Tropical House

The Tropical House contains a variety of animals, mainly reptiles and creepy crawlies!

Crocodiles

Reptiles are cold-blooded creatures and, in the wild, spend many hours basking in the sun to maintain their body temperatures. The crocodiles at Natureland replicate this wild behaviour by laying motionless underneath the heat lamps for long periods of time.

Crocodiles can live to be 80-100 years old.

Royal Pythons

These are one of the smaller species of python, growing to a maximum length of approximately 4 feet.
Pythons are constrictors which means that they squeeze their prey to death before eating them rather than killing them with a poison bite.
Although they have no ear openings, snakes "hear" through a very sensitive bone in their chin. The quadrate bone can detect very tiny vibrations and pinpoint where they are coming from.

                         Snakes use their tongue to taste the air                          to detect the scent of potential prey.

Arachnids

Spiders and scorpions are not insects, but arachnids. Arachnids have 8 legs, never fly and don't have antennae.
Tarantula spiders have fangs that inject poison to disable their prey, however, the bite of a tarantula is not dangerous to man.

Reptiles in danger

Many species are threatened by the trade in skins for handbags, belts and ornaments, whilst others, including British snakes and lizards are fast losing their natural habitats and food supply.