Welcome to InverteCast today.
I have a super special awesome guest from Fatty Pancake.
It is Mel.
Hello, Mel.
Hi.
How are you?
And I, of course, am Leah from Torrence Leah, or at least that's where some of you might
know me from.
But today, obviously, we're going to be chatting all about Fatty Pancake and that brand and
kind of where it came from.
And yeah, like, so yeah, let's start there.
Let's start with where did Fatty Pancake come from?
How did that start?
So Fatty Pancake was a once upon a time she was an actual living bearded dragon.
She was more of a rescued bearded dragon because I was just new to keeping reptiles at the
time.
And you know how you get like totally on fire whenever you're just starting something new?
Oh, I was, I had my one and I definitely wanted to get a secondary one.
And so I was looking on Craigslist, which was probably not the best of things to do.
But I came across her and I saw that she was in dire need of like getting out of a situation.
So she, I got her into my possession and got her all healed up.
And she just got the nickname of Fatty Pancake because when I first got her, like she looked
like a super robust little like animal.
And she really wasn't because she was egg bound at the time.
And I didn't know this until we got surgery done on her for another health issue.
And but when I got her, you know, back and the surgery was successful and she all healed
up like whenever she would sit on her basking spot, she looked like pancake batter that
just like spread and spread and spread and spread and spread.
And so Fatty Pancake became her nickname.
And the year that I started my business was unfortunately the same year that she had passed
away.
So I just sort of immortalized her into like my business.
And I've always, I had been drawing reptile art for quite a few years prior and really
wanted to just kind of like start a website because I wasn't really noticing a whole bunch
of like artists out there outside of like maybe a few on Etsy or something like that.
And I had gone to other reptile shows too.
And there was just a small amount of us there.
So I was like, well, my art skills, my passion for reptiles, here's a great combination.
And we're just going to start this.
So that's essentially how it was born.
I love it.
I love it so much.
Like honestly, when I see you at an expo because I have seen you a few times here, you know,
here in Denver, I think you were up in Loveland once.
Yes.
But anytime I see your tables, I am just delighted.
I am so happy and excited because I totally agree with you.
I do feel like the artistic side of, you know, just art of reptiles and inverts in general
is really, really needed.
Like, you know, we love our animals.
We're very proud of them.
And so what a better way to like express that than through your art.
Like it's awesome.
I love it.
And it's starting to grow.
Like I should say it has grown like exponentially since the time that I started.
And I find it great.
You know, I always love seeing new artists come onto the scene because it's different
from what I do.
And I'm just like, how do they view, you know, like reptiles and inverts because everybody's
very different on what they want to like draw and write.
And so, you know, between, you know, various different creators, oh no, you're good.
We're going to have the animal blooper reel, you know, of animals like jumping into laps
and stuff like that.
For sure.
But yeah, I always love, no, it's totally fine.
I am one of those people who might do a squirrel moment because as a person who has like ADHD,
that's just my brain.
So yeah, that does happen.
No worries.
So yeah, you know, I've, I just feel like it's really nice to see a lot more creatives
and a lot more artists come onto the scene because that kind of diversity and like community
that we're building is really important.
Having that kind of a social connection is always really critical.
Absolutely.
I feel like a lot of time with our animals, a lot of people who keep animals, they definitely
have a very strong emotional connection.
And so I agree that the creative connection with the animals as well is, is really, it's
really profound.
Yes.
And I think there needs to be a lot more of it.
And I agree with you on that.
Yeah.
And in two, plus two, it's really nice when as somebody who's a non-breeder, there's people
there that I can actually relate with because a lot of our folks in our industry are more
breeders specific.
And they have their own kind of like, I don't want to say click, but that is kind of what
it is.
Thank you.
And it's kind of nice when other artists are able to kind of come together to form their
own click so we can go do dinners and network together and just kind of have a social system
that we can kind of go to.
Absolutely.
I agree with you wholeheartedly.
Like, I also feel that kind of in the reptile hobby and expos and stuff, I sometimes feel
like breeders and just that side of it.
They tend to not take the artistic people and like the creatives very seriously.
And so, have you noticed that at all or is that something that I'm just weird?
I noticed that we don't get included in a lot of like the social stuff.
Like, it's almost kind of like an afterthought.
Oh, hey, so and so was interested in going.
Like do you want to throw them an invite?
And it but it does, it kind of feels like you're just like this vestigial thing kind
of hanging out there even though you know you are representing part of that community.
Absolutely.
And it's not that they don't appreciate it because believe you me, there are so many
vendors who come to my booth and show their love and support all the time.
Oh, that's great.
But yeah, I mean, and I love them for that.
But when it comes to like the connections and the networking, it's definitely more
of a specified thing for them.
Okay.
Well, and that's for me, like that's why it was so important to be able to include people
like you on this podcast.
I didn't want to just have only like readers and things like that.
For me, it was just like, well, you're you're you're just as much a part of this community
as any anyone else.
And I feel that that's something that we need to instill a little more.
Right.
Okay.
So do you currently have any reptiles or invertebrates that you keep now?
I do have reptiles.
I've got five and then I have two amphibians in the forms of axolotls.
Oh, I've got a lot of axolotls.
I know they're so delightful.
