Reptile Fight Club - Reptile Fight Club on Field Herping; Luck or Skill?

Episode Date: April 8, 2022

In this episode, Justin and Chuck tackle the topic of if Field Herping comes down to Luck or Skill?Who will win? You decide. Reptile Fight Club!Follow Justin Julander @Australian Addiction Reptiles-http://www.australianaddiction.comFollow Chuck Poland  on IG @ChuckNorriswinsFollow MPR Network on:FB: https://www.facebook.com/MoreliaPythonRadioIG: https://www.instagram.com/mpr_network/YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCtrEaKcyN8KvC3pqaiYc0RQMore ways to support the shows.Swag store: https://teespring.com/stores/mprnetworkPatreon: https://www.patreon.com/moreliapythonradio

Thank you. Welcome to another edition of Reptile Fight Club. I'm Justin Juhlender, your host. And I'm Nipah Reed. No, I'm not. I'm just kidding. That was pretty good. You didn't say anything about crumpets though. I have not yet begun to nipper. Okay. Well, I see you're drinking tea with your pinky out. So you're really going all in for this nipper impersonation. Yeah. Good job, man. Good job.

Thank you. Thank you. Yeah. All right. Well, Siri's talking to me. Apparently, I don't know what I said that sounded like that name. She heard nipper and she said, hello. He said, I see you're drinking tea with your pinky out. Like, oh, OK. Thank you, Siri. Wonderful. OK, well, what is new?

What is going on? Oh, not much. As you can hear, my dogs are saying hi to rob stone say hi say hi ruby yeah of course yeah of course so uh not much yeah just back back to back to work um yeah uh hatched hatched out another viper gecko egg uh so i've got two baby viper geckos that i'm having fun with now that's fun um yeah i just they're pretty tiny right they're pretty tiny yep pretty tiny um so they're just they're just mashing fruit flies right now um nice yeah so that's fun they're they're feisty little they're feisty little ones um yeah continuing on i i just got

like 2 000 crickets in today so i'd set them up uh while i was waiting for for you um and what else is new i i i called you all excited the other day because i was like oh i'm pretty sure my children are gravid you know but uh i don't know now i look at the female and i'm like is she is she so i don't know i'm you know sometimes it's hard to tell with those guys well she was she's total head faking me out if she's not like she she she's big but they go dude she goes through this where she looks like that and then nothing happens but she was laying inverted the other day and i was like ah that is a clear sign but now she's like psych sucker so i don't know yeah you know yeah i i know what you mean yeah yeah i think there there is some percentage like you know 15 20 or something that some they'll they'll lay inverted

when they're not gravid it's it's fairly infrequent it's probably less than 20 but that seems to be what i've never i've never seen her do that so i'm like ah you know yeah no it's definitely a good sign no i i think so i think so we'll see um and then i'm pretty sure that coastal will be coming the the female coastal i have outside that should be laying some eggs pretty soon so that's pretty excited for that one that that should be an interesting little clutch so yeah uh that that that camas just looks freaking insane, man. He's out, you know, it's like 55, 60 degrees at night and he's just out like chilling and looking, looking amazing. So, you know, power to the old coastals in the street, you know? Yeah. I mean, there's, I don't know. I

think we, we definitely keep our reptiles too hot most of the time in herpetoculture, you know, we think they, oh, they got to have it so warm but yeah i think in the wild they're i mean we we just got back from a herp trip so we we saw some stuff out in the wild that was out when it was pretty cold and yeah really windy and yeah the nice quiet warm night with no wind we didn't see jack it was the deadest it was the deadest death of dead yeah there was nothing couple geckos and that was about it yeah it was pretty slow so yeah it's yeah yeah i guess that that that goes along with our topic later on but yeah i've got a jungle that just went through a pre-lay shed and and an inland that's in her pre-lay shed so should have a couple carpets this year

this was a stripe this was stripe jungle zebra um zebra female to stripe line male so got you what happens with that yeah fingers crossed yeah gosh it'll be interesting and and the the black headed eggs seem to be going strong. So I was pretty proud of my little daughter. Uh, she pulled the eggs, uh, while I was on a business trip. Um, the female blackhead Python laid and, uh, she got the eggs from the female and, you know, Adam in the incubator all going. Uh, so that was pretty cool. I, she said that the female was wrapped around him too. So I was, I was kind of like, Oh, you should have left him with her so I could get some pictures of her on the age. I'm proving, I'm proving my,

I'm proving my stuff right now. And she did. Yeah. Yeah. She, she did a good job. She took care of everything while i was away so man it's it's nice to have a helper like that so i'm gonna have to find a way to pay her back for that especially if the the eggs hatch and i get babies this year for sure now it's the tricky part i guess of getting them to hatch that seems to be the most difficult thing with blackheads is hatching the dang eggs what's's the, what's the, I mean, what's the conventional wisdom on that? I'm. I've heard a lot of things.

So, and I got pretty close last year. I moved or not last year, but the year before I got, I moved right as the eggs were supposed to hatch. So I think that might be what screwed them up. I don't know. I mean, I think we, yeah, I moved from one house to the next, but it's like, I mean, they sat maybe in a fairly warm room for, you know, several hours. So I guess that could have done it, but I don't know. So, and I mean, I had three perfectly formed babies in the egg, you know, ready to hatch and they just didn't make it out.

So that was a bummer. That was hard to take. Yeah, that's the worst of the worst right there. Yeah, right. Yeah. Getting that close. That's happened to me with Ackies too. I've never hatched Ackies either.

And I've gotten so close and they just, yeah. The last couple days or something, something just goes wrong and I didn't do something right. So, yeah, there, that goes back to our maternal incubation argument. I guess sometimes it helps to have the mom take care of them. Cause I, some, you know, we don't know what we're doing sometimes, but I don't know what I'm doing. Yeah. I was just going to say, wow. Even still arguing this point.

Well, after the argument has been concluded. That's all right. That's all right. Yeah, I agree with you. I think, well, especially in those cases where, you know, I mean, we do fairly well, you know what I mean? But there's only a handful of people who are really knocking blackheads out of the park, you know what I mean? So it's not an easy species yeah yeah i was digging through my crested gecko uh cage at work and came across another four eggs so both the females must have laid with it they

seem to be all synced up because i found a couple of the other cages well but it was they had desiccated they'd been in dry substrate for a few days. So I missed, missed those, but I mean, I've got like 14 eggs incubating now, so I don't need any more eggs right now, but, and you know, I'm not a crested gecko guy, so they're just kind of for fun. So. Yeah. I was, I, I was worried about those viper geckos cause they just didn't look like they're

putting, I think I might've said this, but I, I, I was like about those viper geckos because they just didn't look like they were putting on. I think I might have said this, but I was all worried because they weren't putting on any size. And I went through their cage just to kind of clean it out and stuff. And I found like seven, one, two, three, nine eggs in there. So I was like, oh, my God, dude, what the hell's been going on? How many females are in there? One. Just one female? It's just a pair.

It's a pair. How often do they lay? Are they like the every 30 days? Like my other geckos? They've got to be every couple of weeks. I haven't had them that long. Yeah. Like it's, I mean, I was flabbergasted.

