I visited Canberra Reptile Zoo last Friday for what was probably about the 5th time, stretching back to I think sometime in the late 1990s, though this was my first visit for at least a decade.
The collection has grown to become what I suspect is the most diverse collection of Australian reptiles in captivity, and has developed a great deal since my previous visit, including branching out into a small number of mammals and birds. They have all families of Australian land reptiles on display except for pygopods, which is achievable, and blind snakes which probably isn’t.
It’s a wonderful resource for the local reptile keeping community, with an active volunteer base of keepers who can gain experience with species they don’t keep at home. A staff member told me that every paid staff member started out as a hobbyist and volunteer at the zoo.
I don’t have the energy for a proper review but will say the display quality is consistently excellent, and I encourage everybody to visit if they have a chance. It’s also directly across the road from the Canberra Walk-in Aviary, which has a range of small and medium sized parrots, finches and smattering of other birds in a single walk-in.
Species list:
Sugar glider (not seen but presence confirmed by staff)
Spinifex hopping mouse
Barking owl
Tawny frogmouth
Eclectus parrot
Red-tailed black cockatoo
Pink cockatoo
Galah
Salwater crocodile
Freshwater crocodile (temporarily off display)
Pig-nosed turtle
Northern snake-necked turtle
Eastern snake-necked turtle
Murray River turtle
Saw-shelled turtle
Coastal taipan
Inland taipan
Australian tiger snake
Eastern brown snake
Dugite
Mulga snake
Red-bellied black snake
Spotted black snake
Collett’s snake
Stephens’s banded snake (this species isn’t listed anywhere on ZTL - could Canberra be the only holding in the world?)
Common tree snake
Boa constrictor
Burmese python
Oenpelli python
Olive python
Water python
Coastal carpet python
Jungle carpet python
Murray-Darling carpet python
Diamond python
Green tree python
Black-headed python
Children’s python
Perentie
Lace monitor
Sand monitor (currently off-display)
Heath monitor
Spencer’s monitor
Merten’s water monitor
Mitchell’s water monitor
Freckled monitor
Ridge-tailed monitor
Frilled dragon
Boyd’s forest dragon
Central bearded dragon
Eastern bearded dragon
Eastern water dragon (not seen, but presence confirmed)
Gippsland water dragon
Central netted dragon
Shingleback skink (multiple localities)
Eastern blue-tongue skink
Blotched blue-tongue skink
Centralian blue-tongue skink
Pink-tongued skink
Cunningham’s skink
Gidgee skink (currently off display)
Pygmy spiny-tailed skink (currently off display)
Centralian knob-tailed gecko
Australian ring-tailed gecko
Giant cave gecko
Northern velvet gecko
Spiny-tailed gecko
Rough-throated leaf-tail gecko (not seen, but presence confirmed)
Green and golden bell frog
Magnificent green tree frog
Australian long-finned eel
Eastern rainbowfish
Murray cod
Banded archerfish
The collection has grown to become what I suspect is the most diverse collection of Australian reptiles in captivity, and has developed a great deal since my previous visit, including branching out into a small number of mammals and birds. They have all families of Australian land reptiles on display except for pygopods, which is achievable, and blind snakes which probably isn’t.
It’s a wonderful resource for the local reptile keeping community, with an active volunteer base of keepers who can gain experience with species they don’t keep at home. A staff member told me that every paid staff member started out as a hobbyist and volunteer at the zoo.
I don’t have the energy for a proper review but will say the display quality is consistently excellent, and I encourage everybody to visit if they have a chance. It’s also directly across the road from the Canberra Walk-in Aviary, which has a range of small and medium sized parrots, finches and smattering of other birds in a single walk-in.
Species list:
Sugar glider (not seen but presence confirmed by staff)
Spinifex hopping mouse
Barking owl
Tawny frogmouth
Eclectus parrot
Red-tailed black cockatoo
Pink cockatoo
Galah
Salwater crocodile
Freshwater crocodile (temporarily off display)
Pig-nosed turtle
Northern snake-necked turtle
Eastern snake-necked turtle
Murray River turtle
Saw-shelled turtle
Coastal taipan
Inland taipan
Australian tiger snake
Eastern brown snake
Dugite
Mulga snake
Red-bellied black snake
Spotted black snake
Collett’s snake
Stephens’s banded snake (this species isn’t listed anywhere on ZTL - could Canberra be the only holding in the world?)
Common tree snake
Boa constrictor
Burmese python
Oenpelli python
Olive python
Water python
Coastal carpet python
Jungle carpet python
Murray-Darling carpet python
Diamond python
Green tree python
Black-headed python
Children’s python
Perentie
Lace monitor
Sand monitor (currently off-display)
Heath monitor
Spencer’s monitor
Merten’s water monitor
Mitchell’s water monitor
Freckled monitor
Ridge-tailed monitor
Frilled dragon
Boyd’s forest dragon
Central bearded dragon
Eastern bearded dragon
Eastern water dragon (not seen, but presence confirmed)
Gippsland water dragon
Central netted dragon
Shingleback skink (multiple localities)
Eastern blue-tongue skink
Blotched blue-tongue skink
Centralian blue-tongue skink
Pink-tongued skink
Cunningham’s skink
Gidgee skink (currently off display)
Pygmy spiny-tailed skink (currently off display)
Centralian knob-tailed gecko
Australian ring-tailed gecko
Giant cave gecko
Northern velvet gecko
Spiny-tailed gecko
Rough-throated leaf-tail gecko (not seen, but presence confirmed)
Green and golden bell frog
Magnificent green tree frog
Australian long-finned eel
Eastern rainbowfish
Murray cod
Banded archerfish
