We Found REPTILES at a Nuclear Power Plant Lake! ☢️🐍

Added: 2026-05-23

[00:00:00]Hey you guys, it's my birthday. So naturally we're going to go to a nuclear power plant cooling lake, of course.

[00:00:06]We're going to Lake Anna, in Virginia you guys, which is not only a nuclear power plant cooling lake, it's the home of boating, fishing, water sports, all of that, but we're not doing any of that cuz we're going there to look for reptiles because we're crazy.

[00:00:23]>> [music] [music] [music] >> All right you guys, so we're here at Lake Anna. You can see it right behind us right here. So that right there is actually where we're going. So it's about what temperature, baby? 65. 65° right now. So it's the middle of the day, the sun's out, and that means that reptiles might be on those rocks right behind us. So we're going to go see if anything is out and basking right now.

[00:01:10]That is our plan. Let's go find some stuff. So since it was my birthday, I actually made herping way more expensive than it has to be, but I picked up some really cool gear. I got this backpack, really nice hiking backpack right here.

[00:01:22]And it was actually pretty cheap. It was less than $40 on Amazon. And check out my shoes right here. I actually got some really cool hiking shoes as well. These are awesome. I went ahead and went for the name brand, they're Columbia.

[00:01:35]They're really nice. I'll link both of these in the description below. I'm super happy with these. I got a backpack full of waters, gloves, whatever I need for herping, and I'm carrying it right here. This backpack's amazing. These shoes are super comfortable. I'll link them in the description below if you guys want to check those out.

[00:01:53]>> [music] >> All right, you guys. First find of the day right here.

[00:02:04]That's actually looks like an Eastern fence lizard.

[00:02:09]Guys just sitting there basking just like we thought right here on these rocks.

[00:02:13]That's super cool.

[00:02:15]>> [music] [music] >> And all right, you guys. First snake of the day.

[00:02:31]Right there.

[00:02:33]Looks like Nerodia water snake right there.

[00:02:36]And it's out basking on the rocks just like we thought.

[00:02:40]That's amazing. You can see it's ready to go back into the rocks at any moment.

[00:02:44]But it's just sitting right here and actually just getting some sun and stuff like that. Look at it. It hears me and everything.

[00:02:51]Look how attentive these are. That is absolutely crazy. But yeah, this is a northern water snake, very common species in this area.

[00:02:59]And something that's really cool to find as well.

[00:03:02]Look at that snake checking us out right now. That is cool how smart they are.

[00:03:05]You see the pupils, you know, the eyesight must be working and stuff like that. This snake is on to us for sure.

[00:03:21]>> [music] >> All right, you guys. Fourth find of the day. So so far we have two Nerodia, northern water snakes, and we have two of these Eastern fence lizards. This one's just sitting right in front of us. And it blends so well that we really didn't even see it at first.

[00:03:49]These are super cool. That's awesome.

[00:03:51]All right, you guys. So, we got some more Nerodia right here.

[00:03:54]Is this one or two snakes, Bonnie? Two.

[00:03:56]So, it looks like we actually have some mating occurring. Is that two or three?

[00:04:01]It looks like it could be three. Woah.

[00:04:04]Is that three snakes? Two males on top of a female?

[00:04:09]I think It looks like it could be three.

[00:04:12]There's some sort of breeding ball going on.

[00:04:14]It is three. Yeah, so that's three snakes right there.

[00:04:18]How cool is that?

[00:04:20]That's awesome.

[00:04:24]Yeah, that's pretty cool.

[00:04:26]So, literally, that female snake she's got follicles. These two males know it and they're on top of her breeding her right now. Both of them are trying to breed her.

[00:04:35]Whichever one she chooses or lets breed will breed her.

[00:04:38]And it'll create babies.

[00:04:41]That's insane.

[00:04:41]>> That's a cool find right there. So, how many snakes so far? Five?

[00:04:45]We're at five snakes, we're at two lizards right now. So, you guys, we've been here like what, 15 minutes, baby?

