Wild Times: Wildlife Education - Corbin Maxey Explains His Alligator House - The Wild Times Ep. 119

Episode Date: May 29, 2023

This week Corbin Maxey joins The Wild Times and discusses how he got started in wildlife media, his alligator house, and why passion should be the stem for working with animals. Corbin's Links: https://www.youtube.com/@UCz5Ms8847Lmak08A5AiGOEw https://www.tiktok.com/@corbin_maxey?lang=en https://www.instagram.com/corbinmaxey/?hl=en https://corbinmaxey.com/ Subscribe to The Wild Times Podcast on YouTube ▶▶ https://www.youtube.com/@WildTimesPod Get YouTube Membership Perks ▶▶ https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCVl7fHhUOpFK8Mpv-6DdoOg/join Get Up To 4 Bonus Podcasts Per Month ▶▶ https://www.patreon.com/wildtimespod Watch More Episodes Here ▶▶ https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLP... Visit https://thewildtimespodcast.com/ now! Join The Wild Times Discord Server: https://discord.gg/EkUWebe2 Get your Wild Times Podcast merch: https://thewildtimespodcast.com/merch Leave a review on iTunes Apple Podcast: https://thewildtimespodcast.com/itune... Follow The Wild Times Podcast on socials: Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/wildtimespod/ TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@wildtimespod Twitter: https://twitter.com/WildTimesPod Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/wildtimespod/ Listen to The Wild Times Podcast on: Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/2cbFBzf... Apple: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast... Google: https://podcasts.google.com/feed/aHR0... Anchor.fm: https://anchor.fm/wildtimespod/ YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@WildTimesPod Enjoy, brosteners! TWT 119 - The Breakdown 00:00 - Intro 02:40 - Corbin Maxey Joins 07:15 - Peacock and Guinea Fowl 08:41 - How Corbin Got into Media 11:20 - Alligator House 16:25 - Alligators As Pets 22:08 - Passion for Animals 30:10 - Extinct or Alive Game - Reptiles Edition 45:10 - Corbin's YouTube Journey 47:40 - Battle Royale Jingles made by: www.soundcloud.com/mimmkey https://www.newbelgium.com/beer/fat-tire/ #corbinmaxey #wildtimespod

Someone wrote me a comment and they were like, I, you were such an inspiration. I just got two baby alligators. And I was like, oh my God. I was like, no, no, no. I was like, this is not what I, you know, this is, I'm just not what I'm trying to promote. And I'll be the first one to tell you, alligators make horrible pets. Wild Times. Here we go.

It's the Wild Times. Episode number 119. Indeed. Pretty exciting. Good stuff. Exciting stuff. We got a guest today. I'm very happy because Peter is not here to be mean to us, which is always much more pleasant.

So instead, if you're listening for the first time, we are your co-host. There is nobody else that ever does a show with us. I am your host, Forrest Galante. The broologist joining me is Papa P himself, the Spiceman, the producer, Patrick DeLuca. How worry, Pat? I'm excited for three reasons. One, our guest today, it's just fantastic. Very excited to talk to him.

Two, I have a banger of a battle royale. Ooh, I like that. I'm just excited about that one of the Brosner sent in. Nice. Three, so we drink fat tire because we love it, right? We love fat tire here. Scrumptious. Carbon neutral.

Yep. Deliciousful. I was in, I texted you this, but I was in Chicago. Tell people. I was in Lincoln Park in Chicago this weekend, met up with six of my college buddies. And we're sitting outside at this lovely little park where there's like a little beer stand you can go up to. They got some servers bringing you drinks. Looking out towards the lake. It's wonderful.

Waitress brings over a bucket of fat tires. Okay. And we're like, we didn't order this. She said, he wanted, someone sent this over. He wanted me to tell you he's a brosner. And she pointed over and I look over and there's a group of like mid-20s. Yeah. Young men and women and the guys waving. No way. Yeah, I got recognized in public. How good was that?

Got a delicious bucket of fat tire. How good is that? That's amazing. Hell of a feeling. Let me ask you this. Was that more impactful than when someone would send you a smear enough ice from your smear enough ice commercial campaign days? It never happened once. Really?

Apparently, you get a lot more engagement out of talking for an hour than being on TV for 30 seconds. There we go. Well, let's roll into our very exciting guests for the day. Joining us today, the one and only, you know him as an animal expert, you know him from YouTube, TikTok, and all the other social media pages, probably even hotmail. You might have a hotmail, or what's the other thing? MySpace. He mentioned MySpace. Aim. He has an AIM still. He's the one guy still using AIM. Ladies and gentlemen, Mr. Corbyn Maxi.

Hey, guys, if you're enjoying... Whoops. Guys, if you like The Wild Times, check us out on Patreon. We put out four extra podcasts per month. That's one commute. week that you're just going to be laughing and learning the whole time in the car. I don't know. I do. Do something else.

This is the late night content and stuff that we can't show on, on YouTube because they'll kick us off YouTube. It's the cinemax of podcasts. Uncensored, raw dog. It's the cinemax of podcasts. Check it out. Link right here. Hey, hey, there he is.

What's up, buddy? Hey, how's it going? on you guys. Good, except Forrest forgot to put his fucking phone. This is the worst star in history. Thank you for coming on, man. I'm so excited to be here. I've been binge listening to the show. So I'm so happy to be here. And you have a podcast as well, right? Yes, Animals to the Max. And Forrest, I've been trying to get you on for years. It's like this, it is weird how things work out. On Instagram,

I follow you and I saw this post that you posted. And I was like, oh, I need to message him again. And then you DM me and asked me to come on the show. And I was like, this is so, like, within an hour. It's the craziest thing. Oh, you're kidding. I'm sorry. Well, let's definitely do your show. Dude, my social media messages, I'm so bad on it.

I ask Kyle. It's like, Kyle, pop for a second. Here, let me, let me show you. Kyle, what is your favorite thing about how I handle our social media accounts when I go on there? There is, there's, it doesn't happen. He doesn't manage any of it. Yeah. And, for us, I feel bad.

