Family Day Weekend At the Butterfly Conservatory Featuring The Reptile Exhibit

On February 20th 2011 (Family Day Weekend) we decided to check out the Reptile Exhibit at the Butterfly Conservatory in Niagara Falls. The popular attraction is located along the Niagara Parkway close to the Niagara Botanical Gardens . The Niagara Parks Commission maintains and operates the building.

Before I share the details of our afternoon I would like to mention that the Reptile Exhibit was a special event that was offered on Family Day weekend between February 19th and the 21st. The exhibit and demonstration was put on by Kevin Dungey and his crew from "Little Rays Reptile Zoo". Admission to the event was free with a ticket into the Butterfly Conservatory. Niagara Parks often offer these special events around holidays.

Check out the Bugalicious Event that was held at the Butterfly Conservatory last year.

We arrived at the event just before 2pm in the afternoon. We were not expecting to see so many people there. As you can see just beyond the ticket booth the room was full!
We made our way inside the foyer area where the reptile presentation was just starting. The kids waited in anticipation as the presenter, Kevin, went out of the area for a moment and returned with a huge Nile Monitor hanging off him!
I’ve never seen one of these reptiles up close so it was pretty interesting how its long claws gripped onto his soft clothing as if it were a tree branch! Surprisingly it stayed still throughout the presentation. After providing some facts about the reptile, it was taken into the back and he returned empty handed….or so we thought!

As he returned he opened his hands and the audience shrieked with excitement – he was holding a tarantula! Now I don’t like little bugs never mind a huge, hairy spider! A young boy was invited to come up and hold the creature. As you can see, he was more interested than scared!

Kevin then brought over a large female alligator. This was the same predator that you would find in many areas of Florida. We captured most of this part of the presentation on video below.

Another of the presenters running the exhibit came out to take the alligator into the back and grab the next reptile in the presentation, which is also something have never seen up close. A young girl and boy from the audience returned to help bring out a huge African Rock Python!

After the presentation the audience was able to walk around, meet with the people running the exhibit and view some of the reptiles up close. This was a great opportunity for people to take pictures and video. An albino python was brought out along
with a tortoise. A Green Iguana was also available for viewing behind glass. The reason this reptile was not brought out in public due to its aggressive nature.

After taking some pictures and reading the information provided about each reptile above the viewing areas, we decided to go into the Butterfly area. We both went there last year but decided to check it out again. Check out our experience at the
Butterfly Conservatory. Usually apon entrance into the tropical area you would watch a short video that would give you facts and information on types of butterflies available to be seen. Since we did this before we made our way through the entrance.

There seemed to be more butterflies than last year and they definitely were more active! They were landing
all over people! Many people didn’t realize they had a butterfly on them until someone pointed it out. As you can see one decided to land right on my arm and one right in Tim’s hand. I never get tired of the Butterfly Conservatory because of this! It’s definitely one of the must-do activity for the family!

In total we were at the Butterfly Conservatory for about two hours.
The time definitely flew by! We got some great pictures and memories of our visit!

We would like to thank the Niagara Parks for their hospitality during this event.

Visit our Events Calendar for upcoming Niagara Parks and Special Events at the Niagara Falls Butterfly Conservatory.

Below are a few videos of the Reptiles event that we took while visiting the Butterfly Conservatory in Niagara Falls.





To see what else Niagara Parks has going on
check out their website here.

Explore more of what Niagara Falls has to offer.

Check out some more of our experiences in Niagara Falls here.