That's crazy. Yeah. Well, Summer was pretty excited about the banded geckos, so I brought a female banded gecko for the male. And they were so good looking. Oh, they're cool. Yeah. Definitely. I'm excited.

So should have some, hopefully have some eggs. I hope the project goes well for we can well done eagle eyes well done all right well do we want to have a quick recap of the trip sure sure all right i mean i can only speak for the last couple days the last couple days i did not uh i did not grace everyone with my presence until the end. Oh man. Think of all the stuff we could have found if you would have come earlier, man. Yeah. So we, we got into California. I, I, I, uh, drove down. So I stopped in the Southwest corner of Utah and a place called St. George or in the area around St. George. And I did a little local herping.

There's a cool preserve called the Red Cliffs Desert Preserve. It's a land set aside for conservation and, you know, has a good population of desert tortoises and, and Gila monsters and things like that. And so they're, they're only in Utah and the, just the slightest corner. Um, so that's the only place you can find a state run thing or, um, it, it is. Yeah. It's, it's put set about, so it's like, yeah. State by the state. Yeah. Preserve. Yeah. And so, you know, that's about the only place you can see him. And we, you know, I saw a Gila monster there a couple of years back, um, which was pretty cool. But, uh, yeah, so I, I figure, well, I'm passing through and it's like dusk, so might as well go out and herp a little bit. So I walked, went and walked around and found a couple of tortoises and a Chuckawalla. Um,

it was kind of funny cause the, uh, the first tortoise I saw was in a, in kind of a burrow or just outside of the burrow. And then, um, and then there was a crack above the burrow and in that crack, that's where the chuck wall was. So it was like, they were, they were roommates there or something. It was pretty cool. So the chuck was, I, I only knew it was there cause I heard it. So I heard kind of the, you know, you can hear the shot coming a mile away. Oh yeah. They, they, they don't, uh, they're not sneaking around much, but that's very true. So, uh, yeah, I was able to, to see, you know, two for one in that rock pile. And then, um, walking back,

I saw another tortoise kind of out on the rocks. It was pretty cool. Nice little landscape, you know, picture, picturesque type setting. What you want to find, you know, your reptiles in. Yeah. seen quite a few tortoises, so I didn't want to get too close and bother it. So I kind of kept my distance and zoomed in the picture a bit so I wouldn't disturb the, the animal. And so it just kind of stayed outside the shell and got some pictures and went on my way. Um, and then I drove a little bit more kind of road cruised a little bit. I walked up a hillside in the dark looking for speckled rattlesnakes and maybe liar snakes snakes thought i might get lucky but no they're they're kind of even harder to find and and they they have a more limited range within utah just to the spot called the beaver dam slope which is really in the southwest corner of the state um outside of st george a bit so walk that hillside and we'd seen

um i was with that herp trip with uh um Coast guys that flew out with, you know, Keith McPeak and the other guys and Chris and Aspen from Utah. And so Aspen found a speckled rattlesnake on the hillside. In that spot, right? Yeah. So you knew. Yeah, it was a good spot. Yeah. And they found lyars there before.

I mean, liars are really hard to find. Probably even harder than speckled rattlesnakes. But so, you know, it was a long shot. But I thought, well, you know, how often have I looked on this hillside in March? Never, you know. So why not give it a shot? And so I spent, you know, a good half hour, 45 minutes up there looking around. But didn't see anything really.

And so I, uh, took off and figured I'd drive a little further. Um, got down to Vegas, slept outside of red rocks, um, that area, like it's big climbing spot down in, uh, outside of Las Vegas and slept in the back of my car, woke up and looked for a couple of birds up at a, up around red rocks and look for herps. I swear I heard a snake like kind of slide through the grass, but it was, I was on this raised platform. I didn't want to get down there and disturb it or whatever. So then, uh, drove down the rest of the way, picked up Rob at the airport and we went over and kind of herped, uh, this little spot he you know he he looked at it found it on iNaturalist and it was supposed to be a spot with uh rattlesnakes and kingsnakes and things like

that so we went over there and it was like this huge dog park there were all these people with their dogs out and so we're like well this probably isn't going to be very fruitful and it wasn't you know we saw a few lizards a couple fence liz fence lizards or something around screen in the undergrowth. And then, uh, yeah, there's nothing like a giant, uh, pack of dogs all day to, yeah, to keep the snakes, uh, hidden wreck. Yeah. To wreck your herping. Yeah.

Yeah. So, so we, we picked up Tom, uh, Rob's friend. Um, I I'm so bad with names. I can't even remember his last name, but I'm glad I remembered his first name, but Tom, Rob's friend. I'm so bad with names. I can't even remember his last name. But I'm glad I remembered his first name. But Tom, he works at the Denver Zoo. So really cool guy. Yeah.

So we picked him up and then we headed over the mountain up to the Airbnb. We did a little herping on the way and went over to Ocotillo and found a bunch of sidewinders, a couple geckos. Just road cruising? Just road cruising, yeah, on the way and, uh, went over to Ocotillo and I found a bunch of sidewinders, a couple of geckos. Just, just road cruising. Just road cruising. Yeah. On the way to the Airbnb. And then we got up to the, um, the place we were staying and it was in, uh, outside of Julian up in the mountains. So that was kind of cool, but it was, it was fairly cold. Um, I mean, comparatively, you know, up in the mountains. And then, uh, so that was the first day and then stayed that night and went, um, kind of herped around Julian, that area went up and on a trail and found a Zenada mountain Kingsnake.

So that was my first, uh, tricolor in the wild. So I was pretty thrilled, pretty stoked with that. That was nice. Yeah. Nice looking the wild. So I was pretty thrilled, pretty stoked with that. Nice. Yeah. Nice looking one too. Yep. Yeah. Yeah.

So that was a find of my lifetime, you know, to see my first tricolor in the wild. That was pretty cool. And I, you know, I'd looked in Utah plenty of times. They're fairly difficult to find, although I've got some friends that would probably say otherwise. They found quite a few in Utah and put in a lot of hours for them though right sure sure sure i've kind of gotten to know when and where to look so that always helps but um so they uh so you know despite my hours in utah i've never seen one here so then we've got the utah milk snakes and the mountain kings down in the southwest corner of the state so yeah anyway we um had a nice hike there was found that a couple alligator lizard skinks um some some of the um

i believe they're the western skinks i should i should look that up but um and then came, went down over the mountain, picked up, uh, Eric. So he missed out on seeing the mountain King. And we also saw a gopher snake, a San Diego gopher snake. So that was cool. Gophers. Yeah. Gophers. So we, uh, went, picked up the pod father and, uh, and then it started to rain.

