot. And then the creeks come up. It may be two foot, one foot. And then you know it's a creek.
00:50:26
Speaker
They're not as coordinated as what we think they are. Okay. And I say that because I used to tongue feed my boy because it was something I enjoyed doing. And, uh, for the most part, he minded his damn business. He just wanted to be left alone. Seriously. He just really wanted to be left alone. That's what I've noticed with those, then if they're with them, like growing up around them.
00:50:54
Speaker
Um, well, someone just asked about, do I recommend an anti snake venom? Yeah. That's one of my, one of my guys that, uh, his name's blaze. He's boy.
00:51:07
Speaker
So i would I would say this, Blaze, I think it depends on the situation. I guess it's different. If you were to tell me, hey, I house a rattlesnake, I would say it's a really good idea to have some of that anti-venom on hand.
00:51:27
Speaker
ah for sure for you or your dog or whatever. um But the other thing about that is a lot of your native species if you get so if I was out in the wild somewhere and I got snatched up by a native species so a species that I would find in that zone.
00:51:47
Speaker
um chances are they're gonna have an anti-venom at the emergency room. Where the problem comes into play is with some breeders and stuff bringing in some of these really exotic stuff and you get a snake from Indonesia, they're not gonna have the anti-venom for that at your local Michigan emergency room or whatever, or Missouri or Idaho or wherever somebody gets snatched up.
00:52:17
Speaker
So the other thing that goes into that is some of this anti-venom doesn't last very long, dude. I thought I heard something about the Gaboon Viper. The anti-venom lasts six months and can run like up to 100,000 on one round of treatment. yeahp And you could need seven rounds of treatment. That's $700,000 on an animal I can get all day for 150.
00:52:42
Speaker
So there's some, there's some serious stuff to keep in mind when it comes to venomous. So that's a, that's a rough one. That's a hard one to answer. Yeah. With the back to to the venomous. I mean, I've been watching on that. I mean, I've always wanted a rattlesnake, but I know from a distance, all my arm, but for me to do it myself personally, yeah.
00:53:09
Speaker
I'll keep em mindring them from a distance in the wild at zoos and my other YouTube guys that I watch that keep them and stuff. I'm not comfortable enough with something that could kill anybody in my household even though there is anti-venom for say the rattlesnake but I just don't want them Responsibility of the area if something were to happen, you know I mean But that is one of my dream venomous snake is that would be to have a rattlesnake but I'll stick with my ball pythons and stuff like getting like we're all I gotta do is worry about a
00:53:44
Speaker
food response bite every now and then or just agitation bite, which isn't bad, but I don't have to worry about going to the hospital and getting shot up with anti-venom all the time. but True. sure So, Blaze came back and he said it depends on the distance from the ER, r which is going to be true.
00:54:02
Speaker
yeah But a lot of your species, venom changes. Some venom works on coagulation where it will just keep you bleeding, which will give you like hemorrhaging, internal bleeding. There's others that work like on the cardiovascular system where you will go numb, paralysis, heart attack. So dependent on the species, but the time to react to a snake bite is when you get bit.
00:54:29
Speaker
So in a situation like that, if you're further away from an yeah ER, you've got to use some sort of cognitive thinking to try to help yourself. So let's go back to the thought process of you're in the field during a military war zone or whatever, and let's tear a shirt. Let's tie off our arm if we got tagged here. ah Let's tie off our leg and let's tie it tight.
00:54:55
Speaker
We want to stop as much of that blood flow as possible from circulating through your body Giving you the best chance and could give you some extra time to get somewhere um But a lot of the stuff does it's not something that boom your bit and all the sudden you're down But some of the stuff you can start having adverse effects in 30 minutes to an hour especially with nausea migraines dizzy and things like that um but In a situation like that as well, everyone panics. It depends. If the snake is in your hand and you have been bit, you need to put that in something and you need to seal it and you need to take it with you for identification. If everybody's got their phone on them, if you can snap a picture of that, it's going to be so important in your identification when it comes to getting
00:55:47
Speaker
what you need to, to be better. Uh, cause like I said, different anti venom, it's going to reflect differently and it can also have different effects on a person. Uh, and Blaze, the answer to your question, I know you said about spending time a lot out in the woods and come across a bunch of them. Majority of your snakes in the wild, they're more afraid of you unless you corner them or It's instant reaction if you were to step on them. But nine times out of 10, those snakes would rather flee from you than actually turn around and strike at you. They would never leave the scene. But and you know what? The rattlesnake gets a bad wreck because everyone says mean is a rattlesnake.
