Scales and Smiles: Discovering Clint's Reptiles World
After our initial fascination with reptiles, sparked by Snake Discovery's engaging content on snakes and their eggs – thanks to miss Kiley - we stumbled upon the fun fact filled world of Clint's Reptiles. Clint Laidlaw, a professional biologist and educator, has crafted a YouTube channel that is both informative and delightfully quirky, making the exploration of reptiles an absolute joy. Fun fact, Clint has a PhD in Biology Education – so it would seem he might know what he’s talking about!
Clint's Reptiles: "Well Hi There!"
Our journey began with a quest for knowledge about Leopard Geckos, leading us to Clint's detailed and enthusiastic videos. His passion was contagious, and soon we found ourselves diving into his content on Emerald Tree Skinks, Gargoyle Geckos, Chahoua Geckos, Leachianus Geckos, Bearded Dragons, Ball Pythons, Rosy Boas, Blue-Tongue Skinks - the list seemed endless! Clint would also list all these animals by their “scientific names” – but we won’t get into that as we don’t speak Greek! It's safe to say we've probably watched just about all his content, each video leaving us more informed and enamored with these incredible creatures as evident by our collection. I don’t think there is one reptile we have that we didn’t stop and watch one of his videos for! Even if it were in the parking lot of a reptile shop or expo!
Clint's Reptiles isn't just confined to the digital realm. In Springville, Utah, Clint has established Clint's Reptile Room, a haven for reptile enthusiasts. This unique space offers visitors the chance to hold, feed, and interact with a variety of reptiles, providing hands-on experiences that are both educational and thrilling. Making it on our bucket list of places to visit, right after Snake Discovery! Clint is very familiar with Snake Discovery and a host of other reptile YouTubers as they often get together for fun events and expos.
Whatever it is, the way you tell your story online can make all the difference.
Make it stand While in Utah, and in the warmer months, for those seeking deeper immersion, Clint's Reptile Academy offers summer camps tailored for various age groups, including adults. These camps provide hands-on, field-based learning experiences, covering topics like adaptation, habitats, and reptile diversity. It's an unforgettable adventure for anyone interested in the wild world of reptiles. Kiley’s Kritters definitely wants to attend one of these camps, but who will watch all our reptiles? It is not so easy convincing your normal dog & cat sitter into feeding bugs or frozen thawed mice to reptiles!
In his YouTube series on the best pet reptiles, Clint employs a thoughtful scoring system to evaluate each species. This system comprises five categories: Handleability, Care, Hardiness, Availability, and Upfront Costs. Each category can score up to 5 points, with a maximum overall score of 5 points.
Inspired by Clint's methodical approach, we've devised five categories to rate Clint's Reptiles:
Educational Value: The dude has his freakin PhD in biology and may as well be a zoologist – if he’s not already. Clint knows his stuff, and while he may not have a compete care guide in each video, he relays enough information to get you started. We would rate his Educational Value a 5 out of 5.
Engagement: Clint captivates your attention by not only being very informative, but we can’t imagine the guy ever being upset. His smile is infectious, and his mood is always positive and bright. He even has very quirky mannerisms and often will throw in a terrible dad joke. Sounds familiar doesn’t it Kiley? Clint scores a 5 out of 5 for Engagement!
Accessibility: Clint’s YouTube channel may as well be rated G for GREAT! You can tell he loves children and families and makes great wholesome content. He is accessible on YouTube, Facebook, X, Instagram, and even has his own website. Not to mention Clint’s Reptile Room in Springville, Utah! For Accessibility we give Clint’s Reptiles a 4 out of 5. That -1 point is because he’s all the way out in Utah and not just an hour or so away!
Community Involvement: He excels in engaging his community. Interacts with his YouTube comments, hosts live streaming sessions and well hosts summer camps that anyone can sign up for and attend! As we said before, he also interacts and joins other Herpetoculture YouTube personalities, and can often can be seen on other channels as a guest. For this Clint scores 5 out of 5 for Community Involvement.
Innovative Experiences: The creativity and uniqueness of programs like summer camps and hands-on interactions that offer immersive learning opportunities takes Clint’s Reptiles up a notch. The various playlists on his YouTube channel that range from best pet lizards to full on dissertations on various species of snakes and lizards will draw you in. The Reptile Room sounds fun and amazing, and we can’t wait to visit! Interacting with reptiles, learning about them from his staff, all while having a cup of coffee sounds second to none! For this we give Clint a 5 out of 5 for Innovative Experiences.
Overall, we give Clint’s Reptiles a 4.9 out of 5! Clint's Reptiles excels in the above-mentioned categories, making it a standout resource for both novice and experienced reptile enthusiasts. Like Ed and Emily of Snake Discovery, Clint Laidlaw is an absolute rockstar for the reptile community. One day we hope we are lucky enough to meet him!
