Brian Barczyk, snake breeder who amassed millions of followers on social media – obituary
Brian Barczyk, who has died of pancreatic cancer aged 54, was a snake breeder who amassed what is thought to be the world’s third-largest collection, numbering around 30,000; Slash, the Guns N’ Roses guitarist, was perhaps his most famous customer.
He became known as a “reptile influencer”, with millions of followers on Facebook, YouTube, Instagram and TikTok viewing his jaunty and educational videos that featured not just snakes, but a variety of creatures including turtles, alligators and armadillos.
A lifelong friend, Kathy Canapini, recalled watching a snake dig its fangs into Barczyk’s arm; he would wait, unperturbed, for it to withdraw. “He’d just say, ‘It’s part of the job. You’ve got to let nature take its course.’”
His speciality and passion was pythons. He was once asked what was his favourite type. “I just can’t pick,” he replied. “It’s like asking a Mom to pick their favourite child. I love them all.”
Brian Henry Barczyk was born in Michigan on September 6 1969 and was brought up by his mother and stepfather, Karen and Mike Miller. He became fascinated by animals following a trip to the zoo aged two or three, he said.
He soon began focusing on reptiles. “No one taught me this obsession. I always tell people I was born with a reptile gene because it’s just in me. I spent every summer catching garter snakes out in the local woods.” His collection of snakes at home was soon in the hundreds.
He attended Center Line High School, and as a promising bass guitarist thought of pursuing a rock career, before deciding to go down the reptile path. He studied biology at the University of Michigan, where he met Lori; they married, and she would go on to play a key role in running his business.
He became a snake breeder, and first made his name in the reptile community with his pioneering ball python morphs. A “morph” is a genetic variation that produces skin patterns or colours not seen in the wild, and breeders produce numerous variations: there are currently more than 7,500 morphs of the ball python, the most popular pet snake.
Barczyk spent more than $100,000 on several occasions for rare West African ball pythons to breed. “There’s nothing like hatching the first one of something,” he said. “You walk in that incubator and see that little head pop up. That’s my adrenaline rush. I would assume it’s like someone into speed.”
Barczyk first gained wide exposure in 2008 when he set up a website and launched a YouTube channel, SnakeBytesTV; he would explain how to safely breed and transport the animals, how to handle the eggs and how to deal with bites. He had himself, he said, been bitten by non-venomous snakes “tens of thousands of times”, though never by a venomous specimen.
His social-media presence made him a perfect fit when the Discovery Channel reality series Venom Hunters launched in 2016. Barczyk and other herpetologists travelled the world extracting the venom from deadly snakes to make antidotes.
“We didn’t go anywhere without a medic,” he told an interviewer. “We always had a plan for what happened. It was dangerous because sometimes we were maybe two and a half hours away from the closest hospital with a snake that might kill you within an hour. So even with the best plan, we knew that the best thing to do was to not get bit.”
In 2018, Barczyk founded the Reptarium, an interactive reptile zoo in Utica, near Detroit, containing thousands of snakes and lizards, as well as such rarities as a two-headed turtle. A new project, the LegaSea Aquarium is due to open across the road in March, this year. It will feature a tank to swim with stingrays, a stingray touching station, feeding opportunities, and a shark tank.
Brian Barczyk is survived by Lori, his wife of 31 years, and by their daughter, Jade, and a son, Noah, who followed in his father’s footsteps with a reptile-based YouTube channel.
Brian Barczyk, born September 6 1969, died January 15 2024