I'm not, like, trying to, like, call you out. at all. I just was like thinking like I should re-message him or contact some of his people. And then you message me and I was like, no way. My wife's like, that's so cool. Yeah, dude. Well, here we are. Thanks, buddy. Feeling is mutual. Love your stuff on YouTube. Where are you in Idaho right now? We're in Idaho. Yeah, about an hour outside of Boise. Okay. And you grew up in Idaho, right? Born and raised. Have you guys, well, have you guys been? I know that you mentioned Patrick that you've been to Cordillane. For us, I'm assuming you've been. Just to Boise. That's it. That's it? That's it. Yep. Just to Boise. And outside of Boise, somewhere where we parked the truck on the side of a

really cool river and caught a lot of trout, but I have no idea where. Wow. Okay, next time you come, you need to, like, we could hook you up, show you some awesome places to fish. I mean, my parents have a place right on the river. They have, like, the best bass fishing in town. So, now I'm intrigued. Now I'm definitely doing your podcast. No, I'm kidding. But, uh, tell us. Tell Yeah, Corvin, this is awesome, man. Well, tell us, tell our listeners a little bit about yourself and the stuff you do. You know, you have a pretty interesting background. You started a sanctuary when you were young.

And, you know, just tell us a little bit about yourself. Pretty cool. Yeah, so I've been actually working in animal rescue, mainly with reptiles for over 20 years. And I've, I mean, you know, always have been fascinated with animals. I grew up, as you mentioned in Idaho in the middle of nowhere, Robey Creek, Idaho. So it's about an hour outside of Boise. So just imagine like a cabin in the middle of like in the middle of the woods. We didn't have anything.

We had like an outhouse my first year of living there. My mom hates when I say that. You know, she's like so embarrassed. Like don't tell people that. But it's true. Like we just, it was just such an awesome childhood. So when most people had friends or people to play with like I was just always outside catching frogs and snakes and lizards.

And at 12, I started an animal rescue because I noticed that there were a lot of of reptiles that needed homes, like unconventional pets. A lot of people would get these animals at pet stores, and they wouldn't realize how big they got or how aggressive they got. And so, you know, fast forward at 12, I got my first ball python. His name was Reggie, who I literally had up until last October. He just passed away. So, I mean, I had this snake for over 20 years. Yeah, he was so old, though. He was such a, you know, just like a geriatric. But anyway, he started that all for me. And, you know, by the time I was 13, I had over 60 different animals living in my parents' bonus room. And God bless my mom. I mean, when it rains, it pours. When people find out that you take in unwanted pythons or boas or

iguanas, it just comes. I even rescued a piranha, which I know like you're into fish. So that might be interesting. His name was Jaws. Oh, that's cool. Yeah, no, trust me, dude. I get it. Try come to my house. There's fucking peacocks everywhere. And they're the worst animals in the world. Like I just like I I would move to Idaho just because I know peacocks wouldn't make it through the winter. And yet at the same time, every time a new peacock needs a home, come straight to our house. Really? They're just so loud. I mean, they're awful.

They're awful. They're awful. They jump on your car. They shit everywhere. They're super loud. There's nothing good about peacocks. I can't stress this enough to people. And yet I have like nine of them.

You know what might be worse? We thought it would be a good idea to get guinea foul. We have guinea fow. They're awful too. But at least they keep the bugs away. That, but we had a problem. The guinea fowl would fly into our alligator enclosures. And I like to witness the most horrific death of like a guinea fow. Anyway, so our alligators pretty much went through the fowl. We don't have them anymore. But anyway, so yeah, long story short, I had all these rescued animals and I'd love talking to people about them. And I remember I would call like local daycares and YMCA's and be like, can I please come and talk to you? you about my animals. I was so excited. I had like my safari hat. I was really chubby when I was younger, so I'd like my big safari shirt and I would just go. It's so funny. I'd be like, here are my animals. And I never dreamed of being in the media. I never thought that was even a possibility. I just knew I wanted to work and rescue animals and talk to people about them.

So my mom came across a talent scout audition for the Tonight Show with Jay Leno and they were looking for weird teenagers. She didn't even tell me about it. She literally submitted me. my story and a week later I got a call from a Tonight Show producer and it turns out I really wasn't fit for their weird teenager segment but after of them talking with me I sent them a few other tapes. They said how would you like to be like a guest on the show behind a major celebrity? And I'm like, okay. So you guys at 14 years old, I was a freshman in high school. I got booked on the Tonight Show with Jay Leno. Guess who the celebrity guest was? I'm a 14 year old teenager by the way. Okay, I'm going to guess Pamela Anderson. Okay. No, really? I swear to God, did you Google that? Oh, wow.

I did not Google it at all. Patrick, you totally Google that. Are you serious? I'll screen share right now and show you I do not have that tab open. No, I'm kidding. I just guessed that you were about 35 to 40. I went, who would be the dream of a 14-year-old 20-plus years ago? And then I was like, Cindy Crawford, I was like, no, he's not.

quite that old, Pamela Anderson. I was going Jessica Simpson, but, oh, wow. That's hilarious. Oh, you were very chubby. Look at you. Yeah. You and Forrest had the same jungle potato body. Yeah, we did.

Straight up. Yeah. I was, oh, look, there's my family. And I always tell people I had a passion for, like, animals and cheeseburgers. Oh, my God. And they would, like, roll the, they would roll the can. So that's when I lost weight, actually. So that was when I went back on three and a half years later with that alligator I'm

holding is. actually the same alligator I have today. He's just 10 feet and 400 pounds. That's amazing. So you, I watch your videos, Corbyn. You've got like that alligator house,

right? Yeah, explain that a little bit. I want to hear the rest of your story, but let's just dog leg here. I also need to know if you got a hug from Pamela Anderson or not. Oh, that's also important.

Yeah. Okay. But like fellas, what's more important, the alligator house or the hug from Pamela Anderson? The hug. Obviously. Oh,

the hug. Man, I'm going to crush this. everyone's going to be so sad. I did not actually hug her. I got to meet her and it was like my first encounter with the celebrity and she looked fantastic.

It was the weirdest thing. It's like I remember because you knew who she was. I mean, she was so nice, but interestingly, she refused to go out with me because of PETA and even though my animals were rescued so it kind of turned into this thing where

she never actually was on air with me, but she was very nice backstage. Oh, interesting. Yeah. Yeah. Alligator House real quick, and then we'll keep going with your story because it is interesting. But so for those that don't know, I follow Corbyn's social media stuff. He's got this like, he'll explain it.

