'Swamp Brothers' Wrangle Gators, Snakes, Feral Hogs

BUSHNELL, Fla. Jan. 4, 2012— -- In a swath of putrid muck, there lurks 200 million years of killer instinct.

Alligators, entire packs of them, hang out in the murky waters of the Florida Everglades and are just one of several sharp-toothed creatures that fuel the adrenaline infused life of the "Swamp Brothers."

Robbie and Stephen Keszey run Glades Herp Farms, the largest reptile sanctuary and exotic reptile dealership in Florida, which houses Florida's International Teaching Zoo. The brothers look after hundreds of slithery animals, as well as bears and feral hogs, but also respond to animal emergencies across the state.

Their daily lives of chasing after some of the country's nastiest creatures without any protective gear are captured on the reality TV series called, you guessed it, "Swamp Brothers," which airs Fridays on Discovery Channel.

The Keszey brothers say they currently have over 500 alligators in their sanctuary, which also protects lizards, crocodiles and poisonous snakes. Crocodiles are protected in the United States because they are an endangered species, but in other countries they are often poached for their valuable skin. Robbie Keszey said some crocodiles, which can grow up to 21 feet long, can fetch $10,000.

The two brothers are from completely different worlds.

Robbie was an animal lover who was a personal assistant for the rock band Poison.

"This was my passion as a kid, I was hooked at an early age," he said. "I was always into dinosaurs and stuff... My parents and my mom would go off and back then you didn't have to worry about kids disappearing you know. So I'd take off and go to the book section of the supermarket reading through every dinosaur book."

But his younger brother Stephen was once a bartender in New York City, and is still a rookie reptilian.

Now the duo's rock-n-roll rogue approach to wrestling alligators has turned into a lifelong passion. The Keszeys invited "Nightline" to their reptile farm in Bushnell, Fla., as they tracked down the beasts.

They also explained how snake venom can be used as a pain reliever. Robbie Keszey said venom can go for $5,000 to $6,000 a gram, once its processed into a fine powder.

"Venom is used in medical research," Robbie Keszey said. "Green Mamba venom is used for stroke research. It's a blood thinner so they use it for heart attacks, strokes and all kind of stuff like that. Water moccasin venom, they're actually using it on cures for arthritis, a pain reliever."

Robbie and Stephen Keszey warn that these monstrous reptiles can rip off limbs and even kill people, so it's best to leave 'gator wrangling to the professionals.

"I've been to the hospital, getting stitched up and I finally figured out, it costs too much to go to the hospital to get stitched up, so my wife bought me super glue," Robbie said. "During one of our first episodes, I got laid open doing the hog episode. I had them go get superglue. I held it together, and I had to try and make sure my tattoos would line up. So we super glued it right there, and I did a pretty good job."

But even the threat of having a body part snapped off by a wild animal doesn't seem to faze these hard-core trackers.

"It amazes me," Robbie said. "I always learn something new. No matter how much I've learned, there's always something new when it comes to wild life and that's so cool to me."

ABC's Lauren Effron contributed to this report