Predator Pets (2018) Season 1 Episode 13
It's difficult for anyone not to get attached to a cute baby animal, and it turns out that when you own a zoo, it can be even harder not to blur the line between exhibit and pet-especially when the animal babies live in your house. Charlie Sammut shows us around Monterey Zoo this week and takes us closer than we've ever been to some truly incredible animals.
#documentary #animals
It's difficult for anyone not to get attached to a cute baby animal, and it turns out that when you own a zoo, it can be even harder not to blur the line between exhibit and pet-especially when the animal babies live in your house. Charlie Sammut shows us around Monterey Zoo this week and takes us closer than we've ever been to some truly incredible animals.
#documentary #animals
Category
🐳
AnimalsTranscript
00:00Humans have had a close relationship with animals for thousands of years.
00:26Scientists agree the domestic dog has been a trusted pet for around 15,000 years, and
00:31cats became part of the household from 10,000 years ago.
00:35And now it's estimated there are at least 600 million pet cats in the world.
00:41Exotic pets have also been kept for thousands of years.
00:46It's well documented that the Egyptians kept baboons as pets, and exotic animals kept in
00:51the home feature in many ancient texts.
00:55In modern times, the keeping of exotic pets has increased.
00:59A staggering statistic is that there are more tigers in the U.S. alone than there are in
01:04the wild.
01:09Animal owners truly believe they are playing a role in preserving the numbers of exotic
01:13animals.
01:14But on the other side of the debate, there are those who believe it is a cruel practice
01:19to keep any animals in captivity.
01:22This series explores the issues from both sides, from those who know the dangers, but
01:30see the benefits, to others who condemn the keeping of exotic pets.
01:35Their stories follow.
01:40From the outside, it looks like an average family home.
01:43But this home has some unusual residents.
01:47These are our two baby sloths.
01:50They're zoo animals, and they're going to go into exhibits in the zoo.
01:53But chances are, since my wife raised them, they're probably going to have to come home
01:58every night now because they're a little more than just a zoo animal.
02:04In 1994, Charlie Samet bought 51 acres of land in Salinas, California.
02:10It started as a small exotic animal rental business, supplying animals for film and television,
02:16part of the property dedicated to an elephant sanctuary.
02:20It grew into Monterey Zoo, which is now home to more than 100 exotic zoo animals.
02:25Or maybe Charlie and his wife, Lisa, just have a lot of peculiar pets.
02:32We treat them, I guess, by definition, like pets.
02:35It's tough to say I don't think people should have them as pets because we spend 24 hours
02:43a day with them.
02:44Because we're a zoo, we're able to do that.
02:46If we had to go to work every day and spend what little time we had left with them, I
02:51don't know that they could get the care they need to stay healthy.
02:55And they're so fragile.
02:57They can't walk on the ground.
02:58They have to hold you.
03:01They've got a cute little seal-like face, and you put all that together and people just
03:05adore them.
03:07They're needy.
03:09Although they're a little more aggressive than some might think.
03:13While the sloths are young, Charlie's schedule revolves completely around their care.
03:22So what's funny is your life revolves around them.
03:29If we're out somewhere, we have to get home because Bugsy and Belle have to get their
03:32exercise.
03:33Elisa lets them run around the house at night.
03:38Then we have to make their food and it has to be cut a certain way.
03:41Hi baby.
03:43Hi.
03:44No.
03:45Hmm.
03:46Now, how do you do this and convince somebody that it doesn't make a good pet?
03:53I get it.
03:54But I mean, yeah, look at that face.
03:59He's real bitey.
04:01He just gets in these moods and Elisa will take him into the dining room.
04:07The bottom of our dining room chairs is their jungle gym.
04:09They chase each other all over.
04:12And we'll go walking by and they'll just come crawling across the floor lunging at us.
04:17I think they're playing war.
04:20But yeah, when he's in a bad mood, he can be very bitey.
04:27Monterey Zoo is not an accredited zoo, and that's what allows them to treat their animals
04:32more like pets than zoo exhibits.
04:36We've chosen not to be accredited by the larger institutions, the larger clubs, if you will,
04:44because some of the rules they have prohibit us from giving the elephants the quality of
04:47life they need.
04:49I think we treat them like pets, but I think we treat the elephants like pets too, and
04:52I can't bring them home.
04:55Now, my home is on the zoo property.
05:00Is that what makes the difference?
05:01I don't know.
05:03Some of my staff don't have homes on the zoo property and I let them take some things home.
05:07Are they pets?
05:08How do you define it?
05:10They come right back to the zoo and they have a purpose at the zoo, but we try to treat
05:15them all like pets.
05:19And the sloths aren't Charlie's most unusual zoo exhibit pets.
05:24Wife Lisa has forged a bond with a badger.
05:29It was raised here in the house with us.
05:32Had its personality and its temperament afforded it to do so, it would still be in the house
05:37with us.