I'm sure this alligator house. And I'm intrigued because one of my biggest goals in life is to keep alligators except one, it's very difficult to do in California. Two, my wife denies me implicitly every time I bring it up. And three, we have small dogs, so that has a lot to do with it. But yeah, I want to know about your alligator house. Yeah. So as I mentioned, I had this rescue, and I've had, I rescued two alligators.

One of my alligators, his name is Sonny. He is 21 years old. And now, as I mentioned, he's 10 feet, 400 pounds. Rescued him back in 2006. He was living in a teenager's bedroom. And he actually, the mom called me and said, hey, I'm tired of my son's pet alligator getting out into the kitchen. So I go over there.

Sonny is literally in, like, I, say that Sonny's in the closet. He literally was in the closet of this teenager's bedroom. No water, nothing. His skin was dry. How did that person get him? How do you get an alligator in Ohio? Ohio or Iowa? A lot of people say you live in Iowa. No, so Idaho. You know, people, you can actually get them quite easily. And this, Sonny was passed around. It's kind of a long story, but he was shuffled around people. And I had actually known of Sonny. And so he had just gotten too big for his tank because once they reach three and a half four feet, there isn't a tank you could go buy at a pet store that's going to house one. So unfortunately, he had no water. He had nothing.

My other female alligator chompers came to me in a shoe box. And she was, I mean, she was like a little bit bigger than a pencil. She came to be in 2009. And some guy thought that she would make a great present for his fiance, like an anniversary present. They broke up. I ended up with chomper. So long story short, I had these two alligators. And the thing with alligators is they grow. They grow like, I mean, they grow average when they're younger, about a foot a year. So we needed to plan a place to house the alligators. And they just started getting bigger and bigger.

And my dad and I thought of an alligator house. And what we did is we first had to figure out how we were going to get a pool, because I'm sure you guys know pools are like so expensive. I mean, ungodly expensive. I mean, for what we wanted, it would have been $80 to $100,000 for a pool, and that's just working in animal rescue. We just, that's wild. That's not money that you have. And so we had to be creative.

And my dad noticed that down the road, this farmer had this giant, I don't, it just looked like this big, long trough. It just this big giant thing. It was 40 feet long. And it turns out it was an old water tank sod in half. Wow. So how did you get this? that over how do you move that? Yeah, so we got a backhoe and literally drug it with chains through the fields to our desired place. We dug a giant hole. I mean, we have this all documented to

by the way. I'm thinking about doing like a long form YouTube video on how we did this because at the time I only, you know, put up. I think I should because it's really unique. So anyway, we dug a hole and people thought we were crazy, but we thought this could be a great tank. It's 40 feet long. At the time it was 12 feet wide about four and a half feet deep made a fiberglass and oh there it there it oh my gosh there it is the alligator house i'm just i'm like a proud dad that's sunny right there right yep yep yep that's and that's uh that's a fake alligator that is a fake that is a fake robotic how the fuck okay how does it how did people get it into their head that that was a fake that because, you know, we get all sorts of negative comments and trolling and for us probably gets the most of it because he's the most famous.

Probably. How did people, I don't know? How did it even come to your attention that people were accusing Sonny of being a fake alligator? Comments, man. So the video started going viral. Once I started focusing on the alligator house, it started going viral. And I would notice people would say that he's fake. He's not moving.

And that's when I did this video about, you know, is Sonny fake? and that to this day has received millions of views. Because a lot of people, oh, is that for those of you who think Sonny's a robot. Oh, my God, that's so funny. He's moving so slowly.

Oh, I love it. I'm just like gleaming with joy, like a proud dad. So it's funny. So we built this like alligator house for them. It has 13 windows, a sandy beach. And then I remember the comments were like,

okay, that's great, but can they go outside? So it's like, it's like one thing after another. So, you know, so we, built the following year, we built outdoor yards for them. So they now have alligator doors and they have the option to go inside and out during the spring and during the summertime.

Tell me about your feelings on alligators as pets, like as their temperament and I mean, they're wild animals, you know, blah, blah, blah, but just like, yeah, I don't want to, I don't want to lead the witness here. Tell me your feelings on alligators as pets. Dude, I was just doing a YouTube live yesterday and someone wrote me a comment and they were like, you were such an inspiration. I just got two baby alligators. And I was like, oh my God. I was like, no, no, no. I was like, this is, this is not what I, you know, this is, I'm just not what I'm trying to promote. And I'll be the first one to tell you, alligators make horrible pets. They're expensive. They're dangerous. They prevent you from doing certain things in life. I had like a lot of these aspirations

of going to different colleges throughout the United States and like traveling and doing this. And I'm able to do that now. But like, I had to stay put. Like, was a sacrifice having them. That alligator house took like two and a half years, almost three years for my dad and I to build. It was all 99% self-funded. It was a lot of it was like just like reclaim lumber, like recycled lumber. It so much time, so much energy, so much effort went into that. And I would never recommend them. And they can be super dangerous. Yeah. And how are yours? Like what are the temperaments of yours? Can you go get me a tickle or what's their deal? I know it's funny.

And there's also, like, I follow other people on Instagram, too, who are, like, swimming with their gaiters and, like, giving them kisses. Chris, yeah. Yeah, he's in there all the time swimming with Casper and playing with it. I've kissed Casper on the face. It was scary, but I did it. Patrick watched. Yeah. Chris is, and it's so funny.

And Chris is, like, and Chris is a friend of mine, he's been on my podcast, Animals to the Max. But it's funny because you see his alligators are so well trained and he's doing this. And Chris has this, like, 12 pack. And he's like, with this shirt off, you know, doing. this and I thought, we're completely opposite. So no, I can't kiss Sonny or chomper's on the mouth. I can touch them on the tail. They don't really like it. Do they need to, I mean, could I work on their training? Absolutely. Like, I'd be the first one to say that. Like, I mean, I can get them to come to me. They know their names. They know, like, feeding cues, but could I target train them? A hundred percent.

And I'm so interested in doing that at some point. Sure. That's cool. Yeah, you can target train a lot of stuff. I was just in Ushaka in Durban, South Africa, and do you know what a bow mouth is? A bow mouth. Kyle, pull up a picture of a bow mouth. It's about the most alien-looking creature in the world, and I'm probably giving away stuff I shouldn't hear, but

I was target training a bow mouth. Oh, a fish. Yeah, not really, but sort of. I mean, it's a cross between a shark and a stingray. It's kind of the evolutionary missing gap. It's got the temperament of a shark, the morphology of something between the two. It's super aggressive.

and gnarly, headbutts its prey. Anyway, you did a whole bit on target training one at this giant aquarium in South Africa. And it's a, yeah, it's a wild, wild animal. But the point being, like you said, a fish. Like you can target train a fish, not a marine mammal, but a fish. And yeah, I don't know. It's amazing. Target training is really cool.

