Riverside Reptiles Education Center - Enfield, CT

[dakski]

Thank you dakski! What a spectacular center for reptile education, the animals, the clientele, all seem like a must see. My wife and I are surely going to book a visit there. Already friended them on Facebook. Your photos and explanation of the facility make it so appealing and interesting as well. Can’t wait to get there!

You are welcome, Albert. It's a great place.

If you come up, drop me a PM. I'd enjoy meeting up.

[Homebody]

Pics from yesterday's trip to Riverside Reptiles:




This is an albino eastern diamondback rattlesnake. I heard that they are the largest pit viper in the world, but seeing it next to other species of rattlesnake put that into perspective.



Growing up I was always taught to beware of copperheads, but I think I only saw one once. At that time, I wasn't able to get this close to appreciate it.




My kids practically fell over laughing at these tiger salamanders. So derpy looking!



I was truly awed by these full sized mainland reticulated pythons. I watch lots of videos about them. They're frequently discussed on this forum, but seeing one in person helped me to better understand both why people want to keep them and why it's a terrible idea.






My kids and I really appreciated how accessible all the animals were. I've been to enough zoos where I struggled to see any of the animals on display to know that doesn't happen by accident. Here I was able to easily see all of them. That's a tribute to those that designed and run this facility. If you're ever in the area, it's well worth the money.

[dakski]

Seriously, anyone in the area, they are definitely worth a visit.

If anyone stops by there, please PM me, we are very close and would love to meet up and/or show off our reptiles too!

[dakski]

We often go to programs at Riverside Reptiles meant to raise awareness and benefit local animal rescue groups. Last year we met some possum's that could not be rehabilitated to go back in the wild. We learned a lot in that program about North America's only marsupial. This past weekend, we went to a Birds of Prey program put on by Horizon Wings (https://www.horizonwings.org). They were informative and brought some cool birds.

We learned that Peregrine Falcon's can dive over 240mph! They are mostly bird hunters and hit them out of the sky (literally ram them). Sometimes the falcon doesn't make it either because of the force. Peregrine's have a much stronger breast plate than other birds and have a heart about 3X the size of other birds (proportionally). They need to in order to handle 18-21 G Forces when diving and pulling out of a dive. When diving, a Peregrine's heart can beat 600-800X a minute! I actually had the privilege of seeing one dive in Rocky Mountain National Park years ago.




Owls are silent hunters. They have special feathers not the back of their wings that allow them to fly without making almost any noise. This allows them to sneak up on prey. They also have ears that are not symmetrical (I think most if not all species of owls - but do not quote me on that). This allows them to move their heads and pinpoint prey. They also have huge eyes to help see at night and cannot move their eyes! They can move their heads about 180 degrees each way and have many more vertebrae in their neck than other species of birds and other animals. They also have something like 8,000 feathers!

The owls below are the same species (Eastern Screech Owls) and have different coloring (which I believe they said was random).




Bald Eagles are mostly fish eaters and are scavengers and bullies. They will scare off other birds and eat their catch. Their wingspan is more than 6FT and the males are noticeably smaller than the females (about 7-9 pounds versus about 12-15 pounds). They also sound pretty weak - like a seagull more than a giant bird of prey. Not very intimidating. I would not say it to their beak though.





When speaking about the Kestrels (below), they mentioned they not only have incredible eyesight, but can make out certain things that we as humans can't see. For example, mouse urine looks iridescent to them. This allows them to follow a prey item more easily. The program guide said that sometimes they will follow a prey item, like a mouse, under a piece of wood (for example) and wait for it to come out and grab it. I asked how intelligent they were to have patience like that. We were told that that many birds of prey are fairly intelligent. More closely related to parrots than say, a sparrow.




Finally, being at the top of the food chain means they are susceptible to poisoning from prey items.

Kill rodents with traps, not poison. Better for all involved. The poison is terrible to the rodent and then makes its way to the predators.

When hunting, use copper plated bullets and fishing weights, NOT LEAD. The lead from one bullet can kill an eagle. Fishing line is also bad. Please do not leave it behind.

Birds of prey can be great at keeping farms and fields clean of rodents and bugs, etc. Maybe even better than pesticides and poisons that end up killing the predators and allowing the prey population to grow unhindered.

I am not trying to preach and I am just passing on what we were told. However, it makes sense to me. Respect nature. That's what it comes down to.

It was amazing seeing these incredible animals up close.

[Homebody]

If they ever Zoom these programs, let me know. I, generally, hate Zoom, but I would attend one for this.