05:38We love it to death.
05:40Unfortunately, it started plucking the tiles off the kitchen floor, so it was time to go
05:45to the zoo.
05:47But that was a decision it made.
05:49It just ended up that way.
05:51But we still go down there and put a leash on him and take him for his walk every day
05:55like you would a pet.
05:59Given that Charlie's career working with animals started with his pet lion, Joseph, it's not
06:04surprising that Charlie blurs the line between zoo animals and pets.
06:09I had an African lion that was just beyond the scope of reason.
06:17He was so safe, so patient, so unusual.
06:21My children could ride on his back.
06:24He did things I wouldn't think of doing today.
06:27I can't imagine what I was thinking back then, but he could come home with me and sleep on
06:33the dining room floor.
06:34I mean, he was very, very special, a one in a million.
06:41It was only because of Joseph's extraordinary nature and willingness to perform that Charlie
06:46entered the entertainment industry, and later started a zoo.
06:51He started this with me.
06:54So I mean, was he a pet?
06:57It was much more of a relationship than some lion in a zoo with a keeper.
07:03I mean, we went to Africa together.
07:05We went to Germany together.
07:06We went to Mexico together.
07:07We've been to every state in the United States.
07:10But technically, we were a business.
07:11We were in the animal training and animal rental business for entertainment.
07:15Now, again, because I was in that business, I was with him the entire time, and so it
07:21created that kind of animal.
07:23So I will argue that if you're keeping them as a pet, but your business, your industry
07:29isn't something that affords you the time to spend with them, there is no way to keep
07:34it safe.
07:35You have to stay with them.
07:37You have to be with them.
07:38You have to have a team of people that are helping you do it.
07:41It has to be a professional situation.
07:44But that's not to say there's not pet owners that don't work somewhere else.
07:48They don't work commercially, but they're with their animals 24-7.
07:52That's what they do.
07:53They have the ability to do so and therefore end up with good animals.
08:01Most of the professionals in this business will tell you that some of the best animals
08:05they've ever gotten were pets that were confiscated from people because they got so much time
08:11and so much interaction that they were just wonderful animals.
08:16We have our regular pets, if you will, because I do tell people it's nice to come home and
08:25sit down on the couch with something that you know probably won't eat you.
08:34This chicken was brought into a Los Angeles veterinarian to be euthanized because when
08:39it was born its beak was like this.
08:42And the veterinary facility, the owner of the facility, is a very good friend of mine
08:47and she pointed out that day when I was visiting that if this chicken were a lion or a tiger
08:52we wouldn't think twice about doing surgeries and fixing it.
08:57But because it was a chicken, it's here to be euthanized.
09:02So long story short is she told me that she would fix the beak if I would adopt it for
09:08the zoo afterwards.
09:10And so three surgeries later with pins and bone marrow transplants and we fixed the chicken.
09:25And that's about as good as we got it.
09:28But it can eat now.
09:30Before it had to have a stomach tube.
09:32And it can drink.
09:36So this is, again, you know we try to tell people there are unique pets that aren't necessarily
09:44lions and tigers.
09:48This happens to be a chicken.
09:50The chicken had the Monterey Zoo board divided.
09:55It came with controversy.
09:56You know there's a lot of people on our board that said people don't come to zoos and pay
09:59to see chickens.
10:01You know and our argument was that's not what it's about.
10:04Are we doing what we do because of what people want?
10:10Or are we doing what we do because of what animals need?
10:14Charlie continues to blur the line between pet and zoo animal.
10:19Even the apex predators get treated like part of the family.
10:23You guys okay?
10:25Yeah.
10:26Get the line up.
10:29And lock us up.
10:31You okay?
10:38What are you doing?
10:39Once again, we're struck by the rapport Charlie has with even the most dangerous animals.
10:45These bears may be young, but their claws and teeth could easily kill.
10:50Yet with Charlie, the experience feels completely safe.
10:57Over the years, Charlie has also worked with many big cats.
11:07And they all require a different approach.
11:12He credits leopards as being among the most dangerous.
11:17Problem with leopards is that you walk in with them and you're in trouble and you didn't
11:20know it.
11:21A lion and a tiger, they'll be on top of whatever they're possessive of so you know it.
11:24It's a very explosive brain.
11:26It's a very different brain.
11:30Lions then have your social structure to deal with.
11:32So they've learned to fight each other.
11:36Many companies won't touch lions.
11:39You can have the best lion cub in the world and he turns five, six years old and he challenges
11:45you for that position in the pride.
11:48And it's all gone.
11:50I'd say tigers are about the easiest, believe it or not.
11:53Unfortunately their teeth are the longest.
11:56So the bites are bad.
11:59But the way their brains work, their social structures, they're solitary.
12:04That's why in circuses you see more tigers in the ring than anything.
