- 5 months ago
see more on:
https://realtv.mytvchannel.org/index.html
https://realtv.mytvchannel.org/index.html
Category
📺
TVTranscript
00:00My name's Mike Rowe, and this is my job.
00:06I explore the country looking for people who aren't afraid to get dirty.
00:09Smelly, stinky, vile, putrid.
00:12Hard-working men and women who earn an honest living.
00:15You come back tomorrow morning, this'll be him.
00:17Why don't we just meet here for breakfast?
00:18There we go.
00:18Doing the kinds of jobs that make civilized life possible for the rest of us.
00:22Now get ready.
00:24Wait for it.
00:25Wait for it.
00:27To get dirty.
00:30Coming up on Dirty Jobs.
00:32A diet that's 82% fat is good for you if you have feathers.
00:36Serious lovers of birds feed their birds serious food.
00:39Yes.
00:40It took 30 years to develop the formula for this high-end bird food.
00:43The ingredients are all-natural.
00:45Beef kidney knobs.
00:46Freeze-dried.
00:47Maggots.
00:48And making the stuff is all-nauseating.
00:50Looks like chocolate chip cookie dough.
00:52It's not.
00:53And later.
00:54What do you call yourselves exactly?
00:55Erectophobiacs, maniacs.
00:57Spider and scorpion venom can make you sick.
00:59But it can also be used in research to fight diseases.
01:02You need 500 black widows to get one drop of venom.
01:05Which is why this couple hunts arachnids in the desert.
01:08And feeds and milks them at their home lab very carefully.
01:11This is maddening.
01:12I couldn't drink coffee and do this job.
01:14Oh, God.
01:15Pay at Idaho is not the end of the world.
01:29But you can see it from here.
01:31It's about 100 degrees below zero.
01:33And today I'm going to make bird food.
01:34Not just any bird food.
01:35Suet block.
01:36Suet block looks a lot like soap.
01:37It's not.
01:38It's actually fat and insects all jammed together.
01:40Birds go crazy for it.
01:41And it all happens in that building right behind me.
01:42With those lovely people waiting for me.
01:43Ann and Skip.
01:44Want to meet them?
01:45Sure you do.
01:46Look at you two.
01:47American Gothic.
01:48Ann Blanchard.
01:49Yes.
01:50And Skip.
01:51Cockaroo.
01:52Cockaroo.
01:53Cockaroo.
01:54All right.
01:55The woman here has got a shovel that seems to be covered with the same stuff that's on
02:10my hands?
02:11Yes.
02:12And what is that exactly?
02:13that exactly? This is rendered beef kidney suet. That's the main ingredient in the bird food? In the
02:20bird food that we will be making next, yes. Are we talking about bird food for people that like to
02:25just watch birds and do it as a hobby, or are we talking about actual nutritious sustenance? Well,
02:30if you're going to do that, you can throw a donut on the sidewalk. This is about nutrition. I mean,
02:35if you want to watch birds, yeah, just throw a donut on the sidewalk. That's right. You're saying
02:39that serious lovers of birds feed their birds serious food? Yes. And what makes this serious?
02:46The right ingredients. We use high-quality insects that we grow specifically for the purpose.
02:53Flies? Yes. Yeah. In fact, one of the reasons we do the Musca domestica, which is the common house fly,
03:00is that for bird nutrition, they have the closest to perfect calcium to phosphorus ratio of anything
03:07but crickets. Does the work start out here, or do we go inside? You and I have to climb right into
03:13that tank there and clean out what's left from the last batch. Let's have a look at what's in the tank,
03:17shall we? Now, what will Skip be doing while you and I have actually accomplished work? Moral support.
03:23The fat used in the making of the bird food must first be cooked to an oil form.
03:28Put my leg over there, would you? Nice. But before we can fire up the cooking tank,
03:33you've got to clean it out first. So what we're attempting to do is salvage the usable.
03:39Uh-huh. And then we will discard whatever's left.
03:46So how'd this happen, Annie? How'd you find yourself in the bird food business?
03:50Actually, Skip pursued me. You don't.
03:53As I recall. She was willing to work cheap.
03:56Don't make any sudden moves, Annie. I've got a lot of fat over your head.
04:01And I'm not afraid to use it.
04:05The process of making this type of high-end bird food was developed by Skip. He spent over 30 years
04:10of research on raising the common housefly and then combining it with this particular fat.
04:15See, now that looks like waste, but that's probably 60% fat. That's 70 cents a pound.
04:20What's the average bird food cost?
04:23Ours usually runs about three times as much as the other stuff does.
04:27To make excellent bird food costs a lot of money.
04:31We get a lot of complaints from people about our bird food costing too much money,
04:36and I have one reply.
04:38What?
04:38Don't leave the weenies out of your macaroni and cheese just because you want to buy my bird food.
04:44Would you like me to go get you a Kleenex?
04:46Is it getting bad?
04:47You've got snot hanging all over your face.
04:48I can't feel a thing, honestly. Would you? If you have any handy, if you could come back and tidy me up.
04:53I'll get you one.
04:54Would you? Because I can't even blow my nose because the fat's frozen on my hand.
04:58Okay, we'll take care of this.
04:59I didn't need to be a room, Mike. I just thought you might be more comfortable.
05:03Huh.
05:05You've got to get up there if you want to help.
05:09All right.
05:14Better?