So he brought some East coast weather with him and we, uh, didn't have much of any luck in the rain, kind of drove through a couple of spots and then just went back to the Airbnb. Um, the next morning we got up and we actually went up to that same hike and went and the mountain King was under the same spot that he was when we found him the first day. And so Eric got to see, uh, the, the mountain King. That's how you do it. Right. He was a nice, I guess we didn't disturb him too much cause he was under the same spot and that's, that's pretty cool. Um, so we, we came down the mountain and it, uh, you know, it was pretty cool up there. The weather wasn't too great. And so we headed out into the desert and, um, now my memory, Oh, we went on a hike, um, a pretty long hike to it's the lost palms

hike in Joshua tree. So we went out to Joshua tree and saw a bunch of lizards, a tortoise. So the guys got to see a desert tortoise and saw several different species of lizard, whiptails, leopard lizard, chuckawallas, lots of good stuff out there. We were able to grab a coach whip, which that's a pretty good feat to be able to catch a coach whip. So we took some pictures of that, let him on his merry way, and then went and checked out the palm trees. Got a couple new bird species down there. So that was nice. And then headed back for some cruising down in the desert. It was a little slow. We didn't see, I don't think we saw anything that night.

Yeah. Oh, I left out a couple things. Anyway, so just everything's kind of blending in and i'm very tired we we had a concert last night we went to went to the concert alt j okay good yeah good band really they did really well live so it was fun to see him played like 21 songs so we got home about 1 and 1 30 in the morning last night so i'm dragging a little bit today but um so everything's kind of blending in but we hit a couple areas found some new uh lizard species the um petrosaurus miranzi which is one of the species i was after the banded rock lizard um really cool looking there i i

liken them to the north american uh varanus pilbarencis they have similar habits and traits you know you, hanging out on the rocks and really agile on the rocks and have those stripy tails and they're kind of reddish in their body. They look very similar in a lot of ways. So kind of funny. And then, uh, we saw the granite night lizards later that night and we, we caught sight of, uh, one of the leaf toad geckos. Um, I, I saw it as it was going deeper into the crack. So I got a really crappy picture, but you can see the tail and you can see a couple of the toes. So you can see it's the, it's the species, you know, it's the leaf toad gecko,

the phylodactyls. So, um, we knocked a few or added a few, uh, species to the lifer list, which was kind of cool. man i could just sit and watch those uh rock lizards all day they were so cool and then we got joined the next day by our good friend chuck poland so yeah yeah yeah and that is when the trips started to go downhill oh no no no we we we still had a good time found some good stuff um no we definitely did you know it was a little i think just that cool down and the rain and everything kind of slowed things down and that you know that's how it goes sometimes some days i i just remember some of the trips to australia'd see like 10, 10 different species in a night. And then the next night you'd go to the same spot and see nothing. And then you're like,

what is going on? You know, why one night it's just hopping in the next night, nothing. So some of those abiotic factors or, you know, weather patterns or something, it's just really hard to explain. So yeah, that's the, the joys and frustrations of herping, I suppose. Um, but man, overall, it was a great trip. Really saw some really nice scenery. Um, got into Anza Borrego. The, that was, did some fun hikes there. Rob put us in some really good spots. Um, so that was cool. Yeah. Ate some good food and some that was a little sketchy, maybe led to some unmentionable issues that plagued me and my co-host for an afternoon.

Other than that, you know, never eating those little things again. Yeah. Right. Yeah. I guess, uh, when you're kind of living on gas station food, it can be a little dodgy. Yeah. But Hey, that's how it goes when you're herping. Right. Yeah. I was just really glad there was that bathroom there on the, thank God for bathrooms in the middle of nowhere. Right. So that was that hell hole. That was a, it was hell. Yeah. Was that hell hole Canyon or something? Yeah, for sure. Yeah. It was nice. Nice habitat, but yeah. Yeah. I, I think, you know,

it's hard to, but I think most of the stuff in that time, it's kind of a little late for flipping and a little early for the mass numbers of animals on the move you know i i we uh i went to herpeton back a few years back and it was in the first part of june and i went out road cruising out kind of ocatillo and tobrego area um and it was just hopping i mean there were lots of snakes on the road and just you know almost like okay another another leaf nose snake or something yeah i'm sick of all these snakes on the road you know yeah i would say i would say and i think you know it was said that you guys might have been like

two weeks early for for stuff but but when you're when you're scheduling you know four different people's five six different people's schedules and you're trying to maximize, you know, what you might. Well, and it doesn't mean that San Diego is not going to be warm out there, you know, a couple of weeks early. Like, that's just I mean, it's just reliably speaking, like, you know, the desert starts to heat up, you know, towards the middle to the end of April. So, yeah, you know know it's just that's just and it's you know it might be a little little more difficult or but we still saw quite oh yeah no no i mean different species so i think some of the highlights for me were the shovel nose snake we saw the hatchling shovel nose snake um cruised that. That was kind of a – I'm glad my eyes still work.

But, you know, that was a little tricky to see. And the geckos blend in with the road. They're always a trick sometimes. I don't know. Is that something? It looked pretty good from the back seat. Justin's like, snake, stop. Is that a stick?

Like, no. It was – I mean, you called them out pretty well man i'm like what what's happening where who huh you're like yeah we were on the hike and justin's like right there by that rock like like literally telling me where it is i'm like right where what rock i don't have like everyone else sees it five minutes later. I'm like, Oh, I see it. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, well, I have my fair share of, Oh, there's a, there's a snake or a lizard or something. It's just a weird looking rock or something. So yeah, I, I have my fair share of those as well. I mean, you got to check it out, you know, you gotta, what else are you going to

do? Well, you know, you don't, you don't know until you tell you try yeah and i and i was really glad that i had uh some like little pocket binoculars those were really helpful to kind of see the stuff from afar off because man those lizards are wary the the miran's eye and the chuck wall is that you they would you know they'll ditch pretty quick, go right in the cracks and you'll, you'll never see them. But, and, and they were, I mean, I, I scanned the rocks for, with the binoculars at first and kind of said, okay, there's, there's a lizard there. There's a lizard that, you know, kind of figured out where they were. And then as we got close, you could see them, some would ditch pretty early and pretty readily, whereas others were a little more bold and you can get up and, you you know get some pictures of them or some video well and it was funny because you know like

i mean we saw what like four probably four or five chucks spitting out and anybody else herping the trail or hiking the trail uh they no clue no didn any. I mean, nobody saw any lizards. So, um, and, and it seems like in, in, um, state parks or preserves that are heavily traveled that the, the animals are a little more, um, bold. So, you know, that's always helpful. Yep. Um, no, my, my dog's saying hello. Oh brother. It's a, it's a Rob Stone. Yeah, it's a Bobby Pebble greeting cries. So, yeah, Rob came and stayed at my house Saturday night. So he got to meet my furry friends who act out of pocket all the time. So, Oh, that was another funny thing is we kind of got rained out a bit. And so we were

thinking, Oh, what can we do? And we're like, are there any reptile shops in the area? So we went to triple L just to get out of the rain and kind of dry off a bit. And then who should walk through the door? But Chuck, it was weird, dude. I was talking to my sister. I was sitting in my truck and I was talking to my sister. Cause I was like, I usually go get bugs. And I was like, Oh, I got, I got to get bugs. Cause you know, I'm, I'm leaving to, to go out to the desert. So I want to kind of feed everything, get, you know, put some extra bugs in the cages. And that way they'll have some food over the, you know, the next couple of days. And I'm like sitting there talking to my sister and I, I see Justin and, and Rob walked past me and I'm like, what the hell? What the hell? So, yeah. So we ran into each other at the reptile shop. So it's pretty,

