1
00:00:00,000 --> 00:00:18,120
Welcome to InverteCast today.

2
00:00:18,120 --> 00:00:22,400
I have a super special awesome guest from Fatty Pancake.

3
00:00:22,400 --> 00:00:23,920
It is Mel.

4
00:00:23,920 --> 00:00:24,920
Hello, Mel.

5
00:00:24,920 --> 00:00:25,920
Hi.

6
00:00:25,920 --> 00:00:27,440
How are you?

7
00:00:27,440 --> 00:00:32,360
And I, of course, am Leah from Torrence Leah, or at least that's where some of you might

8
00:00:32,360 --> 00:00:34,160
know me from.

9
00:00:34,160 --> 00:00:41,520
But today, obviously, we're going to be chatting all about Fatty Pancake and that brand and

10
00:00:41,520 --> 00:00:43,360
kind of where it came from.

11
00:00:43,360 --> 00:00:47,680
And yeah, like, so yeah, let's start there.

12
00:00:47,680 --> 00:00:52,680
Let's start with where did Fatty Pancake come from?

13
00:00:52,680 --> 00:00:54,880
How did that start?

14
00:00:54,880 --> 00:01:03,760
So Fatty Pancake was a once upon a time she was an actual living bearded dragon.

15
00:01:03,760 --> 00:01:09,600
She was more of a rescued bearded dragon because I was just new to keeping reptiles at the

16
00:01:09,600 --> 00:01:10,760
time.

17
00:01:10,760 --> 00:01:15,600
And you know how you get like totally on fire whenever you're just starting something new?

18
00:01:15,600 --> 00:01:20,920
Oh, I was, I had my one and I definitely wanted to get a secondary one.

19
00:01:20,920 --> 00:01:27,400
And so I was looking on Craigslist, which was probably not the best of things to do.

20
00:01:27,400 --> 00:01:36,720
But I came across her and I saw that she was in dire need of like getting out of a situation.

21
00:01:36,720 --> 00:01:43,720
So she, I got her into my possession and got her all healed up.

22
00:01:43,720 --> 00:01:50,240
And she just got the nickname of Fatty Pancake because when I first got her, like she looked

23
00:01:50,240 --> 00:01:54,080
like a super robust little like animal.

24
00:01:54,080 --> 00:01:58,440
And she really wasn't because she was egg bound at the time.

25
00:01:58,440 --> 00:02:04,480
And I didn't know this until we got surgery done on her for another health issue.

26
00:02:04,480 --> 00:02:09,400
And but when I got her, you know, back and the surgery was successful and she all healed

27
00:02:09,400 --> 00:02:14,240
up like whenever she would sit on her basking spot, she looked like pancake batter that

28
00:02:14,240 --> 00:02:17,240
just like spread and spread and spread and spread and spread.

29
00:02:17,240 --> 00:02:21,560
And so Fatty Pancake became her nickname.

30
00:02:21,560 --> 00:02:27,240
And the year that I started my business was unfortunately the same year that she had passed

31
00:02:27,240 --> 00:02:28,240
away.

32
00:02:28,240 --> 00:02:33,600
So I just sort of immortalized her into like my business.

33
00:02:33,600 --> 00:02:40,920
And I've always, I had been drawing reptile art for quite a few years prior and really

34
00:02:40,920 --> 00:02:47,920
wanted to just kind of like start a website because I wasn't really noticing a whole bunch

35
00:02:47,920 --> 00:02:54,200
of like artists out there outside of like maybe a few on Etsy or something like that.

36
00:02:54,200 --> 00:02:56,760
And I had gone to other reptile shows too.

37
00:02:56,760 --> 00:02:59,400
And there was just a small amount of us there.

38
00:02:59,400 --> 00:03:07,000
So I was like, well, my art skills, my passion for reptiles, here's a great combination.

39
00:03:07,000 --> 00:03:09,320
And we're just going to start this.

40
00:03:09,320 --> 00:03:12,800
So that's essentially how it was born.

41
00:03:12,800 --> 00:03:13,960
I love it.

42
00:03:13,960 --> 00:03:15,160
I love it so much.

43
00:03:15,160 --> 00:03:21,640
Like honestly, when I see you at an expo because I have seen you a few times here, you know,

44
00:03:21,640 --> 00:03:24,720
here in Denver, I think you were up in Loveland once.

45
00:03:24,720 --> 00:03:25,720
Yes.

46
00:03:25,720 --> 00:03:31,080
But anytime I see your tables, I am just delighted.

47
00:03:31,080 --> 00:03:34,840
I am so happy and excited because I totally agree with you.

48
00:03:34,840 --> 00:03:43,120
I do feel like the artistic side of, you know, just art of reptiles and inverts in general

49
00:03:43,120 --> 00:03:44,760
is really, really needed.

50
00:03:44,760 --> 00:03:47,280
Like, you know, we love our animals.

51
00:03:47,280 --> 00:03:48,600
We're very proud of them.

52
00:03:48,600 --> 00:03:54,320
And so what a better way to like express that than through your art.

53
00:03:54,320 --> 00:03:55,320
Like it's awesome.

54
00:03:55,320 --> 00:03:56,320
I love it.

55
00:03:56,320 --> 00:03:58,960
And it's starting to grow.

56
00:03:58,960 --> 00:04:04,320
Like I should say it has grown like exponentially since the time that I started.

57
00:04:04,320 --> 00:04:05,720
And I find it great.

58
00:04:05,720 --> 00:04:09,480
You know, I always love seeing new artists come onto the scene because it's different

59
00:04:09,480 --> 00:04:10,480
from what I do.

60
00:04:10,480 --> 00:04:16,240
And I'm just like, how do they view, you know, like reptiles and inverts because everybody's

61
00:04:16,240 --> 00:04:21,120
very different on what they want to like draw and write.

62
00:04:21,120 --> 00:04:27,160
And so, you know, between, you know, various different creators, oh no, you're good.

63
00:04:27,160 --> 00:04:31,520
We're going to have the animal blooper reel, you know, of animals like jumping into laps

64
00:04:31,520 --> 00:04:33,320
and stuff like that.

65
00:04:33,320 --> 00:04:34,320
For sure.

66
00:04:34,320 --> 00:04:39,040
But yeah, I always love, no, it's totally fine.

67
00:04:39,040 --> 00:04:44,800
I am one of those people who might do a squirrel moment because as a person who has like ADHD,

68
00:04:44,800 --> 00:04:46,040
that's just my brain.

69
00:04:46,040 --> 00:04:48,320
So yeah, that does happen.

70
00:04:48,320 --> 00:04:49,320
No worries.

71
00:04:49,320 --> 00:04:50,320
No worries.

72
00:04:50,320 --> 00:04:56,840
So yeah, you know, I've, I just feel like it's really nice to see a lot more creatives

73
00:04:56,840 --> 00:05:03,120
and a lot more artists come onto the scene because that kind of diversity and like community

74
00:05:03,120 --> 00:05:06,240
that we're building is really important.

75
00:05:06,240 --> 00:05:10,200
Having that kind of a social connection is always really critical.

76
00:05:10,200 --> 00:05:11,200
Absolutely.

77
00:05:11,200 --> 00:05:16,840
I feel like a lot of time with our animals, a lot of people who keep animals, they definitely

78
00:05:16,840 --> 00:05:20,600
have a very strong emotional connection.

79
00:05:20,600 --> 00:05:28,160
And so I agree that the creative connection with the animals as well is, is really, it's

80
00:05:28,160 --> 00:05:29,160
really profound.

81
00:05:29,160 --> 00:05:30,160
Yes.

82
00:05:30,160 --> 00:05:31,400
And I think there needs to be a lot more of it.

83
00:05:31,400 --> 00:05:32,760
And I agree with you on that.

84
00:05:32,760 --> 00:05:33,760
Yeah.

85
00:05:33,760 --> 00:05:40,400
And in two, plus two, it's really nice when as somebody who's a non-breeder, there's people

86
00:05:40,400 --> 00:05:46,200
there that I can actually relate with because a lot of our folks in our industry are more

87
00:05:46,200 --> 00:05:48,200
breeders specific.

88
00:05:48,200 --> 00:05:52,360
And they have their own kind of like, I don't want to say click, but that is kind of what

89
00:05:52,360 --> 00:05:53,360
it is.

90
00:05:53,360 --> 00:05:55,480
Thank you.

91
00:05:55,480 --> 00:06:00,400
And it's kind of nice when other artists are able to kind of come together to form their

92
00:06:00,400 --> 00:06:07,120
own click so we can go do dinners and network together and just kind of have a social system

93
00:06:07,120 --> 00:06:10,400
that we can kind of go to.

94
00:06:10,400 --> 00:06:11,400
Absolutely.

95
00:06:11,400 --> 00:06:12,400
Absolutely.

96
00:06:12,400 --> 00:06:14,760
I agree with you wholeheartedly.

97
00:06:14,760 --> 00:06:21,880
Like, I also feel that kind of in the reptile hobby and expos and stuff, I sometimes feel

98
00:06:21,880 --> 00:06:27,760
like breeders and just that side of it.

99
00:06:27,760 --> 00:06:34,200
They tend to not take the artistic people and like the creatives very seriously.

100
00:06:34,200 --> 00:06:40,680
And so, have you noticed that at all or is that something that I'm just weird?

101
00:06:40,680 --> 00:06:45,480
I noticed that we don't get included in a lot of like the social stuff.

102
00:06:45,480 --> 00:06:48,000
Like, it's almost kind of like an afterthought.

103
00:06:48,000 --> 00:06:50,800
Oh, hey, so and so was interested in going.

104
00:06:50,800 --> 00:06:53,840
Like do you want to throw them an invite?

105
00:06:53,840 --> 00:06:58,120
And it but it does, it kind of feels like you're just like this vestigial thing kind

106
00:06:58,120 --> 00:07:02,800
of hanging out there even though you know you are representing part of that community.

107
00:07:02,800 --> 00:07:03,800
Absolutely.

108
00:07:03,800 --> 00:07:09,120
And it's not that they don't appreciate it because believe you me, there are so many

109
00:07:09,120 --> 00:07:13,920
vendors who come to my booth and show their love and support all the time.

110
00:07:13,920 --> 00:07:14,920
Oh, that's great.

111
00:07:14,920 --> 00:07:18,840
But yeah, I mean, and I love them for that.

112
00:07:18,840 --> 00:07:23,800
But when it comes to like the connections and the networking, it's definitely more

113
00:07:23,800 --> 00:07:27,320
of a specified thing for them.

114
00:07:27,320 --> 00:07:28,320
Okay.

115
00:07:28,320 --> 00:07:35,400
Well, and that's for me, like that's why it was so important to be able to include people

116
00:07:35,400 --> 00:07:37,200
like you on this podcast.

117
00:07:37,200 --> 00:07:41,280
I didn't want to just have only like readers and things like that.

118
00:07:41,280 --> 00:07:46,960
For me, it was just like, well, you're you're you're just as much a part of this community

119
00:07:46,960 --> 00:07:49,040
as any anyone else.

120
00:07:49,040 --> 00:07:54,400
And I feel that that's something that we need to instill a little more.

121
00:07:54,400 --> 00:07:55,400
Right.

122
00:07:55,400 --> 00:07:56,400
Right.

123
00:07:56,400 --> 00:07:57,400
Okay.

124
00:07:57,400 --> 00:08:02,640
So do you currently have any reptiles or invertebrates that you keep now?

125
00:08:02,640 --> 00:08:04,120
I do have reptiles.

126
00:08:04,120 --> 00:08:09,160
I've got five and then I have two amphibians in the forms of axolotls.

127
00:08:09,160 --> 00:08:11,160
Oh, I've got a lot of axolotls.

128
00:08:11,160 --> 00:08:14,200
I know they're so delightful.