12:10Although the entertainment business enabled Charlie to be closer to wild animals than
12:14most people will ever get the chance to be, there are some things he doesn't miss about
12:20working with animal entertainers like wrestling lions.
12:25That I'll never do again with a lion.
12:27That goes from play to sport one day and when it goes to sport, you have an animal you've
12:33never met before on top of you and it's a bad, bad day.
12:40We were prepping for a movie once for one of Costner's movies and it was an attack scene
12:46and I did days of this lion coming up on top of me and one day it turned to sport and I
12:52didn't see it.
12:53And he hunkered down on me and he bit me.
12:56He grabbed me right here.
12:57I ended up with two broken ribs and a punctured lung.
13:01Two people came at him with a CO2, he jumped on one, bit a hole through the CO2, a steel
13:06canister.
13:07And before I could get up and get away, he was on top of me again and he bit me again.
13:12So she had to go get a tractor and drive it over top of me to get the cat off of me.
13:21Twenty minutes later, and we had them all in a fenced area, we were prepping, okay.
13:26Came back, his head seemed right again, opened the door, they got a leash on him and walked
13:31him to his cage, he was fine.
13:34They're just, they are what they are and you know it going into it.
13:40Even those who have had extraordinary relationships with exotic animals know there's always an
13:47element of danger.
13:49I was with Ron Whitfield, a very prominent trainer here and used to be a circus man and
13:55he worked for Six Flags at the time.
13:59Now I was doing the TV series Born Free and I needed two lions to simulate a lion fight
14:05in the movie.
14:06So, of course, what we look for is two male lions that were raised together that play.
14:11And we'll dub in the noises later and make it sound like it's a fight.
14:15Well, I went to see his two lions in his ring act and he brought them into the ring together
14:20and they were bouncing around playing with each other.
14:22But the play turned to sport and they got in a fight.
14:26And by the time it was done and it was over and he separated them, quite frankly, he's
14:32the bravest man I've ever seen in my life stay in that ring.
14:36I'd never seen anything like it.
14:37He did not leave that ring and the noise, the cement was shaking, and I was standing
14:43outside the ring.
14:44You know, Ron, do you need any help?
14:46Nope.
14:47Got it covered.
14:48Good.
14:49It was terrifying.
14:54But despite the danger, Charlie is still inclined to treat even the zoo's most predatory animals
15:00as pets.
15:02When I got him, when we started raising him, we did like everything else.
15:07Hey, stop it.
15:09We did like everything else and we tried to raise him as a pet.
15:14You know, we wanted him to have as much relationship as he possibly could and it just didn't work
15:21out.
15:22Hey, what are you doing?
15:25Well, it's a difficult species.
15:28His hair grows backwards.
15:31You don't know if they're a male or a female unless you truly blood test them.
15:35Nothing makes sense.
15:36They run as fast backwards as they do forwards.
15:39Their legs are longer in the front than they are in the back.
15:41They're born with teeth.
15:42They're born with their eyes open.
15:44Nothing is right by animal standards.
15:50To keep one friendly is a challenge, but it doesn't mean we didn't give it a chance.
15:54What's wrong?
15:55Why are you so angry today?
15:57Hmm?
15:58Why are you so angry?
16:03In the hyena's case, even Charlie admits that this is one predator that doesn't make a good
16:09pet.
16:10If you asked me how I feel if one of my neighbors were to come home one day and announce that
16:16they got a hyena as a pet, I probably wouldn't be real fond of the idea.
16:19There's no two ways about it.
16:22I wouldn't want that next door.
16:27Charlie even has animals a lot of us have never heard of.
16:31This is a binturong, a bear cat.
16:35His name is Doc.
16:39Doc kind of has his own fan club.
16:41People who come get to play with him on one of our tours.
16:45They start Facebooking him.
16:47It's just gotten ridiculous.
16:50He's just one of the coolest animals.
17:04Are you dangerous?
17:06Hmm?
17:07Are you dangerous?
17:08I know.
17:09You're so grumpy.
17:10You're so grumpy.
17:11Hmm?
17:12Yeah.
17:13For some reason, Doc has been really nice.
17:22He gets to visit with guests.
17:24He gets to play with them.
17:26Again, raised in the kitchen, you know, in a home, whether it was my home or sometimes
17:34he stayed in other people's homes and it created this.
17:37So if you go to any zoo and you ask for the animal that smells like buttered popcorn,
17:44they're going to take you to a bear cat.
17:47Give me kisses.
17:56At Charlie's zoo, even mountain lions, the largest cats in North America, become little
18:01more than house cats.
18:04She started off in our kitchen before the chicken.
18:09With the big cats, as soon as they're able to jump up on the counters, they become part
18:13of the house.
18:17When it comes to keeping exotic animals as pets, Charlie repeatedly recommends spending
18:22large amounts of time with the animals and the need to be a very dedicated pet owner.