00:56:32
Speaker
All a rattlesnake is doing is being mouthy. He's going, hey, get away from me. Hey, go away. Go away. It's the only snake that gives us a little bit of respect and saying, hey, I'm here. I don't really want to snatch you up. I will. um Just leave me alone. Go away. i'm dependent on on where where is blaze from because he's probably going to be more concerned yeah blaze where you mark like he's that buddy
00:57:07
Speaker
Yeah, he said, he just posted in there about, he's come, he's been close to a rattler and backed away and everything else when he's seen him. So I mean, he's, where he's at in the woods, he's got rattlesnakes around. So yeah, yeah that's actually mother nature's a warning symbol for them. But people, you see it all the time. Like Steve said, they get a bad name. The only time they ever really, I've ever seen them do any things when they've been provoked.
00:57:33
Speaker
They're being bothered. They won't leave them the hell alone. They sit there and instigate the shit out of him. So yeah, he's on Kentucky. So Yeah, so he's, and and he's got pretty much the same type of stuff we've got out here. So the main thing, Blaze, on a situation like that, especially if you're out in the woods, um get you some little snake bite shin guards and just, and wear those. Cause the only thing that, the thing I would be most concerned about for you might be like your, your moccasins, your, uh, so your, uh, cotton mouth.
00:58:07
Speaker
you know uh things like that copperhead because they when we're out in the the field and stuff people get the wrong impression yes they love water no they're not water snakes uh they live very close to water that they will stay close to water but it is not a neurodia it is not a water snake the copperheads that i see are probably hanging out on a log looking to get a fish and then they're off the trail just a little bit you know maybe an eighth of a mile out and that's kind of where they post up because they're ambushing stuff that's coming to the water um but those are two very tricky snakes on being able to see dude a copperhead can be right in the leaf fodder right in front of you and you have no idea now i will say this
00:59:00
Speaker
I go out herping and I go to some snakey, snakey spots and I just I don't see a lot of the venomous out in the field. Now that's also going to be dependent on the area that you're in but for me, somebody that's going out hunting and herping them to not see them. And I'm flipping rocks and going into stuff like i'm I'm getting into it. So I think people are a lot safer than what they think they are. use Use common knowledge. Don't just sit down on a rotten log or whatever that you know is hollow. So something, anything could crawl out of that. um So just be mindful of your surroundings and most likely you're going to be all right.
00:59:45
Speaker
So there are no guarantees, you know, because there's no guarantees to anything in life, dude. We can open the front door and a damn city bus could plow through it for whatever reason. And that wouldn't even matter wherever we live. There's still that slightest possibility, no matter how slight it is. So it's just kind of something to to keep in mind. I guess while he's gone, I do want to give a couple of shout outs, Wally, if you'll let me give some shout outs to a few
Advocacy and Legal Challenges
01:00:13
Speaker
of my sponsors. real quick already here big man So first of all, I've got to give shout outs to Wally for having us on, um which we're not wrapping up, but I didn't want to i didn't want to mix up and forget.
01:00:24
Speaker
But rare genetic inks, guys. So anybody that's got any sheds that they're needing to test, that's not just for ball pythons. Good people getting the science behind you on that stuff. So rare genetics ink, we've got red line shipping. So, you know,
01:00:44
Speaker
Always good. I don't know if you've got a chance to meet Robin. He's a great guy. It's a solid guy. I talked to him on the phone a couple of times. He's freaking awesome. I've ordered some of my supplies for them. I love redline shipping, man. Robin, he's a trip for what they're doing. That's one of the best suppliers, honestly, in the business for every company.