So the reptiles that I have, I've got a rosie boa, my bearded dragon, an ackee monitor,
Crestnik Echo and a leechy.
So Wow, very diverse group.
How cool.
I do.
Yes.
The leechy was the last one to be or no, the rosie boa was technically the last one
that I that added that I added.
And she's she's my first snake ever actually.
So I've been keeping lizards predominantly for, you know, all this time.
And I was like, I really want to get a snake.
I just don't know what snake just because so many species are very like they have those
high humidity requirements and right, you know, us being in a super dry climate, I was
like, I don't really want to have to combat that.
So I was like, all right, I'm making a list of all my requirements that I need this animal
to check.
And there was only a few selects that I was able to find.
But right rosie boas were right at the top.
And so I was like, all right, I got to go find myself a breeder.
Yeah, absolutely.
Not common.
No, they're really not.
But they are fantastic little pets.
Like they are really, really cool.
They're pretty, pretty docile.
I don't think I've ever heard of anyone being bitten by like rosie boa, you know, and that
I did.
But I mean, that was kind of my fault.
Yeah, because I was having her at the time and she was just like so like excited to get
her mouse that she's like, is that a mouse?
And it's like, no, that's my thumb, dear stop.
Like let's detach.
I'm not going to lie.
My Mexican black king snake, Catalina has bitten me quite a few times and actually tried
to eat my pinky.
He started, you know, doing the thing with the swan.
Yeah.
And I'm going, oh no, you don't want to do that, honey.
It's like, stop, stop, stop, stop.
Yeah, definitely.
But you know, they're, they're colubrid.
So they, they just have that high prey drive.
So yeah.
And most of the time when, if Catalina gets me, it's usually my fault.
I just have my finger in the wrong spot or whatever.
User error is generally where, where the bites come from.
Yep.
Yeah, definitely.
But I mean, even still, it's, it's so cute.
It's so cute when it happens.
Maybe not for like a boa or, you know, like a pie.
Yeah.
I don't think I would find that cute.
I would just be like, ow, you know, just like gently try to wait for them to like unhook
themselves.
Yeah, absolutely.
Or, you know, yeah, no, it's, I've taken a few ball python bites as well.
And I mean, they're not the worst thing, but they're definitely not a fun time.
Yeah.
Oh, for sure.
So do you have like a favorite species of reptile or invertebrate or anything like that?
So I, I've never actually never kept any inverts before.
Okay.
But in my garden outside, I can't tell you how many jumping spiders like exist out there.
And they're prone to coming inside my house as well.
So every time I see them, I'm just kind of like, oh, you know, you live with me, you
know, and I just sort of leave them alone.
And I kind of feel like, you know, they just, they do their, their little, their little
spidery things inside of my house, taking care of, you know, what needs to be taken
care of.
And they're all very healthy.
I can tell you that.
So I don't know what they're eating in the side of my house, but, you know, that's maybe
that's cause for concern, I'm not sure you would be surprised.
You might be surprised.
Jumping spiders, I think they also eat other spiders.
They do.
So yeah, they'll eat other bigger, you know, species of spiders.
So if, if I've seen one go after a black widow before, there you go.
Yeah.
So I, that's one of the primary reasons why I love keeping them around so much is because
they will take care of those little girls.
They take care of the widows, that's for sure.
Yep.
I can't speak on that cause I love all spiders, but that's okay.
I do.
Like I actually keep, it's weird because I recognize that, you know, even the more dangerous,
you know, potentially dangerous spiders, they have their role in the ecosystem as well.
So I never go out of my way to actively like kill anything.
I'm always relocating it, whether it's outdoors or somewhere else.
So, you know, because they, they do, they have that part.
And I want my, my gardens in particular, I want it to have more of a naturalistic, you
know, kind of pest control.
Absolutely.
I'm not a fan of spraying, you know, I've stopped doing that on my property, which, you
know, may or may not be a good or bad thing.
I'm not, it's kind of on the fence because I know we have termites in our area.
So I'm just like, I don't know if that's like, what is controlling the termites?
And hopefully they never get inside my house, but I'm pretty sure that there's a couple
species of centipede and millipedes actually here in Colorado that take care of termites.
But I don't know for a fact, but I will, I can, I'll research that and then I'll email
it to you.
That would be awesome.
That would be awesome because I do see a ton of millipedes and centipedes in my yard
as well.
So, I mean, maybe I'm already fast tracking on that, you know, kind of like natural pest
control, if you will.
Yeah.
No, I think that's stellar.
Absolutely.
I'm the same way with my yard.
I don't really have like a garden per se, but I have pretty much just left the leaf litter
from all the fall leaves.
I let them fall and I let them stay.
You know, mainly because yeah, like little, little beetles, little, you know, bees, like
the bumblebees and other pollinators, they actually really rely on that to survive through
the winter.
So, I'm like, no, we're not doing that.
We want to help save some bees.
Exactly.
So, for, for like reptiles, I am partial to bearded dragons, but I also, I would also
just love, like love to have a tegu as well.
Oh, because they're so cool.
They're amazing.
Right.
My, my thing is a space and being able to dedicate the time to do proper training for
them.
Yeah.
So, I think that if I were to get one, I would probably only keep like maybe one or
two other like animals so I can devote more time to that animal because they are bigger.