129
00:08:14,200 --> 00:08:20,640
So the reptiles that I have, I've got a rosie boa, my bearded dragon, an ackee monitor,

130
00:08:20,640 --> 00:08:22,840
Crestnik Echo and a leechy.

131
00:08:22,840 --> 00:08:25,200
So Wow, very diverse group.

132
00:08:25,200 --> 00:08:26,200
How cool.

133
00:08:26,200 --> 00:08:27,200
I do.

134
00:08:27,200 --> 00:08:28,200
Yes.

135
00:08:28,200 --> 00:08:29,200
Yes.

136
00:08:29,200 --> 00:08:32,720
The leechy was the last one to be or no, the rosie boa was technically the last one

137
00:08:32,720 --> 00:08:35,640
that I that added that I added.

138
00:08:35,640 --> 00:08:39,640
And she's she's my first snake ever actually.

139
00:08:39,640 --> 00:08:44,760
So I've been keeping lizards predominantly for, you know, all this time.

140
00:08:44,760 --> 00:08:47,640
And I was like, I really want to get a snake.

141
00:08:47,640 --> 00:08:53,960
I just don't know what snake just because so many species are very like they have those

142
00:08:53,960 --> 00:09:00,440
high humidity requirements and right, you know, us being in a super dry climate, I was

143
00:09:00,440 --> 00:09:03,880
like, I don't really want to have to combat that.

144
00:09:03,880 --> 00:09:08,760
So I was like, all right, I'm making a list of all my requirements that I need this animal

145
00:09:08,760 --> 00:09:09,760
to check.

146
00:09:09,760 --> 00:09:13,680
And there was only a few selects that I was able to find.

147
00:09:13,680 --> 00:09:16,200
But right rosie boas were right at the top.

148
00:09:16,200 --> 00:09:20,120
And so I was like, all right, I got to go find myself a breeder.

149
00:09:20,120 --> 00:09:21,120
Yeah, absolutely.

150
00:09:21,120 --> 00:09:22,120
Not common.

151
00:09:22,120 --> 00:09:24,840
No, they're really not.

152
00:09:24,840 --> 00:09:28,360
But they are fantastic little pets.

153
00:09:28,360 --> 00:09:30,520
Like they are really, really cool.

154
00:09:30,520 --> 00:09:33,840
They're pretty, pretty docile.

155
00:09:33,840 --> 00:09:38,680
I don't think I've ever heard of anyone being bitten by like rosie boa, you know, and that

156
00:09:38,680 --> 00:09:39,680
I did.

157
00:09:39,680 --> 00:09:41,680
But I mean, that was kind of my fault.

158
00:09:41,680 --> 00:09:46,560
Yeah, because I was having her at the time and she was just like so like excited to get

159
00:09:46,560 --> 00:09:49,160
her mouse that she's like, is that a mouse?

160
00:09:49,160 --> 00:09:51,560
And it's like, no, that's my thumb, dear stop.

161
00:09:51,560 --> 00:09:54,200
Like let's detach.

162
00:09:54,200 --> 00:09:56,360
I'm not going to lie.

163
00:09:56,360 --> 00:10:02,360
My Mexican black king snake, Catalina has bitten me quite a few times and actually tried

164
00:10:02,360 --> 00:10:06,040
to eat my pinky.

165
00:10:06,040 --> 00:10:09,760
He started, you know, doing the thing with the swan.

166
00:10:09,760 --> 00:10:10,760
Yeah.

167
00:10:10,760 --> 00:10:13,800
And I'm going, oh no, you don't want to do that, honey.

168
00:10:13,800 --> 00:10:16,240
It's like, stop, stop, stop, stop.

169
00:10:16,240 --> 00:10:17,240
Yeah, definitely.

170
00:10:17,240 --> 00:10:19,480
But you know, they're, they're colubrid.

171
00:10:19,480 --> 00:10:22,480
So they, they just have that high prey drive.

172
00:10:22,480 --> 00:10:24,160
So yeah.

173
00:10:24,160 --> 00:10:27,680
And most of the time when, if Catalina gets me, it's usually my fault.

174
00:10:27,680 --> 00:10:30,960
I just have my finger in the wrong spot or whatever.

175
00:10:30,960 --> 00:10:34,760
User error is generally where, where the bites come from.

176
00:10:34,760 --> 00:10:35,760
Yep.

177
00:10:35,760 --> 00:10:36,760
Yeah, definitely.

178
00:10:36,760 --> 00:10:41,040
But I mean, even still, it's, it's so cute.

179
00:10:41,040 --> 00:10:43,240
It's so cute when it happens.

180
00:10:43,240 --> 00:10:47,600
Maybe not for like a boa or, you know, like a pie.

181
00:10:47,600 --> 00:10:48,600
Yeah.

182
00:10:48,600 --> 00:10:50,160
I don't think I would find that cute.

183
00:10:50,160 --> 00:10:55,640
I would just be like, ow, you know, just like gently try to wait for them to like unhook

184
00:10:55,640 --> 00:10:56,640
themselves.

185
00:10:56,640 --> 00:10:57,640
Yeah, absolutely.

186
00:10:57,640 --> 00:11:02,760
Or, you know, yeah, no, it's, I've taken a few ball python bites as well.

187
00:11:02,760 --> 00:11:07,280
And I mean, they're not the worst thing, but they're definitely not a fun time.

188
00:11:07,280 --> 00:11:08,280
Yeah.

189
00:11:08,280 --> 00:11:10,360
Oh, for sure.

190
00:11:10,360 --> 00:11:17,520
So do you have like a favorite species of reptile or invertebrate or anything like that?

191
00:11:17,520 --> 00:11:21,120
So I, I've never actually never kept any inverts before.

192
00:11:21,120 --> 00:11:22,120
Okay.

193
00:11:22,120 --> 00:11:29,080
But in my garden outside, I can't tell you how many jumping spiders like exist out there.

194
00:11:29,080 --> 00:11:32,200
And they're prone to coming inside my house as well.

195
00:11:32,200 --> 00:11:36,840
So every time I see them, I'm just kind of like, oh, you know, you live with me, you

196
00:11:36,840 --> 00:11:42,360
know, and I just sort of leave them alone.

197
00:11:42,360 --> 00:11:47,000
And I kind of feel like, you know, they just, they do their, their little, their little

198
00:11:47,000 --> 00:11:50,760
spidery things inside of my house, taking care of, you know, what needs to be taken

199
00:11:50,760 --> 00:11:52,200
care of.

200
00:11:52,200 --> 00:11:53,520
And they're all very healthy.

201
00:11:53,520 --> 00:11:54,520
I can tell you that.

202
00:11:54,520 --> 00:11:58,200
So I don't know what they're eating in the side of my house, but, you know, that's maybe

203
00:11:58,200 --> 00:12:03,720
that's cause for concern, I'm not sure you would be surprised.

204
00:12:03,720 --> 00:12:05,600
You might be surprised.

205
00:12:05,600 --> 00:12:08,880
Jumping spiders, I think they also eat other spiders.

206
00:12:08,880 --> 00:12:09,880
They do.

207
00:12:09,880 --> 00:12:12,760
So yeah, they'll eat other bigger, you know, species of spiders.

208
00:12:12,760 --> 00:12:18,480
So if, if I've seen one go after a black widow before, there you go.

209
00:12:18,480 --> 00:12:19,480
Yeah.

210
00:12:19,480 --> 00:12:23,600
So I, that's one of the primary reasons why I love keeping them around so much is because

211
00:12:23,600 --> 00:12:26,240
they will take care of those little girls.

212
00:12:26,240 --> 00:12:28,600
They take care of the widows, that's for sure.

213
00:12:28,600 --> 00:12:29,600
Yep.

214
00:12:29,600 --> 00:12:33,680
I can't speak on that cause I love all spiders, but that's okay.

215
00:12:33,680 --> 00:12:34,680
I do.

216
00:12:34,680 --> 00:12:42,160
Like I actually keep, it's weird because I recognize that, you know, even the more dangerous,

217
00:12:42,160 --> 00:12:48,120
you know, potentially dangerous spiders, they have their role in the ecosystem as well.

218
00:12:48,120 --> 00:12:51,920
So I never go out of my way to actively like kill anything.

219
00:12:51,920 --> 00:12:56,480
I'm always relocating it, whether it's outdoors or somewhere else.

220
00:12:56,480 --> 00:13:00,600
So, you know, because they, they do, they have that part.

221
00:13:00,600 --> 00:13:06,280
And I want my, my gardens in particular, I want it to have more of a naturalistic, you

222
00:13:06,280 --> 00:13:07,840
know, kind of pest control.

223
00:13:07,840 --> 00:13:08,840
Absolutely.

224
00:13:08,840 --> 00:13:14,800
I'm not a fan of spraying, you know, I've stopped doing that on my property, which, you

225
00:13:14,800 --> 00:13:17,680
know, may or may not be a good or bad thing.

226
00:13:17,680 --> 00:13:21,880
I'm not, it's kind of on the fence because I know we have termites in our area.

227
00:13:21,880 --> 00:13:27,480
So I'm just like, I don't know if that's like, what is controlling the termites?

228
00:13:27,480 --> 00:13:32,760
And hopefully they never get inside my house, but I'm pretty sure that there's a couple

229
00:13:32,760 --> 00:13:38,360
species of centipede and millipedes actually here in Colorado that take care of termites.

230
00:13:38,360 --> 00:13:44,800
But I don't know for a fact, but I will, I can, I'll research that and then I'll email

231
00:13:44,800 --> 00:13:45,800
it to you.

232
00:13:45,800 --> 00:13:46,800
That would be awesome.

233
00:13:46,800 --> 00:13:51,520
That would be awesome because I do see a ton of millipedes and centipedes in my yard

234
00:13:51,520 --> 00:13:52,520
as well.

235
00:13:52,520 --> 00:13:59,080
So, I mean, maybe I'm already fast tracking on that, you know, kind of like natural pest

236
00:13:59,080 --> 00:14:00,600
control, if you will.

237
00:14:00,600 --> 00:14:01,600
Yeah.

238
00:14:01,600 --> 00:14:02,600
No, I think that's stellar.

239
00:14:02,600 --> 00:14:03,600
Absolutely.

240
00:14:03,600 --> 00:14:05,920
I'm the same way with my yard.

241
00:14:05,920 --> 00:14:12,680
I don't really have like a garden per se, but I have pretty much just left the leaf litter

242
00:14:12,680 --> 00:14:14,360
from all the fall leaves.

243
00:14:14,360 --> 00:14:16,640
I let them fall and I let them stay.

244
00:14:16,640 --> 00:14:23,080
You know, mainly because yeah, like little, little beetles, little, you know, bees, like

245
00:14:23,080 --> 00:14:28,920
the bumblebees and other pollinators, they actually really rely on that to survive through

246
00:14:28,920 --> 00:14:29,920
the winter.

247
00:14:29,920 --> 00:14:33,400
So, I'm like, no, we're not doing that.

248
00:14:33,400 --> 00:14:36,080
We want to help save some bees.

249
00:14:36,080 --> 00:14:37,080
Exactly.

250
00:14:37,080 --> 00:14:45,040
So, for, for like reptiles, I am partial to bearded dragons, but I also, I would also

251
00:14:45,040 --> 00:14:49,560
just love, like love to have a tegu as well.

252
00:14:49,560 --> 00:14:51,880
Oh, because they're so cool.

253
00:14:51,880 --> 00:14:52,880
They're amazing.

254
00:14:52,880 --> 00:14:53,880
They're amazing.

255
00:14:53,880 --> 00:14:54,880
Right.

256
00:14:54,880 --> 00:15:00,360
My, my thing is a space and being able to dedicate the time to do proper training for

257
00:15:00,360 --> 00:15:01,360
them.

258
00:15:01,360 --> 00:15:02,360
Yeah.