05:15Thank you, good.
05:16Honey, why don't you use the piece with the lug and leverage on it?
05:19I think I...
05:20I started doing that before, and she yelled at me.
05:22That didn't go well, did it, Skip?
05:24One big mighty wallop, and then slip right out of your hands.
05:27Yeah.
05:27When the tool slips out of a man's hands, you can either blame it on the temperature or the lubrication.
05:34Well, when you're standing in a big pool of fat, honey, you're talking about real lubrication.
05:36We're talking major lubrication here.
05:38One big old huge piece of fat.
05:42Oh, my tool, Ann, would you want to do this?
05:43Yes, I'd be happy.
05:45Hold on a second.
05:46If you rub it around really fast, it'll get hot enough to melt.
05:52Isn't this a family show?
05:53It was.
05:54Manson family.
06:00Now that the salvageable pieces of fat have been removed, it's time to scoop out the usable stuff,
06:05which is all the connective tissue burned off from the fat.
06:10Put that anywhere, Annie.
06:15Can't feel anything from my elbows down.
06:17That actually looks like chicken.
06:19Oh, that's okay.
06:20Don't worry about those.
06:21Those are just my testicles, Annie.
06:24I wasn't planning on using them any time soon.
06:28Okay, fat chick is out of the tub.
06:31Next step, get a new batch of fat back in the tank.
06:37Put that anywhere, Skip.
06:42And this is all suet.
06:44This is beef kidney knobs.
06:46Beef kidney knobs, all right.
06:48This is the fat that surrounds the kidney in the bovine.
06:51Kidney knobs are used because they have a high nutritional content.
06:55That was probably, what, $800 for that box?
06:57$800 or $900.
06:59For a box of fat.
07:00Can't see that they're doing a darn bit better.
07:01You're not filming my ass, are you?
07:04Oh, yeah.
07:04Sure.
07:05What else will we do?
07:06I just got thinking about it.
07:09What an awful view.
07:10And it looks like it's got gravy on it.
07:12What's better than ass and gravy?
07:13What a terrible view.
07:16We've got a wide-angle lens.
07:18It's the gravy.
07:19Jeez.
07:21What's better than ass and gravy?
07:23Yeah, that's going to resonate.
07:25That's a whole new season.
07:29Each box contains about 1,500 pounds of fat.
07:32It usually takes about three days to cook the entire amount to a liquid form.
07:36All right, let's take about four or five more out.
07:46By the time we did that, we could have had them all out.
07:51Shortcuts lead to long delays, right?
07:55There you go.
07:59Next.
08:00This is the nerve center.
08:04This is where the bird food is made.
08:06Got it.
08:07What's your hand on?
08:08This is a jacketed tank, stainless steel.
08:11We run hot water from the water heater between the two walls of this,
08:17and it has a circulator on it,
08:19and this maintains a constant temperature for the fat that we have rendered.
08:23So that pipe going through the hole in the wall there is going into the tank that we just cleaned?
08:27The stainless steel pipe carries the rendered suet into the tank,
08:31so all we have at this point is pure suet.
08:35Antioxidants and preservatives are added to the rendered suet so it doesn't spoil.
08:40This is the remnants of the last batch that we cooked off.
08:44This just gets kicked around a bit, does it?
08:48Yes, mix it in.
08:51Bubble, bubble, toil and trouble.
08:53Name that play.
08:55Macbeth.
08:55That's absolutely right.
08:57You satisfied?
09:00Works for me.
09:02Now, we need to set up our molds.
09:04Where do you do that?
09:04Right here.
09:05Oh, good.
09:06Okay.
09:07What we have is a wooden base.
09:09Mm-hmm.
09:09We line that with felt, and we line that with plastic.
09:14That gives us a tight fit so that we don't have leaks.
09:18Okay.
09:21Thusly?
09:22Yes.
09:23You ready to take out your aggressions?
09:24Oh, yeah.
09:26Oh, yeah.
09:29Like it.
09:30It's high roll.
09:46It's high roll.
09:48Coming up.
09:49Do you have a mixing device?
09:51My right hand.
09:52You're using it.
09:53Staring up trouble on a job that's for the birds.
09:56When you lift it out, it will...
09:58It'd be bad.
09:58Oh.
09:59It'd be bad, wouldn't it?
09:59Everybody will be wearing it.
10:01Everybody.
10:04And later, are we going to get bit?
10:06Uh, yeah, possibly.
10:08How many times have you been bit?
10:10Thousands.
10:10Catching spiders is like ordering a cocktail.
10:13You pick your poison.
10:14If you don't scare them, they don't have a reason to bite you.
10:16It seems as though I might be scaring it.
10:22Got a letter here from a viewer named Bradley Wacker from Wisconsin.
10:25He writes,
10:26Dear Mike, I know that Dirty Jobs is about hardworking people,
10:29but I was wondering, how important are animals to your show?
10:32The truth is, Bradley, animals are very important.
10:35Fortunately, my producer, Barsky, has an intuitive way with them.
10:38Kind of a sixth sense, almost.
10:41You can see by how he's convincing the sheep to get them to the back of the F-150.
10:45I'm, uh...
10:47I'm going to have to get back to you.
10:55With the molds and rendered suet ready to go,
10:58it was time to gather the other ingredients for the bird food.
11:01This is dehydrated Musca domestica larva and pupa.