You learn a lot doing it about how animals see things too. To be honest, it works for us. Like the alligators come when we feed them. We're able to get them outside. but I would like to go into more training, you know, as time goes on, it would be fun to document it for you too. But alligators are so smart. So I've, I mean, yeah, I'm sure it would take nothing to target train them.

God way. It's interesting. Do you wonder, sometimes, okay, because to me, it's like people, you guys are both super into reptiles. Both, you're both herps. There has to be a correlation between kids that, just have a lot of lizards and frogs and turtles around them and catch that stuff with like people who are interested in reptiles because it's such on the surface it's such a

strange i understand if somebody wants to rescue chimps i get it they're furry they kind of look like us cats they're cute dogs they're adorable they've got loving eyes lizards it's just it's hard for me are i feel like it's in our DNA to be scared of lizards and snakes and you guys gravitate exclusively towards them. Dude, Patrick, I would be terrified to rescue chimps. They would, like, rip your genitals and, like, your face off. Oh, my God. Dude, it would be terrifying.

Yeah. What's the answer to this question? I don't know. I like them. Is there, you know, is it like an S&M thing where you're like, oh, I like the thing that I'm a little bit scared of? I don't know. I always, I liked him because I love dinosaurs growing up.

And I love, like, crocodilians. Like I was that response. I was that weird. I just was that weird kid who would stare at like a motionless alligator at our zoo for hours. Like I just, I always just was fascinated with them. But I mean, and I love all animals. I mean, you know, all across the board, but those are just what I specialized in at a young age. Do you have a house cat?

No. Why do you hate cats? I don't. Actually, we had, we did have a cat. She's no longer with us. but she would use the outdoor alligator yard actually as a litter box. Insane. That's a bad idea.

That's a very bad idea. Horrible, horrible idea. But no, but we like cats. Like when I go to Africa, man, leopards,

lions, cheetah, they're all on my top list for sure. So are you able to, you have a huge following on YouTube, almost four million subscribers. Obviously, you've appeared on TV a lot.

You know, you do the Today show all the time and stuff like that. Is that, Are you able to basically fully sustain your rescue operation and your full-time job running this rescue off of media? Now, but I think that there's this misconception. For us, maybe I'm so curious to hear your thoughts too. I feel like there's this misconception in the media or when you go on social media, you see people or zookeepers working with animals or people working out in the bush and they're like, this is the dream job and this is that. No one ever really talks about how there isn't much pay when you work with them.

animals and there isn't, it's very hard to find a career to support you. I would say it has been difficult by doing that, by running a rescue, by having, you know, all the animals. Now I'm able to with, thank God for social media, for YouTube. Now it's like a full-time thing. But for media, it's great for exposure, but a lot of those shows, you aren't paid much, if at all. I mean, Forrest, what is your thoughts on that? I think you, I've said, say this to people every time they approach me about working in the wildlife field. You have to be motivated by passion and not finance, right? You just cannot be. I mean, even me who's been doing this, you know, very mainstream media for nearly 10 years now, I don't make a lot of money, like at all,

you know? And I mean, we're at the point now where we're probably making more money through like our podcast and some of those things than I ever made in TV. So you just have to do it because you care about it because you're passionate about it. And that's what ends up resulting in feeling fulfilled. So it's like, am I making millions of dollars? No, but I'm doing something that I would be otherwise paying to do. Do you know what I mean? Like if I wasn't, I'm currently being paid occasionally to go on these amazing adventures and wildlife exploration and all of that. If I wasn't doing that, I'd be working in a bank or whatever, saving up money to then pay and go and do those things. So, and I'd be just as broke because I'd be spending every dime on doing all,

you know, paying to do those things. So I think for me, it's like, you just have to be motivated by passion and not really care about the financial side. And if you are, and I know that feels this way for me, it doesn't really feel like you're working. And it doesn't really, even though it's long, long days and pukeying and heat stroke and all the stuff that we've gone through, it still doesn't feel like work. It feels like a trip with your buddies where you, you know, you fight and you argue and you get along and you drink beers and all of that. But it's, it's a lot. But it's, it's a lot. But it's, it's doesn't feel like work. It just feels like this incredible life and adventure that you're having all the time as opposed to like that mundane work environment. So yeah, I mean, that's the great thing

about sort of the media route, right, is that yeah, you're not going to, you know, become a billionaire from doing it. But, you know, Forrest and I got paid to take 25 international trips together with a group of our friends and got paid for it. And those trips would have cost us a million dollars, to go on all those adventures. And so, you know, that's a lot of the questions we get from our listeners. Because a lot of our listeners are pretty young. They're like a lot of them are between 18 and 24. And a lot of them are like, how can I make a career out of doing this?

And obviously there's a lot of paths. But media is one where if the lifestyle you want is traveling the world, getting close to really cool species, seeing amazing nature, you know, media production is an amazing way to do it and live a really great life where, yeah, you're never going to be a billionaire, but you can pay all your bills and live a comfortable life while also like literally just figuring out every bucket list adventure you want to take and going on it. And so we, yeah, we actually have been working on something for almost six months that we're going to be talking about soon. It's funny. I wasn't going to bring that up, but yeah, there you go. Yeah, we have kind of an

exciting announcement that we'll be making in a few months that sort of pertains to that. Did you ever think, Corbyn, that, like, media was going to be your root? Or did you just say, man, I've got some really cool animals here. I'm just going to start filming them and see if anyone's interested. You know, honestly, when I was on the Tonight Show at 14, I felt at home. I had never had any media training. It was, you guys, it was the weirdest thing. And I'm not, like, I just remember thinking, like, okay, this is what I want to do for the rest of my life.

And I remember, because I never thought it would be like, I would never thought I would like do it again. I thought it was like, okay, I'll do the Tonight Show once and that's it. And then Jay asked me to come back. And I thought, oh, this is great. I was 14. And I thought, this is great. I'll get a show on Animal Planet or Discovery Channel and I'll be rich and famous. And then that's it.