01:01:04
Speaker
And all always got to send my shout out to the sponsor US Arc, man. Nothing but love for US Arc. For people that don't know that what that is, that's the United States Association of Reptile Keepers. Those are the people that fight litigation so that we can actually keep these animals that we love.
01:01:23
Speaker
And they don't get banned across the United States and things like that. So whether you have one animal, whether you have a hundred animals, we're all the same. We're all animal lovers. We're all reptile keepers. And we got to do what we got to do. US Ark, guys.
01:01:39
Speaker
Oh yeah, can't forget to shout out them. I love what they do. Well, they're right now actually here in my home state of ash one of the towns, Ashley, Ohio. They're right now fighting, come in Ohio to fight a legislation in that town because they're trying to get away where they're wanting only people to have one dog or one cat now and no exotic animals, including fish and everything else. I just got the notification from them about that going on. I sent in a thing.
01:02:08
Speaker
uh email giving them support about why they should uh not have this law put in yeah and uh the city the city i grew up in so two cities away from where i am they have some sort of city ordinance that says you can only have like six animals with vertebrae and they are including fish so one of my buddies had to get rid of his entire collection uh And it's like, dude, how, how can you classify that like that when most, most people that are into aquatics have a fish tank with 20 or 30 fish in it? You know, especially when i got guppies they multiply like rabbits, those things. And now all of a sudden you're breaking the law. That's ridiculous.
01:02:57
Speaker
It's just, it comes, and here it comes back. They fear what they don't understand. So these people don't know what our community, the fish community, I mean, any, any of the animal community. And we deal with this in the motor sports side too, with the them coming in and telling us California is a prime example. You can't do modifications to your vehicles, put aftermarket parts and stuff on there without them.
01:03:23
Speaker
Ticketing you or putting you in jail for it and we deal with that in our side of the hobby with the reptiles and stuff. I mean It's it's always a constant battle for whatever we do and it's a shame It's because back to again, they fear what they don't understand and they don't want to learn what to understand the stuff. So it sucks and So I did notice that you you covered some Speedway stories. I'd like to give one other shout out. Yeah. So ah my cousin races, Emod Racing, Brad Richardson for Bluefin Racing. He was the 2024 Rookie of the Year up here.
01:04:04
Speaker
uh three feature wins 17 top five finishes uh proud of you cousin uh anybody that's uh looking to get into something like that if you're close to the kansas city area they race out of grain valley missouri and he's out there just tearing it up dude you sure that's awesome that's awesome but yeah they uh It's interesting the way way things has been changing in our hobby with the way people are trying to make legislation where we can't keep our pets. We'll talk about USARC. If it wasn't for them, we wouldn't be. You wouldn't have what we have. I wouldn't have the pets that I have. Nobody would be able to do what they're doing.
01:04:47
Speaker
And another big activity, we'll go back to the big man himself, Mr. Kevin McCurley. He's a big advocate for people being educated and keeping our animals that we do. Like he said, and we've been saying, education is key to this. Yeah, it is. It is.
01:05:07
Speaker
Well, and a huge supporter of USR, Kevin McCurley, Brian Barczyk, Canova, Bob Vu. The list goes on. Billy, Billy's in there with Mutation Creation. I mean, a lot of them best dressed. Those guys, I mean, it's, they're everywhere.
01:05:26
Speaker
Especially it's always a Troy's good people, man. I like Troy. I love watching his his stuff on Instagram and everything else, man. He's got some, he cracks me up with some, especially you guys all at Tinley when you're together. Oh my goodness. You guys are insane.
01:05:42
Speaker
It's a good time, dude. So, you've got to come out to Tinley sometime, bro. hey look I got i and get time to come out. I got to get the get the money up and vacation time. So, Tinley is the place.
