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