259
00:15:02,360 --> 00:15:09,160
So, I think that if I were to get one, I would probably only keep like maybe one or

260
00:15:09,160 --> 00:15:16,960
two other like animals so I can devote more time to that animal because they are bigger.

261
00:15:16,960 --> 00:15:23,040
They have a significantly more like medically significant bite if something were to happen.

262
00:15:23,040 --> 00:15:28,240
So, you know, you want to do what you can to try and mitigate that and, you know, having

263
00:15:28,240 --> 00:15:31,480
that time and training involved is pretty necessary.

264
00:15:31,480 --> 00:15:32,480
Absolutely.

265
00:15:32,480 --> 00:15:33,480
It's pretty involved.

266
00:15:33,480 --> 00:15:34,480
I agree.

267
00:15:34,480 --> 00:15:38,600
But yeah, tegus are amazing animals.

268
00:15:38,600 --> 00:15:39,600
They're beautiful.

269
00:15:39,600 --> 00:15:44,840
So, I can see why you would love them so much because they are really, really cool.

270
00:15:44,840 --> 00:15:46,560
Probably too smart for their own good.

271
00:15:46,560 --> 00:15:47,560
Right?

272
00:15:47,560 --> 00:15:49,520
Much like my doggy.

273
00:15:49,520 --> 00:15:50,520
My doggy.

274
00:15:50,520 --> 00:15:51,520
Oh, yeah.

275
00:15:51,520 --> 00:15:54,760
She is way too smart for her own good.

276
00:15:54,760 --> 00:15:59,600
So how did you get into her, herpeto, is it herpetomology?

277
00:15:59,600 --> 00:16:00,600
Oh, herpetology?

278
00:16:00,600 --> 00:16:01,600
Yeah, herpetology.

279
00:16:01,600 --> 00:16:06,080
I mean, I, I mean, I, I wouldn't call myself a herpetologist.

280
00:16:06,080 --> 00:16:08,960
And I would just say I'm more of a big, big fan.

281
00:16:08,960 --> 00:16:11,640
I'm like a reptile groupie, I guess.

282
00:16:11,640 --> 00:16:12,640
Yeah.

283
00:16:12,640 --> 00:16:13,640
We're enthusiasts.

284
00:16:13,640 --> 00:16:14,640
We are.

285
00:16:14,640 --> 00:16:16,160
We're total enthusiasts.

286
00:16:16,160 --> 00:16:17,160
Absolutely.

287
00:16:17,160 --> 00:16:22,520
So, I, I've always really loved animals like all my life.

288
00:16:22,520 --> 00:16:23,520
Awesome.

289
00:16:23,520 --> 00:16:28,440
And we grew up pretty much with like a farm without having a farm.

290
00:16:28,440 --> 00:16:35,320
I mean, we had a dog's cat, can I say cat because that's the only cat we had.

291
00:16:35,320 --> 00:16:38,360
And he was mine for the, for many, many years.

292
00:16:38,360 --> 00:16:44,680
And we had fish, we had a duck, we had two angora rabbits.

293
00:16:44,680 --> 00:16:46,720
We had some firebilly frogs.

294
00:16:46,720 --> 00:16:49,360
Those belong to my brother.

295
00:16:49,360 --> 00:16:56,640
And yeah, like we just had in a horse, like that, that was my big responsibility once

296
00:16:56,640 --> 00:17:01,160
I, when we finally, you know, brought him to our, into the family.

297
00:17:01,160 --> 00:17:07,360
And so, yeah, we, we've always had like animals around us and in our, our house, but one thing

298
00:17:07,360 --> 00:17:13,600
that we were not able to keep inside the house was reptiles because my mom was like, I never

299
00:17:13,600 --> 00:17:16,360
want to see a snake inside here.

300
00:17:16,360 --> 00:17:24,160
But like, un, so unbeknownst to her for a short period of time until she discovered one one

301
00:17:24,160 --> 00:17:29,600
day, there was a group of garter snakes that moved into a rock garden that my mom had built

302
00:17:29,600 --> 00:17:35,160
on the one side of the house and she planted like flowers and vegetables and everything.

303
00:17:35,160 --> 00:17:42,360
And so when I discovered this, I started just like picking them up and, you know, like drawing

304
00:17:42,360 --> 00:17:43,920
them and stuff.

305
00:17:43,920 --> 00:17:50,680
And, and that, that, and after a while, like they got so acclimated to my like presence

306
00:17:50,680 --> 00:17:56,600
that they're just like, the girl is back again, just, just don't even bother musking.

307
00:17:56,600 --> 00:18:01,000
She's not going to be impacted, just let her pick you up.

308
00:18:01,000 --> 00:18:05,160
You'll be out for a little while in the sun and she'll be drawing you for a little while

309
00:18:05,160 --> 00:18:06,360
and then you're done.

310
00:18:06,360 --> 00:18:07,640
She'll put you right on back.

311
00:18:07,640 --> 00:18:13,240
So they got so used to it and some of them like, they got really big.

312
00:18:13,240 --> 00:18:19,360
Like they were, well, my camera can't, you know, probably about, I don't know, a good

313
00:18:19,360 --> 00:18:24,640
two feet for one of them and really out in chunky looking.

314
00:18:24,640 --> 00:18:25,640
Amazing.

315
00:18:25,640 --> 00:18:29,080
But yeah, how fun, how cute, how cool is that?

316
00:18:29,080 --> 00:18:30,080
Yeah, yeah.

317
00:18:30,080 --> 00:18:31,080
They're wonderful.

318
00:18:31,080 --> 00:18:32,080
I love that.

319
00:18:32,080 --> 00:18:38,960
I, I too, like I've grown up around animals as well, but not, not at the same capacity.

320
00:18:38,960 --> 00:18:43,120
Mostly for me, it's just been, you know, like, because I grew up in suburbs.

321
00:18:43,120 --> 00:18:47,560
So we, we of course had, you know, dogs and cats and hamsters.

322
00:18:47,560 --> 00:18:49,160
I think I had a guinea pig.

323
00:18:49,160 --> 00:18:50,160
Oh, nice.

324
00:18:50,160 --> 00:18:51,160
Yeah.

325
00:18:51,160 --> 00:18:52,160
Oh yeah.

326
00:18:52,160 --> 00:18:53,160
We had hamsters too at one point.

327
00:18:53,160 --> 00:18:54,160
Yeah.

328
00:18:54,160 --> 00:18:55,960
We had little teddy bear hamsters.

329
00:18:55,960 --> 00:18:56,960
Yeah.

330
00:18:56,960 --> 00:18:57,960
I mean, God, I love hamsters.

331
00:18:57,960 --> 00:18:59,840
They are so cool.

332
00:18:59,840 --> 00:19:06,200
I have a little teddy bear hamster now named Mochichino or Machiato.

333
00:19:06,200 --> 00:19:07,200
We call him.

334
00:19:07,200 --> 00:19:08,680
Oh, that's so cute.

335
00:19:08,680 --> 00:19:09,680
Yeah.

336
00:19:09,680 --> 00:19:12,400
And he's, he's just such a little lovey bug.

337
00:19:12,400 --> 00:19:17,240
And I will say that like we kind of rescued him from the pet smart.

338
00:19:17,240 --> 00:19:22,040
And the girl who was talking to us about him was like, oh, he doesn't like me.

339
00:19:22,040 --> 00:19:24,280
He bites and all this stuff.

340
00:19:24,280 --> 00:19:28,600
And I'm like, I've, you know, I've had, we've had him for close to two and a half, three

341
00:19:28,600 --> 00:19:30,120
years almost.

342
00:19:30,120 --> 00:19:32,120
And he's never bit any one of us.

343
00:19:32,120 --> 00:19:35,120
Like I'm like, I don't know what you're talking about.

344
00:19:35,120 --> 00:19:37,840
Tracy must have been handling a weird or something.

345
00:19:37,840 --> 00:19:38,840
Right.

346
00:19:38,840 --> 00:19:43,120
Well, in those pet stores, they're just such high stress places for animals.

347
00:19:43,120 --> 00:19:44,120
Yeah.

348
00:19:44,120 --> 00:19:47,440
There's so many people that come in and out of the store.

349
00:19:47,440 --> 00:19:48,920
There's, it's noisy.

350
00:19:48,920 --> 00:19:52,000
It's, you know, people handling them all the time.

351
00:19:52,000 --> 00:19:56,600
I mean, if I was in a situation like that, I'd be wanting to bite people too and like

352
00:19:56,600 --> 00:19:58,960
yell at them and just be like, no way for me.

353
00:19:58,960 --> 00:20:00,440
You know, back off.

354
00:20:00,440 --> 00:20:01,440
Absolutely.

355
00:20:01,440 --> 00:20:02,440
Of course.

356
00:20:02,440 --> 00:20:09,000
I mean, yeah, I, I'm not really a big fan of the big, big box pet stores.

357
00:20:09,000 --> 00:20:16,000
I mean, clearly, I think a lot of us aren't just for the fact that, you know, they don't,

358
00:20:16,000 --> 00:20:20,000
they don't discern between like wild caught and captive bred specimens.

359
00:20:20,000 --> 00:20:26,920
So that in itself is a huge controversy like throughout the hobby.

360
00:20:26,920 --> 00:20:27,920
So yeah.

361
00:20:27,920 --> 00:20:28,920
Okay.

362
00:20:28,920 --> 00:20:29,920
That's a whole different topic.

363
00:20:29,920 --> 00:20:30,920
Oh, I know.

364
00:20:30,920 --> 00:20:32,240
We could go out of rant on that one.

365
00:20:32,240 --> 00:20:37,760
The only reason that I even still shop at some of those is because they're the only ones

366
00:20:37,760 --> 00:20:42,760
that I can find like, like nightcrawlers for waddles.

367
00:20:42,760 --> 00:20:49,200
And I mean, I could try Walmart, but half the time that I was going to Walmart too, I would

368
00:20:49,200 --> 00:20:54,200
pull open like the, the boxes to check them and they'd be all moldy on the inside.

369
00:20:54,200 --> 00:20:56,400
And I'm just like, uh, you know what?

370
00:20:56,400 --> 00:20:58,720
No, I'm just, what a pain.

371
00:20:58,720 --> 00:20:59,720
Yeah.

372
00:20:59,720 --> 00:21:05,840
I do agree that like the big box, you know, those pet stores, they, they have amazing

373
00:21:05,840 --> 00:21:06,840
products.

374
00:21:06,840 --> 00:21:12,200
Like as far as, you know, stuff for, for dogs and cats, for, you know, any small animal,

375
00:21:12,200 --> 00:21:15,200
they, they carry like everything.

376
00:21:15,200 --> 00:21:19,640
And that's great because you get that, um, you get that variety.

377
00:21:19,640 --> 00:21:24,120
So that's always a nice, nice bonus to it.

378
00:21:24,120 --> 00:21:28,600
It's just, I'm just not a fan of Pelty.

379
00:21:28,600 --> 00:21:31,600
Procure their specimen, you know, yeah.

380
00:21:31,600 --> 00:21:33,200
Or teach their employees.

381
00:21:33,200 --> 00:21:34,200
Oh yeah.

382
00:21:34,200 --> 00:21:42,640
I, I'm, I can't even, I just can't even like, I, my, actually my corn snake was essentially

383
00:21:42,640 --> 00:21:46,600
a rescue from, from my, um, the box store that's close to my home.

384
00:21:46,600 --> 00:21:47,600
Uh, really?

385
00:21:47,600 --> 00:21:48,600
Cause I saw it.

386
00:21:48,600 --> 00:21:49,600
Yeah.

387
00:21:49,600 --> 00:21:51,680
I saw her, her name's Facetita.

388
00:21:51,680 --> 00:21:56,400
She's, she's a ultra male and nary corn snake.

389
00:21:56,400 --> 00:21:57,720
So she's almost lavender.

390
00:21:57,720 --> 00:22:01,040
Like she looks like she's, you know, she's really pretty.