11:06First of all, in the yellow bucket behind you.
11:08And second of all, let's do a man-sized scoop.
11:13I'm sorry.
11:14There you go.
11:15Musca to pupa, larva to what?
11:18Musca domestica is the proper name for the common housefly.
11:22These are freeze-dried or just dried up maggots.
11:26Dehydrated maggots and pupa, which is the cocoon.
11:29Right.
11:29Once they pupate, yes, that's what these little pill things are.
11:34Interesting.
11:35They look exactly like brown rice.
11:39Along with the houseflies, ground peanuts, dehydrated milk whey,
11:43and ground oyster shells are added to the mixture.
11:46Now, this all goes into the mold.
11:49Into the aluminum thing?
11:50Yep.
11:51All right.
11:52Okay, yours will go on top of mine.
11:55Excellent.
11:55Now, we have to add the oil.
12:05Fill her up.
12:06This tank stores the suet at a constant temperature of 140 degrees, keeping the oil from coagulating.
12:12Huh.
12:13So some of the maggots come to the top.
12:15A lot of the pupil will float.
12:17They're very light.
12:18As this cools and hardens, we'll continue to mix it and blend it so that they will be dispersed evenly throughout.
12:27Do you have a mixing thing, a device, a tool?
12:31Mm-hmm.
12:33My right hand.
12:34You're using it.
12:36Oh, yeah.
12:37As long as we keep it moving, it'll set up just fine, and all of your insects will be throughout.
12:44When you lift it out, it will...
12:46It'd be bad.
12:47Oh.
12:47It'd be bad, wouldn't it?
12:48Everybody will be wearing it.
12:50Everybody.
12:54After the sides have been scraped, the drill is used to blend the rest of the suet.
13:01I'll give mine a stir, and we'll let it rest.
13:03So this rests for how long?
13:05About 30 minutes?
13:06In the cooler weather, it'll set up fairly quickly.
13:09What do you want to do while it's setting up?
13:12We can unmold some.
13:14So these are those later.
13:17This is yesterday's version.
13:20And this is called the what again?
13:21That is the Oregon suet block, OSB.
13:23OSB.
13:24This is OSB, too.
13:24That's peanut bugger.
13:25This is peanut bugger.
13:26You know, the OSB looks a lot like the peanut bugger.
13:29At a glance, they are similar.
13:30If you lose track, do you ever taste it?
13:32You can, yeah.
13:33You do?
13:34Yeah, you can tell peanuts right away.
13:36So you lick it, you take a bite to know it's what?
13:38You can just take a little piece off and taste it.
13:41Hmm.
13:42How do we get these out of these?
13:44Okay.
13:44We're going to flip them upside down.
13:46Mm-hmm.
13:47Are you grabbing the wood or just the whole thing?
13:49I'm grabbing the wood.
13:50Oops.
13:50And it's going to do that.
13:51And then I just get it so it's resting on the tray.
13:54And then flip it and just make sure you're kind of centered.
14:00Yeah, that falling on your fingers would be bad.
14:03Oh, I see.
14:15Great.
14:17Sure.
14:18Yeah, take your fingers right off there.
14:19Easy.
14:20Easy as pie.
14:23Go ahead.
14:24Note the placement of the fingers.
14:26Note the size of the device.
14:28Behold the weight.
14:29Roughly 70 pounds.
14:30Imagine the pain.
14:33Not now.
14:34I'm building drama.
14:35Covered with grease.
14:37Slicker than snot.
14:38So many things could go wrong.
14:39Move your fingers back.
14:40Oh, I see what you were doing.
14:42There was a reason I was doing that.
14:43Never mind.
14:44Don't listen to anything I say anymore.
14:45There's a method to my man.
14:46I'm going to let this go and I'm going to let it slide.
14:47Yeah.
14:49Good.
14:49All right.
14:50So we get out the big guns.
14:52Mm-hmm.
14:53Propane?
14:54Propane.
14:55Me, I'm just curious about the ability of this stuff I'm covered with to hold the flame.
14:59You mean, will you flare up?
15:02Will I self-emolier?
15:03No.
15:04I can't even light the steel.
15:07Everything's greasy.
15:09Huh.
15:11Hmm?
15:16By heating the corners of the steel mold, the fat will partially melt, creating a slippery
15:21surface for the suet block to drop.
15:23Look at that.
15:25Shall I remove the first one so you get an idea for the method?
15:28Absolutely.
15:30Oh, this comes off easy.
15:32That looked pretty complicated.
15:33So step one, lift it up and off.
15:35Some of them don't.
15:35Got it.
15:35Some of them don't.
15:37You don't even have to go to step two in this case.
15:37Some of them might I hate two or three times.
15:54Stupid.
15:56Come on.
15:58Come on, big boy.
15:58Do you want me to get that free mic?
16:07This thing's really stuck on there.
16:08Might need some more heat.
16:12Or a towel.
16:14Be good if you have one of those.
16:15That way you can just pop right off there.
16:16Easy as pie.
16:17I wouldn't have to worry about doing anything at all.
16:21That's good.
16:22Good.
16:22Where was the towel earlier?
16:26Right.
16:40Please, please, thank you.
16:42It's nothing, really.
16:44Coming up.
16:44We're going to need to kill them.
16:46The most humane way to do that is to scold them.
16:48That's a sentence I dare say has not been uttered in the entire history of time.