01:05:57
Speaker
Tinley is the place where if there is somebody you want to meet, your chances of meeting them in one place, you've got it, dude. It's where all the YouTube guys come out. And it's just, dude, it's a great time, great atmosphere. ah And if you've never been to a big show, dude,
01:06:22
Speaker
You got to be ready. You got to be prepared for a 10 Lee. A 10 Lee kills me by the end of it, dude. There ain't nothing left of me. Yeah. But yeah, I mean, I've seen you guys's videos, watching Costco, doing his thing. One of the highlights from the 10 when, when the, when Jenny got to go with you. So when she finally got to meet Dave Kaufman, she was like a little kid in a candy store. Okay. Oh my gosh. So.
01:06:52
Speaker
I know you're going to show that, but that was, it was a complete fluke. He happened to be staying at the same hotel we were. And at the end of this hotel was like a restaurant, a seafood restaurant. And yeah you want to win my heart. Crab legs is the way you do it. So Steve took me to go get crab legs and ja yeah happy to be there.
01:07:12
Speaker
and it was just like Steve went outside to vape for a second and I started talking to him because I was talking to one of the gals that was sitting with him and him and I started a conversation and then ah by the time we were done like both of us were kind of tearing up and everything and I was just like you just mean so much like my boys watched you on TV like our son has long hair he kind of struggles with his autism with cutting the hair So he has really long hair and I love it. I think it looks adorable. And so I was like, you realize that, you know, when it comes to the reptile breeders for my son, he starts to kind of lean towards the guys that have the long hair because he realizes it's okay because kids his age make fun of him. I was like, we appreciate what you've done for him too. And oh my gosh, I come out of the restaurant. I was like,
01:08:01
Speaker
I just started getting golf man, and I'm all like freaking out and just I like I'm crying I'm like and ah yeah like so I That's another that's another one. I besides you guys. That's another person I when I go to 10 late. I definitely want to meet in person besides you guys I Love watching his content on YouTube that man has done a lot with the YouTube stuff, and I love his movies I just got done Thursday night finishing his boa constrictor movie that was amazing watching that He just did phenomenal as always. Yeah, I that's still on my hit list. It's saved I haven't got a chance to watch it. Sorry yeah Oh du you know my god, you'll love it Steve. Trust me. It's new It's not this ball python one, but it's right up there with it I mean that ball python that hit it out of the ballpark the way he covered that that was just the shit and
01:09:00
Speaker
so Yeah, it was. So, did you see the special present that my brother got me speaking of the first time Jenny met Dave? Oh, yes. I seen that on your Instagram post. That thing is sick. So, my little brother reached out to me and he said, hey dude, I know the area stuff means a lot to you. ah I want you to pick something. Man, it ain't showing up. Yeah, it's got the, just the light of it showing up. only the point yeah Dang it. Anyways, it's the it's the picture of Ginny and Dave and just Yeah, it's still white. I wanted to check again. I gave it everything yeah but yeah You guys have to go over to his Instagram page and check it out. It's pretty sweet It's a light-up picture of Ginny and Dave. It is an awesome gift. That is cool. I've never seen it done like that before That is sick. I love it
01:10:01
Speaker
I hadn't either, so I loved it, dude. Just loved it. but
01:10:09
Speaker
So, what do you want to do, bro? You want me to pull something big out real quick?
Showcasing Unique Snakes
01:10:14
Speaker
Show somebody? I want to pull out my big Vietnamese Blue Beauty? Oh, yeah. Show some people. since youre Show them. Oh, yeah. yeah let Give me just give me just yes the second here, Jenny. There's your big beauty. There it is. It ain't much, it's all mine. Oh, I'm sorry about that. It's going to get murdered on on YouTube tonight. No.
01:10:44
Speaker
good Oh, big girl. Hey, you're fine, baby. Yeah, me push it shut just so yeah go ahead
01:10:55
Speaker
yeah you guys will love the coloration of this snake. This thing is gorgeous. So she's huge. So I got to step back a little bit. But this is this is about our nine and a half foot beauty girl. She started it all for us. And you talk about strong.
01:11:16
Speaker
You really wouldn't think the structure of that snake, the slenderness tone, would have the strength. So, she's got my arm, dude. oh she's She's got my arm with her tail.