391
00:22:01,040 --> 00:22:04,840
When I got her though, like when I saw her, she was just so thin.

392
00:22:04,840 --> 00:22:05,840
Oh, yeah.

393
00:22:05,840 --> 00:22:11,080
And she was, you know, close to two feet long at least.

394
00:22:11,080 --> 00:22:13,480
And I'm going, this is it, right?

395
00:22:13,480 --> 00:22:15,640
You should be thicker.

396
00:22:15,640 --> 00:22:21,760
Like there's, there's, you know, and then, um, but I, I saw her and I, you know, I kept

397
00:22:21,760 --> 00:22:25,160
her in my mind and I asked the people say, well, what, what were you feeding her?

398
00:22:25,160 --> 00:22:26,160
What have you feeding her?

399
00:22:26,160 --> 00:22:29,880
They were like, oh, she gets a pinky once a week and I'm like, a pinky?

400
00:22:29,880 --> 00:22:30,880
That's it?

401
00:22:30,880 --> 00:22:31,880
Yeah.

402
00:22:31,880 --> 00:22:32,880
Oh my gosh.

403
00:22:32,880 --> 00:22:33,880
Yeah.

404
00:22:33,880 --> 00:22:34,880
I just, yeah.

405
00:22:34,880 --> 00:22:37,760
I think that size totally needs to be eating bigger.

406
00:22:37,760 --> 00:22:38,760
Oh, yeah.

407
00:22:38,760 --> 00:22:40,800
That's a poor thing.

408
00:22:40,800 --> 00:22:46,080
But since she's been in my care, I mean, she is a robust, healthy girl, but it, it took

409
00:22:46,080 --> 00:22:52,920
me a while to get her to the level that she needed to be at and like the size of, of,

410
00:22:52,920 --> 00:22:55,840
you know, rodents that she needed to be eating.

411
00:22:55,840 --> 00:23:01,800
But now she eats rat pups like a champ and she's, she's nice and, you know, healthy and

412
00:23:01,800 --> 00:23:02,800
thick.

413
00:23:02,800 --> 00:23:05,280
She don't, you know, we're not seeing her vertebra.

414
00:23:05,280 --> 00:23:10,600
I think her first couple of sheds were like just pieces, you know?

415
00:23:10,600 --> 00:23:13,400
But now she's shedding in one nice long piece.

416
00:23:13,400 --> 00:23:17,800
And so I'm really proud of myself for that.

417
00:23:17,800 --> 00:23:18,800
But I also-

418
00:23:18,800 --> 00:23:22,720
Well, it's always like also just very fulfilling when you can actually get an animal to turn

419
00:23:22,720 --> 00:23:29,560
around like that because there are unfortunate cases where people have tried and the animal

420
00:23:29,560 --> 00:23:30,560
just crashes.

421
00:23:30,560 --> 00:23:31,560
Yeah.

422
00:23:31,560 --> 00:23:33,400
And it's, it's awful.

423
00:23:33,400 --> 00:23:34,400
It's just awful.

424
00:23:34,400 --> 00:23:38,200
So I mean, that's, that's, I'm with you on this.

425
00:23:38,200 --> 00:23:44,480
Like it's part of the reason that I'm not huge supporter of them, but they hit and miss

426
00:23:44,480 --> 00:23:46,200
a few, you know, okay.

427
00:23:46,200 --> 00:23:47,200
Yeah.

428
00:23:47,200 --> 00:23:50,960
Our tangent is about ready to go, you know?

429
00:23:50,960 --> 00:23:51,960
Right?

430
00:23:51,960 --> 00:23:52,960
No, it was a good one.

431
00:23:52,960 --> 00:23:53,960
It was a good one.

432
00:23:53,960 --> 00:23:54,960
I love it.

433
00:23:54,960 --> 00:23:55,960
I love that.

434
00:23:55,960 --> 00:24:01,480
See, I love that you have the same kind of passion for the animals as, you know, somebody

435
00:24:01,480 --> 00:24:07,280
who's breeding or, or someone like me, I'm just a keeper, but, you know, I, I make videos

436
00:24:07,280 --> 00:24:11,800
and stuff about it, but, you know, I knew that that passion would be there.

437
00:24:11,800 --> 00:24:20,400
So I, you know, I feel like having on the show and having that ability to showcase your,

438
00:24:20,400 --> 00:24:25,440
your passion for the animals, I think that's a huge, a huge plus for you.

439
00:24:25,440 --> 00:24:26,560
Does that make sense?

440
00:24:26,560 --> 00:24:30,480
Like, not only are you creating, you know, you're, you're creating these beautiful works

441
00:24:30,480 --> 00:24:33,560
of art and I'd love your little hog nose design.

442
00:24:33,560 --> 00:24:36,560
I think it's one of the coolest.

443
00:24:36,560 --> 00:24:43,480
You know, and so it really shows that there is a lot more behind the artwork than, than

444
00:24:43,480 --> 00:24:45,160
just, oh, just an inspiration.

445
00:24:45,160 --> 00:24:46,160
You know what I mean?

446
00:24:46,160 --> 00:24:47,160
There's, there's emotion.

447
00:24:47,160 --> 00:24:48,160
There's a love.

448
00:24:48,160 --> 00:24:49,160
Yeah.

449
00:24:49,160 --> 00:24:50,160
Yeah.

450
00:24:50,160 --> 00:24:51,160
Absolutely.

451
00:24:51,160 --> 00:24:52,560
So thanks for being here.

452
00:24:52,560 --> 00:24:53,560
Yeah.

453
00:24:53,560 --> 00:24:54,560
Thank you.

454
00:24:54,560 --> 00:24:55,560
And thank you for inviting me.

455
00:24:55,560 --> 00:25:00,280
Like it was funny because when you first like approached me on it, I'm like, and for

456
00:25:00,280 --> 00:25:05,320
to cast this, like, I know that they're going to focus heavily on inverts and I'm like,

457
00:25:05,320 --> 00:25:08,920
hmm, I have so much more reptile stuff on my teeth.

458
00:25:08,920 --> 00:25:14,200
Well, I'm not sure if this is going to really like jive with what they're looking for, but

459
00:25:14,200 --> 00:25:16,120
I'm like, why not?

460
00:25:16,120 --> 00:25:17,120
Let's just go for it.

461
00:25:17,120 --> 00:25:18,120
See what happens.

462
00:25:18,120 --> 00:25:19,560
Oh, I totally jives.

463
00:25:19,560 --> 00:25:26,600
I feel, I feel like it does because I mean, here in the States, especially we, you know,

464
00:25:26,600 --> 00:25:31,000
reptiles and invertebrates, they typically come in their own in the same show.

465
00:25:31,000 --> 00:25:34,080
That's over in the UK.

466
00:25:34,080 --> 00:25:36,720
They have an all-invert show.

467
00:25:36,720 --> 00:25:40,240
So they don't do, yeah, they don't compact them together.

468
00:25:40,240 --> 00:25:42,600
So I'm a little jealous of that.

469
00:25:42,600 --> 00:25:46,040
But on the same token, I also keep reptiles.

470
00:25:46,040 --> 00:25:49,520
I love, I keep snakes, but I love them.

471
00:25:49,520 --> 00:25:54,320
And so what other things do you have?

472
00:25:54,320 --> 00:26:01,080
So I have three ball pythons, a redtail boa and corn snake and the Mexican black king

473
00:26:01,080 --> 00:26:02,080
snake.

474
00:26:02,080 --> 00:26:03,080
Nice.

475
00:26:03,080 --> 00:26:08,320
So delving into the reptile world is totally okay with us because, you know, a lot of people

476
00:26:08,320 --> 00:26:10,280
who keep inverts also keep reptiles.

477
00:26:10,280 --> 00:26:13,480
A lot of people who keep reptiles also keep inverts.

478
00:26:13,480 --> 00:26:16,280
So I think it just kind of goes hand in hand.

479
00:26:16,280 --> 00:26:17,280
It works.

480
00:26:17,280 --> 00:26:18,280
Perfect.

481
00:26:18,280 --> 00:26:19,280
Yes.

482
00:26:19,280 --> 00:26:28,480
So speaking of like stores and kind of retail, since we were there, I had a question about

483
00:26:28,480 --> 00:26:29,800
your price points.

484
00:26:29,800 --> 00:26:32,240
Like, how do you create your price points?

485
00:26:32,240 --> 00:26:36,440
How did you decide where those should be for your work?

486
00:26:36,440 --> 00:26:42,960
Because I know that's really difficult for like newcomers to creating artwork and having

487
00:26:42,960 --> 00:26:43,960
that on sale.

488
00:26:43,960 --> 00:26:44,960
Yeah.

489
00:26:44,960 --> 00:26:46,640
How did you start?

490
00:26:46,640 --> 00:26:52,360
So doing a price point, it's such a good question, but it's also a tough question.

491
00:26:52,360 --> 00:26:53,360
Okay.

492
00:26:53,360 --> 00:26:59,320
Because there's so many different variables when it comes to pricing your work.

493
00:26:59,320 --> 00:27:06,720
And it's like, there's some formulas that you can use, but ultimately as an artist,

494
00:27:06,720 --> 00:27:14,960
you have to sit down and assess like what your worth and value are in terms of your

495
00:27:14,960 --> 00:27:15,960
artwork.

496
00:27:15,960 --> 00:27:23,680
And such a hard thing for an artist to do because we approach our artwork from like love.

497
00:27:23,680 --> 00:27:26,680
We don't like money is an afterthought.

498
00:27:26,680 --> 00:27:31,520
Like this is not something that we're doing because we want to earn money.

499
00:27:31,520 --> 00:27:34,000
We do it out of passion.

500
00:27:34,000 --> 00:27:42,920
And when I started FATI Pancake, I knew that I wanted to do something that was more e-commerce

501
00:27:42,920 --> 00:27:51,200
driven and more just like working more specifically with print on demand.

502
00:27:51,200 --> 00:27:56,640
And if you're not familiar with that, that's essentially you are going to a company.

503
00:27:56,640 --> 00:28:03,520
And that company that will fulfill your product orders by taking the designs you upload and

504
00:28:03,520 --> 00:28:08,760
then they will print it on a variety of products and then ship it to your customers.

505
00:28:08,760 --> 00:28:09,760
Okay.

506
00:28:09,760 --> 00:28:15,680
It's sort of, it gets kind of linked with drop shipping, but it's not 100% drop shipping

507
00:28:15,680 --> 00:28:21,320
because there is some like customizable like attributes to it that you can that you're

508
00:28:21,320 --> 00:28:23,560
using.

509
00:28:23,560 --> 00:28:26,520
But that's essentially what it is.

510
00:28:26,520 --> 00:28:31,840
And generally when you're working with print on demand, it's a little easier to price yourself

511
00:28:31,840 --> 00:28:40,480
because you've got a base price of a product and then you just adjust depending on what,

512
00:28:40,480 --> 00:28:48,600
like if you want to increase it by like 15% or 20% or 30%, you know, there's a certain

513
00:28:48,600 --> 00:28:53,320
like, there's a certain percentage that you're going to hit where, you know, nobody's going

514
00:28:53,320 --> 00:28:56,360
to want to buy a t-shirt for $45 unless you're.

515
00:28:56,360 --> 00:28:57,360
Certainly.

516
00:28:57,360 --> 00:28:59,360
Somebody like Supreme or something like that.

517
00:28:59,360 --> 00:29:00,360
Taylor Swift.

518
00:29:00,360 --> 00:29:01,360
Yeah, Taylor Swift.

519
00:29:01,360 --> 00:29:02,360
Yeah.

520
00:29:02,360 --> 00:29:09,880
Somebody who clearly has like a huge name and they can like do that.