pretty hilarious. Yeah. That was, I, I was kind of like, oh crap. Uh, oh, I, I, I didn't know you were going to be, it was like like I got caught cheating on you or something. I'm at your reptile shop without letting you know. Well, well, well, look who it is. I didn't know you would be here. I thought you were at work. What's going on? You weren't supposed to be here at this time. I've been following you. Yeah. Man, what a good trip what it was some good

times yeah i forgot i'd forgotten about bobby pebbles that was a good schmitty nickname on the texas trip so it's good to hear that one again i feel like i feel like there is no end i mean has anybody gone bolder you know what i mean i feel like he's he's gone you know he's gone smaller yeah um but but has he gone larger you know right we need we need some additional yeah i think yeah bobby pebbles is good bob rock that's a that's a good one but yeah we need we need a good one for robert boulder or something yeah robbie robbie boulder robbie boulder i like that that's pretty funny that's pretty funny. That's pretty funny. The man of many names.

Yeah. But Rob puts together good herb trips. Oh dude, he rocks all around, you know? Rocks. Yeah. Yeah. That's what I'm saying. Or he pebbles or he boulders.

Yeah. Or he boulders. Or he stones. Exactly. That's awesome. Yeah. And it's, I mean, it's always good hanging out with the pod father. Well, and Tom, Tom's, he's, he's a lot of fun too.

Like, yeah, I did. I, I really, I mean, I met Tom, I met Tom when you guys were at Triple L. You guys, I think we're on your way to go pick Eric up. And then I met Tom. Well, I met back up with you guys on thursday and tom was getting ready to leave so that's right um yeah and so i didn't didn't really get to hang out with him but yes it seems like okay now uh seems like he's a real cool guy man yeah and he he brought a guitar so we got to see and and of course that's the you know eric went right to the guitar. Oh, yes, he did. And just started playing that thing.

It was impressive. I mean, I knew he was good, but I didn't know he was that good. I said, do you know, I'd say a song, and he'd just start playing it right off the bat. I'm like, holy crap, dude, this guy is talented. What was it? We were listening to something. There was something playing, some music playing playing and he just started picking it up and started playing it yeah took him like all of five seconds to like be playing along with it i haven't i have a buddy

that i've known since high school who's like that he can just like listen to something a couple of times and just pick it up and play yeah. Yeah. And he's really talented. So that, that says quite a, quite a bit about the father. Yeah. He's, he's a musical savant or something.

It was pretty fun to watch him play. And, and I mean, it's an acoustic guitar, so it's not even like an easy electric, you know, just cruising on that thing. Yeah.

So that was, that was fun. Yeah, it was. Yeah. He admitted. Anyway, we, we, we, uh, that was a good trip and excited for the next one. So Arizona, right? Yeah. Yeah. Should be, should be fun and, uh, a little, uh, warmer this time. I hope because, uh, last trip to Arizona, we had some cold weather as well, which, but I mean,

we still found, you know, fair few snakes, even on some of the cold windy nights, I think snakes like wind, you know, when I first, so I had a story of, uh, after Herpeton, I was in, um, you know, over by Ocotillo and I was getting ready to cruise and it was starting to get dark. Right. And, and all of a sudden the wind just kicks in and I'm like, Oh great. This is going to be a terrible night. And I drive, I'm driving a bit in the sun setting. And so I text Jeff Lamb. I'm like, are the snakes going to be out? It's, it's all windy and kind of cold. I'm like, is this even going to work, you know, for this? And, and, uh, before he could text back, um, I spot, you know for this and and uh before he could text back um i spot you know spotted a shovel no snake kyanactus uh on the road and uh then followed by another one and followed by a few

other you know sidewinders and stuff and all of a sudden it was just snakes everywhere and i'm like never mind i got my answer they're okay with the wind yeah so maybe you know the predators don't have as good a time in the wind so yeah i think that's what we were confident that was our that was our our running theory in the car uh yeah because that wind this night we didn't see any we didn't see nothing nothing yeah and it was it was warm enough yeah it was definitely warm enough like i mean you know like you were saying like who knows you know what what the you know what the triggers are but but certainly that day was warm enough and you know you would have thought that we would have had some luck but there was like literally nothing it was yeah very very slow like even even a couple geckos that was it yeah well

okay that's fair but but i mean like literally the whole road out to ocatillo and back like not like i mean we almost like like four rabbits jumped out in front of the car and we couldn't find a single reptile the whole time like Yeah, it was kamikaze rabbits. Oh, my God, those things are crazy. Like, holy shit. But what a great trip. I guess, you know, that was a lot of fun. It's really fun to herp with those guys.

It's good times. Yeah, yeah. You know. Alrighty, well, we ready to fight about something? I think it's time to do the topic. Well, it fits in really well with what we're talking about here. We're going to talk about field herping, if it's mostly luck or if it's mostly skill. I have the answers to this.

All right. I'm excited to hear this. Well, first, you got to win your coin toss. So I'll let you observe how high I flip it. So you can use your formula to predict correctly. Okay. You ready? Watch this. Watch this.

All right. That's heads, but I'm calling tails. Go ahead. It's tails. Watch. It's heads. Ah, see, I called it. Why did you say it was heads but then call tails because i want you to know

that i own every inch of you in this coin toss well anybody can say it's heads but i'm calling tails and it could be no i could have just said i told you but but if i would have gone if i would see but i already said you did call it you i did call it. I appreciate you letting me win. Sure. Sure. Well, I want to give you the opportunity to be a winner once in a while. I'm not sure which side I want on this one. I was hoping you'd win. I mean, you've been winning every one, so I haven't had to choose which side I want, but let's see. I'm going to go with skill. All right. Herping is more skill than luck.

So, okay, well, I won. So you get to go first, man. Damn it. All right. Start us out, buddy. Herping is more luck than skill. So, sweet, DDP. Yep. So, I mean, it's funny that, uh, I, I did, and you know, I mean, I'm pretty amateurish as far as herping, uh, out in the field goes and, uh, but. But I am persistent and consistent in my efforts.