16:52Once a maggot gets in hot water, there's no getting out.
16:55What made it so dirty so quickly?
16:57As soon as we escarled them, they f***ed themselves to death.
16:59The history of bowel movements, that has to be the worst of all time.
17:02And later.
17:03Brown recluse.
17:04That flesh-eating, face-eating thing.
17:06Yeah, your face falls off.
17:07That's in here?
17:08Mm-hmm.
17:09Great.
17:09What has eight legs, two fangs, and can make you ill, out here, pretty much everything.
17:14Tell me again how they're not poisonous.
17:15Those are.
17:16Never mind.
17:22The suet blocks will be pushed through steel wires, cutting them to the right portion for packaging.
17:29Looks like chocolate chip cookie dough.
17:32It's not.
17:35Once they're cut to the desired size, they need to be labeled and packaged.
17:399% protein, 82% fat.
17:42Normally, when you see that, it's a, uh, right, it's cautionary.
17:46But here it's good news.
17:47It's body warmth.
17:48How you doing, Anne?
17:51Doesn't sound good.
17:52Spinning on us?
17:52Yep.
17:53Tighten up.
17:56Let's see.
17:57She's not closing.
17:58All right.
17:59Well, look, I don't want to dwell on whatever tantrum she's having.
18:02I get the idea.
18:02This goes on, and cellophane is magically applied, and when everything is working, they get boxed up and shit down.
18:09Yep.
18:09All right.
18:10Well, while you sort that out, what is Skip up to?
18:14Skip has his maggots, and he's waiting for you.
18:16Oh, Skip.
18:19Besides the suet blocks, Skip also makes another type of bird food using maggots.
18:24So what we want to do here, then, is to prepare these live insects.
18:28We're going to need to kill them.
18:29The most humane way to do that is to scald them.
18:32That's a sentence I dare say has not been uttered, except possibly by you in the entire history of time.
18:39Huh.
18:39The kindest way to kill them is to scald them?
18:41Well, it's like doing crab or lobster or shrimp or something.
18:44There are many ways to kill them, but you want to do it as quickly and humanely as possible.
18:49Sure.
18:50And so we use the same technique here.
18:51So what we'll do, then, this time, is take insects, put them in the bag,
18:55and then plunge them into a little bucket of hot water, let them sit there for a minute, and they'll be dead.
19:03They'll perish quickly.
19:04So you can go ahead and put a scoop of this material into there.
19:08Now tell me about these, I mean, these are from fly larvae, right?
19:12You know, a lot of people think that these things are dirty.
19:16Besides animal food, we're going to develop them for human food.
19:22In fact, we do have a customer that uses these for a big cocktail party in New York every year.
19:26Get out of here.
19:27No, true story.
19:28In New York?
19:29At the Waldorf Astoria, you can have a maggot-stuffed mushroom cap.
19:34Come on.
19:36Really?
19:36Yeah.
19:37You're going to eat one?
19:37I'll eat one if you will.
19:40Only, I didn't see it going.
19:43Hear the popping?
19:43It's like little bitty grapes.
19:45What's it taste like before I do this?
19:48Really?
19:48You like shrimp?
19:50Really?
19:53They're clean.
19:55Yeah, I can see that.
19:56Anything that comes out of a fly's ass has got to be pristine.
20:03They do snap.
20:05Hear the popping in there?
20:06Mm-hmm.
20:07Kind of reminds you of pomegranate seeds.
20:09I was just going to say that.
20:10You're never going to eat another pomegranate without thinking about a mouthful of maggot.
20:15So let me go grab some water.
20:17Oh, I need...
20:18Pour all the water at once quickly into here so we don't be losing temperature.
20:25How many are in here, you think?
20:27Oh, 25,000.
20:2825,000.
20:29This is just genocide.
20:32You can't pour all that.
20:35Okay, good.
20:36Let's see how they're doing.
20:37Not good.
20:39They're not doing great.
20:40I think we managed to kill them quickly and painlessly.
20:43Good.
20:44What made it so dirty so quickly?
20:46There was a little material left in their gut, and as soon as we scalded them, they
20:51f***ed themselves to death.
20:52The history of bowel movements, that has to be the worst of all time.
20:5725,000, and then bang, gone.
21:00Crapped yourself to death.
21:02Empty the insects out.
21:03What's going to...
21:06The maggots will then be liquefied and mixed in with puffed millet.
21:12Millet's a grain that is not used as a food grain in the United States.
21:15We feed it to birds.
21:16The absorbent qualities of the puffed millet allows it to soak up the liquefied maggots,
21:21creating a high-protein snack for birds once it's dry.
21:24So where's the drying mechanism you use?
21:26Fire Marshal makes us keep them outside.
21:28So it's this way.
21:30All right.
21:31We're off to the drying mechanism.
21:33These are your drying mechanisms.
21:40Come on.
21:41What is it, wash day?
21:43Always.
21:43You know how dirty we get.
21:45Come on.
21:46You're kidding me, right?
21:48No, throw the buggums in there.
21:52Actually, it's not buggums until it goes in the bag.
21:55Okay.
21:56Right now, it's just pre-buggums.
21:57Yeah, pre-buggums.
21:58All right.
21:59Listen, I love to chat.
22:00I get it.
22:00I get it.
22:01You're making premium bird food.
22:02This is for me?
22:03That's for you.
22:04This is for me?