521
00:29:09,880 --> 00:29:18,880
But you oftentimes are sort of at like the whims of the market because like all things,

522
00:29:18,880 --> 00:29:23,480
especially right now with the economy, with it kind of being like, eh, you know, a lot

523
00:29:23,480 --> 00:29:24,840
of people are saving more.

524
00:29:24,840 --> 00:29:26,920
They're not wanting to spend more.

525
00:29:26,920 --> 00:29:38,320
So you want to be cautious and know your market and know like how much, like how much you

526
00:29:38,320 --> 00:29:42,760
can actually like price something at that's going to be comfortable for that market.

527
00:29:42,760 --> 00:29:50,080
And if it's different, however, if you're going to be selling in like a commission,

528
00:29:50,080 --> 00:29:54,400
like if you're going to be doing commissions, calculating your price there is going to be

529
00:29:54,400 --> 00:30:00,680
drastically different as well as if you're going to be doing like wholesale with customers

530
00:30:00,680 --> 00:30:06,040
or you're going to be doing galleries or doing like the shows and events because there's

531
00:30:06,040 --> 00:30:12,320
all of these fees that you have to calculate, you know, you have to calculate for taxes,

532
00:30:12,320 --> 00:30:17,920
advertisement, you know, just like a whole bunch of other like things that you wouldn't

533
00:30:17,920 --> 00:30:24,360
otherwise really like know about going in and you're kind of all, hmm, I did not realize

534
00:30:24,360 --> 00:30:30,200
how, how expensive all of this stuff is going to add up and it's going to cut into a particular

535
00:30:30,200 --> 00:30:34,320
like profit on my end.

536
00:30:34,320 --> 00:30:35,640
Right.

537
00:30:35,640 --> 00:30:40,960
When I was, when I was still working with commissions, typically what I was doing was

538
00:30:40,960 --> 00:30:50,960
I was assessing how long it took me to do a particular piece of artwork and then calculating

539
00:30:50,960 --> 00:30:57,720
my minimum hour, my minimum hourly wage that I wanted to work.

540
00:30:57,720 --> 00:31:04,720
And that worked as a base price and I would fluctuate and that number would go up depending

541
00:31:04,720 --> 00:31:11,240
on various factors like how many subject matters are going to be inside of this, this illustration,

542
00:31:11,240 --> 00:31:15,480
you know, okay, like how, how complex was it going to be?

543
00:31:15,480 --> 00:31:21,960
Like is this going to take me over 120 hours to work, which that almost never happened.

544
00:31:21,960 --> 00:31:28,440
But I mean, there were projects where it did extend over, you know, a 30 hour mark and

545
00:31:28,440 --> 00:31:33,440
it was like I needed to be, you know, respectfully compensated for that.

546
00:31:33,440 --> 00:31:34,440
Absolutely.

547
00:31:34,440 --> 00:31:39,360
Yeah, it's, there's another way that you can do it, like if you're doing traditional work

548
00:31:39,360 --> 00:31:50,560
as well, factoring in your material costs and then taking your, I believe it's the size

549
00:31:50,560 --> 00:31:57,720
of the canvas or whatever, you know, material you're using and then calculating out per

550
00:31:57,720 --> 00:32:02,760
square inch, how much it costs per square inch.

551
00:32:02,760 --> 00:32:08,080
And there's a lot of artists that also will use that methodology as well.

552
00:32:08,080 --> 00:32:13,200
But again, every artist is really different, how they really approach it.

553
00:32:13,200 --> 00:32:14,560
Some don't even use that.

554
00:32:14,560 --> 00:32:19,800
Like some just say, this is what my base rate is because I looked at what other people are

555
00:32:19,800 --> 00:32:27,880
charging and I, like professional markets are charging and they will set their prices based

556
00:32:27,880 --> 00:32:28,880
off that.

557
00:32:28,880 --> 00:32:38,040
And then if, like depending on how many clients they find, they can adjust and say, okay, well,

558
00:32:38,040 --> 00:32:40,640
maybe I'm charging just a little bit too much.

559
00:32:40,640 --> 00:32:46,160
Maybe I can drop it just a little bit or they discover, ooh, I'm not charging nearly enough

560
00:32:46,160 --> 00:32:48,000
as much as I should be.

561
00:32:48,000 --> 00:32:54,880
So let's, let's readjust this and, and let's, you know, get these numbers where they need

562
00:32:54,880 --> 00:32:55,880
to be.

563
00:32:55,880 --> 00:32:56,880
Right.

564
00:32:56,880 --> 00:32:57,880
Okay.

565
00:32:57,880 --> 00:32:59,720
No, that makes total sense.

566
00:32:59,720 --> 00:33:06,000
I, I, you know, I hear there's so many factors that's very complex, but it makes a lot of

567
00:33:06,000 --> 00:33:07,000
sense.

568
00:33:07,000 --> 00:33:08,000
So.

569
00:33:08,000 --> 00:33:09,000
Yeah.

570
00:33:09,000 --> 00:33:10,000
So, thanks.

571
00:33:10,000 --> 00:33:11,000
Thank you for that.

572
00:33:11,000 --> 00:33:12,000
Thank you very much for that.

573
00:33:12,000 --> 00:33:17,520
I really wish that it was just as easy as if you X plus Y, this is what you charge.

574
00:33:17,520 --> 00:33:18,520
Right.

575
00:33:18,520 --> 00:33:24,440
The fact of the matter is, is that there's just so many variables that go into it.

576
00:33:24,440 --> 00:33:28,520
And you also have to factor in two, like at the end of the day, you're still being taxed

577
00:33:28,520 --> 00:33:29,520
for that too.

578
00:33:29,520 --> 00:33:34,000
So it's like, you kind of have to be, you have to be aware of that as well.

579
00:33:34,000 --> 00:33:41,040
And one, one thing that I also noticed when I started charging professional rates for

580
00:33:41,040 --> 00:33:45,160
my work, my clientele changed.

581
00:33:45,160 --> 00:33:51,760
So I started getting people who were a lot more serious about like what kind of projects

582
00:33:51,760 --> 00:33:56,800
that they wanted to do and they were more committed to it.

583
00:33:56,800 --> 00:34:03,560
When I was younger, when I was doing a lot of like just cheap designs for people like

584
00:34:03,560 --> 00:34:06,280
sketches for like $5, $10.

585
00:34:06,280 --> 00:34:13,640
And I cringe, you know, saying that because I fell into that trap when I was younger too.

586
00:34:13,640 --> 00:34:19,680
And but oftentimes the people that I would be working with were really difficult.

587
00:34:19,680 --> 00:34:23,000
You know, they would come back and they would just be like, well, I really don't like the

588
00:34:23,000 --> 00:34:28,240
way this is turning out or I don't like, you know, this or they'll just ghost you and

589
00:34:28,240 --> 00:34:31,200
not, you know, return on her pay messages.

590
00:34:31,200 --> 00:34:33,280
Yeah, exactly.

591
00:34:33,280 --> 00:34:34,920
And it was super frustrating.

592
00:34:34,920 --> 00:34:41,720
But when I finally pushed myself and got more comfortable charging professional rates, I

593
00:34:41,720 --> 00:34:46,400
noticed that saw a significant drop.

594
00:34:46,400 --> 00:34:51,840
And I got more customers who are more willing, who are more serious about commissioning me

595
00:34:51,840 --> 00:34:53,360
for work.

596
00:34:53,360 --> 00:34:55,000
Good.

597
00:34:55,000 --> 00:35:01,360
I think that, yeah, I mean, that makes a lot of sense because, you know, your price points

598
00:35:01,360 --> 00:35:06,280
and when you do do something professionally, you're going to weed out those people who

599
00:35:06,280 --> 00:35:08,720
really are all that serious.

600
00:35:08,720 --> 00:35:14,520
And, you know, and this is another thing that, you know, I like to do with my friends, like

601
00:35:14,520 --> 00:35:19,760
if your friend has a profession that they're doing, say they're a massage therapist.

602
00:35:19,760 --> 00:35:22,240
Don't just expect them to give you massages for nothing.

603
00:35:22,240 --> 00:35:23,240
Oh, right.

604
00:35:23,240 --> 00:35:24,840
You know, like that's so rude.

605
00:35:24,840 --> 00:35:25,840
Yeah.

606
00:35:25,840 --> 00:35:30,680
Yeah, they do say in the art industry that friends and family are some of the worst people

607
00:35:30,680 --> 00:35:34,280
to work for unless you have the contract in place.

608
00:35:34,280 --> 00:35:36,560
Yeah, it's true.

609
00:35:36,560 --> 00:35:40,560
It's true because they don't, you know, they don't, they're just going to assume that because

610
00:35:40,560 --> 00:35:43,600
your friends, they're going to get like those perks and stuff.

611
00:35:43,600 --> 00:35:47,160
So friends and family, you guys, come on now.

612
00:35:47,160 --> 00:35:48,160
All right.

613
00:35:48,160 --> 00:35:49,160
That's seriously.

614
00:35:49,160 --> 00:35:50,160
Support your fellow artists.

615
00:35:50,160 --> 00:35:51,160
Come on.

616
00:35:51,160 --> 00:35:54,400
You can make your friends and family.

617
00:35:54,400 --> 00:35:56,200
For real.

618
00:35:56,200 --> 00:35:57,840
I love it.

619
00:35:57,840 --> 00:36:01,080
So this is a good chime, like your website.

620
00:36:01,080 --> 00:36:05,560
So fattypancake.com is insanely beautiful.

621
00:36:05,560 --> 00:36:06,560
It is well done.

622
00:36:06,560 --> 00:36:07,560
Oh, thank you.

623
00:36:07,560 --> 00:36:08,560
Yeah, absolutely.

624
00:36:08,560 --> 00:36:10,520
I mean, it's super balanced.

625
00:36:10,520 --> 00:36:12,760
It's really nice.

626
00:36:12,760 --> 00:36:18,280
So how, like, how did you do, did you design that yourself or did you end up having like

627
00:36:18,280 --> 00:36:21,800
a different, like, graphic designing company?

628
00:36:21,800 --> 00:36:23,680
Or how, how did you put it all together?

629
00:36:23,680 --> 00:36:26,080
Because it's really fantastic.

630
00:36:26,080 --> 00:36:29,080
So I put, I personally built it.

631
00:36:29,080 --> 00:36:30,080
Love that.

632
00:36:30,080 --> 00:36:32,080
Now, I, I, I use a theme.

633
00:36:32,080 --> 00:36:38,320
I used a template because I have the coding skills of like, I don't know what turn up.

634
00:36:38,320 --> 00:36:42,000
I, I, I'm like, I can't code to save my life.

635
00:36:42,000 --> 00:36:49,320
So I, I have my web store built within Shopify, which is basically an e-commerce platform.

636
00:36:49,320 --> 00:36:50,320
Yeah.

637
00:36:50,320 --> 00:36:54,480
And it's, it's very simple in that you just sign up an account.

638
00:36:54,480 --> 00:37:00,400
You install a theme of your choice and then you just start putting in whatever graphics,

639
00:37:00,400 --> 00:37:04,240
you know, whatever you want in there in order to build it.

640
00:37:04,240 --> 00:37:11,480
And the, when I first built the website, it did not look as nice as it does now for sure.

641
00:37:11,480 --> 00:37:17,600
There, there was a time when I was looking in like the internet archives and I was like,

642
00:37:17,600 --> 00:37:20,360
I don't know what, I'm going to take a trip down memory lane.

643
00:37:20,360 --> 00:37:26,120
So I'm like looking online and I'm like, Oh my gosh, that looks so bad.

644
00:37:26,120 --> 00:37:32,920
You know, but cause it was like the most garish purple and like oversaturated orange.

645
00:37:32,920 --> 00:37:36,960
And it just was like, Oh my gosh, this looks like a sports team color.

646
00:37:36,960 --> 00:37:40,760
This looks terrible right now for what the brand is.

647
00:37:40,760 --> 00:37:42,560
Oh no.