18:29Training needs to start when the animals are young.
18:34Problems with your lions and tigers are, you kind of got to be here when they're babies
18:38and you got to stick with them when they're babies.
18:39You got to pour a lot into them then if you're going to have any kind of relationship when
18:43they're adults.
18:44So there is no safe way to introduce an adult lion or a tiger to someone new without risking
18:49that challenge in a train crash as a result of it.
18:54So it's far more ideal to have them there when they're babies.
19:00Can it work out?
19:01Sure.
19:02Is it supposed to?
19:04Probably not.
19:06Because there's really no reason why that tiger shouldn't challenge you for that position.
19:13You know, anytime you work with a wild or an exotic animal, you're asking it to surrender
19:18instinct.
19:20Question is, how much instinct is it fair to ask an animal to surrender?
19:25That's the question.
19:27So even when we were working with circuses, we would suggest to them that it's the relationship
19:33between the tiger and the trainer that people are most fascinated with.
19:40Is jumping through the fiery hoop really necessary anymore?
19:44Because if you're up in the crowd and you listen to the crowd, okay, it's when the trainer
19:49walks up and hugs that lion and disappears in his mane, you hear all the oohs and the
19:54ahs.
19:56Entertaining moviegoers or zoo visitors, Charlie has no problem asking his animals to contribute
20:01to the running of the household.
20:04I don't feel bad for anything I ask my animals to do because I'm really not asking them to
20:08do anything I'm not doing also.
20:10You know, if they have to stand there and take a picture with somebody to help us make
20:13ends meet, so do I.
20:17And it pays for our home and our food and that's how the whole thing works and we all
20:22participate, animals included.
20:25And I realize there are activists who would argue otherwise, the animals don't have a
20:29choice and I would argue, I'm not sure I do.
20:35And you do, you have to sleep at night.
20:37So how much instinct is it fair to ask them to surrender?
20:43Maybe as I get older I'm surrendering more and more, you know, but when you have human
20:49kids you find yourself doing that too.
20:52Once the zoo is closed for the day and all the visitors have gone, the staff begin the
20:57nighttime routine.
20:58For Charlie, that means quality time with the exhibits.
21:04Right now everything goes to bed and I usually interrupt it along the way and play with it
21:08and the staff hates it because half of them want to go home, but it's too bad.
21:15And once you've raised chickens, sloths and badgers in your kitchen and realized your
21:19dream of opening a zoo, forming close bonds with all sorts of weird and wild animals,
21:25what do you do next?
21:28It's kind of a retirement for me.
21:29It's open the gate in the morning, close the gate at night and know that the animals got
21:35what I promised.
21:36You know, this was all about a promise to Joseph.
21:41Unfortunately he didn't live long enough to see it, but we did promise him that day that
21:46we would finish it.
21:48All this is one big promise and I actually now feel like it's going to happen.
22:05Hohenwald, Tennessee.
22:11Would you think that you would have elephants in Hohenwald, Tennessee, but you do.
22:16In her role as Marianne on Gilligan's Island, Dawn Wells was America's sweetheart.
22:22Today with dozens of film, television and theater credits, she now also devotes herself
22:28to more philanthropic pursuits.
22:30A strong animal advocate, Dawn is an ambassador for the Elephant Sanctuary in Hohenwald, Tennessee.
22:38My friend Lois Knight is one of the people on the board and started it.
22:42She came to me and said, this is what we're doing.
22:44I'm curious and I love animals, so if there's an adventure that I haven't done, I'm trying.
22:48I mean, that's a pretty big adventure to try to find a place in Tennessee to put in elephants.
22:53But my friend in Nashville said, we're going to find a place where elephants can roam,
22:58but it isn't a zoo.
22:59You can't go and stand at the fence and give them peanuts.
23:01They're free, and you can observe them, but it isn't a zoo.
23:05It's a place for them to roam.
23:08The Elephant Sanctuary covers some 2,700 acres and opened in 1995 to care for elephants retired
23:15from zoos and circuses.
23:17The sanctuary's elecamp allows viewers to watch the elephants via live stream without
23:22intruding into their habitat.
23:26It should be like you're peeking and seeing what's going on in a forest.
23:29It's beautiful green grass and beautiful trees, but you don't see them all together.
23:32They don't line up.
23:33You don't stand there and feed them peanuts.
23:35You're viewing their privacy, I think.
23:38And when I was in Africa, I found it very interesting.
23:41They say elephants remember everything.
23:43And we were riding someone going through, and there'd be a pile of bones.
23:47And the elephants would stop and touch every bone.
23:50They're relatives, I guess.
23:52They have that memory.
23:53We don't quite understand.
23:54And they're so huge.
23:56A gentle giant, I guess, is what you would say.
23:59Dawn may see these majestic beasts as gentle giants, but even at a well-run facility like
24:05the Elephant Sanctuary, accidents can happen, and these seemingly placid animals can be
24:11unpredictable.