They have a significantly more like medically significant bite if something were to happen.
So, you know, you want to do what you can to try and mitigate that and, you know, having
that time and training involved is pretty necessary.
Absolutely.
It's pretty involved.
I agree.
But yeah, tegus are amazing animals.
They're beautiful.
So, I can see why you would love them so much because they are really, really cool.
Probably too smart for their own good.
Right?
Much like my doggy.
My doggy.
Oh, yeah.
She is way too smart for her own good.
So how did you get into her, herpeto, is it herpetomology?
Oh, herpetology?
Yeah, herpetology.
I mean, I, I mean, I, I wouldn't call myself a herpetologist.
And I would just say I'm more of a big, big fan.
I'm like a reptile groupie, I guess.
Yeah.
We're enthusiasts.
We are.
We're total enthusiasts.
Absolutely.
So, I, I've always really loved animals like all my life.
Awesome.
And we grew up pretty much with like a farm without having a farm.
I mean, we had a dog's cat, can I say cat because that's the only cat we had.
And he was mine for the, for many, many years.
And we had fish, we had a duck, we had two angora rabbits.
We had some firebilly frogs.
Those belong to my brother.
And yeah, like we just had in a horse, like that, that was my big responsibility once
I, when we finally, you know, brought him to our, into the family.
And so, yeah, we, we've always had like animals around us and in our, our house, but one thing
that we were not able to keep inside the house was reptiles because my mom was like, I never
want to see a snake inside here.
But like, un, so unbeknownst to her for a short period of time until she discovered one one
day, there was a group of garter snakes that moved into a rock garden that my mom had built
on the one side of the house and she planted like flowers and vegetables and everything.
And so when I discovered this, I started just like picking them up and, you know, like drawing
them and stuff.
And, and that, that, and after a while, like they got so acclimated to my like presence
that they're just like, the girl is back again, just, just don't even bother musking.
She's not going to be impacted, just let her pick you up.
You'll be out for a little while in the sun and she'll be drawing you for a little while
and then you're done.
She'll put you right on back.
So they got so used to it and some of them like, they got really big.
Like they were, well, my camera can't, you know, probably about, I don't know, a good
two feet for one of them and really out in chunky looking.
Amazing.
But yeah, how fun, how cute, how cool is that?
Yeah, yeah.
They're wonderful.
I love that.
I, I too, like I've grown up around animals as well, but not, not at the same capacity.
Mostly for me, it's just been, you know, like, because I grew up in suburbs.
So we, we of course had, you know, dogs and cats and hamsters.
I think I had a guinea pig.
Oh, nice.
Yeah.
Oh yeah.
We had hamsters too at one point.
Yeah.
We had little teddy bear hamsters.
Yeah.
I mean, God, I love hamsters.
They are so cool.
I have a little teddy bear hamster now named Mochichino or Machiato.
We call him.
Oh, that's so cute.
Yeah.
And he's, he's just such a little lovey bug.
And I will say that like we kind of rescued him from the pet smart.
And the girl who was talking to us about him was like, oh, he doesn't like me.
He bites and all this stuff.
And I'm like, I've, you know, I've had, we've had him for close to two and a half, three
years almost.
And he's never bit any one of us.
Like I'm like, I don't know what you're talking about.
Tracy must have been handling a weird or something.
Right.
Well, in those pet stores, they're just such high stress places for animals.
Yeah.
There's so many people that come in and out of the store.
There's, it's noisy.
It's, you know, people handling them all the time.
I mean, if I was in a situation like that, I'd be wanting to bite people too and like
yell at them and just be like, no way for me.
You know, back off.
Absolutely.
Of course.
I mean, yeah, I, I'm not really a big fan of the big, big box pet stores.
I mean, clearly, I think a lot of us aren't just for the fact that, you know, they don't,
they don't discern between like wild caught and captive bred specimens.
So that in itself is a huge controversy like throughout the hobby.
So yeah.
Okay.
That's a whole different topic.
Oh, I know.
We could go out of rant on that one.
The only reason that I even still shop at some of those is because they're the only ones
that I can find like, like nightcrawlers for waddles.
And I mean, I could try Walmart, but half the time that I was going to Walmart too, I would
pull open like the, the boxes to check them and they'd be all moldy on the inside.
And I'm just like, uh, you know what?
No, I'm just, what a pain.
Yeah.
I do agree that like the big box, you know, those pet stores, they, they have amazing
products.
Like as far as, you know, stuff for, for dogs and cats, for, you know, any small animal,
they, they carry like everything.
And that's great because you get that, um, you get that variety.
So that's always a nice, nice bonus to it.
It's just, I'm just not a fan of Pelty.
Procure their specimen, you know, yeah.
Or teach their employees.
Oh yeah.
I, I'm, I can't even, I just can't even like, I, my, actually my corn snake was essentially
a rescue from, from my, um, the box store that's close to my home.
Uh, really?
Cause I saw it.
Yeah.
I saw her, her name's Facetita.
She's, she's a ultra male and nary corn snake.
So she's almost lavender.
Like she looks like she's, you know, she's really pretty.
When I got her though, like when I saw her, she was just so thin.
Oh, yeah.
And she was, you know, close to two feet long at least.