And it would be a linear path. It's great. And then it turned into an uphill battle. Like, it is like the slowest climb of just rejection after. Rejection after, like I have a like I'm going to use it for my friend. Coyote Peterson. He always says like he just he grew up on like a mountain of nose like literally. We know we know coyote. We've had him on the show. I think twice now. Yeah. Yeah. We know. Yeah. Yeah. It's it's it's it's it was this uphill battle. But I never gave up. And I always wanted to show like in traditional media.

So after trying and trying to got back on the tonight show in college. I got on the today's show after years of pitching. And I always wanted to use that as a platform to try to get. attention of a network. And of course, you know, you got attention from production companies or agents, but nothing ever came really through. And I remember we met someone, some locals here who were YouTubers. And they were saying, you should really start a YouTube channel. And I had started YouTube back in 2008, but I really didn't put much into it. It got really depressing when you put so much effort into something and then no one watches or you, I'm sure you guys have done this. You like put out some content and then you start reading comments and it was like oh so discouraging like oh maybe it's not for me but in 2020 i thought i should really start focusing on youtube and

maybe i could i don't know and i started filming short form videos and i i didn't know what people wanted and i just continued to kind of document my life and by filming those videos that's what grew my my my social media following from such low numbers to such high numbers i mean for people listening who were like, oh man, maybe I'm too late for the game. I was late for the game. Like in 2020, I had 500 subscribers on YouTube. Like I had under 5,000 followers on Instagram, like 3,000 Facebook followers. And now we're approaching over 7 million followers across all platform. So, you know, almost 2 billion views on YouTube right now. So I am living proof. If you put the time in, that it can happen even in this day. So short form videos is what took off. And that's, sorry,

that was a long winded answer, but Patrick, that's when I thought, wow, I can start making money for the animals by doing this, which has been, it's been amazing. Well, we find it, we find it interesting because we started this podcast, which, I don't, did it start on YouTube? No, it didn't. No, it didn't. We just did audio. That's right. We started this podcast during the height of COVID because we were bored.

And we all, we all did a COVID test. Well, we started just on Zoom, but then we all did a COVID test and got together in my garage and filmed the first one. Or not even filmed it. It just recorded the first one. And we were like, oh, we'll just do this because it's fun. It's like our version of, you know, remember those Zoom hangouts people were doing during COVID? Yeah, like that was like a thing. This was like our version of a Zoom hangout where we just recorded it and then put the audio out.

And now it's become a full on thing. You know, we like do the podcast every week or every other week, whatever it is. And I don't know, have guests like yourself on. And it's pretty funny because it's all just something that's materialized from us chit-chatting. Yeah. No, that's great. I love podcasts. Like my podcast animals to the max,

it's, I'm going to be honest, it's an excuse for me to talk to people. I never would have the opportunity to talk to unless I had a medium for that. You know, and so that's, yeah, and that's why I love podcasting.

I like that. I want to play a little game for us. Hey, brosters, thank you for being loyal subscribers. We appreciate everything that you do. And now we have a membership offer for you. I think you can get ad free episodes,

I heard. That's pretty big. Ad Free's big, but you can also get your comments looked at so we don't have to sift through the millions. How do you do that? Is there some sort of badge system? There's a badge system, a loyalty badge. Boom.

Shows up next to your name in the comments. Boom. We read the comment. All this badge talks, I'm going to the badge store. He's going to get a badger. He's going to buy one, didn't earn it, he's going to buy one. He did a fake leave. I assumed Kyle would know it.

Cut on the motion. All right, let's cut now. That's our ad. Okay. We love games. We do. We play a lot of games. Yeah, we're making our own game.

There you go. Yeah. Don't tell people. Let's play a reptile-centric version of the extinct or alive game. Oh, very good. Very good. Oh, the Lazarus species game. So you guys are the experts.

I'm going to name a species that's either been deemed extinct or extinct in the wild, and I want to hear your takes on could it still be out there? Love it. We'll go one at a time. Let's start with the Lepalala. Giant Lizard. For us, can you tell me about this species? Yes, absolutely.

I think I've seen it on a deck for Extincter Live, season one or two. I can't remember. Or three or four, I don't even know. But yeah, the La Palma Giant Lizard on this Canary Islands, I believe, in this Spanish-owned archipelago, was this giant lizard, the La Palma Giant Lizard. Now, they've had three or four sightings, the most recent of which was a couple tourists sitting on a beach when all of a sudden a three-foot-long lizard crawled out right next them on the sand, came down by the water's edge, looked at them, and then slowly waddled its way

back into the bushes. Now, this lizard has been deemed extinct, I want to say 50 years ago. I'd have to fact-check that. And yet, reports like that of the tourists that I just mentioned have happened as recently as like three years ago. So with that information, Corvin, I'll let you go first. The La Palma giant lizard, extinct or alive? it's alive and i have very credible sources next to uh the lachness monster so i'm assuming the article on google is correct so i'm going to say it's a lot i swear to god it says lock next monster and did loppa giant lizard alive has to be legit preposterous um okay well i i have always held out hope that this species exists that's why i had it in several decks the reason being uh la palma island is like

a big caldera, it's a big, big mountain, basically. And in the middle, the Delos Mucanos or something like that, the big mountain. I'm sure you nailed it. Yeah, for sure. Yeah. I thought you were actually going to pronounce it right. I was like, God, he's so well-spoken. And all that time in Mexico, dude. You're like fluent. Yeah, that's me. That's me. Anyway, that big island, that big mountain in the middle of the island is pretty unexplored. lizards can hide as you know Corbyn you can you know you can have one in a terrarium and not find it you dig through the whole terrarian be like where the hell is this damn little lizard and it can be in a box big and it can get away from you um so i don't know i think it's out there too that's two for alive

beautiful all right next up for us really quick i just was going to say remember they recently discovered this giant fruit eating monitor and was it indonesia like recently it's insane like They're discovery new species every year. All the time. I mean, this giant lizard is so cool. Okay. Yep. All right. Next.

Corbin, I don't know if, you know, it's probably the biggest news story of 2017. So I can't imagine you didn't hear about it. But Forrest Galante and I was there too. You were there. You discovered an extinct species of giant tortoise and Galapagos called the Fernandina Island tortoise that had been deemed extinct over 100 years ago. Remember that? Wasn't that crazy?

