Reptile Zoo And Nature Centre

Yesterday I got together with a friend (another photography addict) from out of town, the plan was to just go on a "photo wander" and catch up. We wandered around taking pictures of some architecture and street shots, then came across a place that I have seen but had never ventured into. One of those places that you see and think I need to check that out! But for one reason or another, never seem to lol.

My friend loves reptiles so it was an easy decision on what we were going to shoot! We walked in to Rays Reptile Zoo And Nature Centre on Barton St. (Hamilton, Ont) and found out that instead of paying for admission we could donate non perishable food items for charity. We ran over to the grocery store nearby and grabbed a few things to donate. Getting to check out amazing animals and help a charity out in one shot, well that made for a pretty awesome afternoon!

The first shots I'm going to share are of my favorite animal that I saw that afternoon. A Monitor lizard that either saw me as a tasty meal or had some character and was intrigued by me lol I would like to think it is the later of the two. I went to the side area of its pen, where not many people where. To get a close up shot of its head.

As you will read later in this post, eyes are big for me. Human or animal it is what I typically pay most attention to. This monitor's eyes blew me away! It was almost like looking into to the eyes of a very intelligent dog.

As I made my way back to the front of the pen, the monitor slowly made it into the water and came right up to the front plexiglass where I was standing.

The zoo has a surprising amount of reptiles including alligators, crocodiles, a variety of lizards, frogs and toads.

A lot of my least favorite animals too lol, like snakes. I am not overly scared of them, I just prefer to keep my distance. Mainly because of their eyes. To me they have the eyes of soulless eating machines, creeps me right out! In my opinion the only animals with freakier eyes are sharks!

Quite a few species of spiders as well.

Along with the reptiles there was a good variety of other animals. Such as Marmoset Monkeys, Lemurs, a sloth, porcupine and much more!

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I love animals (even the ones with evil eyes lol) and this nature centre is amazing! We left after a couple hours there and both will be returning. I highly recommend to anyone in the area or if you find yourself in the area, to check this place out! For more information about the center visit: http://raysreptiles.com/about-us/