Sudbury! We’re Going To Be In Town! We have multiple shows this coming week! Our schedule includes:

February 3rd, (10:00 a.m. – 8:00 p.m.), 4th (10:00 a.m. – 6:00 p.m.), and 5th (10:00 a.m. – 5:00 p.m.) at the Radisson Hotel and Convention Center

We’re bringing our world class, live animal, zoological exhibit featuring ‘Great Reptiles of the World – Past and Present to Sudbury, Ontario! This special bilingual exhibit features some of the most infamous reptiles alive today including giant snakes, alligators, giant Komodo dragon type lizards, birds of prey, cobras, rattlesnakes, giant tortoises and event tarantulas and scorpions. As well as the live animals, for the first time on the rock, Little Ray’s is bringing some of the greatest fossil reptile skulls of the past including a Mososaur, a Triceratops, a Sarcosuchus skull (the super croc), and the greatest reptile of all time – the Tyrannosaurus Rex! There will be interactive live animal shows happening pretty much non stop throughout the day with animals out for people to interact with throughout the exhibit. This 7,000 square foot exhibit is guaranteed to be the hit of 2012! Don’t miss this incredible opportunity to come learn and interact with some of nature’s most misunderstood creatures.

85 St. Anne Road, Sudbury Ontario, Canada, P3E 4S4

Admission:

Tickets are $10 at the door

Children 2 and under are FREE

Contact Us for more info.

That’s right! We’re in Thunder Bay! We have multiple shows this coming week! Our schedule includes:

January 27th (10:00 a.m. – 8:00 p.m.), 28th (10:00 a.m. – 6:00 p.m.), and 29th (10:00 a.m. – 5:00 p.m.) at the Coliseum Building at The Canadian Lakehead Exhibition.

We’re bringing our world class, live animal, zoological exhibit featuring ‘Great Reptiles of the World – Past and Present to Thunder Bay!. This one of a kind, hands on, educational bilingual exhibit features some of the most infamous reptiles alive today including giant snakes, alligators, giant Komodo dragon type lizards, birds of prey, cobras, rattlesnakes, giant tortoises and event tarantulas and scorpions. As well as the live animals, for the first time on the rock, Little Ray’s is bringing some of the greatest fossil reptile skulls of the past including a Mososaur, a Triceratops, a Sarcosuchus skull (the super croc), and the greatest reptile of all time – the Tyrannosaurus Rex! There will be interactive live animal shows happening pretty much non stop throughout the day with animals out for people to interact with throughout the exhibit. This over 12,000 square foot exhibit is guaranteed to be the hit of 2012! Don’t miss this incredible opportunity to come learn and interact with some of nature’s most misunderstood creatures. Be educated and amazed this Fall!

425 Northern Avenue, Thunder Bay, Ontario, P7C 2V6

Admission:

Tickets are $10 at the door

Children 2 and under are FREE

Contact Us for more info.

We’re proud to announce that our renovations are almost complete!

We’ve been working around the clock to get the renovations completed at the zoo for the Christmas holidays. We opened in November 2000 on a shoe string budget, and after 11 years in business our dream of a long overdue overhaul has come to fruition. Now Ottawa will not just be home to a zoo with incredible programming but a zoo that has world class exhibits to boot.

Here’s what visitors and our valued customers can expect from the new facility.

• A Complete Overhaul – The existing building has been literally gutted back to the concrete walls. All existing animal enclosures, walls, etc have been removed (except for Stewart and Chases cage – Our 500 pound alligators) and brand new exhibits have come in.
• Greater Access – Previously the public had access to about 65% of our building. Now, the public will have access to 95% of the building.
• Awesome Permanent Exhibits – The zoo will now have 25 permanent animal exhibits featuring some of the most famous reptiles on the planet. On top of the 25 permanent exhibits the zoo will now have 20 feature animal exhibits that will rotate every 6 months.
• World Class Temporary Exhibits – The zoo’s grand re-opening this Christmas is featuring 2 brand new world class exhibits. From December 2011 to June of 2012 come see ‘Life Under the Canopy – Animals of the Rainforests’ and ‘Living Under Fire – Life in the Desert’. These 2 contrasting exhibits featuring a variety of animals from the desert and the rainforest focusing on adaptations for survival in these unique ecosystems
• New Private Function Rooms – Brand new BEAUTIFUL private rooms for birthday parties, schools groups, corporate parties, and team parties.
• New public feeding and hands on room – An incredible new presentation room featuring a 3,000 gallon aquarium and beautiful bleacher seating. This room effectively triples our seating area for shows.
• More Parking – Increased parking to accommodate twice as many vehicles.
• New Huge Gift Shop – A brand new gift shop featuring everything from T-shirts to toys, from videos to toques, and a new fossil and rock section featuring a variety of rocks and fossils dating back 35 million to 450 million years. The new gift shop will have something for every nature lover.
• Nature Centre – The zoo now has a separate nature centre for the local naturalist in your family to come and learn about endangered species in Canada. This room will be featuring skulls from many of Canada’s more commonly known threatened and endangered species as well as live animal exhibits that will rotate seasonally.
• Fresh Air - …. and last but not least brand new ventilation systems. If you had visited the zoo before you would remember the heat with a lot of humidity in the air and a definite ‘zoo’ odour. Well no more. With our new ventilation systems the humidity and odour is completely kept in check. These ventilation systems completely exchange the zoo’s air with outside air every 3 hours assuring fresh air in the zoo at all times. As well, with our new heat controlled systems for animals on display, the zoo’s ambient temperature no longer has to be kept at 28 degrees. Enjoy seeing the animals in the comfort of 20 degrees.

