On the premiere of Discovery’s slithering stone-cold hit series Guardians of the Glades, we have a baby snake situation.
You have heard of “Baby Shark” right? This is nowhere near as catchy or cute. In fact, it’s a lucrative little business as the bag of babies will net near $1000 from the state of Florida, who wants this invasive species to hit the road, Jack, and never come back.
Florida is in the midst of an ecological crisis, from tainted agricultural runoff causing red algae blooms on the pristine shorelines to over 500 invasive species settling into the tropical and welcoming climate thanks to weather events, unwanted hitchhikers and careless humans.
There’s also the pesky climate change thing with Miami manholes popping up with seawater every time the tide rises. Not good.
Read our exclusive interview with Dusty Crum here.
The state is putting money into the bounty hunting business of big snakes, and that is where the network found an unlikely new TV star, “swamp hippie” Dusty Crum, who, along with his team, is going in the Glades and adjacent marshes to find these large constrictors who can eat a Yorkie up in the snap of its alarmingly elastic jaws.
In our clip, we open with Dusty, Brittany and his other team members Tom and Jay who are looking for snakes.
Jay the Swamp Guru is up to his elbows in baby snakes. He yells for Dusty: “Dusty!! They’re all over… see they’re all over…right here [points] they’re all over it.”
Dusty says: “Damn son! Holy cow!”
Brittany is horrified and happy at the same time and says: “Oh my gosh
Cue the dramatic music as Dusty says: let’s suck up these hatchlings like a vacuum cleaner and then we got to find that mama snake, if not she’s gonna make more hatchlings.”
He adds: “Next year there could be up to a hundred of these suckers right here.”
Dusty quips: “It’s like picking up candy son…trick-or-treat, here we go here we go!”
Jay asks Dusty: “You got the mother?”
Disappointed, Dusty says: “No…hatchlings.”
The newbie in the group, Brittany says: “Oh yes! Got another one guys!”
Then the team comes upon the nest or what it might be, as Dusty exclaims: “Ow! Suckah don’t bite me… tell me where your mother is!”
Jay says: “[We have] eighteen [baby snakes]! That’s 900 hundred dollars!”
Happy with the unexpected mini windfall, Dusty says: Yeah, I think we need to find that mama snake.”
We think so too!
Tune into the premiere for a new season of Guardians of the Glades and check out our exclusive interview with Dusty Crum ahead of the premiere.
The brand-new season of Guardians of the Glades premieres Tuesday, January 7, at 10 PM ET/PT on Discovery Channel.
In addition to watching the series on Discovery, viewers can check out new episodes each week by downloading the Discovery GO app. Viewers can join the conversation on social media by using the hashtag #GuardiansoftheGlades and follow Discovery on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter for the latest updates.