Our Animals
In the Menagerie collection, we have a number of weird and wonderful creatures, almost 300 in all! Below you can meet some of our 40 unique species. To find out about our invertebrate collection, click here.
Tropiocolotes tripolitanus
We are home to a group of 5 Tropiocolotes tripolitanus, collectively known as The Jackson 5. They are a rare species to come across in captivity, with very few known owners. At the time of writing, there are only two care sheets available for the species, one being my own! They are the smallest reptile species I own, and probably the smallest I will ever have experience with.
If they could talk...
"Our favourite food is micro silent crickets, of which we can gulp up many a day! We like it hot with plenty of places to hide away from our keepers and escape heat when we get too warm. Our favourite place to hide is in a stack of tubes and our keepers often panic as they can't find us all! We love our large tank, which we imagine looks just like Algeria (although we've never been)!"
Moroccan Eyed Lizard (Timon tangitanus)
Another of our species, also rarely seen in captivity! Cairo is a young Moroccan Eyed Lizard who I purchased in March 2021. He is a lovely character, although currently quite skittish. This picture is from when he first came home, isn't he beautiful? He will eventually become the biggest species I own, getting to a maximum length of around 70cm.
If they could talk...
"My favourite food is calcium dusted crickets, which always escape and run around my keepers house! I also love to eat mealworms, which are much easier to catch. I prefer it warm and dry (coming from Morocco) and like to hideaway in my cork tube for most of the day. I run away when my keepers enter the room most times, but they are very interesting to watch from my safe tube, especially when they're cleaning the turtle's tank out!"
Note, the mark on his tail is just a bit of dirt, not an injury.
Marginated Tortoise (Testudo marginata)
Thought to be our oldest resident, Speedy is a beautiful Marginated Tortoise who we rescued just before the first national UK coronavirus lockdown in the March of 2020 from the friend of a family member who could no longer care for her.
If they could talk...
"My favourite foods are leafy greens, grass and cucumber, but I also like to eat tomatoes and trail them around the garden. I have always lived outside for as long as I remember, except when I go to sleep for a few months over winter. I'm just like a tank, always knocking over my keeper's plant pots and trampling the spring daffodils! It annoys them but it is very fun!"
Mourning Geckos (Lepidodactylus lugubris)
I keep two Mourning Geckos, Nala and Kiara. They are another small species and are excellent escape artists. Our girls (as all of this species are female) live in a co-hab bioactive enclosure with our dart frogs.
If they could talk...
"Our favourite foods are flightless fruit flies but we are often given jelly pots and repashy food by our keepers but we haven't been persuaded to try any yet! We think the best place to hide is in a cork bark tube, that looks just like a tree. We are never spotted in there, and only come out occasionally during the day, preferring the evenings. We love to sit by the heat mat and keep nice and warm before going back to our hiding spots when we hear our keepers coming up the stairs! We love our tank, it's just how I imagine the rainforest."
Berber Skink (Eumeces schneideri)
We have a pair of Berber Skinks, Spot and Alex. Berber Skinks were actually my very first exotic species, and they are a great reptile to keep and very handleable.
If they could talk...
"Our favourite food is a nice, big, juicy locust, although we also love to try new foods such as pinkie mice (unfortunately we don't get them very often), waxworms and repashy jelly, which we have grown to love. We have little respect for each other and like to stand on the other's face! We spend most of the day underground but love to bask under our toasty heat lamp. Our water bowl is always a mess as we try our hardest to put as much substrate into it as possible!"
Musk Turtle (Sternotherus odoratus)
Our Musk Turtle, Kasana has been part of the family since Easter 2018! Musk Turtles (and most other species) are often bought as 50p sized creatures for children's tiny tanks, before being rehomed or released as they grow up. This is a frequent and very common issue with turtles, but easily treated through proper research. Kasana is such an interesting creature and very fun to watch.
If they could talk...
"My favourite food is crickets, which I don't get too often, but I also enjoy my turtle pellets and Sunday dinner of frozen bloodworm! I live with a few of my fishy friends, and I like to try and catch them. The damn fish are just too quick for me... Unlike a lot of my species, I really love to bask, but we all love the same hobby: tree climbing. My keeper has even created a tank setup specially for me to show off my amazing skills!"
Phantasmal Poison Dart Frogs (Epipedobates anthonyi)
We five Phantasmal Poison Dart Frogs: Napo, Chira, who we have had since 2018 and 3 recent additions who are currently unnamed. They originally lived in an Exo Terra 45x45x60cm but got a huge upgrade in the winter of 2020, receiving a huge 50x50x100cm setup! I shouldn't have favourites but they 100% make the shortlist.
If they could talk...
"We love our little pocket of the rainforest, it's just a shame we need to share with Nala and Kiara, the Mourning Geckos, who just came barging in one day! We love our flightless fruit flies most, but also keep down the population of springtails in our setup, and will happily much away on micro crickets. We like to hide from our keepers, but Frogbert (RIP 2021) is happy to be on camera and will often pose for a picture. We like it cold compared to other species, and our favourite times of day is when our keeper's automated misty wotsit rains on us!"
Domestic short-haired cat
Bailey is a rescue cat who we took on in January 2020. She has since settled incredibly well and become a much loved member of the family. She meows for food... a lot. If she tells you she's not eaten, she is almost certainly lying!
If they could talk...
"I need food. All the time... my favourite is duck but I'll also settle for beef or chicken if you've got some. And I'll take a side of Dreamies, thanks. Also please don't put it in that stupid ball thingy, I shouldn't have to work for my food, sleeping all the day is tiring you know?"
Zebra Finches (Taeniopygia guttata)
Our smallest, feistiest and undoubtedly most beautiful birds in the aviary, we have a flock of 23 Zebra Finches, a number that is frequently added to due to the number of chicks they produce. They're another Menagerie favourite and it isn't difficult to see why, they're small, they're cute and make the most adorable of sounds, who couldn't love them!?
If they could talk...
"Meep! I'm Bourbon, one of the flock that call the Ali's Menagerie aviary home! I love our home, the food, the plants, the treats, but the other birds, we could do without them! There's the curious Kakarikis, who poke their beaks into anyone's business, then the Bengalese, pretty shy but they steal our seed, and finally the quail. We like them though, they keep the place clean and we keep out of eachother's way- the other birds could do with a lesson!"
More coming soon!