Wow. happen that's that's insane i like how he it's obviously not a not not heard of it that's okay um well no no we did we went on this great expedition it was probably the biggest discovery we made on on for a show but another one of the islands pinta island had their own species of giant tortoise i think lonesome george was yep a last living pinta island tortoise and it's now been deemed extinct so let's get into it. What do we think? I mean, I know, I know of Lonesome George. I mean, he's such a star.

Oh, what a beauty. Look at that. Do I, do I think it's still alive? Could there be one or two or small population still hiding out somewhere on Pinta Island in the Galapagos? Look at the neck on that, by the way. Like, you can tell they

evolved to, man, I feel like, and have they, have scientists done, I mean, obviously, like genetic studies on these guys? Oh yeah, everything. However, I will say, and I don't want to say anything too negative, given all the headbutting that happened. It's not the best science taking place over there. Okay. Could they still, you know what? I'm going to go for it, Patrick. Absolutely. I'm going to be positive. I think so. I mean, or at least some type of a hybrid, right? Wouldn't you think? interesting. The hybrid theory, I think, is more likely. But short answer, I'm going to go extinct. I think that they've done extensive surveys of Pinta Island. It's not like Furnandino where we went, which is so hellish and difficult. And for whatever reason, they hadn't surveyed as well. I think that sadly, the Pinta Island tortoise is likely gone. Okay. Well, I want to do a TV show with Corbyn. I like his attitude more. That's fair. And that's a good choice. That is a good choice. It's a good YouTube.

video, man. Like, we have a problem. Like, I could see it in my mind. Like, anyway. Yeah. All right. Let's do two more because this is fun. And I like talking about, especially this one,

which I don't know anything about. Forrest, what do you know about the Cape Verde giant skink? Which has been deemed extinct. Well, what I know about it is it was a giant skink on this. Where is Cape Verde? I looked this up. We had this written out at one point. Let me look it up.

It was the largest skink. kink known out in this set of islands. And what's interesting, yeah, so it's off Senegal, that's right, off of West Africa there. And it's the largest skink, I think, known to man, or at least it was. And they found it through museum specimens. They didn't even find it, like, out on the island and then it ran out. They found that in, I think, the London Natural History Museum, maybe some others, they had these specimens of these giant skinks from Cape Verde.

And they're like, oh, wow, there's a big species of skink out there. And then they sent one or two trips out there to try and find them no success. So, that's about all I know about it. I think, you know, it's a small group of islands in an area that is quite densely populated. But, but, but it's not somewhere that a lot of active science is taking place. I mean, when you think cutting edge wildlife science, you probably don't think Senegal and Gambia. So, you know, I think that given the fact that it could have been any of the, let me see, one, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine, ten islands.

I think there's a shot. Okay. I'm going to agree with forest on that. I think there's still hope. And I just Googled the photo. It looks a lot like my prehensile-teld skit from the Solomon Islands, like really similar. Exactly. Yep.

Exactly. Yeah, pull up this picture, Kyle. Cape Verde, obviously, there's tourist areas and, and, you know, it's super built up along the beaches. Yep. Like, look at this lush valley here. You tell me there couldn't be. Kyle fucking, there we go. Oh, wow.

There couldn't be a little. One skink this big, hanging out in that valley somewhere, and you'd never know. Yep. Let's go find it, guys. I think we just, wild times, Corby, joint, we just go out there together, have a few cocktails by the beach, and then go find the 16 species. Stay in a nice hotel, just hike through the canyon during the day, find a big skink, go back to the bar. It's a good life. That sounds great.

I'm all down for a collaboration to find the skink. We can get people on board. Hell yeah, man. I think we could. And it wouldn't be that expensive. It was a couple of flights and a couple cameras. Kyle will shoot it. Yeah.

Kyle will shoot it. Let's go. Got any more? Yeah. I'm interested in this one. The round, I've heard of this one extensively. It's fascinating topic of much debate. The Round Island Burrowing Boa.

Yep, this one I know a lot about. Yeah, so Round Island, I don't know what that picture is. Oh, they're saying that's it. Okay, interesting. Well, Round Island is an island off the coast of Mauritius that, no, sorry, Maricious Zanzibor. Yeah, Mauritius, off the coast of Mauritius that they put goats on and it had this endemic species of boa, but then they introduced goats to the island and the goats, doing what goats

did, they ate through a lot of the vegetation and they eroded away a lot of the top soil, which was where this round island borrowing boa would live in the roots of the vegetation and in the top soil. So after not being able to find it, they deemed it extinct some 70 or so years ago. And like the Volpama giant lizard, I had this in my deck as a herp, as Patrick would say. I believe that this is one that if it's still there, it could be targeted quite easily and found quite quickly. I think it's still there. And I'll tell you what. I, honestly, this looks like the rubber boa that we have here in Idaho, which is crazy. Most people don't

realize we have a boa living in the Pacific Northwest, but growing up in Roby Creek, I mean, we were up there my whole childhood. I only saw two, and it was only through, I think my dad was doing tractor work and dug one up accidentally, and then we had one that fell into a little well area, but super elusive. Most people will never see them in their lives, live underground, hands down, I think it's still alive. Can I tell a funny rubber boa story? You want to have funny rubber boa story?

You must. All right after I got married. So this was, God damn it. I don't know what year that was. 2015? What year did we get married? A while ago.

2015. All right after we got married. We decided to do a big road trip. And we took my back then little truck and drove up into Canada. And we were sitting around at a campsite and I grabbed my headlamp and I was like, oh, we're going to go for a little walk. And sure enough, we're walking through this, like, pine forest, it's freezing cold out. And there's a rubber bow on the ground, this big.

And I am freaking out. I've never seen one before. You know, there's only two boad species in North America, the rosy bow, which, by the way, we found a stunning, I'm going to text cowl. I found a stunning rosy boa down here in the desert night before last. Nice. And, yeah, super cool. Kyle, I'm going to send you some picks right now. And I find this rubber boa, and I start freaking out.

I'm like, oh, my God, it's my first ever rubber boa. And then we're sitting there. This is long before the days of Starlink and all the internet and stuff that was up there. And I was like, I think nobody's ever found a rubber boa here before. This is a big deal. Like, I don't think boas are supposed to be in Canada. I was completely wrong, by the way. So I get all excited.

