About The Isle Of Wight Reptilarium
The Isle of Wight Reptilarium is an all weather attraction on the Isle of Wight set in the building of Fort Victoria country park.
The Isle Of Wight Reptilarium Description
The Isle of Wight Reptilarium is a proposed all weather tourist attraction based on the Isle of Wight, Situated at the site of the old Marine Aquarium at Fort Victoria Country Park, Freshwater,
Our exhibit of reptiles, amphibians and invertebrates of the world will be in naturalistic themed displays that explore the biomes these animals inhabit, we want to educate the public to the threats these animals face in the wild as well as our native herpetofauna that can be found on our doorstep in the adjacent country park.
We are going to be a small indoor, chargeable exhibit, that will take around 1. 5 hours to explore (if you look at all the animals), we aim to have live Reptiles, Amphibians and invertebrates on display to educate and inspire our visitors,
We really want to help the future generations and currently there is a shortage of suitable work experience placements on the Island for students looking to study Animal Care, we would like to provide much needed placements as well as traineeships and apprenticeships in conjunction with Island Training providers so we can inspire and enthuse the next generations of conservationists and animal care professionals, giving them basic work and animal care skills they can carry forward onto greater things.
We also would like to incorporate a Sanctuary for unwanted freshwater turtles that have been aquired as pets but now grown too large to be housed correctly at home,
The Project so far. . .
The Reptilarium is being backed by individuals with over a decade of business experience on the Island in the pet reptile industry and we have just signed a 25 year lease on the building, it needs new exhibits installed and zoo licence inspecton and we are hoping to have the doors open in time for Easter 2017! !
We are asking for your help to get us along the way with some of our costs, in the interests of transparency we have highlighted some of our costs below to give you an idea,
Legal Fees £500, Licencing applications £1500, Electricity £7000 P /a, Exhibits £5000, Food costs £3000, cost to hire an apprentice £5000, Premises £8000.
We are trying to raise funds via crowdfunding to get ourselves off to a great start, if you pledge funds and choose one of our rewards you will be getting value for your money and helping a local business at the same time, as an extra thank you. . everyone that pledges will be added to our list of donors on our website.
Any funds given will be greatly received and put to use to give us a good head start, enabling us to create something special by using the power of the community!
Thank you for taking the time to support our idea and we look forward to welcoming you to the Isle of Wight Reptilarium!
Reviews
We are now closed for the winter, reopening Feb Half Term 2020 - Thank You
Update: we will be CLOSED Today, Please do not travel to us Today.
In light of the current storm we do not think it would be safe for you to travel to us, The wind down here is very strong and gusting heavily across the car park. Apologies for any inconvenience,
We may be late opening this morning as we make our way in through this wind.
Times Running out! Last Chance to visit the Reptilarium this weekend and then we will be Closed for the winter.
Re-opening February 15th 2020
We are running late this morning, hope to be open by 11am, apologies, if you are waiting outside, have an explore of the fort, will be there very soon.
It may be raining outside, but it's always inviting inside.....
A big thank you to all who came along to snake handling today 😍🙂🐍 Well done to those who overcame there fears 🙂I didnt get a chance to take any photos so feel free to share any that you took🙂 Also a big thank you to Georgina and her snakes x
Half term starts tomorrow 🙂 Be sure to visit this half term🙂
We will be open slightly later today at 11am
Fright week will be back this year for 2 weeks over half term from the 21st October to the 3rd November. Family friendly scares inside the reptilarium.
Autumn is here, we are still open from 10 - 4, 7 days a week... BUT this year we will be closing for the winter on the 4th November and opening again on the 15th of February.
We have stayed open throughout the winter for the past 2 years and to be honest we have had very little custom during the winter months so it is a far better use of our time to take 3 months out to do maintenance and improvements rather than waiting for customers never to come,
hope you all understand, and we look forward to seeing you all over the next 30 days before we shut the doors for winter.
Something from the salad bar for lunch..
Due to a family emergency we will be closed today, apologies for any disappointment caused.
We will be open late today folks or possibly not at all, sorry about this, if you are planning a visit I advise not today. Back to normal tommorrow