Reptile zoos in Delft, part II; Sauria » Sauria

Reptile zoos in Delft, part II; Sauria
02-02-2009

The second reptile zoo in Delft is a relative young one; Sauria. The organization was founded in 2002. Since 2007 they relocated to the building where they are right now (before that they have animals scattered over 4 locations in Delft and Wateringen (a small village in the area). Their current location is also easy to reach, about a 5 minute walk from the central train station. ( their internet site; Stichting Sauria). When planning a visit, beware of limited opening hours! Check the site -> “expo” -> “openingstijden”.
Sauria is focussing on becoming a nationally and internationally leading institute in breeding reptiles. They also try to increase the knowledge about the animals. It’s all about quality.

They have a shop where you can by animals, snakes, lizards etc, food like mice, crickets etc, enclosures, lamps, etc. and then there is the exhibition.

I’ll go through the exhibition like I presented serpo earlier.

The outside of the building looks somewhat like a gym;




The exhibition (“expo”) is dived into a couple of themes. We start with “new life”. Newly hatched snakes, geckos, turtles, frogs, etc. All in very colourful enclosures

On the other side of the path there are little holes in the wall with the smallest species like geckos;

The interior of such an enclosure;


The species on display in this area are;
Anolis carolinensis – Roodkeelanolis Carolina anole - Rotkehlanolis
Anolis sagrei – Oranjekeelanolis - Cuban Brown Anole - Bahama Anolis
Rhacodactylus ciliatus – Wimpergekko - Crested Gecko - Kronengeckos
Phelsuma dubia - Daggekko - Day Gecko - Tag Gecko
Tiliqua scincoides scincoides – Blauwtong skink - Blue-Tongued Skink - Blauzungen-Skink
Lamprophis fuliginosus – Afrikaanse huisslang - Brown house snake - Afrikanische Braune Hausschlange
Pituophis catenifer annectans – Stierslang - San Diego Gopher Snake - Gophernatter
Lampropeltis (triangulum) hondurensis – hondurese melkslang - Tangerine Honduran Milksnake - honduras königsnatter
Testudo hermanni – Griekse landschildpad - Hermann's Tortoise - Griechischen Landschildkröte
Kinixys belliana – Scharnierschildpad - Bell's hinge backed tortoise - Glattrand-Gelenkschildkröte
Pogona vitticeps – Baardagame - bearded dragon - Bartagame
Laudakia stellio brachydactyla – Clown agame - Giant Painted Agama - Schleuderschwanzagamen
Uromastyx aegypticus – Egyptische doornstaartagame - Egyptian Uromastyx - Afrikanischer Dornschwanz
Cordylus tropidosternum – Gordelstaarthagedis - Tropical Girdled Lizard - Zwerggürtelschweif

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Next is a room with spiders, insects and arthropods.
Loads of signs missing so this specieslist is not complete!
Here you can also find the only venomous animal in Sauria; the black widow.

Phyllopertha horticola – Rozenkever - Garden Chafers - Gartenlaubkäfer
Platymeris sp. – Roofwants - assassin bug - Raubwanze
Latrodectus mactans - Zwarte weduwe - Black widow - Schwarze Witwe


After that a room filled with enclosures for spiders



Acanthoscurria geniculata – Braziliaanse witknie vogelspin
Aphonopelma seemanni – Zebra vogelspin - Zebra
Theraphosa blondi – Goliath vogelspin – Goliath birdeater
Brachypelma klaassi – Mexicaanse roodbeen vogelspin – Mexican pink
B. smithi – Mexicaanse roodknie vogelspin – Mexican red knee
B. emilia – Roodpoot vogelspin – Mexican red leg
B. boehmi – Roodpoot vogelspin – Mexican beauty
B. angustum – Costa Rican red
Grammostola aureostriata – Chaco geelknie vogelspin – chaco golden knee
G. grossa – Pampas tawny red
Lasiodora striatipes - Giant brown tarantula
Lasiodora difficilis - Brazilian Fire Red Tarantula
L. parahybena - Brazilian salmon tarantula
Nhandu collaratavillosum – Witknie vogelspin – White striped birdeater
Poecilotheria fasciata – Ornament vogelspin – Indian ornamental
Pterinochilus murinus – Apen-spin – Golden starburst baboon
P. vorax – Apen-spin – Orange baboon