24:12The sanctuary mourned a volunteer killed by an elephant there in 2006.
24:19While Dawn loves all animals, it's with elephants that she feels there's space for a special
24:24bond between human and animal.
24:28Being in Africa and seeing them wander and roam by themselves, and they are such gentle
24:32giants.
24:33I know I was riding one, and the guide said to me, don't go up to him now.
24:37You're going to ride him for a while, but when we stop for lunch, then he will want
24:41to touch you.
24:42And the elephant with his trunk touched me all over and looked me in the eye.
24:47But there was a relationship, and you see the size of that animal.
24:52I don't know what emotions they feel, but I think all animals relate to either each
24:57other or people or something.
24:59I think they're a blessing to this universe.
25:02Many of the elephants at the Elephant Sanctuary suffer long-term health and behavioral issues
25:07common to elephants that have spent their lives in captivity.
25:12Elephants are intelligent and social animals, and they have physical and social needs that
25:17cannot be met in captivity.
25:20It's simple as that.
25:22How far do you go and say, okay, let's buy a zebra?
25:24No, let's buy an elephant.
25:25Let's buy a cocker spaniel.
25:27What is the need from humanity to have to have that?
25:29I love to communicate with animals.
25:30I do.
25:31But respect me.
25:34I can live in my house.
25:35Respect you.
25:36You can live in your jungle.
25:38While Dawn's feelings on keeping elephants as pets are very clear-cut, the issue of whether
25:44or not wild animals should be kept in zoos for education purposes has her torn.
25:50I don't think they should be pets.
25:52I think they should be left where they are, where they belong with each other, roam free.
25:57I mean, I've climbed the mountains in Rwanda.
25:59I've been as close as I am to you with the gorillas.
26:01I've watched the mountain gorillas bounce their babies on their knees and rock the babies
26:06and burp the babies just like we do, and no fear, because there aren't hunters, and you're
26:11visiting their sanctuary in the middle of the mountains and don't want to disturb them.
26:16It's respect.
26:17I think it's respect for any wildlife.
26:20You can study it and you can read it, but to have that connection personally, that's
26:25rare.
26:26So do we put them in a zoo so we can say, I'm experiencing it?
26:30No.
26:31You're experiencing a little bit of it.
26:32You see them, you know, taking the bugs out of the babies' hair and rocking them and all
26:35that, but they're still in a cage.
26:37It's a conundrum.
26:38It really is, because how else would we know?
26:41We all can't go sit in the Rwanda mountains and wait until they come by.
26:44And yet, they should be free.
26:46I don't have an answer.
26:49She does, however, recognize the need for sanctuaries to care for exotic animals already
26:54in captivity.
26:56It's a controversy, I think.
26:58I mean, I think they are being taken care of, and maybe they would be shot, or maybe
27:01they would be hunted, or maybe they would be starving where they came from.
27:05How they got there, I don't know.
27:07It's like if I have a dog, I'd like a backyard where he can roam.
27:10I don't want to have a dog sitting under a pillow in my house all the time.
27:13When I was doing Gilligan's Island, I had this pet sparrow that fell out of a tree and
27:16I couldn't feed the little baby, and I'd bring it on the set in a shoebox, and all
27:20the crew would come in with little tweezers and little bugs, and they'd feed them a little
27:23sparrow all day long, and at one point, we let it go.
27:25But we nursed it back to health, so to speak.
27:28So I think human beings can be an advantage to an animal.
27:32We have them in captivity, and you see what they're doing.
27:35You're aware of their needs, but do you take them out of the jungle to do that, or are
27:39they out of the jungle already?
27:40I think Hohenwald, they have plenty of space to roam, but how many places can you have
27:44to do that?
27:46The Elephant Sanctuary is currently home to 11 elephants.
27:51Just give them the place to roam and the lack of human contact, I think, and where they
27:58should be with each other.
27:59I mean, when a new one comes in, they all welcome it.
28:03When they've lost one, they all mourn.
28:05You're really able to communicate the feelings that they're feeling, and when you're in the
28:09middle of the jungle in Africa, you don't know that's going on.
28:12You don't see that.
28:13They take care of them like they're a pet, but they're not a pet.
28:16They're cared for, and they're respected.
28:21Elephants at the Elephant Sanctuary enjoy large, natural habitat enclosures, the companionship
28:27of a herd, and the benefits of using modern technology to learn about how best to care
28:33for them.
28:34To Dawn, this seems like the perfect solution, educating people about elephants, and at the
28:40same time, allowing them the freedom to roam.
28:45I guess with the new modern way of doing things, the camera is on the elephant itself, and
28:49you are seeing what the elephant is seeing without being there and bothering them at
28:52all, and you're studying that animal and that animal's habitat and how they behave.
28:57That's new because of our technology.