And I'm going, this is it, right?
You should be thicker.
Like there's, there's, you know, and then, um, but I, I saw her and I, you know, I kept
her in my mind and I asked the people say, well, what, what were you feeding her?
What have you feeding her?
They were like, oh, she gets a pinky once a week and I'm like, a pinky?
That's it?
Yeah.
Oh my gosh.
Yeah.
I just, yeah.
I think that size totally needs to be eating bigger.
Oh, yeah.
That's a poor thing.
But since she's been in my care, I mean, she is a robust, healthy girl, but it, it took
me a while to get her to the level that she needed to be at and like the size of, of,
you know, rodents that she needed to be eating.
But now she eats rat pups like a champ and she's, she's nice and, you know, healthy and
thick.
She don't, you know, we're not seeing her vertebra.
I think her first couple of sheds were like just pieces, you know?
But now she's shedding in one nice long piece.
And so I'm really proud of myself for that.
But I also-
Well, it's always like also just very fulfilling when you can actually get an animal to turn
around like that because there are unfortunate cases where people have tried and the animal
just crashes.
Yeah.
And it's, it's awful.
It's just awful.
So I mean, that's, that's, I'm with you on this.
Like it's part of the reason that I'm not huge supporter of them, but they hit and miss
a few, you know, okay.
Yeah.
Our tangent is about ready to go, you know?
Right?
No, it was a good one.
It was a good one.
I love it.
I love that.
See, I love that you have the same kind of passion for the animals as, you know, somebody
who's breeding or, or someone like me, I'm just a keeper, but, you know, I, I make videos
and stuff about it, but, you know, I knew that that passion would be there.
So I, you know, I feel like having on the show and having that ability to showcase your,
your passion for the animals, I think that's a huge, a huge plus for you.
Does that make sense?
Like, not only are you creating, you know, you're, you're creating these beautiful works
of art and I'd love your little hog nose design.
I think it's one of the coolest.
You know, and so it really shows that there is a lot more behind the artwork than, than
just, oh, just an inspiration.
You know what I mean?
There's, there's emotion.
There's a love.
Yeah.
Absolutely.
So thanks for being here.
Yeah.
Thank you.
And thank you for inviting me.
Like it was funny because when you first like approached me on it, I'm like, and for
to cast this, like, I know that they're going to focus heavily on inverts and I'm like,
hmm, I have so much more reptile stuff on my teeth.
Well, I'm not sure if this is going to really like jive with what they're looking for, but
I'm like, why not?
Let's just go for it.
See what happens.
Oh, I totally jives.
I feel, I feel like it does because I mean, here in the States, especially we, you know,
reptiles and invertebrates, they typically come in their own in the same show.
That's over in the UK.
They have an all-invert show.
So they don't do, yeah, they don't compact them together.
So I'm a little jealous of that.
But on the same token, I also keep reptiles.
I love, I keep snakes, but I love them.
And so what other things do you have?
So I have three ball pythons, a redtail boa and corn snake and the Mexican black king
snake.
Nice.
So delving into the reptile world is totally okay with us because, you know, a lot of people
who keep inverts also keep reptiles.
A lot of people who keep reptiles also keep inverts.
So I think it just kind of goes hand in hand.
It works.
Perfect.
Yes.
So speaking of like stores and kind of retail, since we were there, I had a question about
your price points.
Like, how do you create your price points?
How did you decide where those should be for your work?
Because I know that's really difficult for like newcomers to creating artwork and having
that on sale.
Yeah.
How did you start?
So doing a price point, it's such a good question, but it's also a tough question.
Okay.
Because there's so many different variables when it comes to pricing your work.
And it's like, there's some formulas that you can use, but ultimately as an artist,
you have to sit down and assess like what your worth and value are in terms of your
artwork.
And such a hard thing for an artist to do because we approach our artwork from like love.
We don't like money is an afterthought.
Like this is not something that we're doing because we want to earn money.
We do it out of passion.
And when I started FATI Pancake, I knew that I wanted to do something that was more e-commerce
driven and more just like working more specifically with print on demand.
And if you're not familiar with that, that's essentially you are going to a company.
And that company that will fulfill your product orders by taking the designs you upload and
then they will print it on a variety of products and then ship it to your customers.
Okay.
It's sort of, it gets kind of linked with drop shipping, but it's not 100% drop shipping
because there is some like customizable like attributes to it that you can that you're
using.
But that's essentially what it is.
And generally when you're working with print on demand, it's a little easier to price yourself
because you've got a base price of a product and then you just adjust depending on what,
like if you want to increase it by like 15% or 20% or 30%, you know, there's a certain
like, there's a certain percentage that you're going to hit where, you know, nobody's going
to want to buy a t-shirt for $45 unless you're.
Certainly.
Somebody like Supreme or something like that.
Taylor Swift.
Yeah, Taylor Swift.
Yeah.
Somebody who clearly has like a huge name and they can like do that.
But you oftentimes are sort of at like the whims of the market because like all things,
especially right now with the economy, with it kind of being like, eh, you know, a lot
of people are saving more.
They're not wanting to spend more.
So you want to be cautious and know your market and know like how much, like how much you
can actually like price something at that's going to be comfortable for that market.