The main hall has the biggest enclosures. Along one side are;
Varanus rudicollis – Ruwnekvaraan - Roughneck monitor - Rauhnackenwaran
V. doreanus – Blauwstaartvaraan - Bluetail Monitor - Blauschwanzwaran
Cyclura nubila nubila – “blauwe neushoornleguaan“ Cubaanse leguaan - Cuban Rock Iguana - Kuba Wirtelschwanzleguan
Boa constrictor – afgodslang - Boa constrictor - Boa constrictor

In the middle 2, 2 floor high, enclosures stand for
Hydrosaurus weeberi – molukken Zeilhagedis - Weber's Sailfin Lizard - Molukkensegelechse
Geochelone carbonaria – Kolenbranderschildpad - red footed tortoise - Köhlerschildkröte
Iguana iguana – Groene leguaan – Green iguana – Grüne leguan

Those enclosures can also be viewed from above. Standing upstairs, there are also 4 other enclosures;

Python molurus bivittatus – Tijgerpython (+albino) - Burmese python - Tigerpython
Cyclemys dentata – Bladschildpad - Asian Leaf Turtle - Indomalaiische Blattschildkröte
Basiliscus plumifrons – Helmbasilisk - Green Basilisk - Stirnlappenbasilisken
Varanus albigularis ionidesi – Zwartkeelvaraan - The Black-throated monitor - Schwarzkehlwaran
Tupinambis rufescens – Rode teju - Red Tegu - Rote Teju However it was probably a Varanus salvator – Watervaraan - Water monitor lizard - Bindenwaran

Back downstairs again, the last row of enclosures are;

Physignathus lesueurii – Australische wateragame - Eastern water dragon - Australischen Wasseragame
P. cocincinus – Groene wateragame - Chinese water dragon - Grüne Wasseragamen
Timon lepidus – Parelhagedis - ocellated lizard - Perleidechse
Orthriophis/Elaphe taeniura friesei – Taiwanese rattenslang - Taiwan beauty snake - Taiwan-Schönnatter
Acrantophis dumerili – Madagascarboa – Dumerilboa - Madagaskarboa

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After this you’ll enter a big educational area. All about reptiles, amphibians, insects, arthropods, etc, etc. Very cool for kids!


In the last room a number of animals can be found.



Eublepharis macularius – Luipaardgekko - Leopard Gecko - Leopardgecko
Hemisphaeriodon gerrardi – Slakkenskink - Pink-tongued Skink - Schneckenskink
Xenagama taylori – Schildstaartagame - dwarf shield tailed agama - Biberschwanzagame
Sceloporus cyanogenys – Schorhagedis - Blue Spiny Lizard - Blaue Stachelleguan
Morelia bredli – Bredl’s python - Centralian carpet python - zentralaustralische Teppichpython
Lampropeltis triangulum campbelli – Campbels melkslang - Pueblan Milk Snake - Puebla-Dreiecksnatter
L. “whiteside”– Witflankmelkslang - Milk snake - ?
Pantherophis guttata – rode rattenslang (verschillende kleuren) - Striped Cornsnake(various colours) – Kornnattern (vershiedene farben)
Liasis savuensis – Witoogpython – Savu Python - Sawupython
Python regius – Koningpython - Royal python - Königspython
Varanus acanthurus – Stekelstaartvaraan - Spiny-Tailed Monitor - Stachelschwanzwaran
V. salvator – Watervaraan - Water Monitor Lizard - Bindenwaran
V. tristis orientalis – Roodkopvaraan - Freckled Monitor - Trauerwaran
(the monitor lizards were not full grown yet, and they were in slightly bigger enclosures than the largest you see on the picture above, so they fitted in quite nicely )

So overall this is definitely the better looking zoo when you compare serpo and sauria. Also more interactive and more interesting for children. However for the dyhard fans here, serpo is probably much more appealing because of their collection. (a lot of the species signs were missing or even false in sauria, so the species I listed above are not all species on display. A lady told me they were going to change all the signs in a couple of weeks so that should be sorted soon) So they both have pros and cons. Both worth a quick visit.

02-02-2009

Again, thanks for this report. I didn't know anything about this reptilarium and it's definitely worth a visit!