Visit to the Armadale Reptile and Wildlife Centre.

Ten KRMB members attended the visit to the Centre and were joined by Steve Page from the Main Club.  Situated on South West Highway in Wungong the Centre boasts a fine range of Australian reptiles, mammals and birds. It is popular with overseas visitors, especially New Zealanders we were informed, as it provides an opportunity to safely observe and learn about, Australia’s diverse range of snakes, lizards, frogs and tortoises.

The morning started off fine, though on the cool side, and after a walk through the internal exhibits most of us made our way outside to see if any of the monitors were out. Many of the monitor species found in Australia are on display at the Centre and we were pleased to see Gould’s, Rosenberg’s (or Southern Heath) and Lace Monitors out in view.

The largest of our monitors, the Perenty, was noticed to be on the heated pad in its enclosure and in the final stage of swallowing what appeared to be a large snake. We were informed that it had been fed a Dugite that had died during the week. To our delight it came out into full view a bit later and allowed us to get some close up photos.

A shower of rain sent the monitors, and us, scurrying for cover so we spent more time viewing the internal exhibits.

Of the non-venomous snakes we saw Carpet Pythons, Olive Pythons, Stimson’s Python and Black headed Pythons. There were also a large number of venomous snakes including a beautifully marked Tiger Snake, Dugite, Woma and Black Snakes among others. There was a large range of lizards, including a number of varieties of Bearded Dragons, King’s Skinks and Bobtails. There are a number of beautiful Gecko’s, including the Leaf Tailed Gecko which has to be seen to be believed.

The Green Tree Frog display cabinet was well populated and at first glance appeared to be a display of ornaments, it was only when they moved slightly or blinked that you realised that they are in fact alive. Another of the monitors, Merten’s Water Monitor is also on display inside the centre.

Of the birds the Australian Bustards were nice to see as was the majestic Wedge Tailed Eagle. There is also an decent sized Estuarine Crocodile on display. There was so much to see that the morning went very quickly and after sitting down for a quick lunch and cuppa we all started to pack up and head for home.

It had been a very pleasant way to spend a showery morning and we all came away with a better appreciation of Australia’s amazingly diverse range of reptiles. It is well worth a visit.

Colin Prickett

Photos: B. Goodale & C. Prickett