And if it's different, however, if you're going to be selling in like a commission,
like if you're going to be doing commissions, calculating your price there is going to be
drastically different as well as if you're going to be doing like wholesale with customers
or you're going to be doing galleries or doing like the shows and events because there's
all of these fees that you have to calculate, you know, you have to calculate for taxes,
advertisement, you know, just like a whole bunch of other like things that you wouldn't
otherwise really like know about going in and you're kind of all, hmm, I did not realize
how, how expensive all of this stuff is going to add up and it's going to cut into a particular
like profit on my end.
Right.
When I was, when I was still working with commissions, typically what I was doing was
I was assessing how long it took me to do a particular piece of artwork and then calculating
my minimum hour, my minimum hourly wage that I wanted to work.
And that worked as a base price and I would fluctuate and that number would go up depending
on various factors like how many subject matters are going to be inside of this, this illustration,
you know, okay, like how, how complex was it going to be?
Like is this going to take me over 120 hours to work, which that almost never happened.
But I mean, there were projects where it did extend over, you know, a 30 hour mark and
it was like I needed to be, you know, respectfully compensated for that.
Absolutely.
Yeah, it's, there's another way that you can do it, like if you're doing traditional work
as well, factoring in your material costs and then taking your, I believe it's the size
of the canvas or whatever, you know, material you're using and then calculating out per
square inch, how much it costs per square inch.
And there's a lot of artists that also will use that methodology as well.
But again, every artist is really different, how they really approach it.
Some don't even use that.
Like some just say, this is what my base rate is because I looked at what other people are
charging and I, like professional markets are charging and they will set their prices based
off that.
And then if, like depending on how many clients they find, they can adjust and say, okay, well,
maybe I'm charging just a little bit too much.
Maybe I can drop it just a little bit or they discover, ooh, I'm not charging nearly enough
as much as I should be.
So let's, let's readjust this and, and let's, you know, get these numbers where they need
to be.
Right.
Okay.
No, that makes total sense.
I, I, you know, I hear there's so many factors that's very complex, but it makes a lot of
sense.
So.
Yeah.
So, thanks.
Thank you for that.
Thank you very much for that.
I really wish that it was just as easy as if you X plus Y, this is what you charge.
Right.
The fact of the matter is, is that there's just so many variables that go into it.
And you also have to factor in two, like at the end of the day, you're still being taxed
for that too.
So it's like, you kind of have to be, you have to be aware of that as well.
And one, one thing that I also noticed when I started charging professional rates for
my work, my clientele changed.
So I started getting people who were a lot more serious about like what kind of projects
that they wanted to do and they were more committed to it.
When I was younger, when I was doing a lot of like just cheap designs for people like
sketches for like $5, $10.
And I cringe, you know, saying that because I fell into that trap when I was younger too.
And but oftentimes the people that I would be working with were really difficult.
You know, they would come back and they would just be like, well, I really don't like the
way this is turning out or I don't like, you know, this or they'll just ghost you and
not, you know, return on her pay messages.
Yeah, exactly.
And it was super frustrating.
But when I finally pushed myself and got more comfortable charging professional rates, I
noticed that saw a significant drop.
And I got more customers who are more willing, who are more serious about commissioning me
for work.
Good.
I think that, yeah, I mean, that makes a lot of sense because, you know, your price points
and when you do do something professionally, you're going to weed out those people who
really are all that serious.
And, you know, and this is another thing that, you know, I like to do with my friends, like
if your friend has a profession that they're doing, say they're a massage therapist.
Don't just expect them to give you massages for nothing.
Oh, right.
You know, like that's so rude.
Yeah.
Yeah, they do say in the art industry that friends and family are some of the worst people
to work for unless you have the contract in place.
Yeah, it's true.
It's true because they don't, you know, they don't, they're just going to assume that because
your friends, they're going to get like those perks and stuff.
So friends and family, you guys, come on now.
All right.
That's seriously.
Support your fellow artists.
Come on.
You can make your friends and family.
For real.
I love it.
So this is a good chime, like your website.
So fattypancake.com is insanely beautiful.
It is well done.
Oh, thank you.
Yeah, absolutely.
I mean, it's super balanced.
It's really nice.
So how, like, how did you do, did you design that yourself or did you end up having like
a different, like, graphic designing company?
Or how, how did you put it all together?
Because it's really fantastic.
So I put, I personally built it.
Love that.
Now, I, I, I use a theme.
I used a template because I have the coding skills of like, I don't know what turn up.
I, I, I'm like, I can't code to save my life.
So I, I have my web store built within Shopify, which is basically an e-commerce platform.
Yeah.
And it's, it's very simple in that you just sign up an account.
You install a theme of your choice and then you just start putting in whatever graphics,
you know, whatever you want in there in order to build it.
And the, when I first built the website, it did not look as nice as it does now for sure.
There, there was a time when I was looking in like the internet archives and I was like,
I don't know what, I'm going to take a trip down memory lane.
So I'm like looking online and I'm like, Oh my gosh, that looks so bad.
You know, but cause it was like the most garish purple and like oversaturated orange.
And it just was like, Oh my gosh, this looks like a sports team color.
This looks terrible right now for what the brand is.
Oh no.
I've undergone a lot of evolution when it comes to the development of the actual interface.