I must have scoured every rock that I could possibly find and looked in all places, all manner of places. And I was with the great doctor when he was just spotting them left and right. So clearly having the eagle eye is helpful. And he definitely has the eagle eye, folks. But I think what I kind of took away from it is, you know, you can have the best eye. You can know where things are likely to be or you can can have herped spots before and know that there's things there, but things can absolutely not be moving. And we did a canyon towards the end of the evening. It was plenty hot. I thought for sure we were going to find some rattlesnakes

or something really. And it was nothing. Everything was dead, completely dead, nothing, nothing, nothing, nothing, nothing. And that really shocked me, you know, and it wasn't from a lack of looking. I saw plenty of evidence of, of rodents or some type of a food supply. I saw what looked like, you know, potential openings to dens under big, big rocks that were unmovable. So, like, clearly I felt like, man, there's stuff here. Like, I know there's stuff here. And I think that there were recorded sightings and iNaturalist in that area that Rob was kind of snooping out. So, you know, clearly, like, it's not a matter of, like, they're not there and you're trying to figure it out. So, you know, clearly like, it's not a, it's not a matter of like, they're not there and you're

trying to figure it out or, or like, we even knew they were there and we had some very skilled herpers with us and we didn't find anything. So I think to some degree there's a, there's a, you know, and, and maybe you could argue like knowing when to go, helps you out but but at the same time like we were in situations out there where we should that it should have been you know we should have thought we thought we would have been able to see it and i guess if you had some more skill or you would hurt that area for years and years maybe you could, Oh no, not quite hot enough when this happens, that's when you see them. But I think to some degree it's right time, right place. So, yeah. And I, I obviously will argue that because all the, all the friends that know that

area very well that I reached out to were like, ah, you're a little early, you know, you're not going to see numbers. You're not going to see, you know, much. And, and, you know, they were right to some extent. I mean, we still saw quite a bit and, and I think, you know, you're not going to see numbers. You're not going to see, you know, much. And, you know, they were right to some extent. I mean, we still saw quite a bit. And, and I think, you know, you put yourself in the right place at the right time, you're going to see stuff that's maybe a seasonal, but, uh, Jordan Parrott, um, knows that area really well. He grew up there. He went herping with his dad all the time. Just, he's, has a really great knowledge of the area. And, you know, he's like, yeah, you're just a couple of weeks early and he's headed out there, I think this next week or something, you know, headed out to her there. So, um, obviously we were pretty close and, and we still, you know, did, did well. Well, it's heating up there right now. I mean, there's, you know, it's, there's a heat advisory out there right now. So, yeah. Yep. So we probably were just, you know, just unlucky. And of course it's difficult to plan six months in advance and get everybody scheduled lined up to hit it perfectly.

So of course the locals can say, yeah, don't, don't waste your time and go out. Well, we're here, we're here for a week. So what are we going to do? Sit around in the hotel and twiddle our thumbs. So yeah, it's definitely worth getting out there and seeing what you can find. And obviously, you know, seeing my first tricolor was well worth the trip. And then some, if I wouldn't have seen anything else, I would have been happy about that. You know, that would have been worth it to see that in the wild. So, but, um, you know, if,

if you do have that skill and experience, you know, after years of herping the same area and you know, you know, kind of the conditions that are going to bring stuff out, like I said earlier, you know, my buddies in Utah, uh, Brian Eager, he can go out and he'll, he knows exactly when to go and hit the, you know, flip the rocks to find the milk snakes or, or, you know, see the mountain Kings or whatever. Like he, he knows the weather conditions, the weather patterns that are going to maximize his success. That doesn't mean he doesn't have a day where he goes, Whoa, he's wanting in on that one. Um, but you know, there's, it's not to say that there's not a, you know, a day that he goes out and, and doesn't find one. Of course he has days like that. And, and that's, you know, the herb species you're after and kind of maybe predict when the most observations have been made, what month is where they're really out in full force and things like

that. So I would say skill definitely goes a long way. I mean, you can be lucky sometimes, but if you're skillful, you're going to be observing the animals much more frequently. Yeah, I mean, I think part of skill is experience. And obviously, if you're in that area all the time, I mean, it's easy to draw back upon, you know, oh, I've been here 10 times and, you know, only found stuff during these times or this, these conditions. Like, I mean, that's, you know, that's definitely sure. That's skill that, you know, skill is from, you, you can, I mean, you're obviously skilled at, at, at herping and, and, uh, you were kind of in an area where you haven't herped a lot. So, um, you know, it was kind of a crapshoot for all of us. Right. Like, so, you know, I think, I think there is a, you know, certainly there is a case to be made for there being skill and, and knowing what you're looking for when

you're looking for it. But, but I also think there's just a degree of luck to it, um, where, you know, you, you can know all these things, but if you're not in the right, you know, right place at the right time, you may miss it. Oh, definitely. I mean, that's, yeah, that goes without saying. I mean, you can drive the same road over and over and you're just not there when the animal's crossing the road and somebody else might be, you know, so, and hopefully it's another herper and not just some random, you know, redneck that's trying to run over stuff on the road. But, um, so yeah, I mean, obviously there's, there's luck to some aspect of luck to anything. I would say that I think that kind of that herping skill that you develop through spending hours and hours in the field, that can usually kind of use the, this, the skills that you have, uh, herping in your own area to translate over to that, that thing. And I think, um, you know, that's been pretty apparent in my trips to Australia. I'll get advice on maybe where to go and maybe what time of year to go, but I don't have anybody guiding me and pointing things out

or showing me, you know, once in a while, I guess we had Peter Birch on a couple trips. He'd grab a shrilled lizard out of a tree or pick up a venomous snake. And I don't take many chances when it comes to an elapid because I don't know. I have never worked with them, and I'm not going to risk being out in the middle of nowhere trying to tail a king brown and take a bite or something. Cause I'm a novice, you know? So I know my limits, but also, you know, a lot of times if you're, you know, out when they're, when they are out in more numbers, you're probably going to see something if you put yourself out in the right place. Especially if you're running around with Peter Birch. Yeah. Yeah. So, um, so we, we, uh, definitely can, can help ourselves out that way, but, and, and I think that's all part of it, right? Knowing when to be out there,

uh, learning and doing your research and applying what you know, uh, from your own area to, to other areas can definitely help. And, and I think a lot of the habitats we were looking at in Southern California were very similar to other desert habitats that I have a lot of experience with. And so it wasn't anything new. I knew kind of, you know, Oh, I listened for the scrape of the skin of the Chuck wall because you know, that's going to mean there's one in this rock crack or something or, or, or I step, I stepped on one rock and I looked down and I'd stepped in some Chuck wall poo. And I'm like, oh, that's pretty fresh. He's close by.

And I look in the crack and there he is, you know. Also known as chuckapoo. Yeah. Just, you know, I don't want to make the same mistake with Chuck's poo. You know, we, yeah, a chuck wallop poo. So anyway, I wasn't stepping in Chuck's poo. Yeah. That led to the,

we'll make that abundantly clear. Even though that was the same day he was having his intestinal issues, he was, uh, uh, nice enough to, to relegate himself to the, uh, the outhouse there, but, uh, the, the pit toilets. Um, but anyway, so, you know, knowing kind of what signs to look for. Okay. When chuck wall is, they usually have a retreat site. They know where it is. And often you'll see their fecal material, you know, kind of on top of the rock outcrop where they bask or nearby. So you're like, okay, a chuck wall lives close by. They live in this area. Um, other times you get lucky. Like I was, uh, walking through the rocks at night looking for the, uh, leaf toad geckos or the granite night lizards. And I looked up in this crack and there was a,

