Maritime Reptile Zoo: A Review

I'm just going to go ahead and say that I am completely obsessed with reptiles. Especially snakes. Especially since getting a ball python. I wanted a snake for a while and finally getting one was one of the best decisions of my adult life.

This fascination with snakes has led me to every reptile themed event I can afford to go to in Halifax. Typically, my friends and I are the only grown-ups not accompanying children there, which is a little weird, but you learn to roll with it. In spite of this, I didn't know that there was a permanent reptile zoo in Dartmouth until fairly recently.

I went to go check it out a week or two ago and I'll be honest, it was a little underwhelming. The fact that it's there is really cool. The place does reptile rescue, rehabilitation, and adoptions which is a very good thing to know (I took a look at the application process for adoptions and it seems like they're really careful with the animals). All that is great, however, the place itself is nestled in a strip mall in the Burnside industrial park, so the zoo has a sort of bland, institutional feel to it. The walls are bare, the enclosures are small and functional. I fucked up on my timing and went there in between feedings so there was nothing really going on except one of the keepers chilling on the floor with a baby alligator.

The staff seemed friendly, but the only other people there were an old dude and his very tiny granddaughter, so I kinda kept to myself and felt like a weirdo. I did talk to the girl who was there briefly about ball pythons when she had one out to show the tiny granddaughter and she obviously knew what she was talking about.

All that being said, I think the biggest problem with the zoo is a lack of traffic, which probably has a lot to do with the fact that nobody knows it's there. I would definitely recommend a visit to people with kids so they can learn a bit about reptiles and interact with them in a safe way. They've got all kinds of cool stuff there, tortoises, crocodiles, an anaconda, caimans, a little monkey, whatever you want. The non-dangerous animals they will take out so kids can touch them. It would also be interesting to go up during a feeding.

Anyway, yeah, not super exciting for disillusioned twenty-somethings, but if you have kids, definitely a good idea to check it out at least once.

Their website with hours and location is here (their site is actually pretty cool for reptile owners and enthusiasts coz it has all kinds of handy information and links, including what exact species are and are not permitted to be kept in Nova Scotia).
Their feeding schedule is here.

Girl Drink Drunk: Sir John A's Honey Wheat Ale

I'm having one of those days where I really don't feel like doing anything whatsoever. As I write this, I am still in my underwear and housecoat, drinking beer and smoking darts. Days like this kinda stress me out coz I feel like I should be doing something productive rather than sitting around on my ass waiting until it's time to go back to bed but hey what can ya do.

Anyway, I picked up a few bottles of this beer yesterday and it's really nothing to write home about. It's not unpleasant but it doesn't have a very strong flavour at all. It's smooth, and it's got a very slight sweet aftertaste but that's about it. If you like mild, inoffensive beers and also microbrews, this is acceptable. It'd be suitable to go with dinner if you were having like chicken or something probably. I prefer my beer to be bold and manly and a meal by themselves but that's just me.

This is brewed by Gahan in PEI - I've had some of their beers before. The Blueberry Ale is really nice (I don't typically like blueberry beers but theirs is an exception), Beach Chair is okay. I want to try their Sydney Street Stout, I'm gonna check and see if they have any at the beer store next time I go. Coz stout is the beer for me. I will report back with my findings.

PEI Brewing Company's website is here.