And I still will.
It's always because like there are trends, unfortunately, that are constantly coming
in and out and, of course, yeah, like Shopify's platform is like integrating some of that stuff
in there.
And so sometimes I have to adapt and add certain things that is part of their new terms of
service or, you know, make changes to keep up to.
To specification on their end.
And but it's always changing, you know, and I think that's part of being a small business
owner is that you have to be willing to just adapt with that.
You know, you have to be willing to move and change because if you don't, then there is
a potential, you know, possibility that you could completely be left behind in the dust.
Yeah, I mean, I honestly feel like I'm really fortunate to be part of a, you know, on a
podcast on content creating because that doesn't really change that much.
Like it's like, yeah, get on, say what you got to say, you know, we do our thing.
Of course, there's going to be, you know, video trends or, you know, sound modifications
that are going to come along.
And you want to be along with that.
So I totally understand being adaptable to those changes, you know.
But yeah, like I'm super fortunate.
I'm, I suppose in that aspect.
Yeah, I mean, the advertising for you guys is more social media driven, right?
Yes.
Okay.
Yes.
And I honestly, I've been doing like the Facebook, but I really feel like I need to be hitting
a lot more.
So yeah, that's probably the hardest part of what I do is just staying on top of the
social media and, you know, promoting my show and what I'm, what we're doing.
For me, that's it's so hard.
It really, yeah, it's a major challenge for sure.
Major challenge.
Everything else is cake.
Like I love it, you know, like this is, it's a walk in the park.
It's not really hard for me.
I don't know.
I think that I'm, I'm similar in the way that I'm kind of very creative minded.
I, you know, I like to see balance and things.
I like to, um, like put information out there for me.
I think I'm creative minded, but in a teaching format.
That's good though.
Yeah.
No, everybody, like everybody has a very different method of how they absorb that information.
Right.
Yeah, education is, you can never go wrong with that ever.
Yeah.
No, for sure.
I mean, great teachers in the world, you know?
Um, yeah.
So, okay.
So, yeah, I absolutely love your website.
Um, I think I shared it with, uh, my co-host Simon and I was like, gotta check her website
out.
It's, it's next level.
And he was just, he agreed.
He was like, wow, this is really professionally done.
So good work.
You did excellent.
I think it's fantastic.
So, um, yeah, yeah.
I did.
So what?
So another thing is, is that, um, I also just started like, um, I don't know if you guys
have newsletters like at all for, or a blog.
Uh, uh, no, but I need to ship into that too, for sure.
Yeah.
Cause, cause I know for like podcasts, like being able to kind of piggyback off of like,
uh, a more written thing, which is internet searchable.
Um, not that videos aren't, but I think for, for some people, if they're looking for something
that's very consolidated and condensed, that, that works really well with each other.
And, you know, being able to have that, uh, like a dual thing working side by side is,
might actually help you guys out a huge, uh, for in terms of growth.
No, that's not an idea.
Yeah.
Person.
Well, we are, we're essentially, we're both business people, absolutely.
So I, I feel like that's definitely, um, that's a really great idea and I appreciate
that.
So I'll, I'll make a note that I need to write a blog.
I need to write a blog for sure.
Yeah.
And I mean, you could do lots of care guides and stuff like that for inverts, especially
I'm sure that, you know, just like reptiles, you know, tarantulas and scorpions, they each
have their own different type of like set up habitat requirements and everything.
And, um, like that people, if they're looking for species specific stuff and they're looking
for something very, very unique, you know, they can probably find that by doing a Google
search like really easily.
Absolutely.
Yeah.
And I find myself doing that a lot, um, especially with the podcast, like, you know, I'm not
going to lie.
Like I'm not an expert when it comes to entomology.
Like I don't know everything about insects, um, or invertebrates, if you will.
So you know, when we have a topic like scorpions or centipedes, I have to do that research.
I have to be like, well, what exactly is a centipede?
You know, what, um, I, I, I come up with kind of a list of, of things that I want to know
or like what I would be curious of.
Um, so for centipedes, it was like, do they have venom?
Yeah.
Why are they weird and long?
You know, like it's just, what is with all those legs?
You know what I mean?
Yeah.
But because of that, you know, those little list of questions that I was able to ask myself,
I was able to answer those questions within my research.
Um, and then, and then some, and then of course I find, you know, like species specific information.
Um, I can't think of any right now off the top of my head, but there's, there were a
couple that I was just really fascinated with, but same thing with like scorpions and snails.
I mean, when, when you really start to do that research and dig deep, there's, there's
it's limitless.
Um, and I know that.
And I mean, one thing, one thing that you had just mentioned too, and you know, people,
people will, uh, like education doesn't always have to be so like dry and factual.
It's a journey.
So it's like other people, like we connect with people.
And when we find groups where we're just like, wow, this person is doing so much passionate
stuff with the stuff that I'm super passionate about.
And I absolutely want to be a part of this, you know, and it's like they, you build stuff
this way.
You know, it's like, I, if I want like a review, you know, section, I'm going to go find some
dry blog, you know, to find reviews and stuff that, you know, uh, but if I want something
where I can actually become a part of a community, that's exactly what I'm going to do is this.