uh, this tail hanging out. And at first I, Oh, maybe that's a snake, but it was a Chuck wall of tail. And so he was kind of in the shallow crack and, uh, um, so not, not really wedged in there very well, but sometimes you just have to be in the right place and look up and at the right time and see that, you know, so, um, and, and we saw plenty of night lizards that way, you know, you just looking in the cracks with your, but you know, there's different tricks you can use maybe the the technique of rolling the rolling the flashlight by your cheek or kind of hanging it by the side of your eye if you know those kind of skills you can you know get the eye shines off of lizards at night and nocturnal lizards you can eye shine them and stuff so there's different tricks that you can learn along the way. And sometimes just having a really good light will, will be a huge help, you know? So getting advice on what, um, headlamp or flashlight to purchase can be a big help or,

or even carrying a flashlight during the day, you know, these different skills, um, obviously lead to more success when you're field herping. So skill is what it's about and learning. So, um, and, and I think that can be frustrating sometimes because you can waste a lot of time and gas and, you know, go into the wrong place at the wrong time. So if you develop those skills, uh, sometimes you develop them the hard way. Other times you get lucky and have, you know, local friends or, or people in different areas kind of take you out and show you the ropes, show you how to herp and teach you, you know, some of the skills that they've learned over years and years of. And so, you know, I think it's some of these skills and techniques can be passed down

to benefit, fit other people. So, yeah. yeah let's go yeah i don't know man i was with i was with i was with the great master dr justin and we ain't found shit so i don't know what you're talking about if i wasn't there oh my gosh exactly exactly probably the desert probably would have been crawling with uh yeah stuff but if i wasn't there that's right that's right well we'll never know we'll never know yeah so yeah i mean i i definitely wait how many how many did you find after i left oh wait what we we retired we retired we did not even try. No. Yeah. Well, I mean, I get it. What's the point? Right. No, in even wasting the gas. So we called it, we called it deuces and went back to Casa de Poland. Yeah. When you're paying six to $7 a gallon, it's, it's not worth, uh, there's an economic cost. Yeah, there definitely is. And, uh, I remember back in the day, uh,

we were trying to get some laws changed in Utah as far as her regulations. And so we were actually getting paid by the state to go road cruise. And so they'd reimburse our gas that we'd use out looking for reptiles. So it was kind of a sweet gig. It was just for one summer. But, you know, I did a lot of road cruising and, you know, got basically paid to go look for reptiles. So that was kind of a fun deal. So, yeah, once in a while you get lucky. But, yeah, nobody was paying our gas this trip. i was gonna say no such luck newsome wants to gavin newsome wants to

give everybody like an 800 gas tax refund or credit or whatever and it's like oh so so we're not gonna do anything about the gas tax or the price of gas in California. We're just going to throw some money at people to shut up and go away. I got you, you know? So, but yeah, I mean, I do think like, you know, if you're, if you're somebody who thinks that, you know, you can just be a Justin and go out there and find everything. Herpin's a lot of work, man. You got to put in the work and it's, it can be, I mean, obviously road cruising, like it's, it's, it's, you know, you're. That's the lazy man's game. It is the lazy man's game.

You're playing the game of the probability, but to get out there and find stuff, I mean, obviously, you know, it's, it's still work and, and you never know where you're going to find something. You just got gotta be alert and looking in the right places but also paying attention i think when um when uh podfather found that uh gopher snake um i i watched him when he found it i mean he was just like looking around and he's just like snake snake yeah you know and so he said it was just kind of sitting there in the open he took him a minute to like oh that's a snake register because he said it and he

said it like like like kind of like i heard him but it wasn't like he like it wasn't like he was confident with it yet and then the second time he said it he's like yep that was a snake so snake you know so well right that way we came we rolled up on a sidewinder on the on the street and and it was a baby just you know you know maybe last year's baby yeah but it only had like one or two segments so it wasn't it was pretty young and pretty small this is the one that we found right um this was the day before you came so okay i think so maybe were you there and rob ran over and i kind of stopped him i thought he was gonna reach down and scoop it up i was like oh really don't grab that and he's like i'm not gonna grab it i'm not stupid yeah but uh it looked like his his body language was like he was gonna go and pick it up i'm like what

are you doing? But he's like, no, I'm not going to do that. But, you know, I was in Australia and we were in the Iron Range up in far north Queensland and just kind of walking along at night along a road. And I saw a dark snake and the first impulse was to jump and grab it. And then I'm like, wait, there's coastal type hands. What am I doing here not a good move yeah not smart to just grab first and ask questions when you're in the land of lapids but yeah so and and as a kid i remember i was uh um we were hiking in uh it was near the border between utah and ari, kind of in the center of the

state. And we were like, you know, center South border of the state. Um, and there was this beautiful, uh, I believe it was a great basin rattlesnake, but it could have been a different species. I was young. I didn't know my different species back then very well, but, uh, it was just gorgeous, you know, this light red, the rusty colored snake. And, and it was, um, cruising around just, just on the trail, you know, and I'm like, dad, can we keep it? Can we take it home? And he said, well, let me go ask the ranger if it's okay to collect in this area or something. And so he's like, you keep an eye on it and watch it. And so I'm watching it and it's okay to collect in this area or something. And so he's like, you keep an eye on it and watch it. And so I'm watching it and it's going and it starts to go under this huge boulder. I'm like,

oh great. If it goes under there, we'll never get it out. So I grab its tail and it's like buzzing and freaking out and like, and I'm like, oh no, what do I do now? I'm trying to think, should I keep pulling on it or do I let go and so i finally and it was kind of pulling it was pretty good size snake it was kind of pulling itself in and so i'm like finally i'm like i better let go i don't want and all of a sudden its head kind of came out right by where where right when i let go its head kind of shot out there so i was probably very fortunate i let go when i did but then it kept it from going under the boulder and it came at, you know, kind of out of, out of, from that shelter site again and went to a more, uh, accessible, uh, shelter site. So it was, I got lucky there, but, um, again, you know, yeah,

grabbing something in a way that you're, you're not familiar with can lead to pain and anguish. So I've been lucky a few times, but, um, I, I, I tend not to try to handle them if I don't have to. And I, I think maybe I'm getting soft in my old age. I don't need to grab everything I find, you know, I don't mind just kind of hanging back and taking pictures. I don't need to get everything in hand and take a wanker shot or something. So it's kind of nice just to see it undisturbed in its element, doing its thing. And that's, I love this zoom camera I've got, cause I can just sit back on the rocks and, and zoom in on an animal and kind of watch it and video it or take pictures of it from a distance when it's not trying to ditch. So that's really fun. Yeah. There were those, uh, granite, uh, granite spiny lizards, the, um, that were really, uh, shy, you know, you get close and

they just dip really quick, but yeah, really those really pretty dark green, black colored things with the white scales around their face. And they're really nice looking but you wouldn't know that because they ditch every time you got within distance where you could kind of see them but with that zoom camera with the binoculars you could get a good view of them and see just how cool they were so in hindsight i want your opinion so we were we were hiking uh where were we warner springs uh on that hike uh-huh was that warner springs yeah so so it was april 1st we were hiking warner springs a little height a trail that that um that that had that had some um uh some hell or i that had been spotted there uh and people on the trail kept telling us oh

there's a snake it's a snake it's like quarter mile back or half a mile back yeah snake on the trail so we're like dude justin takes off running and i'm like oh my god but i'm not gonna let justin best me right so i'm like trying to keep up with him and he that just makes mr captain competitive he's nice but he's very competitive makes him run faster so needless to say never found a snake on the whole damn trail and and and i must ask myself is it april 1st did all these people collectively decide to play a great april fool's joke on us they saw our snake hooks they knew what we were doing there. Yeah.

