Little rays reptile zoo payed a visit to Fanshawe College on Tuesday afternoon with the focus on making students more aware about what is required to have a reptile as a pet as well as sharing a common misconception about reptiles.Margaret Mantione and Lauren Jones who are both animal outreach educators for little rays had numerous animals on display in Forwell hall this morning shared the most common misconception about reptiles. ” Most people believe that reptiles are scary or want to hurt you but in reality most reptiles are more likely to run away and hide from you.”
Mantione and Jones also share what people need to research before they decide to get a reptile. ” What they eat is one of the biggest things that you need to look in to. We’ve had people get snakes and not realize that they need to feed them rats and mice and things like that.” explained Jones. “Another thing that people need to look into is how big an animal gets. Some people get a pet and then don’t realize how big these animals can get.” Mantione and Jones do recommend that if you were to purchase a reptile as a pet they recommend that you get a rescue instead of one from a pet store which the zoo has many rescue animals.
the zoo also deals very closely with the SPCA . “We work very closely with the SPCA and about 85 to 90 percent of our animals are rescues and we are probably one of the biggest rescues in Ontario right now. The zoo is located in Hamilton and people are very encouraged to go visit the zoo. They are open 7 days a week throughout the year.