648
00:37:42,560 --> 00:37:49,800
I've undergone a lot of evolution when it comes to the development of the actual interface.

649
00:37:49,800 --> 00:37:52,160
And I still will.

650
00:37:52,160 --> 00:37:58,800
It's always because like there are trends, unfortunately, that are constantly coming

651
00:37:58,800 --> 00:38:06,400
in and out and, of course, yeah, like Shopify's platform is like integrating some of that stuff

652
00:38:06,400 --> 00:38:07,400
in there.

653
00:38:07,400 --> 00:38:14,160
And so sometimes I have to adapt and add certain things that is part of their new terms of

654
00:38:14,160 --> 00:38:19,320
service or, you know, make changes to keep up to.

655
00:38:19,320 --> 00:38:22,840
To specification on their end.

656
00:38:22,840 --> 00:38:30,600
And but it's always changing, you know, and I think that's part of being a small business

657
00:38:30,600 --> 00:38:36,520
owner is that you have to be willing to just adapt with that.

658
00:38:36,520 --> 00:38:42,600
You know, you have to be willing to move and change because if you don't, then there is

659
00:38:42,600 --> 00:38:48,200
a potential, you know, possibility that you could completely be left behind in the dust.

660
00:38:48,200 --> 00:38:55,600
Yeah, I mean, I honestly feel like I'm really fortunate to be part of a, you know, on a

661
00:38:55,600 --> 00:39:01,240
podcast on content creating because that doesn't really change that much.

662
00:39:01,240 --> 00:39:05,680
Like it's like, yeah, get on, say what you got to say, you know, we do our thing.

663
00:39:05,680 --> 00:39:11,800
Of course, there's going to be, you know, video trends or, you know, sound modifications

664
00:39:11,800 --> 00:39:13,520
that are going to come along.

665
00:39:13,520 --> 00:39:16,160
And you want to be along with that.

666
00:39:16,160 --> 00:39:21,400
So I totally understand being adaptable to those changes, you know.

667
00:39:21,400 --> 00:39:24,240
But yeah, like I'm super fortunate.

668
00:39:24,240 --> 00:39:27,400
I'm, I suppose in that aspect.

669
00:39:27,400 --> 00:39:34,280
Yeah, I mean, the advertising for you guys is more social media driven, right?

670
00:39:34,280 --> 00:39:35,280
Yes.

671
00:39:35,280 --> 00:39:36,280
Okay.

672
00:39:36,280 --> 00:39:37,280
Yes.

673
00:39:37,280 --> 00:39:42,240
And I honestly, I've been doing like the Facebook, but I really feel like I need to be hitting

674
00:39:42,240 --> 00:39:44,480
a lot more.

675
00:39:44,480 --> 00:39:49,760
So yeah, that's probably the hardest part of what I do is just staying on top of the

676
00:39:49,760 --> 00:39:56,520
social media and, you know, promoting my show and what I'm, what we're doing.

677
00:39:56,520 --> 00:39:59,280
For me, that's it's so hard.

678
00:39:59,280 --> 00:40:03,200
It really, yeah, it's a major challenge for sure.

679
00:40:03,200 --> 00:40:05,120
Major challenge.

680
00:40:05,120 --> 00:40:06,600
Everything else is cake.

681
00:40:06,600 --> 00:40:10,200
Like I love it, you know, like this is, it's a walk in the park.

682
00:40:10,200 --> 00:40:11,840
It's not really hard for me.

683
00:40:11,840 --> 00:40:12,840
I don't know.

684
00:40:12,840 --> 00:40:18,080
I think that I'm, I'm similar in the way that I'm kind of very creative minded.

685
00:40:18,080 --> 00:40:20,880
I, you know, I like to see balance and things.

686
00:40:20,880 --> 00:40:26,800
I like to, um, like put information out there for me.

687
00:40:26,800 --> 00:40:31,920
I think I'm creative minded, but in a teaching format.

688
00:40:31,920 --> 00:40:33,680
That's good though.

689
00:40:33,680 --> 00:40:34,680
Yeah.

690
00:40:34,680 --> 00:40:40,280
No, everybody, like everybody has a very different method of how they absorb that information.

691
00:40:40,280 --> 00:40:41,280
Right.

692
00:40:41,280 --> 00:40:45,160
Yeah, education is, you can never go wrong with that ever.

693
00:40:45,160 --> 00:40:46,160
Yeah.

694
00:40:46,160 --> 00:40:47,160
No, for sure.

695
00:40:47,160 --> 00:40:49,840
I mean, great teachers in the world, you know?

696
00:40:49,840 --> 00:40:50,840
Um, yeah.

697
00:40:50,840 --> 00:40:51,840
So, okay.

698
00:40:51,840 --> 00:40:55,840
So, yeah, I absolutely love your website.

699
00:40:55,840 --> 00:41:02,640
Um, I think I shared it with, uh, my co-host Simon and I was like, gotta check her website

700
00:41:02,640 --> 00:41:03,640
out.

701
00:41:03,640 --> 00:41:04,640
It's, it's next level.

702
00:41:04,640 --> 00:41:06,640
And he was just, he agreed.

703
00:41:06,640 --> 00:41:10,200
He was like, wow, this is really professionally done.

704
00:41:10,200 --> 00:41:11,200
So good work.

705
00:41:11,200 --> 00:41:12,200
You did excellent.

706
00:41:12,200 --> 00:41:14,200
I think it's fantastic.

707
00:41:14,200 --> 00:41:17,200
So, um, yeah, yeah.

708
00:41:17,200 --> 00:41:18,280
I did.

709
00:41:18,280 --> 00:41:19,280
So what?

710
00:41:19,280 --> 00:41:24,880
So another thing is, is that, um, I also just started like, um, I don't know if you guys

711
00:41:24,880 --> 00:41:28,560
have newsletters like at all for, or a blog.

712
00:41:28,560 --> 00:41:33,520
Uh, uh, no, but I need to ship into that too, for sure.

713
00:41:33,520 --> 00:41:34,520
Yeah.

714
00:41:34,520 --> 00:41:39,920
Cause, cause I know for like podcasts, like being able to kind of piggyback off of like,

715
00:41:39,920 --> 00:41:42,920
uh, a more written thing, which is internet searchable.

716
00:41:42,920 --> 00:41:48,480
Um, not that videos aren't, but I think for, for some people, if they're looking for something

717
00:41:48,480 --> 00:41:54,880
that's very consolidated and condensed, that, that works really well with each other.

718
00:41:54,880 --> 00:42:02,440
And, you know, being able to have that, uh, like a dual thing working side by side is,

719
00:42:02,440 --> 00:42:07,600
might actually help you guys out a huge, uh, for in terms of growth.

720
00:42:07,600 --> 00:42:09,600
No, that's not an idea.

721
00:42:09,600 --> 00:42:10,600
Yeah.

722
00:42:10,600 --> 00:42:11,600
Person.

723
00:42:11,600 --> 00:42:15,560
Well, we are, we're essentially, we're both business people, absolutely.

724
00:42:15,560 --> 00:42:21,440
So I, I feel like that's definitely, um, that's a really great idea and I appreciate

725
00:42:21,440 --> 00:42:22,440
that.

726
00:42:22,440 --> 00:42:24,760
So I'll, I'll make a note that I need to write a blog.

727
00:42:24,760 --> 00:42:27,880
I need to write a blog for sure.

728
00:42:27,880 --> 00:42:28,880
Yeah.

729
00:42:28,880 --> 00:42:33,360
And I mean, you could do lots of care guides and stuff like that for inverts, especially

730
00:42:33,360 --> 00:42:39,360
I'm sure that, you know, just like reptiles, you know, tarantulas and scorpions, they each

731
00:42:39,360 --> 00:42:44,960
have their own different type of like set up habitat requirements and everything.

732
00:42:44,960 --> 00:42:50,320
And, um, like that people, if they're looking for species specific stuff and they're looking

733
00:42:50,320 --> 00:42:55,320
for something very, very unique, you know, they can probably find that by doing a Google

734
00:42:55,320 --> 00:42:57,280
search like really easily.

735
00:42:57,280 --> 00:42:58,280
Absolutely.

736
00:42:58,280 --> 00:42:59,280
Yeah.

737
00:42:59,280 --> 00:43:05,400
And I find myself doing that a lot, um, especially with the podcast, like, you know, I'm not

738
00:43:05,400 --> 00:43:06,400
going to lie.

739
00:43:06,400 --> 00:43:08,920
Like I'm not an expert when it comes to entomology.

740
00:43:08,920 --> 00:43:15,000
Like I don't know everything about insects, um, or invertebrates, if you will.

741
00:43:15,000 --> 00:43:20,880
So you know, when we have a topic like scorpions or centipedes, I have to do that research.

742
00:43:20,880 --> 00:43:24,160
I have to be like, well, what exactly is a centipede?

743
00:43:24,160 --> 00:43:30,960
You know, what, um, I, I, I come up with kind of a list of, of things that I want to know

744
00:43:30,960 --> 00:43:33,440
or like what I would be curious of.

745
00:43:33,440 --> 00:43:37,480
Um, so for centipedes, it was like, do they have venom?

746
00:43:37,480 --> 00:43:38,480
Yeah.

747
00:43:38,480 --> 00:43:41,360
Why are they weird and long?

748
00:43:41,360 --> 00:43:45,680
You know, like it's just, what is with all those legs?

749
00:43:45,680 --> 00:43:47,680
You know what I mean?

750
00:43:47,680 --> 00:43:48,680
Yeah.

751
00:43:48,680 --> 00:43:54,120
But because of that, you know, those little list of questions that I was able to ask myself,

752
00:43:54,120 --> 00:43:56,840
I was able to answer those questions within my research.

753
00:43:56,840 --> 00:44:04,760
Um, and then, and then some, and then of course I find, you know, like species specific information.

754
00:44:04,760 --> 00:44:09,320
Um, I can't think of any right now off the top of my head, but there's, there were a

755
00:44:09,320 --> 00:44:15,960
couple that I was just really fascinated with, but same thing with like scorpions and snails.

756
00:44:15,960 --> 00:44:21,320
I mean, when, when you really start to do that research and dig deep, there's, there's

757
00:44:21,320 --> 00:44:22,320
it's limitless.

758
00:44:22,320 --> 00:44:23,320
Um, and I know that.

759
00:44:23,320 --> 00:44:30,760
And I mean, one thing, one thing that you had just mentioned too, and you know, people,

760
00:44:30,760 --> 00:44:35,600
people will, uh, like education doesn't always have to be so like dry and factual.

761
00:44:35,600 --> 00:44:37,480
It's a journey.

762
00:44:37,480 --> 00:44:43,040
So it's like other people, like we connect with people.

763
00:44:43,040 --> 00:44:49,680
And when we find groups where we're just like, wow, this person is doing so much passionate

764
00:44:49,680 --> 00:44:53,280
stuff with the stuff that I'm super passionate about.

765
00:44:53,280 --> 00:45:01,280
And I absolutely want to be a part of this, you know, and it's like they, you build stuff

766
00:45:01,280 --> 00:45:02,280
this way.

767
00:45:02,280 --> 00:45:09,840
You know, it's like, I, if I want like a review, you know, section, I'm going to go find some

768
00:45:09,840 --> 00:45:16,560
dry blog, you know, to find reviews and stuff that, you know, uh, but if I want something

769
00:45:16,560 --> 00:45:20,600
where I can actually become a part of a community, that's exactly what I'm going to do is this.

770
00:45:20,600 --> 00:45:27,200
I'm going to gravitate to people such as yourself who have this incredible like love and passion

771
00:45:27,200 --> 00:45:31,440
for the things that you, uh, have in your environment and you want to share with everybody

772
00:45:31,440 --> 00:45:36,960
because we connect with people who are on journeys and want to share those journeys with

773
00:45:36,960 --> 00:45:38,840
them, with others.

