Armadale Reptile Centre

08/05/2026

A day to celebrate a century of a man who has inspired many of us to do the work that we do 🐾🐾

A very Happy Birthday to Sir David Attenborough, 100 years old today and still showing us all the importance our planet, and all its inhabitants, have to the balance of nature.

The work Sir David has done for our understanding and knowledge of our natural world can never be thanked enough, he is a true pioneer and we can all hope to follow in his footsteps.

Sir David made us all think beyond our own bubble. He showed us how the world works in unison and introduced us to lands, peoples and wildlife that we would otherwise never get to meet. His documentaries brought to light the plight of many of our wildlife and wild places. Seeing the beauty of these unique places, we were shown we are not above it but rather a part of the ecosystem, and we have the knowledge and power now to ensure our planet flourishes and our natural spaces and their residents are around for many generations to come.

A very happy birthday to Sir David Attenborough, here is to the many more years of your inspiration to come 🎊🎊

29/03/2026

We hope everyone was safe these past few days with Cyclone Narelle ⛈️⛈️

Whilst we were lucky to escape the worst of the weather, we had a little bit of clean up to do around the Centre, but luckily our keepers and vollies had wonderful supervisors to ensure everything was done to tip top conditions 😂. Although I think they were more interested in getting in the way and inspecting the contents of our buckets then actually helping 😎😎

19/02/2026

*WARNING GRAPHIC CONTENT*

Bobtail Bounce Back! 😁😁
Introducing Larry the Lawnmower Bobtail

Larry was cruising about his day searching for yummy snails and fruits to eat when he accidently stumbled into someone's back yard while they were mowing 😣
Unfortunately Larry came out 2nd best with his fight with this lawnmower and it went over the top of him. But lucky for Larry, the homeowner saw him and recognised that he was badly injured. The homeowner brought Larry straight to the closest vet clinic. The wonderful staff at Vetwest Armadale-Byford were quick to give us a call. The vet staff performed an x-ray on Larry to make sure he had no spinal injuries and luckily for Larry he simply had just a chunk of his back taken off, and no spinal damage. Now for Larry it was a matter of rest and rehabilitation.

In addition to the usual pain relief, antibiotics and fluid therapy, we tried something new with Larry. The amazing Susan at Physio for Pets lent her hand once again in Red Light Therapy treatment. This is something we had not tried before to help stimulate healing and were curious to see how it would affect healing time for a reptile. Sue came once a week to give treatment and we documented Larry's progress. As you can see the results speak for themselves, it took only 2 months for Larry to look brand new once again, and Larry was released 🥰🥰

We can't thank the Vet staff and Sue enough for helping us care for our amazing wildlife and Larry is a testament to their care and compassion.

The moral of the story Larry would like to express is if possible, mow lawns that are tall at a higher level first before cutting it down further. This gives Larry and his mates a better chance at being seen before its too late and a chance to escape. And if an accident does happen, please give the animal a chance to live by bringing it to the closest wildlife shelter or Vet clinic.

20/12/2025

Our resident Red Kangaroo would like to wish everyone a very Merry Christmas and a Happy Holidays, with big sloppy Macropod kisses 🤗🦘🥰🦘

From all the staff, volunteers and our gorgeous residents we would like to wish everyone a safe and happy Christmas and New Years, and thank everyone for your ongoing support of the Centre over this year. We are forever grateful for the love and enthusiasm we see from our visitors for our wonderful wildlife. Our lights stay on and our animals bellies stay full and warm because of all of YOU!!

Over the Christmas period the Centre will be CLOSED:
24th December (Christmas Eve)
25th December (Christmas Day)
26th December (Boxing Day)
1st January (New Years Day)

18/10/2025

It's that time of year again! We're excited to be back at the Kelmscott Agricultural Show!

Come down and say hi. Meet some of our amazing native reptiles and even get the chance to hold a few of our friendly scaly residents! 🦎🐍

We'd love to see you there, don't miss out!

25/09/2025

It is with a heavy heart we announce the passing of our beloved Southern Hairy Nosed Wombat Bluey (2002 - 2025)❤️ ❤️

Bluey came to us in August 2024 from Adventure World and was an elder gentleman with a calm presence and friendly personality that he captured our hearts immediately. Bluey showed a great enthusiasm to life and an absolute love for his cozy, warm den that for his age we knew this was his place of retirement.

Sadly we didn't have as long with Bluey as we had hoped and early September he began to show a lameness in his back legs. The cold Winter days were not helping and we were hoping his vet visit would confirm that in the warm Spring he would perk right back up again, but unfortunately that wasn't the case.

The wonderful Dr Brandon and his team at The Unusual Pet Vets Murdoch were a lifeline to help us figure out what was going wrong with our handsome boy. Sadly x-rays showed a diagnosis that we knew was going to be a struggle and he would never fully recover from, our boy had cataracts forming and osteoarthritis in his stifles (knees).

Our first point of action was to start him on several strong pain medications and see how he would react, and if those medication would give him back some ability to move freely to which we could then develop an ongoing plan. During this time, with the cold weather having set in, we made Bluey a makeshift den indoors for the night where he got to snuggle with many blankets and have the heater going all night long. On the days in which the weather was fine and the sun was shining to help lift his spirits we picked him up and wheeled him in the trolley back to his enclosure to soak up the rays. Unfortunately after 2 weeks, there was no substantial response to any of the traditional medications. Thats when we turned to more alternative treatments.

After many discussions with our vets, fellow wildlife keepers and those within the rehabilitation industry we were provided with some ideas of how to move forward. At first we tried remedial techniques, the amazing Susan at Physio for Pets lended her expertise to Red light therapy and Electrical stimulation and the wonderful Dr Neil at Dr Neal Loh - Holistic Pet Vet even tried acupuncture on our Wombat. We can't thank the physio's for their time and effort, on frankly what would have been a very unusual case for them to explore.

