Australian Reptile Park

[Striker]

OK this will probably be a bit controversial here, but I want to know what others think. I went to the Australian reptile park on the central coast for the first time in over 10 years. And it was good....but in my opinion they seemed a bit light on.....well.... Australian reptiles. Which you would imagine would be the primary feature.

Plenty to see and a fantastic zoo of course....but with a lot of Australian mammals etc, a lot of reptile species from other continents...and just not a lot of Australian reptiles. Even the theme in the reptile exhibit "the lost world of reptiles" was Egyptian and kind of weird and out of place for the "Australian Reptile Park".

Obviously these guys do some fantastic work as a zoo, venom collection and the like. And I know they had a tough time with fire, rebuild etc. I'm also certain that kids would love it and I'd definitely recommend it. They just seemed a bit lacking in all things "Australian".

Shoot me down if you like. Just my opinion. But I'm keen to see what people think.

 

[elapid@]

I thought it was great.....yes though i would recommend more Australian species of reptiles.............

 

[BeZaKa]

Australian Reptile Park are the ones who got me and my family into snakes. Yes more Australian reps would be great but that place is AWESOME

 

[Norm]

Have to admit that last time I was there I was a bit disappointed in the lack of Australian reptiles also. Would also like to see the exhibited reptiles changed every now and then to keep people coming back. Went twice about a year apart and saw the exact same pythons sitting in the exact same place. But as others have said, great place doing some great work.

 

[Grogshla]

I haven't been. I would love to go one day.

 

[Umbral]

I love the Reptile park and go probably once a year. That said more herps would be good to see. At the end of the day they are a business and need to make ends meet, as we know there are many people who aren't the biggest fans of reptiles and it wouldn't be as appealing to many people who go there to see Australian animals.


I think doubling the size of the reptile area but still keeping the same amount of other animals would be a happy medium but I'm not convinced that the extra cost would be made up for in extra revenue. You see a lot of people walk in and glance in the pits and move on quite fast even skipping over the indoor reptile area.

 

[LaDeDah]

I absolutely love it! The lack of native reptiles doesn't bother me because IMO it's better to see our own native species in their real home. I would much rather go out on a herping field trip then see our native snakes and pythons locked up in cages. But in saying that the enclosures at the australian reptile park are breath taking!

 

[bigguy]

This is the most common comment I hear about the ARP, specially from overseas tourists wanting to see our unique reptile fauna. Its the only fault I have with the park as well.

 

[Venomous_RBB]

I love ARP and always have, I can see where you are coming from though and I too would like to see more of our Aussie Reptiles there.
However
I just love seeing any reptile, whether it be in the wild, my home, exotics or natives. Thats just me though.

 

[borntobnude]

Just maybe --- as reptile keepers/enthusiasts we might be going there wanting more than what we have at home , friends place or even an expo .The fact that you can hold or at least touch a lot of what you see makes it an experience . We took some non Herp children and they thought it was fantastic ,but our kids were slightly bored (they were more into the fury ones ) . I grew up going to Eric Worrels every holiday as my grandparents lived nearby and must admit that I inflicted it upon my kids a lot when they were little and they could not go enough .

 

[james066]

Yeah it's a great place. I've been going up there ever since i was a lil kid. Would love to see them expanding their native and exotics collections but sadly even if they did, there still would be calls for even more animals to be added, that's just how we are..always wanting more!
But hey was it just me that noticed there seems to have been an explosion of water dragons running around like they own the place?

 

[ronhalling]

Hey all, after my last visit to the ARP i had the same thought about lack of Aussie Reptiles so decided to email them to see if it was because of the fire or is there another reason, i did not really expect to get a reply but 2 days later they did reply and the answer i got was "There are plenty of Zoo's and private collections that have way more Australian SP's than they could ever exhibit and Taronga park Zoo and the Australian Zoo get a much bigger slice of the international pie than they could ever hope to get, so the majority of their patronage are the good ole Aussie families who according to their market research have shown a much bigger interest in reptiles from other countries and not the boring Aussie SP's they get to see everywhere else they go". In a way i suppose their thinking is pretty close to the mark as i too get pretty bored seeing the same thing time and time again when i go somewhere new in AUS. ..............................Ron

 

[dragonlover1]

I went there twice last year ,all up I have probably been 12 times in my 55years,starting way back at Gosford when it was Eric Worrell (still have the original booklet).
I always have a good time but as some have said a few more species would be nice

 

[Whp71]

IT depends on how look at it, its either....