And I take a thousand photos, identification. I write it all down. I do head shots, tail shots, cloacal shots, everything. I write it all down. I GPS market. I go through all this thing. And I make my wife literally pack up and leave our campsite at like 4 a.m. the next morning to head into town just so that I can get the word out that I've re-described the range of the rubber boa up into Canada where it was absolutely not known to be. So she like wake her up at like five in the morning for a three-hour drive back to the city or town area to get cell phone service.

And this is where the story gets really preposterous. instead of like a smart person, like, grabbing a field guide or something, I start texting all of my old professors about this big discovery I've made at five in the morning. And sure enough, about 30 minutes later, the first one writes back with just a picture of the range, which is like fully up into Canada exactly where I am from like the most generic field guides there are, like Western society field guide. And I was like, wow, I feel like a real dumb dumb. Yeah. I've done that, like, a bunch of times with, like, developing TV shows where I'll be like, I'll get an idea. I'll literally spend, like, eight hours, like, starting to write it up and, like, figuring

out how am I going to, like, make a sales presentation for this? And then I'll be like, eh, you should probably Google it. And then I'll Google it and be like, that's already a show. It's airing right now. Yeah. I've done that five times. How do I not Google this first? Oh, because passion is the driver.

Yeah, exactly. I think it's cool for us. You're able to admit that you do make mistakes because we are all human. And I know like, you know, some people in the science community are like stuffy or hurt people are very like, that's not the correct term or that's, I mean, like, anyway, so I'm just happy you're able to admit that because we all do that. And so, yeah, I think that's- Oh, dude, I make mistakes constantly.

And people get so upset. I remember I told Patrick the story. I was on the first Joe Rogan show I ever did. Joe says something like, uh, uh, leopards are bigger than Jaguars, right? And I was just like, yeah, and like moved on in conversation. And I just, I just said like, yeah, you know, like I wasn't even like, like, it was like part of conversation like, you know, something along those lines. And I was like, blah, blah, blah, blah, talking. And I must have had, because that was back in the days of still reading comments.

I must have had. Oh my God. Five thousand comments on that Joe Rogue. This guy's a fucking hoax. He doesn't know anything about wildlife. He thinks that leopards are bigger than Jaguars. And I was like, did I say that? And I had to like go back and like scrub through the whole thing to find it and was like, oh.

probably shouldn't have said that one word, yeah, because people get so up. God, you know, that's so funny. I've done a lot of TV shows, and I've always wanted to do Rogan, but that would be probably the one program. I would be like, okay, like, I better study my stuff. I better, like, be ready to talk about anything with this guy because, man, people will crucify you for sure. Yeah. It's funny, because, for us, when I watched it, I was really impressed with how often you were just like, you know, I don't know the answer to that. Like, you know, probably five or six times there was a topic where you just didn't know and you just admitted it.

And it's like right next to the people being like, he said, yeah, there was people being like, this guy doesn't fucking know anything. It's like. And then there were people who were like, yeah, I love how honesty is that he doesn't know instead of bullshitting. So it's just like he can't please everyone on YouTube. Yeah, who cares. Yeah. Who cares?

Well, so, Corby, before we go into our battle royale, tell us a little bit more about your YouTube because I find that fascinating. If you say you've always wanted to do like a primetime TV show, take it from Patrick and I, you don't. Keep doing your, keep doing your YouTube thing. That's awesome. Tell us about it. Like, it's cool that it's working for you. How is that able to fund your wildlife rescue? Like, you know, paint us a little picture for the people listening from our audience.

I love it. And I just want to say that like, I've had people on my podcast who've had network shows. And off air, they'll be like, hey, so tell me about YouTube. because, like, my network experience wasn't the best. And it's funny, you learn that it's not this amazing. I don't know. I just had this picture in my mind of having a TV show and all this, and it's not what it really was painted to be.

So YouTube's amazing. You're your own boss. You're able to control your own content. I don't have anyone telling me what to do. I can be myself. I mean, that was something, too, for me trying to get a show. Like, Forrest, you're exactly what Discovery wanted. Like, they needed someone with the beard, someone in their mid-30.

No, seriously, you are the picture of like, I could get a little scruff, but that's about it. I mean, I was just, you're literally what they were looking for. And so I'm able to be myself and I found my tribe and it's great. It's able to, you know, support the animals, which is nice. We also are able to sell merchandise, which really helps, you know, through my website, Corbamaxi.com. All the proceeds go back to the animals. I also do live appearances with select animals. We're doing a summer tour in the Pacific Northwest area where I'm able to meet people and fans. And so that's, yeah, I'm really excited about that. But that's how we're able to support the animals. And it's been a great journey. That's rad, man.

So is your main thing is rescue, not like general conservation, right? Like you like individual animal rescue, like animal welfare. I love it all. I love conservation. I mean, I love it all. Who doesn't? Yeah. Yeah.

Yeah. I hate, no, I'm kidding. No. Right. I love conservation. Like, I've done working. I've done conservation work in. Africa in my younger, you know, my younger 20s. But I do focus on rescue. The animals I have now,

I'm focused more or less on giving them a forever home. So I don't, I don't, I'm not taking in new animals every day, but if people do reach out to me, I will help them, you know, find a home. But that's my main focus is providing a great forever home, improving the lives for them and then documenting the journey along the way on YouTube. That's great. That's awesome. Well, we do something called the Battle Royale. I think I know what time it is. Corbyn, you're going to jump in. We're going to try it.

Bachelroyo. All right. Here's how this works, Corbyn. You're going to build a creature using the head, the body, and the legs of three different animals that will win this scenario. Okay. So, and we go one at a time, we do a draft. It's like a fantasy football draft. We each take turns picking.

We're going to put Corbin right in the middle. I like that. So here's the idea. This was submitted by one of our listeners, Luca Calderon. He says, Battle Royal idea, you have been, you heard about the rat czar in New York City. This is, you are now the hippos are in Colombia. You have been tasked with eradicating hundreds of hippos that are invasive and destroying the habitat of Pablo Escobar's hippos in Colombia. Yep.

It's just going to be you and one creature of your own creation using the head, the body, and the limbs of three different extant animals. Got it. Okay. So here's how it's going to work. I'm going to go first because I'm done. Yep. Corbin's going to go in the middle, then Forrest picks twice, back to you.

And you can't pick the same thing that anyone else picks. Of course. I'm making notes on my phone. Yeah. I'm writing down my guy right here. Okay. I'm so nervous you're going to take one of my He will.