01:11:32
Speaker
um they're strong because it's kind of like a prehensile tail where they use it for grabbing and holding on because they're arboreal yep so they're looking to snatch birds and stuff oh she's tapping me did you see her tap me oh yeah she's like hi dad as everybody also just saw She lightly tapped me on the arm, which is because she's hungry. But there wasn't a whole lot of reaction from me, guys. And it's because it's superficial. It really doesn't hurt. It's the fear of, oh my gosh, something's going to bite me.
01:12:15
Speaker
not it It really didn't feel like much of anything. Jenny will hit me harder when we get off the show later. so But yeah, that's this is one of our big girls and we've got we've got a few of them but she happens to be our biggest.
01:12:33
Speaker
She's gorgeous, man. she does The pictures definitely don't do her justice after seeing her now. No, and just just an amazing snake. But as you see, you see how she hasn't stopped moving? Yep. That is why I got into it. I wanted a snakey snake is what I call it. A ball python in a snakey snake. That's a rock. That's a rock with scales pretty much. They're not very, most most of them aren't very movable at all.
01:13:03
Speaker
They just lay there. They're like, okay, I'm out. We're, we're going to lay in your hands. All right.
01:13:13
Speaker
and This, this is our boy Rex. Oh, he's an adult Asian king rat snake. Um, I think arguably the fastest animal in our entire house.
01:13:31
Speaker
He's gorgeous, man. They are quick, quick, ah which normally when I first get him out, he's normally really whippy and he runs, but he's actually a really good boy. ah One cool thing about the Asian kings, they have rough keeled scales. So, dude, if you've never felt one, it's hard to explain, but I mean to tell you, it's it's like armor.
01:14:01
Speaker
Oh, yeah, and I've seen them. I've seen that one of the reptiles shows there that we have here down at one of the fairgrounds got to see one. It is neat compared to the way their scales are done compared to, you know, like a ball python style scales. I like theirs better ah just the way they are. I think it's awesome.
01:14:23
Speaker
but he's a good boy. um You will get a lot of false bluffing when it comes to him though. He'll talk to you, but he's actually, he's never he's never snagged me up, thank God. ah he'll He'll let you know. But yeah, I'm sure he would let me know. But yeah, so that's that's a couple of the little species that we have. And then, you know, we've got,
01:14:52
Speaker
We've got some much smaller ah beauties as well. Ooh. so She's in shed right now, but the colors are still kind of the same. One of the things I like, it's kind of like having three different snakes in one. right You see it's all smooth pattern up here, all the same. Then it starts shifting to blocks. And if she'll keep moving, she's not. But at the end, it turns to a stripe. So you get like multiple different looking snakes in one animal.
01:15:30
Speaker
Yeah, it's pretty cool the way the patterns on a lot of them are done up as the way they go. I've seen a lot of the pictures and stuff and there's some on some of those beauties throughout snakes on morph market that I've seen, man, the coloration pattern that they have on those. Wow. It's like, then I look at the price tag. I'm like, yeah, not, not quite yet. I tell you what, though, when it comes to your colubrids, it is a different world than ball pythons.
01:16:00
Speaker
You can get some really, really phenomenal colubrids for under $500. Since we were using that as a reference earlier on a bull python.
01:16:13
Speaker
ah But the color on the Vietnamese blues, it changes too, dude. It changes up for some reason. Yeah, I've got some that are kind of more gray. I've got grayish gunmetal that I've got. like Some of them are really blue, so it it just varies. And I think we've got like seven or eight vi just the Vietnamese blue beauties and probably probably seven or eight of the Asian king rat snakes too, so. Yeah, those things, they're they're amazing. The colubrid side of of the snake side is your non-venomous, if you want that, why like you said, you want to be able to get kind of the handle of what it would be like to have a venomous snake. They say colubrids are the way to go to learn your handling techniques and everything else with them. and so Well,
01:17:09
Speaker
And like the size that you see these animals, these are big snakes. Yeah. Okay. So you might not think it, but you got to look at the difference between an adult king rat snake is built like a prize fighter, like a 185 pounder.