The Australian "Reptile Park"

or

The "Australian Reptile" Park

As an above post mentions most Average Aussies going to a zoo of any kind would prefer to see animals we cant see in the wild, for my money the last time I went (a month or so before the fire) I found the opportunity to hold a Corn Snake more exciting than seeing any Native animal.

 

[user 16446]

I've got a few Adult Bredli's if they want some Australian reptiles! Looking to downsize collection a little anyway. They're classics with black tails.

Aside from this, it's great to see reptiles you wouldn't normally ever see in real life like burmese pythons, retics, cobras etc.....

You can see just about every Australian reptile there is at the various expos anyway, but I guess a few of the larger species like scrubbies, olives, blackheads wouldn't go astray either.....perhaps in a section named "Some of our own".....

I can also understand your point from an international visitor's point of view, they want to see some aussie animals they wouldn't normally see either.

 

[B_STATS]

It's a reptile park IN Australia... Their largest exhibit is an Alligator dam. So you just read the title wrong. It's like the one eyed, one horned, Flying, purple, people eater. Is there a one eyed, one horned, flying, purple creature that eats people. Or is the creature an eater of one eyed, one horned flying, purple people? OR... It goes on a bit. The issue is there are more mammals, birds and spiders than Reptiles. It's fun to work there but as a visitor it's boring. It's super hands on when you work there though. I was a volley there as a teenager and got to assist in what was apparently the first force-feeding of a reticulated python in Australia. I also held the baby gators while cleaning them out and would bump the table that their new (now old) Rattlesnake was sitting on just to hear it rattle

 

[Bart70]

......and would bump the table that their new (now old) Rattlesnake was sitting on just to hear it rattle

There are several rattlesnakes there now......Just not on display

 

[Striker]

It's a reptile park IN Australia... Their largest exhibit is an Alligator dam. So you just read the title wrong. It's like the one eyed, one horned, Flying, purple, people eater. Is there a one eyed, one horned, flying, purple creature that eats people. Or is the creature an eater of one eyed, one horned flying, purple people? OR... It goes on a bit. The issue is there are more mammals, birds and spiders than Reptiles. It's fun to work there but as a visitor it's boring. It's super hands on when you work there though. I was a volley there as a teenager and got to assist in what was apparently the first force-feeding of a reticulated python in Australia. I also held the baby gators while cleaning them out and would bump the table that their new (now old) Rattlesnake was sitting on just to hear it rattle

One eyed, one horned etc...what a great example to cite. You are (as are others on this thread) correct though. Australian Reptile Park can be interpreted three ways, but IMO each is misleading from the reality of what is presented there.

Australian reptile park - a reptile park in Australia in which case some more reptiles (of any type) could be added.

Australian Reptile Park - a park that houses a lot of Australian species of reptile - as discussed most agree it should probably have a few more natives to fit this description

Australian reptile park - an Australian themed park with mostly reptiles - this is a combination of the two interpretations above, In which case why the Egyptian themes and exotics?

So maybe instead of requesting more of certain animals, natives or anything else we should just ask them to change the name. Problem solved.

I'm glad I opened this can of worms. And we got to the bottom of it by doing so. Thanks Ron for providing the response they gave you when you asked them the same question directly.

 

[Sel]

What are some animals you would like to see there ?

 

[borntobnude]

My daughter many years ago asked a keeper why there were NO Unicorns :lol:
Strangely though I would like to see more insects and spiders ( yes they do have lots of spiders but they seem to be mostly tucked away)