Sadly though even with these remedial therapies and the addition of CBD oil into his regime of treatments, Bluey began to lose his appetite and subsequently start losing weight. Over the next week he ate almost nothing and had dropped weight, causing him to start losing condition. Despite the next step being a CT scan organized through WA Wildlife and Animalius Vet we had to make the tough choice to say goodbye.

We would love to thank all the tagged businesses and people for coming on this journey with us and helping in so many ways, we struggled with the final decision but we knew that we had tried so many avenues to get him well, but at 23 years old, Bluey had made the choice for us.

Rest easy handsome boy, you will be dearly missed ❤️❤️

31/08/2025

☀ Spring is about to be Sprung ☀

Which means all our slithery and scaley friends will be starting to wake up and explore the world again. Over the Winter period we have been stocking up on rodents for our residents so that when Summer comes we are well prepared. However we have over judged how much space we have to store all the rodents for feed, and so we need to do a bit of a clear out! 🤗

So we have decided to do a DISCOUNT DEAL on all our RATS for sale!!!
- This deal is for 15% off all RAT purchases (of any size we have available)
- This deal is valid only for the month of September OR until stocks last
- This deal is for RATS only, not mice

We have an abundance in particular of:
Juveniles - approx 16cm (head to rear)
*pack of 10 with discount is $56.10*
Weaners - approx 13cm (head to rear)
* pack of 10 with discount is $39.95*

Stock may become limited as the month progresses so feel free to give us a call before hand to make sure we have the sizes you may be after.

And a Happy Spring to all our wonderful supporters, visitors and dedicated volunteers. Our residents would not be here without you all! 🐍🦎🐾🌼

Send a message to learn more

18/07/2025

Furry Friends ALERT! 🐾🐾

Come down and visit this Saturday to see more then just our unique wildlife. The wonderful organization Greyhounds as Pets WA will have a stall on the back lawn where you can meet and greet with some other furry friends then what we usually have on offer. You will be supporting a wonderful cause and meeting some gorgeous Greyhounds as a bonus 🥰

16/07/2025

HAPPY WORLD SNAKE DAY!
Today is a day we celebrate all things snake-tastic, in particular the incredible way they have been able to survive and adapt in the natural world for 140 – 170 million years on our amazing planet.
Living in all sorts of habitats ranging from forests, deserts, alpine areas, aquatic environments, mountains, coastal areas, and many more.
The ability to survive in these somewhat extreme habitats without any arms or legs is extraordinary and inspiring.
Shedding or sloughing of skin is also one of the many remarkable features of snakes. This process is also called ecydysis.
It involves the formation of a new skin layer beneath the old one and it is vital for maintaining the snake’s overall health and wellbeing, preventing small issues from escalating. It allows these creatures to be able to grow, heal, remove parasites, renew damaged skin and other irritants that may cause harm.
As a snake grows, their skin does not expand, so they must shed it to make way for a new, larger skin layer.
The frequency of shedding varies on many factors such as age, temperature, food availability etc. Young snakes can shed as often as every month as they are actively growing, eating more increases growth, subsequently leading to shedding more often.
Did you know that snakes can also shed repeatedly even if not eating! This is a process that they can do to heal themselves and its why reptiles in general are amazing healers, although with their slow metabolism it does take time.
Once the new layer is ready, the old skin becomes dull and loose. They may then soak themselves in water to aid in loosening the skin and their eyes can become a distinct blue colour. During this shedding process they also shed their eye caps which are a thin layer of skin over their eyes. They often hide away during this time as their vulnerability is high due to a reduced ability to see.
When they are ready to shed, oils are secreted between the layers of their skin to make it slide off easily and makes it a fairly painless procedure. The snake begins to rub their face and body on a hard object such as rocks and logs to create a starting point. Once the shed begins it comes off inverted as they slide out of it, often hooking it onto an object like a log or rock to aid them.
Here is a video of Perth’s local South-west Carpet Python (Morelia Imbricata) shedding her skin after maternally incubating her young, which had hatched the previous night.
The observer was so impressed with how gentle she was to ensure she did not harm her babies during this process. Can you see them too?
We hope you enjoy it.

25/06/2025

** Warning photos of meat and deceased animals**

We often get asked about our animal's diet and the food that we use.
So I put together an example of our feeding schedule to show.

To prepare and feed out the food in the morning, takes about 3 hours for one person. The animals that are fed include the Dingoes, Finch aviary, walk in aviary (cockatoos/parrots/Lorikeets/Macaws), walk through aviary (Kookaburras/Nankeen Kestrels/Magpie-lark/Australian Bustard/Parrots/Quail/Pigeons), Budgies, Plovers, Princess Parrots, Major Mitchells, Tawny Frogmouths, Kangaroos, Donkeys, Ponies and Horse.

Some of our animal residents even get fed twice a day.

In the afternoon food preparation we feed some of the above, plus all of our nocturnal animals such as the Southern Hairy-nosed Wombat, Common Brush-tailed Possum, Black Flying Fox, Boobook Owl and Barn Owl.

Then of course we have our reptiles and amphibians that get fed too throughout the day.

Much of this food being prepared has been donated through the Food for Farmers Scheme run by Woolworths.
However, we still need to purchase specialised foods such as insects, Macaw pellets, nuts, all forms of bird seed, Dingo biscuits, Kangaroo mix, Emu pellets, other meats and seafood, nectar substitute and all our supplement powders. We also breed our own mice and rats to keep our costs down as in the summer we can feed out up to 80 mice and rats a day.

We also use up to half a dozen eggs a day and a dozen if we do reptile food preparation in addition. If anyone ever happens to have any spare eggs we would love to be considered!