[00:04:50]Mhm.

[00:04:51]15 minutes, guys, we found seven reptiles already. Using our method of just checking the rocks to see what's basking because we know the temperature.

[00:04:59]It's around 65. So, if you're a reptile in this area, it's like 65°, you're going to go onto the rocks to heat up at this time of day. It's the middle of the day, it's about noon and stuff like that. So, they're out here trying to heat up, to thermoregulate. And while that's happening, there's a lot of other things going on. Check this out, there's another Nerodia right here.

[00:05:18]You see that one peeking out of the rocks?

[00:05:21]I see it. So, we're on eight reptiles already, you guys, that we have found so far. That is our sixth snake that is over there. These Nerodia water snakes are all over the place and they're all just out basking on the rocks. Some are mating, like those over there. Some are just out basking. Some are out catching these lizards, probably, that are also out basking on the rocks this time of day.

[00:05:44]So, it's really just a great time of day for these Nerodia to come around these rocks. So, it looks like we had a really stellar plan here to execute with our harping to pick the time of day based on the temperature to come to the correct spot. So, so far, so good, you guys. I'm super excited about this.

[00:06:03]And pattern.

[00:06:06]The pattern on that one is insane.

[00:06:11]Extra windy out, but once he comes into the light, that pattern is solidified.

[00:06:17]Is there another mating ball? Yeah.

[00:06:27]Where are they mating at?

[00:06:28]Oh, yeah. There was some right here mating.

[00:06:30]Where? Mhm. Yeah. There's There's two males on top of a female. It's like literally right there.

[00:06:42]And you see that other one right there, so See his whole body is kind of looking might be another male trying to see if he can get in on it.

[00:06:50]Same You see him kind of creeping up towards them? Yeah.

[00:06:54]She going to have a lot of baby daddies.

[00:06:55]>> She said she does have a pretty pattern.

[00:06:57]She going to have a lot of baby daddies.

[00:06:58]>> Is that just two males? Is any of them locked up?

[00:07:02]>> They're trying to They're They're twitching, but she's moving.

[00:07:06]Oh, jeez. That is so cool.

[00:07:09]She's not having it.

[00:07:12]He's pretty cute. I just want to pick him up.

[00:07:20]>> [music] [music] >> All right. I lost my husband.

[00:07:29]I think I found him.

[00:07:47]>> [music] [music] >> We are absolutely killing it out here. I just found what looked like a racer or something like that. It looked like blackish gray.

[00:08:06]And I tried to pick it up and that was my problem. I should have just recorded it. But that managed to get away. But we are absolutely killing it. Great time of day, great area.

[00:08:16]Great weather.

[00:08:18]And we found some great animals so far.

[00:08:20]So let's keep going. Not a reptile.

[00:08:24]But this is pretty cool.

[00:08:27]You see that little guy?

[00:08:32]He's pretty spiky.

[00:08:35]I wonder if he hurts.

[00:08:37]Or some type of venom out of those spikes.

[00:08:44]>> [music] >> It's the insanity free.

[00:08:51]>> [music] [music] >> I don't know what that is.

[00:09:03]Oh, it's pretty fast.

[00:09:07]Pretty though.

[00:09:14]It's just out here.

[00:09:16]Very pretty.

[00:09:19]Insane.

[00:09:31]Here's actually a really good shot of it. You can see their heads are like somewhere up there.

[00:09:36]Tails all the way down here. That's really crazy. Three males on top of one female.

[00:09:42]Make your own judgment on that, but that's how they're getting down. That's how they make sure that they're reproducing.

[00:09:47]So, that one male that we saw earlier that was kind of like scoping the situation out, it looks like he might have gotten involved in the breeding as well. So, that's super interesting. And one definitely has her locked up right now, it seems like.

[00:09:59]Now, that's a snake.

[00:10:02]A snake.

[00:10:04]You can correct me if I'm wrong, but that's a snake.