01:17:29
Speaker
fast as lightning and slim and trim, just all muscle. ah It's not a lazy snake. They cover a lot of ground in a day looking for their prey and stuff like that. So not all colubrids are going to be like that, but I wanted something with some length. I wanted to, I didn't know what I wanted to learn. I wanted to learn, you know, you never know until you know. And they taught me They taught me the difference between how, be the tree. You're not handling, be the tree. Right. You hear that all the time. Yeah. I wrapped a lot of that blue beauty around my other arm, but I was just trying to be the branch. The reason the snake was able to come around and just kind of give me a kiss was because I wasn't fully restraining her. Right. i letting The movement be there. So.
01:18:28
Speaker
But I'm, I'm surprised she did that. We're going to talk about it later. But yeah, yeah, that's just some nice snakes and stuff you got, man. Um, anything else? I mean, really you pretty much hit, hit the nail on the head. What I wanted to do with the show tonight and everything else. I mean, we got to talk about a lot of the things, you know, with the hobby and the, the support behind it and what the meaning is for you doing what you're doing. And like I said, man, I appreciate everything.
01:18:58
Speaker
and I love it. You've been a big inspiration and uh it's been a great great ordeal and I'm definitely gonna have you guys back on the show. so yeah right on Tell the boss lady she's gonna be more on the show with you too this next time. so yeah it's going to be a collab you know every time you say her name three times it's like damn beetle juice we'll have we'll have it we'll have everybody back on again here soon and yeah dude maybe actually i'll try to get you guys back on after your nice uh little vacation today ton and let me know how it goes
01:19:37
Speaker
Well, man, you better you better get a hold of me before nine months, dude. We just booked Daytona, but that ain't until August. So i' get a hold you knowt a before then you know yeah don't have you don't have a kid um stuff we're looking at trying to go down and hit the March 10 Lee. Maybe we come back on after that because that's not too super far away or whatever. Absolutely. I appreciate it.
01:20:02
Speaker
whatever you want dude uh next time if you want to do some hey let's see what let's see what you guys dropped over the last couple years you want to see some of our babies if you want to just see some asian rat snake info it's whatever dude just hit me up oh yeah we i'll definitely will um appreciate it you guys got any shout outs before you go and everything else man i i gave my shout outs uh i i will i will shout out Jenny, you got any shout out? I think he shouted out all of our people. I will shout out Kryptonite Dreams again. Much love to you, Wayne. Even you a little bit in the show. Thanks, Kryptonite, for coming in the comments and stuff tonight, man. I appreciate it. Thanks, everybody, for tuning in. Once again, thanks, Steve. I appreciate it, man. I look forward to talking to you again here soon, buddy. All right, dude. You know what it is. And with that, guys, I'm going to hit it up, man. Peace. I'm out.
01:20:59
Speaker
Thank you guys all for tuning in tonight to Cold Blooded Speedway Stories and Cold Blooded Conversation. I hope you guys enjoyed having my guest, Mr. Nelson, on the show. Been come a really good mentor of mine over the last two years. Really look up to the guy. And I appreciate everybody tuning in tonight. And thanks for the questions and comments. I hope he was able to educate everybody some.
01:21:25
Speaker
He definitely will be one of my bigger guests coming up here soon. I'll probably have him, like he said, March Tinley show. It's a big show over in Illinois for all reptile breeders throughout the country. I'll probably have them back up on the show and stuff. So you guys have a wonderful evening. I'll catch you again on the next one. Bye.
01:22:11
Speaker
Non-sensical network, different flavor every day, movie talks, new flex hidden in display, microphone magic, musicians
01:22:29
Speaker
engines pouring up the pastry tales, or the stories we embrace. tune
01:22:54
Speaker
nature's arrangement cars
01:23:03
Speaker
Network of nonsense, but the vibe is just right, tune in
01:23:15
Speaker
ah always on repeat