28:59That's the way to do it, wouldn't you think?
29:05They're relatively small, relatively docile, and yet, they're one of the most feared creatures
29:11on the planet.
29:12In many households, Alex Bardo's unusual pets would receive some pretty rough treatment.
29:19I often get people saying, like, if your spider come near me, I'll do this and I'll do that,
29:23you know?
29:24And I like to wonder what I, like, if I said that about their cat or their dog, how would
29:27they respond, you know?
29:29People often question my mental capability just for owning spiders and whatnot.
29:36Alex has been collecting and selling a variety of invertebrates for about 18 months.
29:42His collection would cause as many as one in three women and one in four men to be crippled
29:48by fear.
29:54Some people would be like, ah, and, like, freak out.
29:57Others would just, their fascination would be triggered and they'd walk up and ask about
30:01them, you know?
30:02Yeah, I guess I'm one of the people that ask about them.
30:04How are you feeling today, baby girl?
30:08Are you all mad?
30:11At Ken Foose's Exotic Pets in Las Vegas, Gaz is also a fan of tarantulas as pets.
30:18They're just such cool animals, you know?
30:20It's just, they're, you know, I've always found them fascinating.
30:25Even the tiniest of little, like, common house spiders, you know, they're just fascinating,
30:30you know?
30:31And they, you know, they keep pest control down, you know, they eat all the little bugs
30:33and stuff like that.
30:34But they're just fascinating, I mean, look how beautiful that is, I mean, you know, check
30:38out all that reds and that, you know, it's just beautiful, they're just fascinating animals.
30:44Everybody knows that they're not like dogs or cats, they don't need affection or any
30:48love or communication at all.
30:50I think that's what I like about them, they're like nothing else in the world.
30:54I guess they're ornamental, primarily.
30:56Besides that, though, there is a bit of an edge factor of, you know, do you want to see
30:59my tarantulas?
31:00Everybody's like, oh, yeah, you know, it makes for a good story.
31:04It actually started by watching some dumb YouTube videos and just picking up some of
31:08my own tarantulas.
31:09I actually, I just figured out that there was so many people doing it over east that
31:13the animals over there have become so common.
31:16And there's nobody collecting over in the west, so I thought there might be a market
31:18for it, so I got more into it, you know?
31:21I would say they're pets, primarily, yeah.
31:23I have my personal collection that I'll never, ever sell, and ones that I'll, you know, share
31:28around.
31:29Australia has very strict laws regarding the keeping of exotic animals, and many people
31:35aren't aware that native tarantulas can be kept as pets.
31:39I think a lot of people over here don't know that they actually are even native to Australia
31:43or even able to be kept.
31:45One of the most common questions I get is, you know, like, do we need a license to own
31:50these?
31:51And have they had their immunity jabs and stuff like this?
31:53But no, they don't need that.
31:57Australia has a reputation for its dangerous spiders, but surprisingly, tarantulas aren't
32:02among them.
32:04While their bite may be painful, it's very rarely fatal.
32:08I got bitten by my rose hair, and like I said, it was, I was probably around about 13, 14
32:13years old, and it got me, and it was very shocking, you know, I was kind of like frozen
32:18with shock.
32:19A lot of people's reaction is to, oh, flinch, you know, and you can drop the tarantula,
32:22you can kill the tarantula that way.
32:24But I was just kind of like frozen in shock being 13, 14 years old and getting bitten
32:27by a tarantula the first time.
32:30So I didn't really feel the pain or the sting until about maybe 10 minutes after.
32:35And then it, you know, it started stinging, I had, you know, slight swelling where it
32:39had bitten me.
32:40But after about 20, 30 minutes, it went away.
32:43So that's how I knew I wasn't allergic to those kind of things, which is probably a
32:47good thing, because, you know, people get stung by bees and they have allergic reactions.
32:50It's, you know, it can be deadly.
32:52There is a chance for anaphylaxis with any kind of bite, with any kind of venom.
32:56There's been zero recorded deaths from tarantulas in, throughout history.
33:00So you could even argue that snails or anything is more dangerous.
33:04There are two types of tarantula, old world species from the eastern hemisphere and new
33:10world species from the western hemisphere.
33:13In Australia, all we get is old world species and they're 160 million years old predators.
33:17They operate completely off instinct and they haven't been watered down through breeding
33:20to be, you know, prettier or slower, less venomous and stuff like that.
33:24But the new worlds, they've been, the color's been brought out in them and they're placid,
33:29the placid behavior and whatnot.
33:32The new worlds are much more prone to being handled.
33:34In fact, most tarantulas will keep you, will tell you not to handle an old world at all.
33:39Yeah, yeah.
33:40They're very quick, very, very fast.
33:42Unpredictable.
33:53Tarantulas in the wild are nighttime hunters, pouncing on insects, beetles and grasshoppers.