[00:10:08]A really big snake.

[00:10:16]>> [music] >> So, finally we're on our second snake species of the day right here. This is a black racer.

[00:10:26]And they live up to their name. These are super fast. We've been trying to get closer to this guy for like 30 minutes.

[00:10:33]And it is not working. He sees us right now. If we move any closer, he's going to speed off, and we're not going to do that. We're just going to take footage of him right here and just admire him from right here. But an absolutely beautiful snake, you guys.

[00:10:46]That is super cool. This is a super cool find. So, we did find another species besides Nerodia, besides Eastern Fence Lizards. We found skinks now as well.

[00:10:56]So, we are killing it. We are doing absolutely amazing, baby. What do you think?

[00:11:00]We're doing great. I want to touch it. I want to touch it, too, but I seriously doubt that I'm going to touch that guy.

[00:11:06]So, the second I get down there, he'll be gone.

[00:11:09]If I flinch, he's going to move. Yeah.

[00:11:11]He'll probably move just when we walk off. He's probably waiting for us to move right now.

[00:11:15]And then he's going to hit a spurt cuz he's definitely frozen cuz he sees us.

[00:11:18]If he just let me touch him, he can go.

[00:11:20]I know.

[00:11:22]I know he's beautiful, too, isn't he?

[00:11:24]Yeah, but I'm not that bold. So, you can touch him. I definitely want to pet that dog. There's no way I'm catching him, though, to be really honest. He's about to get over here in this area right here.

[00:11:33]And I'd have to go all the way above down to there. So, by the time I do all that, there's no way that I'm getting to him. But, man. Is he smart? He's smart, he's fast, and beautiful. And I bet with that color, he absorbs the sun really well, as well.

[00:11:48]So, he probably doesn't need to bask for as long as the Nerodia. And he's also not breeding anything. So, we're seeing them over here, you know, breeding like crazy. So, they're spending a lot of time out in the open. But, this guy, it's a real treat to see this guy right here. That is absolutely amazing and beautiful. How did you get here?

[00:12:07]What took you from the rocks?

[00:12:11]A bird?

[00:12:13]A fox?

[00:12:15]What's in there?

[00:12:18]I'm watching you.

[00:12:29]In sand. I wonder what species that is.

[00:12:32]We could identify it, too.

[00:12:45]What did you guys think of the herping video? We found some really cool stuff.

[00:12:49]Did you guys like this style of video?

[00:12:51]Do you want to see more herping videos from us? Let us know in the comments.

[00:12:55]Let us know what your favorite animal was that we found, too. Let us know that in the comments. Thank you, guys, for everything. I hope you're having a wonderful day and continue to spread the love of reptiles. And now, a quick word from our sponsors who make this channel possible. Thank you to all of our sponsors for your support. B&S Reptilia is a family-owned company with a large variety of different species of snakes.

[00:13:20]They work with multiple blood python projects, some very rare locality and different species [music] of boas, Sumatran short-tail pythons, woma pythons, ball pythons, scrub pythons, Baron's racers, jungle carpet pythons, green tree pythons, a variety of different pine snakes, bull snakes, and they also are a cocoa supplier of a couple different brands, and they can make you a local cocoa supplier as well.

[00:13:50]So, get in touch with Chris from B&S Reptilia. If you would like to be a cocoa supplier, go ahead and check him out on Facebook, Instagram, and MorphMarket. We have linked those in the description below, and definitely go ahead and support him because Chris is one of the most supportive people in the reptile community.

[00:14:08]>> Jenessa Mosley of JM Wildlife Arc breeds the most beautiful, high-quality boas that you could imagine. She has a high standard of ethics and care, and she is one of the most supportive people in the reptile community. If you want a boa, especially one that looks absolutely amazing, go ahead and follow her on MorphMarket JM Wildlife Arc, and give her a follow on Instagram as well at JM_wildlife_arc.

[00:14:39]Thank you so much, Jenessa, for your support, and keep breeding wonderful boas.