774
00:45:38,840 --> 00:45:40,760
And it's just a human part of us.

775
00:45:40,760 --> 00:45:44,720
And that's why it's kind of like, this is another tangent that I could go off on, but

776
00:45:44,720 --> 00:45:46,440
I'm just going to be very brief.

777
00:45:46,440 --> 00:45:51,520
Why AI art I don't think is going to be over a long term.

778
00:45:51,520 --> 00:45:52,520
I agree.

779
00:45:52,520 --> 00:45:59,840
As, as profitable as some folks think because human beings like to connect with each other

780
00:45:59,840 --> 00:46:04,480
and computers can't develop emotion, at least not right now.

781
00:46:04,480 --> 00:46:05,480
Oh yeah.

782
00:46:05,480 --> 00:46:06,480
I robot.

783
00:46:06,480 --> 00:46:07,480
Yeah.

784
00:46:07,480 --> 00:46:08,480
Yeah.

785
00:46:08,480 --> 00:46:12,120
I mean, maybe one day it will like become sentry and start looking at a camera lens and be

786
00:46:12,120 --> 00:46:16,000
like, the sky is inspiring me to draw a painting today.

787
00:46:16,000 --> 00:46:19,600
You know, I don't think that's going to happen anytime soon.

788
00:46:19,600 --> 00:46:26,360
So yeah, as long as humans are still producing things and having these, these journeys with,

789
00:46:26,360 --> 00:46:31,800
you know, information and education and knowledge and art and culture, we're still going to

790
00:46:31,800 --> 00:46:32,800
be there.

791
00:46:32,800 --> 00:46:34,560
We're still going to resonate with that.

792
00:46:34,560 --> 00:46:36,080
So, yes.

793
00:46:36,080 --> 00:46:40,960
And that, that was essentially, uh, the idea I wanted to highlight Lilliana super quickly

794
00:46:40,960 --> 00:46:44,320
because she was just checking out your website and she loves it.

795
00:46:44,320 --> 00:46:45,320
Oh, thank you.

796
00:46:45,320 --> 00:46:47,600
I wanted to let you know that.

797
00:46:47,600 --> 00:46:49,080
I'm not the only one.

798
00:46:49,080 --> 00:46:50,880
Um, no, I'm kidding.

799
00:46:50,880 --> 00:46:53,080
But, um, yeah, no, I agree.

800
00:46:53,080 --> 00:46:57,480
Like when we're, when we're kind of growth minded, we definitely tend to attract that

801
00:46:57,480 --> 00:47:05,240
kind of community, people who are in that mindset of, of growth and knowledge and, um,

802
00:47:05,240 --> 00:47:10,800
you know, and so I agree with you that the AI just really, it doesn't hit it.

803
00:47:10,800 --> 00:47:15,960
For me, if you will, like it doesn't, you know, like there's not, there's not going

804
00:47:15,960 --> 00:47:17,520
to be those subtle things.

805
00:47:17,520 --> 00:47:21,560
Like you can, I have seen some pretty cool AI things.

806
00:47:21,560 --> 00:47:27,960
They're very detailed and whatnot, but those subtle like nuances, I think that make, make

807
00:47:27,960 --> 00:47:30,640
them personable through, through the artwork.

808
00:47:30,640 --> 00:47:33,400
Like, yes, though, that's just not going to be there.

809
00:47:33,400 --> 00:47:35,080
And I'm, I'm not a huge fan of that.

810
00:47:35,080 --> 00:47:40,320
So, um, I, I don't think that artwork is something that we can just simulate.

811
00:47:40,320 --> 00:47:47,520
You know, I, I simulate, um, I don't think that that's, uh, really like, I don't believe

812
00:47:47,520 --> 00:47:54,080
there's a lot of worth in that just because, you know, artwork stemmed from a need to be

813
00:47:54,080 --> 00:47:56,120
heard and to vocalize.

814
00:47:56,120 --> 00:48:03,320
And so, or to, to be heard essentially to like, you know, um, from the, from the cave paintings

815
00:48:03,320 --> 00:48:08,880
in France that are just how many thousands of years old, you know, like that, that was

816
00:48:08,880 --> 00:48:16,000
the very first bit of artwork that, that we can really look at and say, this was a need

817
00:48:16,000 --> 00:48:17,000
to be heard.

818
00:48:17,000 --> 00:48:20,240
It was a need to, to say something, to tell a story.

819
00:48:20,240 --> 00:48:26,000
Um, and I don't, I don't think AI can do it as well as, you know, we do.

820
00:48:26,000 --> 00:48:27,000
Right.

821
00:48:27,000 --> 00:48:31,960
And, and I think there's some places where AI can work just fine where, I'm just going

822
00:48:31,960 --> 00:48:37,600
to say you've got like 50 items you need to retouch for like a marketing promotional thing.

823
00:48:37,600 --> 00:48:45,320
And, you know, okay, I can kind of see it being useful in cases like that, but like,

824
00:48:45,320 --> 00:48:50,640
like we said, you know, if you're talking more about an emotional appeal with each other

825
00:48:50,640 --> 00:48:54,080
as people, it's going to fall flat wholeheartedly.

826
00:48:54,080 --> 00:48:55,080
Absolutely.

827
00:48:55,080 --> 00:48:57,240
Just does not understand.

828
00:48:57,240 --> 00:49:02,160
I also don't feel like I would be able to trust an AI to feed all of my tarantulas and

829
00:49:02,160 --> 00:49:04,160
take care of all the maintenance.

830
00:49:04,160 --> 00:49:06,680
Yeah, no, I agree.

831
00:49:06,680 --> 00:49:07,680
You know what I mean?

832
00:49:07,680 --> 00:49:13,560
Like they can't like understand the body language of that tarantula in that given moment, you

833
00:49:13,560 --> 00:49:20,360
know, yeah, there's, I can almost see like if it's a robot, it's just like, stop, stop

834
00:49:20,360 --> 00:49:21,360
posturing.

835
00:49:21,360 --> 00:49:23,280
This is inappropriate.

836
00:49:23,280 --> 00:49:27,600
You are being bad and there's this spider with its legs up, you know, it's like very

837
00:49:27,600 --> 00:49:31,800
upset, you know, it's just like, get away, get away.

838
00:49:31,800 --> 00:49:32,800
Right.

839
00:49:32,800 --> 00:49:40,280
Oh man, trying to bite the robot like, oh goodness.

840
00:49:40,280 --> 00:49:43,400
Oh man.

841
00:49:43,400 --> 00:49:44,400
Okay.

842
00:49:44,400 --> 00:49:52,840
So, um, we'll go into this like kind of couple, maybe one or two more questions, but I have

843
00:49:52,840 --> 00:49:55,080
this question, I think is a really, really great one.

844
00:49:55,080 --> 00:49:59,360
I'm not sure if I sent it to you, but I probably did and I don't know.

845
00:49:59,360 --> 00:50:00,360
I'm sorry.

846
00:50:00,360 --> 00:50:01,360
You're good.

847
00:50:01,360 --> 00:50:09,560
So, what do you hope your artwork like inspires in people who see it and get to get to have

848
00:50:09,560 --> 00:50:10,560
it?

849
00:50:10,560 --> 00:50:11,560
You know what I mean?

850
00:50:11,560 --> 00:50:15,080
Cause I love your artwork, but for you, there's, there's a mission, I'm sure.

851
00:50:15,080 --> 00:50:19,360
So what are you, what kind of feelings or what, what are you trying to elicit in people

852
00:50:19,360 --> 00:50:21,360
with your artwork?

853
00:50:21,360 --> 00:50:29,240
So what I hope, so what I hope people take away when they see my work is that reptiles

854
00:50:29,240 --> 00:50:32,240
and inverts are not scary.

855
00:50:32,240 --> 00:50:41,440
There is a sense of beauty and wonder and just a general curiosity about these animals

856
00:50:41,440 --> 00:50:43,960
that we are still discovering.

857
00:50:43,960 --> 00:50:50,240
Like I know that reptile behavior and even just how we're keeping them is still constantly

858
00:50:50,240 --> 00:50:51,240
changing.

859
00:50:51,240 --> 00:50:57,000
I mean, from when I first started, even when I bought, even when I brought in my first

860
00:50:57,000 --> 00:50:58,520
bearded dragon.

861
00:50:58,520 --> 00:51:03,560
There has been so much interesting stuff that we've discovered about them, like the fact

862
00:51:03,560 --> 00:51:07,240
that they have REM sleep to a certain degree.

863
00:51:07,240 --> 00:51:12,040
And it's kind of like, you know, we wonder, you know, do androids dream of electric sheep?

864
00:51:12,040 --> 00:51:14,880
Well, what, what do bearded dragons dream about?

865
00:51:14,880 --> 00:51:19,400
You know, it's like, are there little, but yes, crickets, you know, sitting on their

866
00:51:19,400 --> 00:51:21,880
favorite basking spot or something.

867
00:51:21,880 --> 00:51:22,880
Sure.

868
00:51:22,880 --> 00:51:30,440
And it's just fascinating how little we actually know about a collective of animals that have

869
00:51:30,440 --> 00:51:35,760
existed on our planet for an incredibly long time.

870
00:51:35,760 --> 00:51:40,400
We had these notions in our head that, oh, they're just, they're stupid.

871
00:51:40,400 --> 00:51:43,000
They're, you know, they're not very intelligent.

872
00:51:43,000 --> 00:51:50,720
And the more that we actually study them based off of proper, like proper scientific studies

873
00:51:50,720 --> 00:51:55,600
instead of comparing to the mammal, you know, comparing to mammals and doing tests that

874
00:51:55,600 --> 00:52:00,880
we gave to mammals, we're discovering that they're a lot more clever and they're a lot

875
00:52:00,880 --> 00:52:06,680
more interesting than we gave them credit for, you know.

876
00:52:06,680 --> 00:52:12,760
And I really hope that my artwork can kind of inspire that and draw people into it and

877
00:52:12,760 --> 00:52:19,080
see, hey, these aren't scary, you know, it's like, okay, a snake is a weird tube, but with

878
00:52:19,080 --> 00:52:26,240
a mouth, but these ones right here, they kind of look after their babies for a little while.

879
00:52:26,240 --> 00:52:27,920
You know, that's interesting.

880
00:52:27,920 --> 00:52:30,080
I didn't realize that.

881
00:52:30,080 --> 00:52:35,920
Or, you know, monkey tail skinks, they're very social for reptiles.

882
00:52:35,920 --> 00:52:42,120
It's not common, but, you know, that kind of thing, I just really would hope to draw

883
00:52:42,120 --> 00:52:45,160
people in and just recognize they're not creepy.

884
00:52:45,160 --> 00:52:46,520
They're not slimy.

885
00:52:46,520 --> 00:52:48,280
They're not ugly.

886
00:52:48,280 --> 00:52:51,040
You know, they're adorable.

887
00:52:51,040 --> 00:52:55,920
And you can take, like, I mean, there's people who go out and take the blob fish and make

888
00:52:55,920 --> 00:52:57,920
it into something that's incredibly adorable.

889
00:52:57,920 --> 00:53:02,200
And it's like, you look at that thing and you're just like, um, I don't know about this, but

890
00:53:02,200 --> 00:53:06,200
it works, you know, and people are just like, oh, you know.

891
00:53:06,200 --> 00:53:07,960
And I really hope to do that with my art.

892
00:53:07,960 --> 00:53:14,160
I want to be able to kind of get more people interested in it that way.

893
00:53:14,160 --> 00:53:15,240
I love that.

894
00:53:15,240 --> 00:53:20,720
Like I do feel that you do definitely hit that, hit that goal.

895
00:53:20,720 --> 00:53:26,280
Because like I said, the hog nose, the hog nose piece that you have, just, I saw that

896
00:53:26,280 --> 00:53:28,480
and I was floored because it is so cute.