We’re looking forward to seeing you all at the brand new zoo, and we appreciate everyone’s support and patience as we’ve made this all come together. Contact Us for more info.

Little Ray’s Reptile Zoo is renovating! That’s right – we’re improving our facility!

We will be closing the main display area of the zoo from Monday November 28th to Friday December 2nd. Even though the main display area of the zoo will be closed, it’ business as usual! Admission will be free while we complete the improvements, and we will be providing hands on reptile shows and live feeding demonstrations for all of our valuable customers.

In other news, we have two new exhibits that we will soon be unveiling. The photo to the left is ’Animals of the Rainforest’. The second exhibit will be called “Life Under Fire – Living in the Desert”. Check our Upcoming Exhibits section regularly as we firm up dates and locations for 2012.

If you have any questions, please don’t hesitate to contact us or leave your comments.

Sincerely,

-Little Ray

 

Little Ray is coming to Newfoundland! We have multiple shows in the coming weeks on the big rock! Our schedule includes:

• November 11th, 12th, and 13th 2011 at the St. John’s Convention Centre in St. John’s NL. We’ll be open from 9 until 6 on all three days. Tickets available in advance through the Mileone box office or at the door.
• November 19th and November 20th 2011 at Exploits Valley High in Grand Falls -Windsor, NL. We’ll be open from 9 until 6 on both days. (There are no advance ticket sales for this show)
• November 26th and November 27th, 2011 at the Pepsi Centre in Corner Brook, NL. We’ll be open from 9 until 6 on both days.

St John’s Convention Centre, 50 New Gower Street, (709)-576-7657

Exploits Valley High School, 392 Grenfell Heights – Contact us for more info

The Pepsi Centre, 1 Canada Games Place, (709)-637-1230

Admission:

Tickets are $11 in advance (St. John’s only) or $12 at the door

Children 2 and under are FREE

Contact Us for more info.

We’re proud to share some news with you. We had the opportunity to be involved in and lead the transfer of one of the world’s most endangered species – the Orinoco Crocodile –  from a private residence in Welland Ontario to the Gladys Porter Zoo in Brownsville, Texas. Little Ray was called upon to facilitate the export of the crocodiles from Canada and worked with Colette Adams from the Gladys Porter Zoo to help with the importation of the crocodiles into the United States.

On Tuesday, October 11, 2011, animal staff and technicians from the Gladys Porter Zoo loaded two enormous casket-shaped animal crates onto a truck for a trip north to Welland, Ontario.  There, they were joined by several North American crocodile experts to develop and carry out a strategy to move two very large, critically endangered crocodiles from their Canadian quarters and bring them back to Brownsville,Texas. The Canadian institution facilitating the transfer from Canada is Little Ray’s Reptile Zoo and is being led by the zoo owner/operator Paul Raymond Goulet.

The Zoo crews are headed to a facility known as The Seaway Serpentarium, home of Blade and Suede, a pair of Orinoco crocodiles. The male is reportedly over 13 feet in length and weighs 1,200 to 1,400 pounds, while the female is said to be 10 to 11 feet long and may weigh between 500 to 700 pounds.

The crocs in Canada have recently been the subject of a great deal of publicity. When Karel Fortyn, owner of Seaway Serpentarium, passed away suddenly in May, his estate had its work cut out for it. Mr. Fortyn left behind hundreds of animals, the most important of which were Blade and Suede. The crocs were outgrowing their tanks, and before his death, Mr. Fortyn had been planning to build them a new facility. But after his death, the need to move them became urgent. Ideally, they needed to move to a southern location where they could live outside for most of the year and have the opportunity to lend their genetics to the small handful of Orinoco crocodiles already in North American facilities.

The Gladys Porter Zoo spoke for the crocodiles in early summer and the work began. An American alligator exhibit was targeted for renovation; a wall needed to be built to divide the exhibit so that keepers can manage them separately, as necessary. A winterized divided barn also needed to be provided, since Orinoco crocs are not very cold tolerant and this particular pair has been accustomed to living in water kept at 80 degrees. Import permits needed to be applied for, and it was hoped that the permit would be granted and issued well before winter temperatures began to settle in.

