Clint’s Reptiles is a YouTube channel hosted by Clint Laidlaw, an animal lover and biologist from Utah. The bulk of his channel is composed of pet reviews titled “[X], the best pet [Y]?” With [X] being the name of the animal reviewed and [Y] being the group which said animal is a part of (ex. Crested Gecko, The Best Pet Reptile?) Clint holds a PhD in Biology and operates a mini-zoo called Clint’s Reptile Room in Springville, Utah.
Part of the channel’s charm is that Clint will not only review typical pets such as Bearded Dragons, Leopard Geckos, and Hognose Snakes, but also more wild options like Green Anacondas, American Alligators, and King Cobras. This does not, however, mean he will recommend you get one of those. In fact, he will very directly lay out exactly why you should not.
Other videos on the channel include overviews of different animal families, commentaries where he dispels common myths about animals, and on-location shoots, including a recent series of videos in the Peruvian Amazon.
You can find his channel here.
Put your stinkin’ rad tropes here!:
- Amphibian at Large: Downplayed, but he does have a video on the Giant African Bullfrog, which is probably larger than any frog you would have encountered.
- April Fools' Day: "Pink River Dolphin, The Worst Whale?", a parody of documentaries that sensationalize certain animals as horrible monsters. In this video, the South American folklore of river dolphins being Shapeshifting Seducers is regarded as entirely factual. He also interviews a girl who calmly recounts being bitten by a river dolphin while feeding it, and he insists (to her amusement) she's still heavily traumatized by the event.
- Author Tract: Subverted. Despite Clint's strong Latter-day Saint beliefs, his channel content is strictly secular, educational, and entertaining. However, off-camera he expresses Heteronormative Crusader views, e.g., that homosexual behavior constitutes a serious sin for which the withdrawal of Church membership (formerly 'excommunication') is an appropriate recourse.
- Black Comedy: Occasionally when Clint describes the danger of handling certain pets.Clint: You know all those videos of people walking around on top of skyscrapers and taking their picture? You can do that and not die. But have you ever seen the outtakes?
- Blunt "No": A favourite response of Clint’s is answering his own questions this way when it comes to the more dangerous or exotic pets.Clint: But the question that we are here to answer today is “Is the King Cobra the right pet reptile for you?’’ And the answer is no.
- Born Lucky: Clint's characterization of the chuckwalla in "Ultimate Reptile Rumble" after it "defeats" the green mamba by having a loose boulder fall on it.Clint: It looks like we're gonna have a round robin between the chuckwalla, the gharial, and the inland taipan. This is already the luckiest chuckwalla in the world, so why not him? Let's say the taipan probably gets struck by lightning, and the gharial has a brain aneurysm.
- Bones Do Not Belong There: Every Halloween, he does a video where he reviews terrible animal skeleton decorations, such as mammals with bone-ears and invertebrates with bones.
- Boys Like Creepy Critters: Clint is a man, and loves spiders, snakes, insects, and all sorts of animals. However, he is also quick to point out and support female keepers who also enjoy these creatures.
- Character Catchphrase: "Rad," "Stinkin' Rad," and "Well, hi there!"
- Feather Boa Constrictor: Clint will occasionally allow snakes to rest around his shoulders, such as in his video on the Emerald Tree Boa. He does not recommend this for larger snakes, however.
- Lovable Lizard: Clint, of course, believes this about pretty much all Lizards, but his top five favourite pet Lizards are the Blue-Tongued Skink, Ackie Monitor, Leachianus (or New Caledonian Giant) Gecko, Argentine Black and White Tegu, and Gidgee Skink, as detailed in this video.
- Mood Dissonance: Clint always keeps a smile on his face, even when he’s discussing the possibly horrible consequences of keeping dangerous pets irresponsibly.Clint (cheerily): If the snake that coils you happens to be an adult green anaconda, and you are alone, you are probably going to die.
- Nice Guy: Clint is always unfailingly polite and cheery.
- Reptiles Are Abhorrent: Averted. Clint makes it clear that reptiles are just like any other animal, and some make great pets. He will, however, make no bones about the fact that keeping venomous or very large reptiles is incredibly, incredibly dangerous if you don’t know what you’re doing.
- Running Gag: The claim that harvestmennote are "the most venomous spiders in the world" being broken down to show that the only true part of that statement is that they are, in fact, in the world.
- Taxonomic Term Confusion: Aggressively averted. Clint regularly spends at least half an hour exhaustively explaining why, e.g., humans are monkeys, or Dimetrodon isn't a dinosaur, despite traditional or colloquial suggestions to the contrary.