34:00The goliath bird eating tarantula species of South America will eat larger prey, such
34:05as lizards, snakes, small birds and mice.
34:09For a mouse, like, you know, it's, it's venomous, powerful.
34:13But like I said, for someone like us, like a healthy adult, you know, that's not allergic
34:17to those kinds of things.
34:18It's like I said, it's just like a bee sting, but for something that small, it's quite powerful.
34:22And plus their fangs are pretty big, you know, so that, you know, it can cause mechanical
34:24damage as well.
34:25You know, if it gets a certain animal in the right place, you know, it's going into its
34:28heart, it's going into its lungs, it's going to kill it a lot quicker, you know?
34:32So I think most of the time, you know, the damage is caused by the, you know, the size
34:37of the fangs.
34:38They bite into a mouse with those size of the fangs and, you know, it's like getting
34:42stabbed in the heart or something like that, you know, it's, it's going to cause that mechanical
34:45damage.
34:46So the venom's not really going to kill it, but the mechanical damage is going to kill
34:49it.
34:50All the hairs that cover their body, they can feel like the slightest vibrations of
34:54like prey, you know, they can tell exactly what kind of prey it is as well by the way
34:58it moves on the ground and, you know, they feel the different vibrations through sensitive
35:02hairs on their legs.
35:04Very strong, very powerful.
35:05And as like I said, the first time I got bit by a tarantula, I couldn't believe how
35:08strong it was, you know, the way they can grip you with their legs and pull you in.
35:13I was just like, wow, you know, and that was just a rose hair, you know, a rose hair is
35:17a pretty small tarantula compared to these.
35:19So these guys are really powerful.
35:21Alex's pet powerhouses are fed on cockroaches and mealworms that he breeds himself.
35:27For spiderlings, I feed every three days and for adults, I feed once a week or so.
35:32But adults can go 18 months without eating.
35:34So you can go away on holiday and still come back and be fine, you know?
35:37Yeah, mostly they look after themselves and thrive on darkness and loneliness.
35:41Although adept hunters in the wild, Alex says that tarantulas are not aggressive
35:46creatures. Aggressive is actually the wrong word for it.
35:48Defensive would be the word for it.
35:50But this one right here, that's a Solenotypus Wallace.
35:53She's a she's a more calm one.
35:55But the Solenophilus kotzmann, which I've got in the garage there, that's arguably the
36:00most defensive tarantula in the world, actually.
36:02Along with his tarantulas, Alex keeps other arachnids known for their fierce and
36:07painful defense.
36:08It depends on the species, I would say.
36:10I've got the Eurydaccus elongatus over here, and that is, I'd say, one of the most
36:15calm species in the world, actually.
36:18But something like the Eurydaccus yashankai, I wouldn't even go near.
36:24She gave me a clip yesterday.
36:25See that? That's a threat pose.
36:27She's getting a bit stressed. I'm going to put her away.
36:32So she gets too stressful rather than happy?
36:36Well, when she when she puts the babies out, she'll eat them.
36:48Go on. Go that way.
36:52In your hole. Good girl.
36:55Scorpions are also nocturnal hunters, and they do something else in the dark that is
37:01very unique.
37:03All species glow under ultraviolet light.
37:07It might seem difficult to know which end of the scorpion to avoid.
37:11Pincers that are used to crush their prey or the sting in the tail that delivers
37:15toxic venom.
37:17Well, some of them can be quite bad.
37:19Most of the ones that I own, the Eurydaccus scorpions, they're not too bad, but
37:24they're only about as dangerous as a bee, just like a tarantula.
37:26But I know of one called the Lychas buchari, which is native to all of Australia.
37:30That will give me a fair bit of pain, put me in hospital for a few days.
37:33Small pincers means a strong venom and strong pincers means a weak venom.
37:38Like the tarantulas, these arachnids don't return affection the way the more
37:43traditional pets do.
37:44But Alex has seen that they are not unintelligent critters.
37:48I think all animals, no matter how small the brain and instinctual they are,
37:54they can get used to certain behaviours.
37:55Like if I feed one scorpion only mealworms and then I go to a cockroach, then
38:00they'll recognise that it's a different food.
38:02And oh, we've got Maggie here as well.
38:04That's my other animal. I'm pretty sure she's got a family somewhere nearby.
38:07She comes and gets some worms for herself, goes and gives them to the babies and
38:10then comes back for her own meal.
38:12You know, she usually comes back twice.
38:14Good girl.
38:18I do that whistle every time so she gets to know part of my voice, you know.
38:22She eats too many of these.
38:24I end up having to buy more, you know.
38:29All right, go and get out.
38:31I need to learn how to hunt again.
38:34The Australian magpie is known for its intelligence and for its habit of
38:39fiercely defending its nest by swooping at unsuspecting passers-by.
38:45No, no, she's never swooped me.