22:05This is for you.
22:06You're fantastic.
22:08Hey.
22:09They broke the mold with you.
22:11Honestly.
22:12Nobody's doing this this way.
22:13No.
22:14We like to do our job correctly, and we're not really particularly interested in the profit
22:20margin.
22:20We're into doing a very high-quality job.
22:23I don't know what you're feeding your birds, but if it's not this, or this, you don't really
22:33like your birds.
22:35Coming up.
22:36Okay, so these are going to get some maggots to feed them.
22:38Oh, you really can't breathe.
22:41Making food for spiders is serious business.
22:43Oh, no.
22:45And a real gag.
22:47Are we going back in there?
22:48Just briefly.
22:49You can count on that.
22:50See those three cactuses down there, or cacti, I suppose?
23:00There used to be four not too long ago there were anyway.
23:03I know that because it was that exact spot that I came to not long ago and pulled one
23:07out, transplanted it with my buddy Dave Morales from the Morales Ranch.
23:11When I left this part of Arizona on that particular day, I was fairly certain I would never return
23:15again.
23:16I was completely wrong, as I am more and more these days.
23:20I've come back specifically to say hi to Chuck and Anita.
23:23How are you?
23:24Hi, Mike.
23:24Nice to meet you.
23:25These guys are, uh, what do you call yourselves exactly?
23:29Uh, arachnophobiacs, maniacs, spider hunters.
23:32Now, you're making stuff up, I'm pretty sure.
23:34Yeah.
23:35Okay.
23:35You love the spiders?
23:36Yes, we do.
23:37Yeah.
23:38The goal today is to collect some spiders.
23:40Right.
23:41All right, and, and why?
23:43Well, we supply the venom, or spider spit, for research.
23:48To do what?
23:49There's been discoveries like for diabetes, atrial fibrillation of the heart, urinary incontinence,
23:56epilepsy.
23:57You're saying that the venom in some of these spiders actually works in a life-saving way?
24:02Right.
24:02Mm-hmm.
24:03You guys are a couple?
24:04Yep.
24:0523 years.
24:0623 years.
24:07Where are you from?
24:08Originally from Czech Republic.
24:10All the way from the Czech Republic, to live in the desert with this guy, squeezing the
24:14venom out of spiders.
24:15I've never liked spiders in my life until I met him.
24:18You must have some kind of charm going on underneath this, underneath this facade.
24:22Mad scientist.
24:22She liked my eyes.
24:26So you're going to try and collect some spiders that you think might be in here?
24:29Yeah.
24:29This is a pack rat, Dan.
24:31It's actually a wood rat.
24:32Okay.
24:33And it's got a home underneath here, where it's where it's grain and everything else,
24:37and all sorts of insects move in, and spiders move in because of the insects and stuff like
24:41that, and it's nice and protected.
24:43And this is a pack rat?
24:44This is a pack rat.
24:45How big is a pack rat?
24:46Oh, it's about the size of a small rat, a short tail.
24:50Okay.
24:51Nice stubby face.
24:52Okay, so the idea here is we're going to try to tear this apart without disturbing the
24:56pack rat too much.
24:57We're going to take it out piece by piece looking for spiders, okay?
25:00As we go.
25:01So it's not a, you don't trash it, it's a methodical process.
25:04Right, right.
25:05And we also want to figure out, we're going to try to figure out where the pack rat actually
25:08is and where the den is because we don't want to actually break into her den.
25:12And we're going to try to rebuild this thing afterwards.
25:14Oh, we're going to, okay.
25:15Okay, so you're a polite, mannerly spider catcher.
25:19We're going to scare the hell out of that thing, and then we're going to try to make
25:23up.
25:23Good.
25:24I hate to think I'm the only one here about to crap my pants.
25:28No, that's your first aid kit.
25:30Okay, let me show you what you got here.
25:31Only that.
25:32Are we going to get bit?
25:33You got vials by here.
25:35Yeah, possibly.
25:36So there's the vials for the spiders, or scorpions, whatever.
25:39There's scorpions in here too, maybe?
25:40Yeah.
25:41There might be some scorpions, yeah.
25:42Do you have the brown recluse?
25:44That flesh-eating necrif.
25:46Yeah, the face-eating thing.
25:47Yeah, your face falls off.
25:49That's in here?
25:49Mm-hmm.
25:50Great.
25:51How many times have you been bitten?
25:52A thousand.
25:54Well, that's because he likes to play with it.
25:56What's the matter with him?
25:57Chuck and Anita's business is called Spider Farm.
26:00That's farm, spelled with a P-H.
26:02To keep it going, they're out collecting spiders and scorpions seven days a week, all year
26:07round.
26:07Is that a black widow?
26:08That's a black widow.
26:08The black widow's spider venom is a potent neurotoxin, but there isn't enough venom in
26:13a black widow bite to be fatal to the average person.
26:16The poison of the brown recluse spider has a necrotic effect on tissue, but brown recluse
26:21bites are rare, and serious side effects from them are even rarer.
26:24There's a brown recluse looking at it.
26:25Right here.
26:26Where?
26:26Right here.
26:27On your...
26:27Oh, jeez, a whiz.
26:28If you don't scare them, they don't have reason to bite you.
26:30It seems as though I might be scaring it.
26:33Just slam it down.
26:34Okay, okay.
26:35Slamming things down on a brown recluse.
