Jay Brewer has a hobby that is admittedly not for everyone.
He was always in love with snakes. Now, he doesn’t just collect them, he even wrestles with 20-foot pythons. More on his unusual story here:
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Video credit: Rumble
Jay said: “All this started from a childhood dream, I like reptiles because I found a lot of comforts – when I was a kid, I had nothing coming from an orphaned background.”
At just 14 years old, he bought a small pet store that eventually grew into “The Reptile Zoo.”
“I spent more time than most kids would ever spend outside, seeing the different kinds of animals was really fascinating for me – I decided I wanted to do something different for a living,” Jay explained.
“The Reptile Zoo” boasts of more than 100 species of reptiles, amphibians, and arachnids on display and can proudly claim to have one of the biggest collections of reticulated python morphs on the planet.
The Zoo also houses iguanas, alligators, monitor lizards, and giant tortoises.
Jay said: “The Reptile Zoo is my childhood dream and it’s got all kinds of crazy cool animals in it.”
In the more than 30 years Jay has been working with reptiles, he cannot recount how many times he’s been bitten.
“People ask me how many times I’ve been bitten; I honestly ask them how many times have they farted? They go, ‘that many?’ and I go ‘probably more’,” Jay added.
So far, Jay’s favorite snake is a reticulated python measuring a whopping 20 feet. That also makes it his biggest snake yet.
Jay’s family helps run the business. In particular, his oldest daughter Laura grew up around the reptiles and is helping manage the business.
Jay said: “My oldest daughter Laura, she was literally born here – she was born and the next day she had to come to work.”
Laura added: “I joke and I say I that I make sure the place doesn’t burn down – Jay’s to the extreme so I sort of reel him in a little bit.”
The Reptile Zoo also has a highly venomous gaboon viper, easily the most dangerous animal on display. No other creature in the animal kingdom has fangs as long as the gaboon viper’s.
Thanks to his unusual menagerie of animals, Jay has found a lot of fans numbering in the millions across several social media platforms.
“I never thought I’d be successful, I always knew I was going to try but I never thought I could do this well – I’ve been able to work with my family, it’s a big deal to me,” Jay said.
Replaced!