Tomas Pasie: The Reptile Man Who Charmed Me

By: Noah Benjamin Dobson | Written on 2.28.2018

Five-Thirty PM, and the sun was slowly immersing itself below the horizon ready for its early, winter slumber. The wind did not blow frozen bursts of air, but cooling breezes, reminiscent of Fall - yet, not warm enough for the reptiles to come out and play. Within a calm ambient blue lighted room and amongst three thin, black framed Hyundai monitors, an old Union High School yearbook propped beside ebony, wooden shelves - one, lone contained, rock steady tarantula resting near the bed.

“Well before I knew that he collected reptiles and insects, I had always thought that Tomas had a bit of an eccentric personality from him viewing the newest fashion designs from Gucci or designing his Mustang. So, it almost seemed fitting that such a unique and eccentric person would have pets that are as exotic as reptiles and killer insects,” Andre Marques said laughingly.

Tomas Pasiecznik is an 18 year old Pet YouTuber whose educational videos focuses on his exotic animals. The number of his colorful reptiles and invertebrates exceeds well over 100. And within the two years of building his channel, the 65,780 subscribers he has successfully earned so far, have gained an insight into the lives and characteristics of these magnificent creatures through his reptile tours and daily feedings within “The Reptile Room.”

“I started collecting all these animals because it was something that nobody else did and it was like, I don’t know, it was just me. It was just something I did. People started thinking it was cool since no else did it, and so I kept growing on it,” Tomas said.

His popularity and recognition however, does go beyond his Youtube Channel. On Instagram, his has 16.4 K followers who are regularly showcased his friends, such as his Argentine Tegu, his past Giant Blue Land Crab, or his Reticulated Python, just to name a few. In high school, his Class of 2017 voted him as “Most Unique.” He was interviewed by Business Insider with their science programs, and invited to film on TV Shows in Hollywood. And recently, he was inducted in Ripley’s Believe It or Not.

“I’ve been seeing those Ripley’s Believe It or Not books when I was little at Barnes and Nobles. So to finally be in one - I didn’t think I would be in one ever - it’s just crazy to me,” he expressed.

Ironically, Tomas was once skeptical of them, suspicious of the dangers that these snakes, lizards, insects and arachnids may pose.

“When I was little, I went to a pet store, and I saw a tarantula and a scorpion. I was like only crazy people keep this in their house. Because I thought they could kill you if they stung you.”

But, such skepticism could not sway a deep curiosity and intrigue for such fascinating specimens of the Animal Kingdom. At age 6, his Long-Tailed Grass Lizard began his years of cultivated experience and knowledge of a presumably scary set of species in nature. What sealed a career in its entirety - was an 8 year old tarantula he met his freshman year of high school.

“I met someone my freshmen year of high school - a friend of my dad’s. And he had a tarantula,” he said this pointing to the one by his bed. “She was 8 years at that time; now she’s thirteen. That guy is the one who taught me tarantula bites aren’t deadly. And eventually, he had to move, and he couldn’t keep the spider anymore. So he gave it to us and that’s how I got my first tarantula. “

And thus began his career as a YouTuber with a main goal that through educating people about the true nature of reptiles and invertebrates, immediate fear could be eliminated and replaced with a deep understanding of them. Such an impact happened with his friend, Zandro Mateo.

“Zandro told me he was scared of snakes, but I told him to come over, ‘I’ll let you pick one up’. He came over, and there were other people too. He picked up my Reticulated Python, Mocha, - she’s the nicest animal I have - and he held her, and he realized, it wasn’t that bad,” Tomas said contentedly.

And others’ experience, such as Andre Marques’ and his younger brother’s, Fabio Marques, was no different in its ending. With incredible professionality, Tomas gave them a safe tour of his Reptile Room set in his garage, in which Andre put it as “a level of organization that rivaled some local zoos.” But, despite seeing the iridescent scales of the longest snake in the world to the coal hued acid-spraying Vinegaroon, Andre’s best-loved moment was seeing the joy his brother was feeling.

“He was overjoyed with the chance to see and hold these exotic creatures that our parents would never allow us to even think of having. And in the end, he also learned a lot from Tomas about these animals. I have only ever seen the look on my brother’s face that day on the handful of occasions that we have gone to the Turtleback Zoo and the Bronx Zoo.”