26:36Unless it's a rolled-up piece of newspaper, I'm not sure I totally get it.
26:40So we'll just come down straight on top of it?
26:42Okay, boom.
26:43Look at that one.
26:44Yeah, you might want to...
26:45I might want to.
26:46I hear you.
26:47That's a nice way of saying Mike, do something.
26:48Those actually bite a lot, too, but it's not a serious bite.
26:51Where'd it go?
26:52I like to make sure the caps are on super tight.
26:56Here's another black widow right here.
26:57Oh, boy.
26:58Isn't there supposed to be like a red dot?
27:00Yep.
27:01Tell me again how they're not poisonous.
27:02Those are.
27:03Oh, never mind.
27:06Okay, kissing butt.
27:07She's nicely full, too.
27:08She's got a good blood meal recently.
27:10So she's full of rat blood.
27:12Yeah.
27:12So if I were to squeeze her, it'd be a bloody mess.
27:15Right.
27:16Yeah, you want to try...
27:17You want to pack this up?
27:18Yeah, let's put this one back together.
27:19I don't think we've done enough damage here.
27:24Chuck and Anita don't catch spiders just for the fun of it.
27:27They're going to feed them and then milk them at their home laboratory,
27:31which you will not mistake for a dairy farm.
27:32So we're going to take the spiders out that we collected.
27:35Okay, you just sort of get those sorted out.
27:40And I got some kissing bugs, and I believe I got a couple of black widows.
27:43For most people, a few hundred spiders in their home would be reason to call an exterminator.
27:47Anita and Chuck, keep 50,000 spiders here.
27:50Just a few minutes work.
27:51Not bad, huh?
27:52Not bad.
27:53Coming up...
27:54You want to feed some tarantulas now?
27:56The fangs are dripping with venom.
27:58The best time of day for a tarantula is the worst for a cricket.
28:02Well, look at him go.
28:03See how quick they are?
28:04They're quick.
28:04What we're going to do is we're just going to put them all in the same tray, just in different rows.
28:14Mm-hmm.
28:15Just take this out.
28:16You want to get in a nice open space.
28:17Mm-hmm.
28:18So if the thing starts to run, you can catch it before it runs off.
28:23I'll try to hold that.
28:25Mm-hmm.
28:25Okay.
28:26Then go behind it with either the tweezers or this.
28:29And then I'm just going to tease it down into the cup.
28:31Just make it go slow.
28:32Go slow, okay.
28:33And if he starts running, you just move away from the table or catch him.
28:37Well, there is the other way.
28:39What's the other way?
28:47Perfect.
28:48First time, it's perfect.
28:50Okay.
28:51This is that small, then.
28:53You know, that's what we have to work with, so...
28:55Mm-hmm.
28:59He's very cooperative.
29:00He just fell right out.
29:01I have to use the tool.
29:02She's not going to get on.
29:03We'll use the tool on this one because she is being...
29:07Petulant.
29:08Get in there, you bad black widow.
29:10Oh, jeez!
29:11Okay.
29:15Just like hovered in the air by magic.
29:19Stay in there.
29:20Stay in there.
29:21Close one.
29:30That's very, very curious.
29:33Oh, and I'll...
29:34Get back.
29:35There you go.
29:38Okay, so these are...
29:39You've got to get some maggots to feed them.
29:40Where are the maggots?
29:41Out there.
29:43Not just any maggots.
29:44No, if you want your spiders to be healthy, happy, and full of venom, you've got to feed
29:48them fresh, homegrown maggots.
29:50And by the smell, I know these maggots are fresh indeed.
29:54Yep.
29:54Basically.
29:58Oh.
29:59The stench is from the ammonia that maggots excrete when they feed.
30:02This is how maggots protect their food from competing bacteria.
30:06Okay, this is where we raise the flies.
30:09Okay, so we've got fruit flies at that end.
30:11Uh-huh.
30:11And we have house flies and maggots at the other end.
30:14Wow.
30:14So this is rabbit pellets.
30:16We're going to make that end.
30:17Yeah, rabbit pellets.
30:18Okay.
30:18But they eat it and they lay their eggs in it.
30:20Right, yeah.
30:21Mm-hmm.
30:21What a weird.
30:22Two cups of that.
30:24The first thing I need to do is make the flies some food.
30:28We are making the media.
30:31Right.
30:31This is the egg-laying media.
30:33Egg-laying media.
30:34Mm-hmm.
30:34It's sort of like an artificial cow dropping.
30:37Oof.
30:38I kind of miss the actual cow droppings right now.
30:45Okay.
30:47Okay.
30:48Oh.
30:49Oh, no.
30:51Oh, come on.
30:53Oh.
30:54Yeah, these guys haven't been fed yet.
30:55They just hatched last night.
30:56No, they must be famished.
30:58Yeah.
30:58All good.
31:01Don't like it in there at all, Chuck.
31:03At all.
31:05Pretty good.
31:06These maggots are now adolescents.
31:08Soon, they'll be ready for spider food.
31:10It spans out like a meatloaf.
31:12You've got to put your hips in there a little bit.
31:14Absolutely.
31:14You really want to give the maggots a ride.
31:18Come on, you maggots.
31:20There you go.
31:20That should do it, isn't it?
31:22Yeah.
31:22Yeah, they were starting to enjoy it.
31:25I just ate another fly, man.
