Reptile House – The Kitchen Dudes

When walking through our Reptile House you will pass our kitchen area where the keepers prepare food for the reptiles and complete all of their paperwork. But at the back of the kitchen you will spot some vivariums. These vivariums house some species that we do not have on display for you to see, so here is a sneak peek into some of the species that we have living behind scenes, away from the hustle and bustle of the busy Reptile House.

Firstly, we have our group of barking geckos, which I think have a fun scientific name: Underwoodisaurus milii. Despite their scientific name sounding like they were named because they were found under some wood and look like mini dinosaurs, they are actually named after a herpetologist, Garth Underwood.

This species is found in the southern areas of Australia and can live in a variety of habitats, including forests, scrublands and deserts. Barking geckos are aptly named as they will produce a bark noise when they are threatened in an attempt to scared off predators.

These geckos are nocturnal, therefore explore and hunt mostly at night. However, our group of geckos are quite nosey and we will often see them poking their heads out of their hiding spots to watch what the keepers are doing in the kitchen.

Our next species is our pair of knob-tailed geckos. These are another Australian gecko species which can also be found in a wide range of habitats, including woodlands, scrublands and dune-fields.

They get their name from their tails which are stubby and knob-like.

Knob-tailed geckos are nocturnal and have large eyes to aid their vision in the dark. During the day they will hide away in self-made or repurposed burrows. Our pair are quite shy and only pop out of their hiding spots to grab a quick snack.

Both our barking geckos and knob-tailed geckos are able to drop their tails to evade predators, which will eventually grow back. They also wave their tails around when they are hunting for their food, which can be very cute to watch.

Next up is our Argentine horned frog, Snoop Frog.

He has previously been in an enclosure in the main Reptile House but due to his natural behaviour of burrowing into the substrate, he was quite hard to spot. So, he now spends his time in the Reptile House kitchen where he can be buried without disappointing anyone.

Horned frogs are ambush predators and wait for prey to pass by before hopping out to capture it. These frogs have been known to capture prey that is almost as large as themselves. They are also commonly called Pac Man frogs due to their rounded shape and being mostly mouth, resembling the famous video game character.

As their name suggests, they come from Argentina and can be found in wet, tropical rainforests.

This species is classed as Near Threatened on the IUCN Red List, and like many other amphibians, struggle with domestic and agricultural pollution as well as urban development, hunting and trapping.

Lastly, we have our trio of false tomato frogs. ‘Tomato’ because they are red, round frogs, resembling tomatoes. Why ‘false’? Because there is another species, which appear much redder, which have claimed the name tomato frog. This doesn’t make our falsies any less of a frog though.

This species comes from Madagascar and inhabit forests and wetland areas.

These frogs are ambush predators and, just like the horned frog, will wait until prey wanders by for them to catch and eat. Our trio will sometimes wander around during feeding time to try to find the perfect spot to catch their bugs.

Our trio can be interesting to watch and will occasionally climb around despite naturally being sit and wait predators. We often spot them sitting in their water bowl, staring out into the kitchen.

These are just a few of the species that live in the Reptile House kitchen. We do have other individuals living in the Reptile House kitchen and you can find others of their species on display throughout the Reptile House.