News Archive

And now for something completely different ...

An Asiatic Water Dragon, one of the occupants of our new aqua-vivaria in the Reptile House Marc Ormond, Head of Reptiles, has transformed the entrance to the Reptile House with unusual new exhibits.

When we decided to refurbish the foyer of the Reptile House, we looked for a way to display a wide variety of species in a single enclosure, such as lizards, amphibians, turtles and fish. Not an easy task!

We opted for two “aqua-vivaria”, so-called because the bottom half is set up like a tropical freshwater aquarium, whilst the top half is divided from the aquarium by a land area to make a vivarium, hence the name aqua-vivarium.

These all-glass aqua-vivaria tanks took three weeks to build to our design, during which time we removed the old vivaria and put their animals into off-show enclosures. We also built two heavy duty stands with 6cm square steel needed to take the weight, and bolted these to the floor.

When the tanks arrived it took six members of the animal staff to lift and move them into the desired position on their stands. The fascia was then put in place and the foyer was repainted and adorned with vines and leaves.

We set one tank up for South American Tetras, Discus and a totally aquatic turtle that is vegetarian called a Fly River Turtle. Above these we are displaying Chameleons and if they settle in we shall be putting some unusual tree frogs in with them.

In the other aqua-vivarium, we have Freshwater Stingrays, a peaceful and graceful bottom living fish (unless you get too close; they have a large barbed sting in their tail as a form of defence). We are also planning to introduce another unusual fish species called an Arrowana from South America, which should complement the Stingrays as they live at the surface of the water and eat insects. Above these we are displaying another species of Chameleon and in time we may introduce some Day Geckos from Madagascar.

We do hope you enjoy these little sections of tropical rain forest and stream life, especially as many of you have missed the old Aquarium that was replaced with the Siamang house.

Want to Help?

A visit to the Cotswold Wildlife Park can now be even more worthwhile. By adopting an animal, you can provide a helpful contribution towards the costs of keeping and feeding the animals and supporting our conservation breeding programmes... click here for more information