Lobster rescued from supermarket counter ‘thriving’ as YouTube sensation after man decides to raise it as pet

An American man who brought a live lobster from his local supermarket home as an experiment “to see if (he) could keep it alive” has since become a viral sensation on YouTube, documenting his pet Leon the Lobster “thriving” in his new home away from dinner plates.

Brady Brandwood, 50, a video producer who lives between Lake Wylie, South Carolina and Gainesville, Georgia, in the United States, bought Leon the North American lobster for 29 dollars (£22.80) from his local supermarket, as he “had a curiosity” about what “it would be like to keep a lobster in an aquarium”.

Brady, a father of two to Travis, 26, and Carter, 22, soon realised that Leon’s “claws would not open and close” and “he was starving”, so he was determined to help him.

When Leon’s shell “malted” for the first time, Brady could even see “scars” from where he had his “claws tied with rubber bands” in the supermarket.

But, after a month of Brady opening and closing Leon’s “big claws manually” and making him “chase” and “grab” earthworms in his tank, he began “acting pretty much like a normal lobster”.

Since getting Leon, Brady has documented his progress on YouTube, where he has more than 650,000 subscribers and some videos have received over 24 million views.

He said he is “really interested and impressed” at the number of people “around the world that enjoy his story”, adding that having Leon has changed his eating habits – he has stopped eating lobster, despite it being his “absolute favourite food”.

“It’s been really rewarding to watch Leon grow and his interaction has improved – if I come into the room, he comes over to the glass and greets me like a little puppy,” Brady told PA Real Life.

“So, he seems very comfortable and seems to enjoy his life and his routine.”

Brady has always had an interest in aquariums, and after his pet jellyfish passed away in early 2021, he had a “vacant 800-gallon saltwater aquarium” – so, in September of the same year, he decided to bring home a live lobster from his local supermarket.

He said: “I am always going to the grocery store to get dinner, and I generally go to the seafood section, and one of the grocery stores that I go to has a live lobster section where it’s a chilled aquarium where you pick your live lobster to take home and eat.

“I kept walking past that, and just looking at them and had a curiosity about what lobsters are like.

“I was curious about what it would be like to have one as a pet – how do they act? What do they do? You know those sorts of things, so I decided one day to buy one.

“Leon was absolutely an experiment – I wanted to see what it would be like to keep a lobster in an aquarium, and to see if I could keep it alive, and it’s just kind of grown from there.”

Brady said his loved ones were not too surprised by his new pet, stating: “My sons thought it was interesting, and I’m always doing odd stuff like this.

“My eldest son, Travis, is very much into aquaculture, too so he was fascinated.”

Brady’s first step, when he brought the 1.86 lb lobster home, was to cut the rubber bands off its claws, but after doing so, he realised they were not opening and closing properly, so he decided to train him.

Brady said: “When I first got Leon, there was a lot of algae growing on the bottom of the tank, but he immediately just started cleaning up, he started moving things around, making himself a little place, a little home.

“Obviously, he was starving since he was at the grocery store, so he immediately ate all the algae that were growing in the aquarium – he just vacuumed it all up and ate it within a day or two, I couldn’t help but feel sorry for him.

“But his movement wasn’t very good – his claws would not open and close and it took a while for him to get those working again.

“I guess because he was sitting in a small aquarium in the grocery store in the corner, with nowhere to walk around and nothing to do.”

Over the following few weeks, Brady began feeding him earthworms to help increase his dexterity.

He said: “He had to chase them and grab them, and it made his little legs more active and worked better again, then eventually, after opening and closing his big claws manually, he started using them again.

“Within a month or so he was acting pretty much like a normal lobster again – now, he’s thriving and eating all the time, it’s amazing really.”

Since then, Leon has almost doubled in size, and malted twice, shedding his outer shell and replacing it with a new, soft shell.

Brady explained: “It’s been interesting, he’s grown a fair amount.

“He malted for the first time in March last year, and you could see the scars from having his big claws tied with rubber bands – those went away after he grew the fresh new shell.”

Brady explained what it is like to take care of Leon day-to-day: “It’s not a cheap thing to do – he’s got a particular diet – he needs the diet that he has in the ocean, which is like shrimp and clams and mussels and things like that.

“But also his aquarium has to be chilled –  his water stays around 60 degrees or 65 degrees Fahrenheit.”

Since getting Leon, Brady has documented his progress on YouTube, and over time, he has accumulated over 650,000 subscribers and amassed millions of views.

He said: “By December 2021, for some reason, it just took off, racking up millions of views.

“Leon has just become a character these days, and I’ve been really interested and impressed at the number of people around the world that enjoy his story.”

Looking back on his journey with Leon, Brady said: “I just never expected it to work, it’s changed my outlook on eating lobster too.

“All shellfish seem to have a personality, I’ve noticed the same when I’ve kept shrimp and crabs, and there’s something about sea animals that is next level – they have survival skills and they’re so intelligent

“I have not eaten lobster since Leon came here to live with me, and lobster is my absolute favourite food, but I do eat fish and shrimp regularly though – I guess Leon must have a special place in my heart.”

On whether he would raise another supermarket lobster, Brady said: “Having Leon has certainly been enjoyable, maybe down the road I will get another one.”