I'm going to gravitate to people such as yourself who have this incredible like love and passion
for the things that you, uh, have in your environment and you want to share with everybody
because we connect with people who are on journeys and want to share those journeys with
them, with others.
And it's just a human part of us.
And that's why it's kind of like, this is another tangent that I could go off on, but
I'm just going to be very brief.
Why AI art I don't think is going to be over a long term.
I agree.
As, as profitable as some folks think because human beings like to connect with each other
and computers can't develop emotion, at least not right now.
Oh yeah.
I robot.
Yeah.
I mean, maybe one day it will like become sentry and start looking at a camera lens and be
like, the sky is inspiring me to draw a painting today.
You know, I don't think that's going to happen anytime soon.
So yeah, as long as humans are still producing things and having these, these journeys with,
you know, information and education and knowledge and art and culture, we're still going to
be there.
We're still going to resonate with that.
So, yes.
And that, that was essentially, uh, the idea I wanted to highlight Lilliana super quickly
because she was just checking out your website and she loves it.
Oh, thank you.
I wanted to let you know that.
I'm not the only one.
Um, no, I'm kidding.
But, um, yeah, no, I agree.
Like when we're, when we're kind of growth minded, we definitely tend to attract that
kind of community, people who are in that mindset of, of growth and knowledge and, um,
you know, and so I agree with you that the AI just really, it doesn't hit it.
For me, if you will, like it doesn't, you know, like there's not, there's not going
to be those subtle things.
Like you can, I have seen some pretty cool AI things.
They're very detailed and whatnot, but those subtle like nuances, I think that make, make
them personable through, through the artwork.
Like, yes, though, that's just not going to be there.
And I'm, I'm not a huge fan of that.
So, um, I, I don't think that artwork is something that we can just simulate.
You know, I, I simulate, um, I don't think that that's, uh, really like, I don't believe
there's a lot of worth in that just because, you know, artwork stemmed from a need to be
heard and to vocalize.
And so, or to, to be heard essentially to like, you know, um, from the, from the cave paintings
in France that are just how many thousands of years old, you know, like that, that was
the very first bit of artwork that, that we can really look at and say, this was a need
to be heard.
It was a need to, to say something, to tell a story.
Um, and I don't, I don't think AI can do it as well as, you know, we do.
Right.
And, and I think there's some places where AI can work just fine where, I'm just going
to say you've got like 50 items you need to retouch for like a marketing promotional thing.
And, you know, okay, I can kind of see it being useful in cases like that, but like,
like we said, you know, if you're talking more about an emotional appeal with each other
as people, it's going to fall flat wholeheartedly.
Absolutely.
Just does not understand.
I also don't feel like I would be able to trust an AI to feed all of my tarantulas and
take care of all the maintenance.
Yeah, no, I agree.
You know what I mean?
Like they can't like understand the body language of that tarantula in that given moment, you
know, yeah, there's, I can almost see like if it's a robot, it's just like, stop, stop
posturing.
This is inappropriate.
You are being bad and there's this spider with its legs up, you know, it's like very
upset, you know, it's just like, get away, get away.
Right.
Oh man, trying to bite the robot like, oh goodness.
Oh man.
Okay.
So, um, we'll go into this like kind of couple, maybe one or two more questions, but I have
this question, I think is a really, really great one.
I'm not sure if I sent it to you, but I probably did and I don't know.
I'm sorry.
You're good.
So, what do you hope your artwork like inspires in people who see it and get to get to have
it?
You know what I mean?
Cause I love your artwork, but for you, there's, there's a mission, I'm sure.
So what are you, what kind of feelings or what, what are you trying to elicit in people
with your artwork?
So what I hope, so what I hope people take away when they see my work is that reptiles
and inverts are not scary.
There is a sense of beauty and wonder and just a general curiosity about these animals
that we are still discovering.
Like I know that reptile behavior and even just how we're keeping them is still constantly
changing.
I mean, from when I first started, even when I bought, even when I brought in my first
bearded dragon.
There has been so much interesting stuff that we've discovered about them, like the fact
that they have REM sleep to a certain degree.
And it's kind of like, you know, we wonder, you know, do androids dream of electric sheep?
Well, what, what do bearded dragons dream about?
You know, it's like, are there little, but yes, crickets, you know, sitting on their
favorite basking spot or something.
Sure.
And it's just fascinating how little we actually know about a collective of animals that have
existed on our planet for an incredibly long time.
We had these notions in our head that, oh, they're just, they're stupid.
They're, you know, they're not very intelligent.
And the more that we actually study them based off of proper, like proper scientific studies
instead of comparing to the mammal, you know, comparing to mammals and doing tests that
we gave to mammals, we're discovering that they're a lot more clever and they're a lot
more interesting than we gave them credit for, you know.
And I really hope that my artwork can kind of inspire that and draw people into it and
see, hey, these aren't scary, you know, it's like, okay, a snake is a weird tube, but with
a mouth, but these ones right here, they kind of look after their babies for a little while.
You know, that's interesting.
I didn't realize that.
Or, you know, monkey tail skinks, they're very social for reptiles.
It's not common, but, you know, that kind of thing, I just really would hope to draw
people in and just recognize they're not creepy.
They're not slimy.
They're not ugly.
You know, they're adorable.