31:28That's awful.
31:29There's nowhere to stand.
31:30There's nowhere to hide.
31:31Nowhere to run.
31:32Yeah.
31:37Okay.
31:38Plus, it's got to be the smelliest room in the joint, right?
31:42Uh, almost.
31:43We got one of the little different flavor.
31:46Do you?
31:46That's the house fly fruit flies.
31:49This is just an open room.
31:50There's no cage in here.
31:51No.
31:52You really can't breathe.
31:56No.
31:56This has got a really strong odor in here.
32:00Okay.
32:00Some of these, if I want to...
32:01The tiny fruit flies in this room will have tiny maggots.
32:05They're food for the tiny spiders.
32:07Chuck, this is disgusting, man.
32:09Every time I breathe, it gets flying down my nose.
32:11Do not breathe deeply.
32:13This one we can take outside.
32:14Let's go outside.
32:15Let's go.
32:15Yeah.
32:16Just knock them out of your way.
32:17Just push them.
32:18Push them.
32:19Push them.
32:20Push them away.
32:21Push them away.
32:22That's vile.
32:28In that room where those things are, this is what they look like, only there are a gajillion
32:31of them.
32:31And as you breathe in, they're straight down in your throat, straight up your nose, in your
32:35eyes, in your ears.
32:37It's annoying.
32:39We're going back in the room, aren't we?
32:41Are we going back in there?
32:42Yeah.
32:43You can tell me?
32:43All right.
32:43Yep.
32:44I can prepare myself now.
32:45Just briefly.
32:47You can count on that.
32:49Okay, that's good.
32:49Remember not to breathe.
32:53Tap shelf right there.
33:00Millions and millions.
33:02That can't be good for people.
33:04Where's Doug?
33:08Oh.
33:13That's up there.
33:14I've been in a lot of bad rooms.
33:16A lot of bad rooms with you.
33:18That's, that to me is the freakiest.
33:20That's up there.
33:21That's up there.
33:21Look at those things.
33:22We're eating them by the mouthful.
33:23So these guys are ready to be eaten now?
33:29Almost ready to eat.
33:30So get that nice and strong shape.
33:33And that's good.
33:35Great.
33:35Now we can take this in there.
33:38We're leaving?
33:38We're leaving.
33:39That's it.
33:40All right.
33:40Don't miss this place.
33:44Got a few in here.
33:45Just lift that up a little bit.
33:50How many maggots would you say per cup?
33:52Oh, five.
33:53Give or take ten.
33:58Very specific sort of job you have.
34:00Feeding maggots to black widows.
34:03I mean, that can't be happening anywhere else in the country.
34:06Right now.
34:07Except for right here.
34:09Hey, you want to feed some tarantulas now?
34:11Yes.
34:11Yes.
34:11The fangs are dripping with venom.
34:19Dripping.
34:23And those are crickets?
34:25That's the food.
34:27So we might have 50,000 spiders that need to be fed at least every week.
34:3250,000?
34:33Yeah.
34:33How do you do that?
34:35That's too many for you guys to do, isn't it?
34:37No.
34:38Well, look at him go.
34:40See how quick they are?
34:41They're quick.
34:42They just ate two days ago.
34:44Oh, just three.
34:53Like a pro.
34:54Coming up.
34:55Best one black widow.
34:56And this can make you extremely sick.
34:59Make you feel like your bones are breaking and twisting.
35:02When milking a cow, the worst that can happen is that it might get ticked.
35:05The stakes here are a little higher.
35:07Oh, yeah.
35:08You're being milked, my man.
35:09You're being milked by Mike.
35:10After dinner time, it's milking time.
35:20This is the milking area?
35:22This is the milking area.
35:23And I can show you how we take venom from the tarantulas.
35:28So what I do here, I have CO2 tank on the side of my table.
35:32Uh-huh.
35:32In those bottles up here, there's the water and the gas going through the bottles.
35:37That practically show me how much gas each spider is getting.
35:41So you hold the tarantula over the plastic tube.
35:44Put the fangs inside the tube and then stimulate her fangs and she will release the venom inside the tube.
35:52So when we get some venom, you just kind of suck it up.
35:55It's the biped.
35:56Uh-huh.
35:56And transfer to the vial.
35:59To the vial.
35:59Okay.
36:00We're going to sort of anesthetize the spider.
36:03Just partially.
36:04Just a little bit.
36:05Like put it in a little twilight sleep.
36:07Uh-huh.
36:09Getting venom from spiders is called milking them.
36:13Think of it like going to the dentist.
36:14The spiders are anesthetized so they can be handled.
36:17The spider doesn't get hurt and the milker doesn't get bitten.
36:20So you can put her down and then kind of hold her legs.
36:26Make sure your fingers are over the top of her legs.
36:30Put her fangs over the tube.
36:33Uh-huh.
36:35And it will stimulate her.
36:37The electricity going through here and then I have food battle on the floor.
36:40Oh.
36:41A tiny jolt of electricity starts the flow of venom.
36:44So you don't do that too many times and you get nice.
36:47The venom from each type of spider is collected in a separate vial.
36:52Okay.
36:53Are you ready to try?
36:54I'm ready.
36:55Breathe deep.
36:57Breathe.
36:58Just let it happen.
37:00Let it happen.
37:03Let me get the two tubes right in her face.
37:05That's how I do it.
