Sugar Gliders (Petaurus breviceps)

Least Concern – IUCN Red List

We have a female called Lilo and a male called Stitch who are an adorable couple, who have a just as adorable little family.  They love tucking into fruit, veg and bugs. You can find them snuggling together on a branch or running on their wheel.

Sugar Gliders are characterized by a pair of gliding membranes, which extend from their forelegs to its hindlegs. They use them to glide to reach food and escape predators.

Egyptian Fruit Bats (Rousettus aegyptiacus)

Least Concern – IUCN Red List

We have a small colony of Egyptian fruit bats.  They spend most of their time hanging out together eating fruit and cleaning each other.  They are a must see when coming to Barleylands Farm Park.

Bats use a form of hearing called eco-location, this means they use sounds that bounce off of walls to locate things.

Crocodile (Paleosuchus palpebrosus) and Turtle (Macrochelys temminckii)

Least Concern – IUCN Red List  and Vulnerable – IUCN Red List

By far the largest exotic resident in the nocturnal house is Smee our African Dwarf Crocodile, you can spot him basking under his heat lamp or taking a dip in his pool.

More like a modern age dinosaur but with a history that dates back 215 million years to the prehistoric era, the alligator snapping turtle, who can get as big as a car tire and have the bite force of 300 pounds OUCH!

Snakes

Reticulated Python (Malayopython reticulatus) – Least Concern – 

We have lots of species of snake living in the Exotic Area, including an 15ft long reticulated python called ‘Kaa’ African House Snake called ‘Neils’,  to the more common royal python such as ‘Penelope’.

Tortoises

African Spurred tortoise (Centrochelys sulcata) Endangered –  IUCN Red List

Across the farm you may find lots of species of tortoise, these “slow moving” creatures have a gentle nature and can often be found grazing on grass, there are over 50 breeds of tortoise, some we have at the farm are the large sulcata tortoise and the Leopard tortoise, you may also find a red footed tortoise to.

You can spot some in the show arena field, the exotic reptile house and within the wallaby walk enclosure.

Arachnids 

Mexican Red Knee Tarantula (Brachypelma hamorii) Near Threatened – IUCN Red List

We have some creepy crawlies in the nocturnal house who may be hard to find, just look out for the webs.

Our Tarantulas have super senses and can spot you coming from meters away, if they get scared they can flick their legs hairs off their body to irritate their predator.