Curiosity and wonder

In our latest documentary, Ryan and Erica McVeigh of Vivtech Products share how reptiles have brought them a sense of purpose and joy, reigniting that childhood sense of discovery and creating a deeper understanding of the world around them.

An Adler Romer Production for RRK.

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SCRIPT

So these animals make me feel curiosity and wonder, I love watching them move, I love watching them hunt. I love watching the way they interact with their environment. And I love watching the way they interact with me or my kids or Ryan when he's handling them.

And it just instills that little bit in my brain of, “Why does it do that? Why do they do this? Why do they need this? I wonder if we did this.”

So it just gives me that jolt of childhood whimsy almost and curiosity again.

These animals have given me a really huge sense of purpose in that wanting to find out how they live, which is what drove me to start the Herp Society that I did. And even my time at Zilla, it all was based on this passion and this push to make their lives better.

The animals that I chose to work with were ones that mutually we enjoyed working with, coincidentally, which helped out, but also ones that just hit that little dopamine kick in the back of my brain. Being somebody with ADHD, it was something that my brain went, “Ooh, we can hyperfixate on this.” And then when the hyperfixation wore off, that happiness was still there. And I was like, that's an animal that I can work with. This is a species that I still want to work with. It's not that exciting thing because it's new. It was something that meant something to me because it caught my attention and it just sparked joy.

By having them in our lives, we're able to find ways to improve how we keep them, keep them better, provide better lives for them. I'm hoping through these animals being in my life, I'm able to learn enough about them so that the future of keeping these animals in captivity continues to be one of passion and love for these animals and conservation of them, both in captivity and in the wild.

And I want to bring all of that passion and love to people. And these animals are what'll educate me to educate other people about what I've learned.