“Boiga dendrophila“. Licensed under CC BY-SA 2.5 via Wikimedia Commons.
With reptile videos being so popular today it can be tiresome trying to find a quality video. For the most part they all portray someone who’s over acting for the camera or placing themselves at risk for the sake of shock value. Some have gone so far as to ‘take a bite’ from non-venomous species. It’s gone so far now as to be commonplace to see free-handling of venomous species. Here in the Reptile Apartment Group we encourage thought-provoking content and discourse with a keen eye on quality.
This is the very reason we rarely share any reptile videos. As we mentioned in our piece Reptile Repudiation, when you post something on the internet it’s there forever. If you happen to be so lucky as to have a following, this content will be shared often outside your personal friends to the public at large. This can be a detriment to our industry as whole.
If you’re promoting ANYTHING which can be misconstrued as dangerous or unsavory the animal rights groups can and will use these against us.
Unless of course, you happen to be Dan Mulleary of DM Exotics. In his second installment of Reptile Reality TV Dan introduces us to the Mangrove snake (Boiga dendrophila) which he’s been working with for sometime. *Note: There’s a special Mangrove snake (B. dendrophila) near the closing of the video which you may not see anywhere else.
What caught my attention immediately was Dan’s explanation as he showed the snake. There’s no running around, teasing the snake to strike or anything of that kind. It’s Dan, his snake and him explaining about their nature, demeanor, and some natural history! One of the other big things that stuck out for me was seeing how gentle Dan was, not only with the snakes but even the animals in the introduction. This of course goes without mentioning how much he encourages captive breeding and to check current legislation in your area. Dan Mulleary has an incredible amount of knowledge he is sharing within his videos. If you’re a fan of quality reptile videos and learning about exotic species which you won’t see everywhere else on YouTube. Tune in and SUBSCRIBE to Reptile Reality tv.
One more thing, listen carefully to Dan when he works (Ptyas carinata) about how cognizant these snakes are and his candor as he handles a couple with nothing short of massive amounts of RESPECT.