Get swamped by the 'Swamp Brothers'

It’s wet, it’s dangerous, and it’s weird.

 What was thought to be a dismal land fit only for alligators and snakes in Florida turned out to be an adult playground and a lucrative business for a different breed of brothers: One is a veteran of the ’80s rock scene who’s passionate about all things scaly, while the other is a former New York City bartender, who’s more comfortable hailing a cab than handling a snake.

Meet Robbie and Stephen Keszey, the stars of Animal Planet’s new series Swamp Brothers, which premieres on Tuesday at 10 p.m.

Together, they run Glades Herp Farms, Florida’s largest reptile sanctuary and exotic reptile dealership. From pythons to gators, to bobcats, the brothers make it their business to track these beasts down, capture them, and return them to a safe environment — without losing life or limb in the process.

The Slytherin Guy

While most kids his age have dogs, birds, or cats as pets, Robbie Keszey had reptiles to play with.

“I freehand cobras just like the old snake guys and snake charmers and stuff. When I was a kid, I saw a guy named Bill Haast freehand a king cobra. When I first saw that, I told myself I got to do that, too, which I eventually did,” relates Robbie in a phone interview.

“Robbie had snakes since I was in diapers. When I was seven, I looked at a snake in one of Robbie’s aquariums. It was a python and it bit me right in the nose, so I get really scared over these things. It just left a mark in my brain. So when I see a snake strike or anything dangerous, I get a little scared,” relates Stephen.

Robbie and Stephen’s parents were animal lovers, but not as hardcore as Robbie, who brought home baby tigers and baby leopards when he was still a kid.

“I’m more like my grandfather and my great-grandfather, who were born from a small town in Hungary. They were both vets there. And that was before there were schools that you had to go to to become a veterinarian. They were the town vets back in the ’20s,” says Robbie.

There was an instance when a mother raccoon got hit by a car while the babies stood still and watched her die. Robbie witnessed the incident, stepped out of the car and took the babies home, helped to get them old enough to release into the wild.

“My brother always loved wild animals. I, ever since I got bitten by the snake, didn’t like animals that much, just dogs. I like dogs,” Stephen shares.

After high school, Robbie left his folks’ place in Ohio and moved to Los Angeles to play bass in a rock band, living a life of excess on the Sunset Strip (including a stint as personal assistant to C.C. DeVille of Poison). Realizing that his true passion was for wildlife and reptiles, Robbie moved back to Florida and opened Glades Herp Farm, which he runs with Stephen for over 15 years now.

Mama’s Boys

When Robbie and Stephen’s father died, Robbie brought his mom to his farm in Florida so she could be taken care of.

“We built a house for her here on the farm. When she got ill, I asked Stephen to move down here as well to help take care of her since I have my own family to attend to. We didn’t want to bring her to a nursing home,” Robbie shares.

During his 14 years in New York City, Stephen held his dream job as a bartender, where drinking, telling jokes, and hitting on girls were all in a day’s work. But when Robbie asked Stephen to move to Florida to be with their mom, the latter didn’t think twice.

“My mother needed me. She was terrified to go into a nursing home. My brother had three kids and a wife, and they couldn’t all move into one house, so he was doing his best helping her. But she got to the point where she couldn’t spend the nights alone anymore, and Robbie was spending most of his time with Mom. I just did the right thing. Both our parents are Hungarian. We’re first generation Americans. For us, just like Asians, family is number one,” relates Stephen.

Sadly, Robbie and Stephen’s mom passed away last year.

Welcome To The Swampland

Stephen started helping Robbie out with the animals at Glades Herp Farm a little over a year ago. He would feed tortoises at first because those are easy. But when Robbie started having him help with other things that start to get a little snappy and bite, “that’s when I started getting scared.”

“Scared is an understatement,” says Robbie.

“Yes, I know, terrified. I have not overcome my fear of snakes and gators, but I’m getting better dealing with it. Whenever a snake (even when I have protective gloves on) bites at me, I still jump and yell. My brother laughs at me because he can’t believe I still jump. He can’t,” fires back Stephen with a hearty laugh.

“We are trying to change that. We’re trying to change him into a man now. I sometimes think I have a sister named Stephanie instead of a brother named Stephen,” Robbie hastily replies.

Their love-hate relationship and humor paved the way for Swamp Brothers, a reality show on Animal Planet that showcases their hilarious and sometimes dangerous exploits on the swamplands in Florida.

“Before the show was offered to us, Stephen would help me out when I got invited to guest in other TV shows and do animal handling. The producers who were watching us said that this is actually funnier and better stuff than what we’re filming, and said, ‘We should be filming you and your brother instead.’ The rest, as they say, is Animal Planet history,” says Robbie.

One thing sort of led to another and then everyone was contacting the Swamp Brothers.

“We shot a little teaser and then Discovery bought the show. You guys will see what actually goes on here. And I work with all kinds of exotic animals, not just the reptiles, but cats and other things as well,” Robbie says.

The thing with Swamp Brothers is that Stephen has actually come a long way. And Pinoys will get to see that as the series plays out in Asia this July.

“Yes. I think I want to be like Indiana Jones but once I get on top of an alligator, I feel more like Jerry Lewis or Lucille Ball, crying and screaming for help,” says Stephen.

Swamp Brothers, Robbie adds, is a good venue to teach people about reptiles and wildlife conservation.

“There’s a lot that has to be learned yet from snakes, even venomous snakes. And there’s so much we can learn from just the venom. They’re using it to study cancer. They’re using it for heart attack victims, for stroke victims. They’re doing a lot of research with it. And who knows. We might find a cure for something in there,” he says.

Caring for reptiles and wild animals is, indeed, Robbie’s passion.

“I’m doing this on TV because I want to educate more people. Besides, this is what I did before and this is what I will do the rest of my life. And if anything happens to me, I just want everybody to know I died doing something I loved,” enthuses Robbie. 

Robbie even told me over the phone that he just can’t wait to come over to the Philippines because of the Philippine crocodiles and the Mindorensis, which is one of his fave crocodiles.

“And those are mean, too, aren’t they?” asks Stephen.

“Oh, they’re very aggressive,” replies Robbie.

“So you have a good time on those because I’m not getting on Mindorensis,” notes Stephen.

“You’re coming with me, Stephen,” demands Robbie.

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Swamp Brothers premieres on Tuesday, July 5, 10 p.m. SIN/HK on Animal Planet with encores every Saturday at 12 p.m. and 11 p.m., and Monday at midnight.