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service issued an import permit in late September, and the exhibit renovations are nearing completion.  Next week, the U.S. Orinoco Crocodile Team will meet with an equally talented team in Canada, and the process of extracting the animals from their cramped quarters will begin.  Once the crocodiles are secured and crated, the crew will drive straight through to Brownsville to keep transport time as short as possible. This is an extremely risky procedure for Blade and Suede, because when they struggle during capture, their muscles build up high levels of acid that does not process out quickly.  That is why large crocodiles frequently die during – or shortly after – capture procedures.

Orinoco crocodiles are native to Venezuela and Colombia, South America.  Due to extensive exploitation for their hides, they are the most endangered New World crocodilian, suffering a population decline of over 80 percent within the last three generations.

The species is listed by the IUCN as Critically Endangered, and is in serious peril throughout its range. In the early 1990s, fewer than 1,500 non-hatchlings survived in the wild. Some estimate that the wild population may have been as low as 250 adults. Despite proactive conservation measures, declines and fragmentation of the population continues.

Learn more about the Orinoco Crocodile at Wikipedia. You can also read more at the Toronto Star and at the Huffington Post Canada . The crocodiles are scheduled to arrive in Brownsville Texas at 9 a.m. on October 18th, 2011. Contact us for more information.

Hired Little Ray’s for a birthday party for my 5 year old twins. Their keeper Andre did a fantastic job entertaining the children. They were completely spellbound with the presentation. Highly recommend them if you’re looking for a killer birthday party. Excellent work guys. – Chris Saracino

Our fans in Nova Scotia will be pleased to learn that Little Ray’s has expanded out into Eastern Canada. You may have read our post regarding our franchise news.

We’re now offering our suite of in home birthday packages for families in Halifax and throughout Nova Scotia. We take a great deal of pride in delivering one of the most dynamic and interactive birthday party shows children will experience. Our passion for ecological preservation and zoology, coupled with our experienced and engaging keepers will make for a fun and educational event you or your kids won’t soon forget.

You can view our in home birthday packages here.

Please note that birthday party packages at the zoo are only available in Ottawa.

Questions? Comments? Contact us or Request Info on a birthday booking with us!

Hello friends,

We have some exciting news! We’re proud to announce that we now have franchises running in Halifax and throughout Nova Scotia, London, Hamilton, Brantford, Simco, Kitchener, Waterloo, Cambridge, Kingston, Belleville, Brockville, and Montreal. These new satellite divisions of Little Ray’s Reptile Zoo are offering fun and energetic traveling educational programs for a variety of events – such as our famous children’s birthday parties, our daycares and summer camps, our popular school shows, and of course our entertaining corporate event packages.

We’re also offering our curriculum compliant school programs for Nova Scotia, Ontario, and Quebec curriculums from kindergarten to grade 12.

Please contact us for more information or a request info to book in your city!

Little Ray’s Reptile Zoo is now offering an unbelievable opportunity for teachers and students! We’re making some of our reptiles available for educational facilities and schools for our Animal Life Cycle Program. The program is an opportunity for students to experience and witness firsthand the life cycle of amphibians and reptiles.

Imagine having your very own live animal lab in your classroom! Students have the opportunity to start the year with a young pair of geckos and watch them grow quickly into adults. By the late winter they will be breeding and producing eggs and by the spring students can expect to have baby geckos hatching right in their classrooms.

Beginning in September and October, Little Ray’s Reptile Zoo will provide a classroom with all the equipment required to successfully raise and breed their geckos. This will include an incubator, terrarium, and the geckos themselves. As well, we’ll be providing teachers with a lesson plan for the year and care sheet for the geckos. The classroom will be responsible for the care and maintenance of the animals as well as food costs for the year. By the following June, the set up with the adults and babies can be returned to Little Ray’s Reptile Zoo for the summer.

We’re very excited to give classrooms throughout Eastern Ontario the opportunity to experience almost a full life cycle in 1 school year. Please contact us for more information or you can pre book for the upcoming school year by Requesting Info (choose Animal Life Cycle Program from the pulldown and provide your details).

March 15th – March 20th 2011!!!

We’ll be at the Special Events Building at the Western Fairgrounds!

The event will run from 10 to 5 daily and will feature giant pythons, lizards, tarantulas, birds of prey, rattlesnakes, alligators, king cobras and more! Little Ray’s Reptile Zoo’s zoological displays feature award winning educational programs and the most incredible hands on, interactive experiences for adults and children. Don’t miss this incredible opportunity to interact with some of natures most misunderstood creatures in a new huge 15,000 square foot location! Tim the Puppet Tamer and Face Painting will also be featured.

Western Fairgrounds

316 Rectory St
London, ON N5W 3V9

Admission is $10 a person

$8 for children (3-17 years old)

Children 2 and under are free!

Tickets available at the door. Contact Us for more info.