Did they try to, did they try, do you think, do you think. It seemed like so many of them independently said the same thing. It's like, unless they're all conspiring together, that's probably legitimate. But yeah.

And that, and you know, I guess that goes to your, your point, you know, sometimes if you're just in the right place, the right, I mean, they saw it, they said it was curled just in the right place the right i mean they saw

they said it was curled up in the trail and so i thought oh if i get there quickly maybe i'll have a chance to see there was no competitive it was just i wanted to get there to see the snake your ass you were i mean flying that shit seemed kind of competitive to me i can't help it that i'm fast next you're gonna complain that i'm so handsome you know we we uh i definitely wanted to see this and if you'll recall rob beat us all he was way out there i think that's because rob took off but i we stopped to look because we thought the spot yeah and then rob i think i think rob just said fuck it i'm just'm just going to keep walking the trail. He just kept going.

He kept going, man. He was way ahead of us when we got to that spot. He finished the trail and started walking back. That's how we found Rob. Exactly. So if we're talking competitive, that would have been Rob. Listen, listen. I'm not sure I saw Rob run the whole time.

Maybe once when we first heard first, when, when, when we first heard the report of a snake up ahead, maybe I saw him, him hustle a little bit, but, but I never saw Rob run. Rob was just consistently walking the trail and we stopped. I wanted to get there before the, well, I know, but we thought, we thought we knew we thought we knew where it was so we stopped

to like try to find it you know but then people said no there's one it's up further yeah it's up oh yeah two or three people

like half mile or quarter mile no it's quarter of a mile no it's half it's a mile up like everybody had a different fucking story but everyone was like

oh yeah there's a snake up there alright well I guess we can say they got us April Fool's wise they got us fucking story but everyone was like oh yeah there's a snake up there yeah all right well i guess we can say they got us april fools wise they got us the snake we still made us i was pretty tired at the end of that day dude i was too i think the snake got us for april fools yeah he he knew what to do yeah so yeah i mean yeah i i definitely like to see the i'm gonna pull that old slither across the trail trick on these jackasses i heard there's a bunch of herpers yeah the word travels yeah it's because that poor uh skiing got his tail knocked off

poor guy he he passed the word along he's, these guys, not very courteous, but. Because I think, I mean, there's a lot of stuff that you can just pass right by because it blends in, you know. And I think we've all seen that. Let me ask you this. Everybody knows, you know, that I'm a skill-less bastard when it comes to herping out in the desert. But if I were to go out there maybe this weekend and start road cruising, do you think I'd find some stuff? I think I'd find a bunch of stuff.

Yeah. Cause you learned a skill. You learn when to go into the desert, but I'm not skilled. Not like, not like the doctor. You're skilled enough to find something. I would hope. And you're probably as skilled as me. I don't know. i don't know i i don't know that's a who i i think we i think you might have you might have jumped too many steps on the ladder there bro no but i mean you you know you know what to do you know you know where to look and how to look and so yeah i mean you can you can do so much i obviously you know i guess and and this kind of goes to my point if you've if you've done it a lot and you kind of have that experience and that skill then yeah it's going to come a little easier

you're going to see more more things i think well i think no i wouldn't say i'm more skilled than like rob stone or something like no no no no no he he still finds plenty of things but you know just because i found it and he didn't doesn't mean i'm more skilled than him i think right that may go to your point i think both of you are more skilled than me and that's a safe thing to say but past that i don't think you know there's a but but obviously there is some luck involved yeah for sure he didn't turn over that one you know rock that had the snake under it and i did so and and he looked in that area first but he just passed over that one for some reason and and that's where the mountain king was you know it's that kind of thing where it's just just luck in some ways but mean, everybody that has skill is still going to have days where they don't

find things because they just didn't hit the right spot or look under the right thing. But overall their average is going to be fairly high because they know what they're doing and, and know, you know, they're, if it's around, they're probably going to have a better chance of finding it than a complete novice or somebody who doesn't know what they're doing. So leave no crack unchecked. Well, some cracks will leave unchecked. There's a lot of Chuck cracks that, you know, it's, it's okay to look into, but there's one Chuck crack that you just don't want to look at oh man we're going blue what is going on here you are so right you are so right oh man yeah you make one mention i think we're done on that note that leads us to our final statements.

No skill required. Yeah. I mean, a broken clock is right two times a day, right? That's right. That's right. There is definitely some luck involved. I mean, a broken clock is always right if If you don't care what time it is. Oh, that's, that's a good point. And, and, uh, you know,

no idea what that, if you, if you crossed the time zone, the correct clock may not apply to where you're standing at that point. As long as you're always traveling, your clock could be right. A lot. How's that? Yeah, there there you go it's right somewhere right yeah you just gotta get keep moving folks keep moving and watch out for those gas station chiquitos oh my god yeah crispy uh do it burritos yeah and and you know what although the first day we ate them there were no problems and they're pretty tasty but you know you? Although the first day we ate them, there were no problems. And they're pretty tasty. But, you know, you got to, it's like crushing. Well, it wasn't the packet of Tapatio that I put on there.

I'll tell you that much. And that lady was ticked off. She did not want to help. Dude, you made her mad. I made her work. I was like, can we get some help here? I rang the bell that said, please ring for service. I know, but I don't think that's what I meant.

You know what I mean? When somebody puts out a bell that says ring for service, but they don't really want you to ring the bell for service. I think it was that kind of reaction. Like, motherfucker, stop ringing the bell. My skill is not in getting people to help me out in the convenience store, apparently. Well, she was having a she but uh hey hey she was having a rough day no she was fine man she liked me rob and the podfather no problem okay we buttered her up good and just combined her whole order into one order she just she likes us yeah well

you can have her she was a whoa i I did not enjoy interacting with that woman. I know where she works. There you go. You can tattle on me. Oh my God. I'm not, I'm not going back for those taquitos. Bad. Bad. All right. Anyway. Anyway, they know. So, yeah, I was a little disappointed because I had this great joke plan. So when we picked up Eric, I had a two liter of Diet Dr. Pepper. And so when he pulled up to the curb, I was like chugging this two liter of Diet Dr. Pepper, like as a joke, you know, because they mentioned that a couple of times on their podcast. Yeah, I'd be funny, you know, chugging the sweet lady DDP when we roll up.

And and I guess he was jet lagged or something because he didn't even really notice. I'm like sitting here like a moron chugging Diet Coke. Maybe he just thinks that's you and your natural. He's like, oh, yeah. I mean, that's what he does. That's what he does. That's what happens. No, I mean, I said like, so, you know, like I, I was, I was telling the car when we were driving that,

that Justin had like a big gulp cup and I, and I felt like, you know, he poured, he would take his two liter and put his sweet lady DDP in there. And I felt like, you know, I was watching like, you ever seen like little John with his pimp cup. I felt like that. I felt like that big gulp was like the sweet lady DDP pimp cup of the Herb trip. You know what I mean? Yeah. You know what I mean?