And you can take, like, I mean, there's people who go out and take the blob fish and make
it into something that's incredibly adorable.
And it's like, you look at that thing and you're just like, um, I don't know about this, but
it works, you know, and people are just like, oh, you know.
And I really hope to do that with my art.
I want to be able to kind of get more people interested in it that way.
I love that.
Like I do feel that you do definitely hit that, hit that goal.
Because like I said, the hog nose, the hog nose piece that you have, just, I saw that
and I was floored because it is so cute.
It captures like the cuteness of their little upturned nose and just how dainty and like
kind of goofy they are.
Like you captured all of that perfectly.
So goofy.
They really are.
It's funny because the other night I was with a couple of friends and they were telling
me how they don't kill spiders anymore in their house because of, you know, me and my channel.
And I was like, oh, that's really cool.
Right.
Like it kind of, that kind of fuels me a little more to keep doing what I do.
For sure.
And I'm sure like that's kind of the same goal.
But I told, I was telling them about hog noses and how they play dead.
And they were like, no way.
No way.
And I was like, yeah, no, let me find a video.
You know, and I love the fact too that when they play dead and you flip them over, they
like immediately flip back over onto their back again.
Like no, really, I'm dead.
I'm really dead.
Yeah.
They'll just leave their little mouth open and have their tongue out and everything.
Like they are just the masters of the cartoon dead play.
You know, playing dead.
It's just amazing.
Absolutely love that.
You really encapsulate that in a lot of your pieces.
I think that they're absolutely beautiful.
They're wonderful to look at.
But they also do bring in that cuteness, that endearment that, you know, those of us who
keep and we've been keeping a while and stuff we already know.
Like we're well aware of how cute our creatures are.
And so even tarantulas, like they do some things that are just like, really, why are
you doing this?
How many times have you come in the morning and found substrate buried inside their water
dish and you're just like, really, like constantly, you know, and I've seen like I finally have
been able to see videos of them gathering up the substrate and their petty palps and
then walking out and then just going, you know, and it's just like, oh my gosh, this
is, this is adorable.
Like they're like little bulldozers.
Yeah.
Yeah, they definitely do really cute stuff.
I'm kind of a sucker for the calytherae.
So they're fangs.
I think they look like mustaches.
And this is for all spiders.
All spiders have calytherae.
And so I love the various shapes of them.
So they all just kind of look like cute old man mustaches.
That would be an art piece all in itself, like the various mustaches of spiders, you know,
and just have like a side-by-side comparison of all of their different chelicerae and everything.
Oh man, I mean, you have yourself, you would have a monopoly on that one for sure, because
I don't think I've ever seen anybody do that.
And it's definitely something, it's cute, you know.
So yeah.
All right.
Well, we're about done with our hours.
I know, it went by pretty quick.
I know.
But you're so much fun to talk to.
I absolutely love it.
And yeah, I can't wait to run into you again and more expos.
Yeah, for sure.
We do this fun little segment called our shameless plug.
So I'm giving you the soapbox here.
You can do your shameless plug.
Anything that you want to, anything that basically you want to promote, maybe you have something
coming up, something new, have at it now.
So if you guys want to follow me online, you can go to Instagram or Facebook and search
for one fatty pancake, and that's one all spelled out.
And you can follow me there or you can sign up for our newsletter on fattypancake.com that
just launched not too long ago.
And for your pre-storder, you can get 10% off.
And on the newsletter, I intend on doing some freebies every month and some extra deals
that aren't going to be published like front and center on the website.
So yeah, definitely sign up and see what we're doing.
So we're kind of growing in that arena.
But for shows, I'm kind of done for the rest of the year.
Just kind of taking the rest of the year off to kind of relax and catch up on some things.
But I will be doing shows again, probably starting next March.
So Salt Lake City, Denver, look for me there.
And I will always be posting online.
Awesome, love it.
Thank you so much, Mel.
I appreciate you being on our show.
And thank you for inviting me.
This was fun.
Yeah, it was a blast, right?
I'm glad you enjoyed it.
Yeah, it was so much fun.
I just have one shameless plug.
Don't forget to like and subscribe to our channel here in Verticast.
We are on Amazon Music Now, Spotify, rss.com, like a whole bunch.
I think I'm also on iHeartRadio.
So if you guys can't watch the podcast, definitely you can listen to it.
So yeah, just wanted to say that because it's kind of a fun.
I've been working real hard to get all the episodes up.
And yeah, so and obviously check out Patty Pancake, absolutely.
The website is phenomenal.
She's got mugs, t-shirts, you know, stickers, keychains, right?
Yeah, you have keychains.
Yeah, she's hard.
No, I don't have keychains.
No, stickers.
I've got card decals, which can also be customizable for your enclosures too.
Yeah, I do love the card decals.
Those are really neat.
I want that hog nose.
Hey, hit me up at the show.
Hit me up at the show.
I will.
I'll be there for sure.
Yes, definitely check out Patty Pancake and one fatty pancake on Instagram and Facebook.
And you'll see all of male's wonderful artwork.
And yeah, we'll see you guys next week.
And thanks again for watching.
Thank you, guys.
Thank you.
I appreciate it.
Yeah.
Yeah, I appreciate it.
Yeah.