897
00:53:28,480 --> 00:53:35,320
It captures like the cuteness of their little upturned nose and just how dainty and like

898
00:53:35,320 --> 00:53:36,720
kind of goofy they are.

899
00:53:36,720 --> 00:53:38,680
Like you captured all of that perfectly.

900
00:53:38,680 --> 00:53:39,680
So goofy.

901
00:53:39,680 --> 00:53:43,120
They really are.

902
00:53:43,120 --> 00:53:47,360
It's funny because the other night I was with a couple of friends and they were telling

903
00:53:47,360 --> 00:53:52,680
me how they don't kill spiders anymore in their house because of, you know, me and my channel.

904
00:53:52,680 --> 00:53:54,280
And I was like, oh, that's really cool.

905
00:53:54,280 --> 00:53:55,280
Right.

906
00:53:55,280 --> 00:53:59,880
Like it kind of, that kind of fuels me a little more to keep doing what I do.

907
00:53:59,880 --> 00:54:00,880
For sure.

908
00:54:00,880 --> 00:54:05,080
And I'm sure like that's kind of the same goal.

909
00:54:05,080 --> 00:54:09,480
But I told, I was telling them about hog noses and how they play dead.

910
00:54:09,480 --> 00:54:10,480
And they were like, no way.

911
00:54:10,480 --> 00:54:11,480
No way.

912
00:54:11,480 --> 00:54:14,360
And I was like, yeah, no, let me find a video.

913
00:54:14,360 --> 00:54:20,520
You know, and I love the fact too that when they play dead and you flip them over, they

914
00:54:20,520 --> 00:54:23,280
like immediately flip back over onto their back again.

915
00:54:23,280 --> 00:54:24,360
Like no, really, I'm dead.

916
00:54:24,360 --> 00:54:25,360
I'm really dead.

917
00:54:25,360 --> 00:54:26,360
Yeah.

918
00:54:26,360 --> 00:54:30,600
They'll just leave their little mouth open and have their tongue out and everything.

919
00:54:30,600 --> 00:54:33,960
Like they are just the masters of the cartoon dead play.

920
00:54:33,960 --> 00:54:36,080
You know, playing dead.

921
00:54:36,080 --> 00:54:38,080
It's just amazing.

922
00:54:38,080 --> 00:54:39,080
Absolutely love that.

923
00:54:39,080 --> 00:54:42,400
You really encapsulate that in a lot of your pieces.

924
00:54:42,400 --> 00:54:44,880
I think that they're absolutely beautiful.

925
00:54:44,880 --> 00:54:47,120
They're wonderful to look at.

926
00:54:47,120 --> 00:54:52,320
But they also do bring in that cuteness, that endearment that, you know, those of us who

927
00:54:52,320 --> 00:54:55,800
keep and we've been keeping a while and stuff we already know.

928
00:54:55,800 --> 00:54:59,960
Like we're well aware of how cute our creatures are.

929
00:54:59,960 --> 00:55:05,320
And so even tarantulas, like they do some things that are just like, really, why are

930
00:55:05,320 --> 00:55:06,320
you doing this?

931
00:55:06,320 --> 00:55:11,080
How many times have you come in the morning and found substrate buried inside their water

932
00:55:11,080 --> 00:55:18,400
dish and you're just like, really, like constantly, you know, and I've seen like I finally have

933
00:55:18,400 --> 00:55:23,800
been able to see videos of them gathering up the substrate and their petty palps and

934
00:55:23,800 --> 00:55:28,680
then walking out and then just going, you know, and it's just like, oh my gosh, this

935
00:55:28,680 --> 00:55:29,680
is, this is adorable.

936
00:55:29,680 --> 00:55:30,680
Like they're like little bulldozers.

937
00:55:30,680 --> 00:55:31,680
Yeah.

938
00:55:31,680 --> 00:55:32,680
Yeah.

939
00:55:32,680 --> 00:55:39,960
Yeah, they definitely do really cute stuff.

940
00:55:39,960 --> 00:55:42,920
I'm kind of a sucker for the calytherae.

941
00:55:42,920 --> 00:55:45,400
So they're fangs.

942
00:55:45,400 --> 00:55:48,240
I think they look like mustaches.

943
00:55:48,240 --> 00:55:51,440
And this is for all spiders.

944
00:55:51,440 --> 00:55:53,360
All spiders have calytherae.

945
00:55:53,360 --> 00:55:58,080
And so I love the various shapes of them.

946
00:55:58,080 --> 00:56:01,560
So they all just kind of look like cute old man mustaches.

947
00:56:01,560 --> 00:56:10,440
That would be an art piece all in itself, like the various mustaches of spiders, you know,

948
00:56:10,440 --> 00:56:18,040
and just have like a side-by-side comparison of all of their different chelicerae and everything.

949
00:56:18,040 --> 00:56:23,920
Oh man, I mean, you have yourself, you would have a monopoly on that one for sure, because

950
00:56:23,920 --> 00:56:26,320
I don't think I've ever seen anybody do that.

951
00:56:26,320 --> 00:56:30,680
And it's definitely something, it's cute, you know.

952
00:56:30,680 --> 00:56:31,680
So yeah.

953
00:56:31,680 --> 00:56:32,680
All right.

954
00:56:32,680 --> 00:56:38,840
Well, we're about done with our hours.

955
00:56:38,840 --> 00:56:40,480
I know, it went by pretty quick.

956
00:56:40,480 --> 00:56:41,480
I know.

957
00:56:41,480 --> 00:56:44,400
But you're so much fun to talk to.

958
00:56:44,400 --> 00:56:47,520
I absolutely love it.

959
00:56:47,520 --> 00:56:50,760
And yeah, I can't wait to run into you again and more expos.

960
00:56:50,760 --> 00:56:52,960
Yeah, for sure.

961
00:56:52,960 --> 00:56:57,880
We do this fun little segment called our shameless plug.

962
00:56:57,880 --> 00:57:01,240
So I'm giving you the soapbox here.

963
00:57:01,240 --> 00:57:03,160
You can do your shameless plug.

964
00:57:03,160 --> 00:57:08,520
Anything that you want to, anything that basically you want to promote, maybe you have something

965
00:57:08,520 --> 00:57:13,120
coming up, something new, have at it now.

966
00:57:13,120 --> 00:57:19,600
So if you guys want to follow me online, you can go to Instagram or Facebook and search

967
00:57:19,600 --> 00:57:24,320
for one fatty pancake, and that's one all spelled out.

968
00:57:24,320 --> 00:57:31,920
And you can follow me there or you can sign up for our newsletter on fattypancake.com that

969
00:57:31,920 --> 00:57:34,080
just launched not too long ago.

970
00:57:34,080 --> 00:57:37,440
And for your pre-storder, you can get 10% off.

971
00:57:37,440 --> 00:57:44,360
And on the newsletter, I intend on doing some freebies every month and some extra deals

972
00:57:44,360 --> 00:57:49,280
that aren't going to be published like front and center on the website.

973
00:57:49,280 --> 00:57:53,120
So yeah, definitely sign up and see what we're doing.

974
00:57:53,120 --> 00:57:56,320
So we're kind of growing in that arena.

975
00:57:56,320 --> 00:58:01,840
But for shows, I'm kind of done for the rest of the year.

976
00:58:01,840 --> 00:58:09,560
Just kind of taking the rest of the year off to kind of relax and catch up on some things.

977
00:58:09,560 --> 00:58:14,080
But I will be doing shows again, probably starting next March.

978
00:58:14,080 --> 00:58:18,920
So Salt Lake City, Denver, look for me there.

979
00:58:18,920 --> 00:58:21,240
And I will always be posting online.

980
00:58:21,240 --> 00:58:23,480
Awesome, love it.

981
00:58:23,480 --> 00:58:24,480
Thank you so much, Mel.

982
00:58:24,480 --> 00:58:26,560
I appreciate you being on our show.

983
00:58:26,560 --> 00:58:28,080
And thank you for inviting me.

984
00:58:28,080 --> 00:58:29,080
This was fun.

985
00:58:29,080 --> 00:58:30,800
Yeah, it was a blast, right?

986
00:58:30,800 --> 00:58:32,920
I'm glad you enjoyed it.

987
00:58:32,920 --> 00:58:36,080
Yeah, it was so much fun.

988
00:58:36,080 --> 00:58:38,400
I just have one shameless plug.

989
00:58:38,400 --> 00:58:44,040
Don't forget to like and subscribe to our channel here in Verticast.

990
00:58:44,040 --> 00:58:51,880
We are on Amazon Music Now, Spotify, rss.com, like a whole bunch.

991
00:58:51,880 --> 00:58:54,360
I think I'm also on iHeartRadio.

992
00:58:54,360 --> 00:58:59,720
So if you guys can't watch the podcast, definitely you can listen to it.

993
00:58:59,720 --> 00:59:02,480
So yeah, just wanted to say that because it's kind of a fun.

994
00:59:02,480 --> 00:59:06,560
I've been working real hard to get all the episodes up.

995
00:59:06,560 --> 00:59:11,280
And yeah, so and obviously check out Patty Pancake, absolutely.

996
00:59:11,280 --> 00:59:13,760
The website is phenomenal.

997
00:59:13,760 --> 00:59:19,040
She's got mugs, t-shirts, you know, stickers, keychains, right?

998
00:59:19,040 --> 00:59:20,680
Yeah, you have keychains.

999
00:59:20,680 --> 00:59:21,680
Yeah, she's hard.

1000
00:59:21,680 --> 00:59:23,680
No, I don't have keychains.

1001
00:59:23,680 --> 00:59:25,200
No, stickers.

1002
00:59:25,200 --> 00:59:29,400
I've got card decals, which can also be customizable for your enclosures too.

1003
00:59:29,400 --> 00:59:32,040
Yeah, I do love the card decals.

1004
00:59:32,040 --> 00:59:33,200
Those are really neat.

1005
00:59:33,200 --> 00:59:35,120
I want that hog nose.

1006
00:59:35,120 --> 00:59:39,240
Hey, hit me up at the show.

1007
00:59:39,240 --> 00:59:40,240
Hit me up at the show.

1008
00:59:40,240 --> 00:59:41,240
I will.

1009
00:59:41,240 --> 00:59:42,560
I'll be there for sure.

1010
00:59:42,560 --> 00:59:51,200
Yes, definitely check out Patty Pancake and one fatty pancake on Instagram and Facebook.

1011
00:59:51,200 --> 00:59:54,560
And you'll see all of male's wonderful artwork.

1012
00:59:54,560 --> 00:59:58,400
And yeah, we'll see you guys next week.

1013
00:59:58,400 --> 01:00:00,400
And thanks again for watching.

1014
01:00:00,400 --> 01:00:01,400
Thank you, guys.

1015
01:00:01,400 --> 01:00:02,400
Thank you.

1016
01:00:02,400 --> 01:00:03,400
I appreciate it.

1017
01:00:03,400 --> 01:00:04,400
Yeah.

1018
01:00:04,400 --> 01:00:05,400
Yeah.

1019
01:00:05,400 --> 01:00:06,400
Yeah.

1020
01:00:06,400 --> 01:00:13,400
Yeah, I appreciate it.

1021
01:00:13,400 --> 01:00:16,400
Yeah.

1022
01:00:16,400 --> 01:00:18,400
Yeah.

1023
01:00:18,400 --> 01:00:20,400
Yeah.

1024
01:00:20,400 --> 01:00:22,400
Yeah.

1025
01:00:22,400 --> 01:00:24,400
Yeah.

1026
01:00:24,400 --> 01:00:26,400
Yeah.

1027
01:00:26,400 --> 01:00:28,400
Yeah.

1028
01:00:28,400 --> 01:00:30,400
Yeah.

1029
01:00:30,400 --> 01:00:32,400
Yeah.

1030
01:00:32,400 --> 01:00:34,400
Yeah.