Seaway Serpentarium: Home

Seaway Serpentarium Reptile Sales

Visit our exquisite photo gallery to see these creatures in stunning detail and learn about their fascinating lives:

Snake Gallery One, Snake Gallery Two, Snake Gallery Three, Other Reptiles One, and Other Reptiles Two

If you have enjoyed browsing our reptile and snake photo galleries, or you would like to learn more about the Seaway Serpentarium, please navigate using the menu at the top of each page while browsing the Serpentarium Website.

The exciting and unique animals at the Seaway Serpentarium need your help and support. Please consider making a donation:

No amount is too small to help make a great difference in the lives of these rare and beautiful creatures.

Serpentarium Mission:

The Live Collection of the Seaway Serpentarium dates back to 1980 - the year its founder started collecting in West Germany after his escape from behind the Iron Curtain (see The staff at the Serpentarium). In 1982 the Collection was relocated to Canada; in 1983 to Welland, Ontario and since 1984 it has continuously inhabited its today quarters at 9 Steel Street in this city. In 1993 a part of the Collection was relocated for 26 months to our public facility in the Seaway Mall in Welland - a venture that ended in May 1995 and the entire Collection reunited again back on Steel Street. It is here on Steel Street, that the general public can witness a multifold wonder: what is in the Collection and how it is housed. (A frequent comment while at the Seaway Mall was "somebody had all this in his house?" Well, that and many more since the whole muster was never moved to the Mall. And how it was done can still be seen today.)

We strive to provide such husbandry methods that allow our reptiles to live their lives to the fullest and - with limited space - the public to have a memorable educational experience. The Collection boasts many rare species of reptiles; the focus is on venomous snakes (vipers/pitvipers) and crocodilians (8 species). Not only is the Seaway Serpentarium the only place to see some of these in all of Canada, it has also achieved several breeding priorities in Canada and - in 3 species - the first ever in the world.

In 1989 the Serpentarium waged a 9-month existential battle with the local municipality. The result went in favour of the Serpentarium and former opponents became Serpentarium's supporters. There is hardly anyone in Welland who has not become aware of the Serpentarium at some point of its long history, although a lot of people mistakenly believe that with the closure at the Mall we disappeared. There are, however; many people as well who are better updated and many of those we see during our weekend openings (please see About the Serpentarium). And - a particularly satisfying point - we see the long-term results of our work. There is a huge interest in our community in keeping suitable reptiles in their homes; there is unprecedented level of information especially among the young set and now, after so many years here we see our second generation of reptile admirers entering the scene. Their parents are the kids that hung around our premises 15 or more years ago, now they are bringing their own progeny. The line continues

Serpentarium Vision:

The Seaway Serpentarium's progress has had to negotiate many hurdles over many years with varying degrees of success. One problem that not just does not want to go away but is getting worse with increased Collection, larger animals and now with the growing public interest to visit our Collection is our facility. First constructed in the mid-80's by remodeling a former car shop, subsequently fixed and upgraded; it's just not getting any bigger while the inhabitants and numbers of visitors are. It is safe to say that the premises of the Seaway Serpentarium indulge one of the highest per square foot uses (from both animals' and people traffic) in Niagara Region. Because of space restraints further assembly of the crocodilian part of the Collection was put on hold several years ago.The situation in snakes is more flexible but that also is at capacity.

And the public? Conversations with advertisers are bordering on comedy. A call comes in offering advertising space here or there. We decline not because of prohibitive costs (only sometimes) but chiefly because the ad would be:
a) ineffective. Why do it then? Or,
b) too effective. It would spell an organizational disaster for us if several hundred people lined up outside a place that when it gets a few dozen at a time it bursts at the seams. It apparently doesn't happen everyday in the life of an ad marketer to be told by a prospective client that he needs less, not more (public attention).

We came several times within a solution to this problem. One public facility we actually built (at the Mall) but the arrangement wasn't sustainable.Yet in those 26 months of openings we saw some 1/4-million people through our doors plus 2000-3000 participants of our popular Saturday-Night- Sleepovers. All that in a city of less than 50 000 population and not exactly a tourism hot spot.

In the past 3 years we enthusiastically embraced several proposals, all of which petered out ; i.e.: our own City of Welland apparently changed its plans for the location intended; one developer after initial talks failed to respond (because of acute indecision); another supposedly big-time developer with a theme park in Niagara Falls in mind simply disappeared on us (and who knows on whom else) etc.

And yet, there it is; somewhere, waiting. To realize our plans originally sketched for one of our proposing failures; plans that would result in a model Reptile Zoo with irresistible appeal to millions of visitors. In line with our previous accomplishments we would introduce elements so far unseen in reptile displays. The collecting efforts spanning the globe could continue and along with the realized (and unfortunately also unrealized because of space) breeding projects would team up to create a signature product. And we could start to encourage instead of to reason with large groups to visit.

There is no doubt it would be a tremendous success. There is no doubt we cannot do it alone.

Please consider contributing your fanancial support to the Seaway Serpentarium by making a donation. For more information please see Supporting the Serpentarium.