He does that. He does it every podcast. He does it every battle royale he takes one of my animals every time. Okay. All right. I'm going to start. I'm taking this off the table. I'm taking the head of a Nile Crocodile.

No! Wait! Okay. Hold on. Hold on. I think I got it. Okay. Yep.

I'm taking the head of a Nile Crock. There's plenty of photos up there of Nile Crocs, biting on hippos. I need that jaw strength. It's off the table. No explanation needed. Yep. I've got the head of a Nile Crock.

Corby. You don't have to go in order. You could take a body or limbs as long as you use all three. Just know that it scales. The animal that you pick scales up to the size of the body of the animal that you're after. Does that make sense? So whatever you pick, you could say you've got the head of an adorable mouse. But if it's got the body of an elephant, it's the size of an elephant.

We make up our annual rules on this show, by the way. Okay, thank you. So I was going to say, in my notes, I was going to say have the head of a saltwater crocodile, but I feel like that's not fair because you already called crocodile. Crocs off. So I'm going to go, what about a great white or I'm sorry, a white shark? I've had a, because I know there. I think a white shark because they have a pretty, you know.

Oh, yeah. That's substantial. That's substantial. Yeah, they're going to do. some damage. Yeah, they're going to do a lot of damage. I like that. Okay. Good pick. Very nice. All right. Um, well, hmm, now you just did, you just did my thing. Okay. Uh, all right, very good. You guys suck. Um, here's what I'm going to do. Here's what I'm going to do. We're in Columbia. Hippos primarily like to hang out in a freshwater environment. So I'm going to take the body of an Amazonian pink river dolphin.

Okay. That's right. Yep. Yep. Yep. Stay with me now. So I've got a fast, agile, aquatic animal. Okay, that's the body right there. Now, just imagine that adorable creature, except, except it's dawning the head scaled up of a black mamba. That's right. It's got the venom of a mamba, black mamba head and pink dolphin body.

That's smart. I see where you're going. Yeah. I see what you've done. Yep, yep, yep. Okay. I'm riding my own picks down so I don't forget them. All right, Corbin, you're up.

for another pick. You've already got the head of a white shark. Yeah, I need something with the strength. So I'm going to go something with an elephant. I need something with a big body. And hippos aren't the best swimmers. So I'm assuming we could get an elephant in there, in, you know, with the hippo. So I'm going to go with the head of a great white, a body of an elephant. And this is going to be a fun one. And now the size. This is going to be a fun one for Dave Sunshine or whomever decides to craft these creatures for us. Yeah, this is good. Yeah, this is going to be fun to put these together in CG. All right. So I've got the head of a Nile Crock. I want my body to be big,

but I don't want it to be, yeah, I want something big that can contend in the same space as the hippo. And so what I'm going to do is I'm going to go with the body of a black rhino to match my Nile Crock head. And then I'm going to give it the limbs, the eight limb, Oh, come on. Come on. Every time. One was already written down octopus limbs, by the way.

Now, yeah, it's going to grab right on. Yep. It's going to be big. It's going to have size. And then boom, that jaw is right around the neck, wherever it wants to bite. It's just going to go for it. Bostard.

You're welcome. You did not take mine. I thought you did. You said eight limbs. I thought, you are. And then I was like a thing. Oh, I see where you're going. Okay.

Yep. Well, you're up for your. Last pick. How are you going to round it out? I'm going to round it out with the limbs of a spider. So I want the head of a white shark, the body of an elephant, and the limbs of a spider. I think the hippos might just drop dead of anxiety when they see this creature. This is an awful animal that you're crafting. Yeah.

You're very terrestrial based with yours, Corbyn. You're going to attack on land mostly. Yeah, land attack. Yeah, you're right. And which is actually not smart. Well, I guess I could attack during the night when hippos are active on land. Okay. And, okay.

I could be a no turtural predator. That makes sense. That works. Okay. It was always the plan. All right. God damn it. The octal limbs is what I needed.

All right. So we've got the head of a mamba on mine, the body of a river dolphin. And I'm going to give it the scaled up appendages of a praying mantis. Okay. It's just, it's just got these giant sites that it just is slashing. It's swimming up at full speed. It's literally spearing hippos. If it's not killing them.

Yeah, it's a disaster creature. If it's not killing them with those slashes, it's putting some venom in them. There's a lot going on. I literally don't know. This is a challenge to Dave Sunshine. I know he does this all just for passion and not for shoutouts, but I don't think you can make these animals.

No, there's no way. They're a mess. They're such a mess. Run it down for us. All right. So, Roasters, way in. Let us know what creature you would make to combat the, the Pablo Escobar Hippo problem? Or let us know who wins the battle royale. Is it Pat's head of a

Nile Crocodile, body of a rhino or the octo limbs for grabbing? Corbin coming in with the head of a white shark, body of an elephant and limbs of a spider, i.k.a. every child's nightmare. Or, finally, is it forest aquatic attack with the head of a mamba, the body of a beautiful pink river dolphin, and the limbs of a praying mantis? Doesn't matter who you pick. We all lose for creating these creatures, let's be honest. And, you know, we don't have Peter here to do the thing. So go to somewhere and click something and we've got a social media page and there's a thing called Patreon where we do other stuff. And I don't know, he says something like that. We'll just cut Peter in doing it. But, uh, Corby, thank you for coming on, man. Your content is really,

really good. It's super fun. Forrest and I both follow. How do people find you on, on the YouTube and the socials. Yeah, just go and search Corby, M-A-X-E-Y, and we're everywhere, YouTube, TikTok, Instagram, also Facebook as well. So wherever you prefer, and yeah, hopefully check it out. Hope you enjoy it. Contribute. Help the animals. Help you find forever homes by following. Yes. And just by watching, I mean, it pays just by watching. So keep it on 24-7. Just run it on in the background. It's not going to be any harm. Yeah, exactly. Yeah. And if you like the Wild Times podcast, check us out. Wildtimes. Club. There's a link to the Patreon where you get four additional podcasts a month. That's four Mondays that your drive to work is going to be

full of laughs and edutainment. That's right. That's the first time I've said that word. Big word. Corbin, it's been an absolute pleasure, man. Thank you. Dude, thank you guys so much. Thank you. Thank you. Good night, everybody. Good night.