Edessa Reptile House

S

S. Venaticus

Well-Known Member
During a visit in December of the city of Edessa (mostly known about the waterfall), I unexpectedly saw a sign pointing to an Aquarium-Reptile park with the images of a couple of snakes and that of an iguanna. Of course I was certain to use some of the free time we were given in order to visit that facility. So, alongside a friend of mine (who didn't want me to wander alone and came just for that, since he actually is somewhat against animals in captivity) I visited and here is my review of the place.

(As you can clearly see some time has past since that day, but unfortunately I haven't found the time to write such a long comment until now.)
 
So to start off on an important note... The place is not an aquarium, as it doesn't hold any fish species. However, from a little search I did I learned that it used to house only fish at first and then transitioned into reptiles. Moreover it seems to be a publicly owned facility and as you may have heard greece has gone into the past through an economic crisis, thus funding for the place must be minimal, explaining the conditions.
The ticket is 3 euros per person and it doesn't have any other prices for students or the elderly etc.
Is it worth it? I'm not so certain as the collection is pretty good for such a small space, but the reptiles living there could certainly have much better living accomodations.
 
The place is inside an old, restored water mill and part of an open water museum. In case you would like to visit do not trust google maps as it doesn't recognise the small and kind of narrow paths of the open museum and when I tried it to be sure, it showed me a 2hour walking distance. However if you find yourselves admiring the beaytiful waterfall you will be around 100m away from the building, so you should just stick to the signs.

Now, the space... Let's just say that if you have a fear of small, narrow, kind of dark places, then it's a nightmare.
As it is situated inside the old watermill there is almost no natural light, especially the further back you go.
The layout however is pretty simple. Immediately when you enter you have an exhibit at your right arm. It is a floor to ceiling mixed species exhibit housing african spurred tortoises, green iguannas and a white-throated monitor.(Also according to the signs there is also leopard and red footed tortoises, but I couldn't see them). The exhibit has basically two levels : The upper level, created by some branches and planks, is were during my visit the iguannas and monitor were keeping really still (so much so that my friend insisted that they were statues until one blinked). The floor level was covered with what I think is wood chip and that is were I saw three african spurred tortoises.At your right there is a narrow corridor flanked in both sides by glass terraria that housed snakes, while at the end there was a space where you' ll be surrounded by terraria housing some turtle and lizard species.
 
All in all, living in a country were the only major zoo doesn't really house many snakes, this reptile park was an interesting experience.
The problem is that funding is definitelly lacking and it shows. The exhibits did have the basics like heat lamps, some substrate like sand or wood shavings and access to water, but they were small and often did not have a space for the animals to retreat to when feeling stressed. (Also -though I think that the animals hardly care- many animals had plastic tubs to bathe in, which does take points off aesthetics).
Also it might have been just a bad day, but hearing the echoes of the argumaent between an eployee and someone on the phone made for a kind of uncomortable visit.:oops:
So, should you visit? Frankly, I can't really say. Unfortunately, I don't really have any experience with how reptiles should be properly housed, so even though I can definitelly say that the accomodation wasn't really good, I cannot really say how bad it was. (and just saying that it was the worst/better that it looks doesn't seem sincere).Thus, if you find yourselves visiting the city, you might want to check out the place, in order to form your own opinions, but going out of your way just to visit it is something I won't really recommend.
(and yes, I am planning to creating a species list):)
 
So the species:
Just so you know there are many colour morphs housed, so I would just be writing them next to the species name.
Those that have an asterisk have signs, but I couldn't see them.

  • Common Kingsnake (Lampropeltis Getula) (common/snow/white/albino)
  • Common Housesnake (Lamprophis Fuliginosus)
  • Malaysian cave racer (Elaphe Taeniura Ridleyi)
  • Boa constrictor (Boa constrictor) (normal/albino sharp strain)
  • Australian Carpet Python (Morelia spilota)
  • Green Iguana (Iguana Iguana)
  • African Spurred Tortoise (Centrochelys Sulcata)
  • Red-Footed Tortoise (Chelonoidis carbonarius)*
  • Leopard Tortoise (Stigmochelys pardalis)*
  • White-Throated Monitor (Varanus albigularis albigularis)
  • Florida Kingsnake (Lampropeltis getula floridana)
  • Corn snake (Pantherophis guttatus) (common/black/angry ghost/albino/snow)
  • American Honduran Milksnake (Lampropeltis triangulum) (common/albino)
  • Royal Python (Python regius) (common/albino)
  • Rosy boa (Lichanura trivirgata)
  • Leopard gecko (Eublepharis macularius) (common/albino)
  • New Guinea Blue-Tongued Skink (Tiliqua scincoides)*
  • Rainbow boa (Epicrates cenchria)
  • East African Sand Boa (Eryx colubrinus) (just saw the tip of its tale as it was under the sand)
  • Green anacoda (Eunectes murinus)
  • Chinese Stripe-Necked Turtle (Mauremys sinensis)
  • Ornate wood turtle (Rhinoclemmys pulcherrima)
  • Red Tegu (Salvator rufescens)
  • Radiated ratsnake (Coelognathus radiatus)
  • Orange ratsnake (Pantherophis alleghaniensis)*
  • Common Mexican Snapping Turtle (Chelydra rossignonii)
  • Kingsnake apalachicola (Lampropeltis getula meansi)*
  • Yellow spotted monitor (Varanus panoptes)
  • African helmeted turtle (Pelomedusa subrufa) (this alongside the next three turtles were together in a terrarium, so even though I think I saw all four species, I might have mistaken one for another)
  • Meso-American slider (Trachemys venusta)
  • Pond Slider (Trachemys scripta)
  • Red-eared Slider (Trachemys scripta elegans)
  • Yellow anaconda (Eunectes notaeus)
  • Reticulated Python (Malayopython reticulatus) (platinum tiger)
  • Aligator snapping turtle (Macrochelys temminckii)
  • Missisipi Map Turtle (Graptemys pseudogeographica kohnii)
  • Florida Redbelly Turtle (Pseudemys nelsoni)
 
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