38:47I don't think I've seen her in mating season, though.
38:49I'm not sure. I could be wrong.
38:50I do worry about this guy on my shoulder with her around, though.
38:53The guy on Alex's shoulder isn't a predator, but it's definitely an unorthodox
38:58creature to keep for companionship.
39:01Its extraordinary body is designed to look like the leaves it feeds on.
39:06If threatened, it will arch its tail above its body towards the intruder, much
39:11like the scorpion.
39:13This is a spiny leaf insect.
39:14It's one of the stick insect family.
39:16And these guys are native to, I think this one's from northern Queensland, but
39:20they might be all over Australia.
39:22They're not my expertise, these guys.
39:25But what's interesting about them is this is a female right now.
39:28You can see that by their smaller wings.
39:30Males have bigger wings.
39:31And basically, the female will always give birth throughout her life, but she'll
39:35only give birth to females if she doesn't mate with a male.
39:40And if she mates with a male, then it'll be 50 percent female, 50 percent male.
39:44Interesting, huh?
39:46The spiny leaf insect is obviously not Alex's most dangerous predator, but
39:51neither is Maggie, the tarantulas, or the scorpions.
39:55The giant centipede is found across Australia, and its venom is toxic to both
40:00insects and mammals.
40:03These multi-legged creepers can reach up to 16 centimeters long and have even been
40:08known to feed on small snakes.
40:11I've been bitten by a centipede, but not by an adult.
40:13It was only a peedling, and it couldn't get through the skin.
40:16It was that small.
40:18I was trying to dig around for it under the soil, so it was a bit irresponsible of
40:20me. He must have just, like, felt something and then just had a bit of a tag.
40:24It was like a pinch.
40:25Alex got away lightly.
40:27The bite from the giant centipede causes severe pain that can last several days.
40:33I would say that aggressive is, again, the wrong word for it.
40:35Defensive is the proper word.
40:37But if I was going to use it for anything, it would be centipedes.
40:41Centipedes, if they bite you, they'll hurt for a much longer time than a tarantula or
40:44a scorpion. I've kept tarantulas and scorpions for 18 months, but centipedes, I
40:48don't think I'll ever get used to.
40:50They're just so unpredictable and they can use those pincers on the back and grab my
40:56finger and then try and, like, walk back up themselves onto my finger.
40:59This is what I mean by unpredictable and just, they freak me out a little bit.
41:04Despite its name, the giant centipede has only 21 or 23 pairs of legs.
41:10The first pair of legs behind its head are modified claws which curve around the head
41:16and can deliver venom into its prey.
41:21Go on, have a munch.
41:23Good lad.
41:34This species is common across Australia, and while out searching for a different
41:39species, he discovered a new colour form of this one, endemic to Western Australia.
41:45It's native to all of Australia, but this particular one had blue and green legs, so
41:49we call it the Perth form locale.
41:51Like, the form is like the colour form and the locale is usually like the location
41:55where it was collected from.
41:56And that's what we use to identify them over here.
41:58For example, like Australian tarantulas, they're mainly recognised as Selenocosmia
42:02crassipes by science, but anything beyond that is just a trade name.
42:06So, for example, Selenotypeus wallis, this one here, that's just a trade name.
42:10It's just, you know, something to identify where it's from, the colour form.
42:15We were looking for Sericephonias grandulosus, and we just found so many of
42:19these, this Cormysophallus arantipes around.
42:21We ended up collecting about 15 and then trying to sex them.
42:24But it's a bit hard, that one, because to sex a centipede, you have to either give it
42:29some carbon dioxide until it's unconscious and then squeeze out the sexual organs to
42:33be able to see it, or you can drown them for north of half an hour to be able to see
42:38it. So I don't think I'll be mating them anytime soon.
42:42Alex does breed some of his own tarantulas and scorpions.
42:46Others come from other licensed dealers.
42:49Regulations differ from state to state.
42:52It's legal, but poaching is more common in my industry than I ever would have thought
42:56previously. There's people that go to people's property without permission from the
43:00owners, and there's people that don't have licenses to actually collect from the West.
43:03It's unfortunate how it all happens, but the people in the scene, from the activists to
43:08the licensed collectors, to the breeders, it's a pretty tight knit community.
43:12So it's pretty easy for us to track where the spiders go and where they come from, which
43:17ones are legal and whatnot. Alex is licensed to collect some specimens from the wild.
43:23Those that come from other breeders arrive in a somewhat surprising way.
43:27Like all of us, Alex enjoys the rush of having a parcel arrive in the mail.
43:34It's kind of less exciting as time went on, this must be my life.
43:38500 tarantula or something like that, so it gets less exciting, of course.
43:42There's a roach in that one as well.
43:54However, the local mailman is not nearly as fond of Alex's deliveries.
44:00He freaks out and it always seems like he's in a rush to leave every time he comes over,
44:04you know.