Yeah. Is that how he does it? Exactly. Very well done. Yes. I'm not a very good, yeah. It was. Little John.

It was. Okay. So. All right. Yeah, you're much better at that. You've got the skill and the little john impersonation you know i i actually have a lot of admiration for little john because he says like three words but he is literally famous and gets paid money to pretty much just say yeah okay and what

who else i mean like what a what a what a gig right he's he's definitely blazed his own trail for sure for sure yeah all right well we we missed the whole slap well maybe you didn't miss it but i we missed the whole slap thing we were we were out herping when the when the slap occurred i guess so the will smith slap did it no i thought the slap happened oh you know i saw the slap you missed the slap yeah we missed it you didn't miss anything yeah oh yeah no it was it was kind of funny to wake up and be like what happened why are all these memes and stuff what what did will smith do yeah i feel i feel like if if if we could just get a bouncer to hand out slaps at

the red carpet for everybody going in i i would be all right with just all of that televised yeah yeah we need a paid slap hit man yeah just like yeah just just out of nowhere people are up there and he just runs up slap bitch pow just hits him and runs off i would love to be somebody famous you know yeah yeah oh yeah you couldn't do that shit to average people yeah right that's foul to do to an average person but if you're like it has to be rich yeah rich and famous you know each other then it's okay you could take the random slap to the face just you know like yeah you're good for it yeah yeah tom was not a fan of Will Smith.

Oh, yeah? No? Yeah, he kept going off on Will Smith. It was pretty funny. But, yeah. Tom's like, fuck that guy. Independence Day was trash. Legend of Bagger Vance my ass.

Yeah. All right. uh all right well i would encourage everybody listening to check out morelia python's radio morelia python radio.com at morelia python radio.com yeah where you can find merch and be a patron patreon sorry i didn't say patreon yeah um all that good stuff yeah they've got a lot of good content um yeah oh i was trying to think i listened to the aussie wildlife show um with matt somerville nice oh man i i shouldn't have led into that because now i can't think of his uh girlfriend's name i'm sorry but anyway yeah, that was a great, great show. They do a good show there. Man, Natural Herb Keeper.

What's her name? She does some awesome work. I was just watching one of her videos the other day. But yeah, good stuff there. Talking about their trip. I'm really excited to see all the video and the content that'll come out of that trip. They did like,

Oh, what? 15,000 kilometers around Australia or something. That's crazy. That's a lot of driving. Yeah. But I'm sure they saw a ton of stuff and talk about a guaranteed, uh,

talk about somebody that knows what they're doing oh yeah christy jensen christy jensen sorry about that christy yeah i'm sure they're listening you know yeah like but uh anyway yeah those those guys are the real deal man they they uh i i uh saw matt matt found a imbricata, Morelli Imbricata, the Southwest carpet python. And, uh, I, I saw that and I'm like, oh man, cause I always kind of took this juvenile pride in having found a, an Imbricata when, when Matt Somerville hadn't found one yet. He'd found all the other pythons in Australia, but I was, you know, Dang, he, not only did he,

He hasn't found one I've found. Not only did he cross Imbricata off his list, he, not only did he hasn't found one, I found, not only did he cross Embra cut off his list, he crossed Jewelander off too. And I said, thank you for finding one. Now I can get rid of that stupid thought in my head every time. Yep. So I don't know that he's, he takes some amazing photos too. Yeah. And I don't know if you've seen Christy's videos, The Natural Herd Keeper on YouTube. No. Oh, my gosh. She makes some display cages that are phenomenal.

They are so cool. You know me and YouTube, man. I feel like you and Aaron. Old man Chuck. Yeah, dude. All you guys do YouTube so much better than I do. I don't know. What the hell's wrong with me?

I suck. I suck. No, it hell's wrong with me. I suck. No, it's all good. But check that out. The natural herb keeper, um, on YouTube, some good stuff, teach you how to make it really nice display cage and, you know, with all the fake rock work. And I mean, she makes it look like it's like, it'sback australia yeah like the real deal so it's pretty sweet um so they yeah they talked about their their trip on the aussie wildlife show and and talked about some of the stuff they saw some of the you know conservation minded uh things that we need to think of and consider and it's good stuff any good content you've heard lately yeah i was um i listened to um nipper and uh phil and when they had the the south african i and i'm blanking on his name right now but yeah i was listening to that what

what a what a what a good show that was what an amazing life that guys had just like man been into all kinds of stuff and just very cool and uh let's see was that johan maris yes yes yes um venom exchange radio another great uh podcast yeah good stuff and that's kind of a collaboration between the the uh moralia python radio and the Herb Network. Yep. Yep. So good stuff. Well, we are at the end here, I think.

Anything else? Got to say anything else? I don't know. I think we gave them quite enough today. Yeah. I think hopefully the listener quite enough today. Yeah. I, I think, uh, hopefully, hopefully the listener got something out of that.

Somewhere in there. Yeah. I think it was this. No, this wasn't a suggestion I keep. Oh, that's one thing I was going to mention is, um, we had that suggestion,

um, last week, uh, or well, when is what right who knows when this is when you're listening to this but we

did the topic of natural or artificial versus maternal incubation and we totally butchered the name. I don't, was it, was it, was it the incubation? I thought it was.

Wasn't it? I have no idea what's going on anymore. And now I, I'm, I'm not a bright man, I guess. Lucas Inger, right? Yep. Yep. And it was, and that's how you pronounce his name was. Yeah. Yeah. So he cracked to me and said he had a good laugh out of that. Yeah. Yeah.

I, he, he, I, I saw it as well. And, uh, he was, he didn't seem to, uh, upset at us. So thank you. We are, you know, we are schlubs. I have said this before. So, um, we, we definitely, uh, we definitely appreciate the topic and sorry for the, uh, any unnecessary flubbery that we did there. So, yeah. And I'm sure I've gotten several wrong who've, who've, uh, suggested shows and I forgot. Oh, I'm quite sure of it. I need to be better at writing these things down. Cause I just think it's hilarious because you're like you've got like you've got scientific names like down and you're like bob

what was his name bob yeah there's just so much room in this head i guess i know well it pushed us something it's like that farsight cartoon like can i be excused my brain is full if i if i just kind of moving shit around you're kind of like yeah oh i love what's that is this the cyanide what's the cyanide and happiness cartoon and there was like a i think it was some i think somebody modified it to be reptile related but it had like all the parts of the brain or whatever you know and it and it it's like the smallest part of the brain was remembering people's names and this guy comes up that's your brain he says hey my name's steve or

something and then he's like say jarvis did you know that the Komodo... Yeah, so good times. Well, thanks, everybody, for listening to Reptile Fight Club, and we'll catch you again next week for another episode. Now it's time for crumpets. We'll be right back. Thank you. Outro Music