If you have a love for Reptiles, then this should definitely be a stop on the next trip you make to the GTA. With about 200 different species on display, you’ll find rare and exciting reptiles and amphibians, including the giants and an impressive venomous collection. Within the zoo you’ll find the longest reticulated python, longest venomous snake (King Cobra) and largest crocodilian (Nile Croc) currently kept in Canada.
However you have to love this place for more than just their outstanding collection. View one of the four daily feedings, or watch some of the six daily interactive shows.
Reptilia does a lot more than that though, they give you the opportunity to get involved and experience hands-on interaction with the animals through many different avenues. They do birthday parties, zoo tours, curriculum compliant programs for schools, day camps, and even the junior keepers program to teach future reptile pet owners the basics of caring for their pets properly.
With the vast variety of beautifully crafted exhibits, and all the activity going on, you won’t find it hard to spend the entire day at the zoo, and it won’t be wasted!
Additionally, Reptilia has an amazing gift shop and pet store.It is packed with rare animals from breeders, as well as animals produced right at the zoo. They have all the supplies you could imagine needing. One of my favorite aspects of the store, is that along with selling exoterra and other name brand reptile products, they also sell great alternatives for cheaper prices, such as crock water bowls and planter feeder dishes, so you can set up your animals home just the way you want it, for the price you want to pay!
If you love your hobby, you won’t want to miss this place! Check it out at Reptilia.org.
Reptilia might look just fine from a spectator view but I worked there for a few months and the way they treat their animals is horrific. They have 5 foot nile monitors in the back room stuffed in 4 foot cages and the same with 13 foot retics. They also have 6 3 foot alligators in a 150 gallon fish tank with no land, heat or filtration for the waste, they just filled the tank halfway and left it. Also over the time I was there, which was for about 4 months daily, I saw them being fed 4 times. They also managed to kill the biggest and oldest albino gator with their sub optimal care. They also bred their retics there and, being that a zoo cannot sell animals into the pet trade, the 50+ babies that they could not house were sent to Indonesia to be skinned and sold for profit. They chose to incubate the eggs even though they knew they did not posses the facilities to support them. The owner, Brian Child, also cares more about the $$$$ then the well being of the animals in his zoo. He decided to spend over $5000 on a new billboard to increase profit instead of buying medication that the zookeepers told him the animals needed. Shortly after those animals died and were thrown into the back dumpster like they were nothing. Also one of the zookeepers who will remain nameless has called the SPCA and animal control on people who owned animals he wanted for the zoo. He sent the SPCA to the peoples houses knowing that the only place the officers could send these dangerous animals was to the only major reptile zoo in the GTA, Reptilia.
ReplyDeleteHi,
ReplyDeleteI'll be the first to admit that Reptilia is a business first and foremost. Many, many places take advantage of animals and put profit before their wellbeing.
I have heard many stories of less than admirable animal care in the past, but I can at least report improvement. The staff there works as hard as they can within their means to keep the animals happy and heathly. The zoo would benefit from more staff dedicated to animal care as the load is alot for those that there are.
I personally believe that Reptilia is doing more good than bad, no other company in Ontario is as far reaching to the general public, and its helping to spread the message that reptiles are not evil, negative creatures to be feared and bashed over the head with a shovel.