Marwell Wildlife Rodent Room + Night life - what were they like?

dillotest0

dillotest0

Well-Known Member
5+ year member
To my knowledge, there were two exhibits at Marwell that survived until around Knowles' retirement from Marwell in the mid-2000s - namely the Rodent Room, which today is used to hold Visayan Warty Pigs, which closed circa 2006, and Night-life, which closed in 2007.
Seeing as I can find little description elsewhere, I was wondering if anyone here has much memory of the places and how they were structured ?
 
I don't remember a rodent room at all. I can remember 2 structures that held bats. Not sure if they would be the same?
Hazy this many years on but seem to think one was up opposite the Clouded Leopard enclosure as it is now?
The other was to the side of the walled area, on the right of the Hall Road, sort of opposite the old White Rhino House.
Apologies if this isn't what you meant.
All I can really remember is the incredibly strong smell in both.
 
I have a vague recollection of Night Life. It was quite a small nocturnal house. I don't recall any specific species housed there though. If I remember correctly it was between Marwell Hall and what is now the anoa enclosure near the tigers.

I don't remember anything called rodent room either.
 
Was 'Night Life' the area that included the Coquerel's mouse lemur. Marwell was the first (and perhaps only) time I saw the species, although it isn't listed under ZTL.
 
NMM said:
I have a vague recollection of Night Life. It was quite a small nocturnal house. I don't recall any specific species housed there though. If I remember correctly it was between Marwell Hall and what is now the anoa enclosure near the tigers.

I don't remember anything called rodent room either.
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The small house by the side of Marwell Hall was the former game larder,it became a very small nocturnal house with Kowaris, Coquerels dwarf Lemurs, Gunters voles, grass mice,jirds, think it opened in 1999.
 
If the Rodent Room is the one I'm thinking of, it was basically a window you looked into and there were lots of not-very-well lit tanks of rodents, including some very unusual species (this fairly awful photo was taken there: Edwards' Swamp Mouse at Marwell, ca. 2000 - ZooChat - I also have notes of Shaw's Jird, Reed Vole, and Guenther's Vole).

I also remember a small nocturnal house near the Hall as @NMM describes, just near where you went through to the tamarin enclosures in the Hall gardens.
 
Maguari said:
If the Rodent Room is the one I'm thinking of, it was basically a window you looked into and there were lots of not-very-well lit tanks of rodents, including some very unusual species (this fairly awful photo was taken there: Edwards' Swamp Mouse at Marwell, ca. 2000 - ZooChat - I also have notes of Shaw's Jird, Reed Vole, and Guenther's Vole).

I also remember a small nocturnal house near the Hall as @NMM describes, just near where you went through to the tamarin enclosures in the Hall gardens.
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It also had species, European Hamster, Mongolian silver mountain mole, Indian naked soled gerbil I think around about fiveteen species of small rodents.
 
Though I am curious as to the lighting quality of Night Life?
Looking at pictures of it, I'm not sure as to how 'intricate' it would have been ...
 
Dassie rat said:
Was 'Night Life' the area that included the Coquerel's mouse lemur. Marwell was the first (and perhaps only) time I saw the species, although it isn't listed under ZTL.
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The mouse lemurs were in the (single) nocturnal enclosure in World of Lemurs.
 
dillotest0 said:
Though I am curious as to the lighting quality of Night Life?
Looking at pictures of it, I'm not sure as to how 'intricate' it would have been ...
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Night Life was within the Listed building to the left (when facing) Marwell Hall; it was often referred to as a Game Larder but there is little to support its use for keeping game and was more likely that pigeons used to be kept and bred there. The space is quite small and dark so reverse lighting was used when animals were kept there. I would be most interested to see the pictures you refer to.
 
@zooboy
What used to be Night Life - ZooChat
I was mainly commenting about how it seemed like a rather small space - so I was curious as to whether it could support intricate reverse-lighting as do modern nocturne houses.
Though to my knowledge, few other pictures exist of this exhibit - though I'd imagine the lighting would be an obvious factor in this ...
 
I seem to have found this video from 2006 - from the darkness of the video and blue light, I would assume it was taken at NL.
 
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