37:08You'd be messing with the wrong spider.
37:11So wait.
37:13Good grief.
37:14Look at those fangs.
37:15Are you kidding?
37:17All right.
37:20You see, let it mount in your venom so you won't go for more time and stimulate the venom glands
37:25are more on the back here.
37:28Getting venom?
37:30A little bit.
37:31Yeah.
37:32Pull her gently and put her in a big container.
37:35Okay.
37:36Done.
37:37Not bad at all.
37:39Good.
37:40All right.
37:40What else can we milk?
37:41We can milk some scorpions.
37:44Those guys, we don't put them to sleep.
37:45Why?
37:47Because there's no meat.
37:52Cover him with the lid.
37:53Scorpions are easier to handle than spiders, so they're milked without anesthesia.
37:58Hold the lid with your left hand.
38:00Mm-hmm.
38:10Okay.
38:11Here comes the juice, buddy.
38:13I'll push it more up here.
38:15Right here?
38:16Yeah.
38:16Better?
38:19Oh, yeah.
38:19You're being milked, my man.
38:21Oh, yeah.
38:23You've been milked by Mike.
38:24It's been a while since I milked a widow.
38:37Oh, only 30?
38:38You need 500 black widows to get one drop of venom.
38:44Oh.
38:44So it's hardly anything in there.
38:48That's one black widow.
38:50That's one black widow.
38:51And where do you put that now?
38:52And this can make you extremely sick.
38:54Really?
38:55It will make you feel like your bones are breaking and twisting.
38:59Okay.
39:00Put her down on the table.
39:01Milking the black widow spider is extremely difficult.
39:06Jeez.
39:06Even picking one up with tweezers is tricky.
39:09Too much pressure, and the spider is squashed.
39:12So Anita trains people to do it using dead spiders.
39:15Today she took a chance.
39:17Let me use a live one.
39:18I want to get right in there.
39:21You know, I have to twist a little bit.
39:24I'll try now.
39:25Oh, oh.
39:26Oh, oh.
39:28There we go.
39:28A microscope is normally needed to see the widow's tiny fangs and extract the venom.
39:34But Doug has set up a camera so that we can all see it with a monitor.
39:37Oh, I'm moving the whole microscope now, wait a minute.
39:42So now you're lifting the pedipods.
39:44No, those are pedipods.
39:46The fangs are.
39:46There.
39:47You're just lifting them right now.
39:48Right.
39:49See?
39:50Yes, that's where I want to be.
39:52Yeah.
39:53Stop it.
39:54Don't fight it.
39:55Don't fight it.
39:57Wow, this is mad.
39:58You don't want to do 800 a day?
40:02No, I don't.
40:03I couldn't drink coffee and do this job.
40:05Look at me.
40:07God, I'm falling apart.
40:09Oh, crap.
40:14Shut up, Dave.
40:17How about that?
40:18No, that's probably the groggy thing.
40:20Okay.
40:20After my lackluster attempt, Anita stepped in to show me how she milks 800 of these a day.
40:30Black widow, right?
40:33Okay.
40:35There it is.
40:36Yeah, a little fang in there.
40:38Mm-hmm.
40:38This is very, Doug, I have to say.
40:41This is the, this is...
40:42You see the venom?
40:43I've been this excited about a shot of yours.
40:45There's a liquid in a container.
40:47Yeah, right there.
40:48There's the venom.
40:49Yep.
40:49I want her angled the other way.
40:51I want her like this.
40:52I decided to try my luck with the widow one more time.
40:55And then I want to bring her up here like that.
40:59You have to, but you have to hold her.
41:01Yep.
41:02Fangs.
41:02Oh, I see the tongue.
41:05This is pure zen.
41:07This work here, this is...
41:09She's not waking up.
41:11I'll try it anyway.
41:14Alas, black widow also marked the end of the workday.
41:16But there was one curious piece of equipment in the lab we hadn't touched yet.
41:21It's in our refrigerator.
41:22That's my freezer for the venom.
41:25Look at this refrigerator.
41:28If I was planning to finish up with a cold one, I came to the wrong refrigerator.
41:33This is where Anita and Chuck store the venom they collect.
41:36Kept cold, it can remain fresh for up to 30 days.
41:39The fun I could have with this refrigerator.
41:44My poor girlfriend would have an absolute stroke.
41:46She'd open that thing and that'd be it.
41:48That'd be it for me, that'd be it for her.
41:50That'd be it for us.
41:51Over the years on Dirty Jobs, I've shown you a great many things that I realize many of you would prefer not to see.
41:59And in the spirit of that long-standing tradition, I'm going to do it again right now.
42:03Well, my crew, in an extraordinary expression of solidarity, has agreed to wear a diaper until you go to discovery.com forward slash dirty jobs and suggest my next dirty adventure.
42:15Not only will they wear them until such time as you do the aforementioned, they have promised to fill them if need be.
42:22So, I will leave you with this.
42:25Please, hurry.
42:27Discovery.com forward slash dirty jobs.
42:30They might come out in a clump.
42:42If it does, it could be bad.
42:44Dave, why don't you place them where you like them?
42:46Maybe work that tub of fat in somehow?
42:49You know, if it looks like it's...
42:50Hey, hey!
42:50I mean, that tub of gold.
42:52I mean that...
42:53I'm talking about the...
42:54I'm making friends everywhere I go.
Be the first to comment