LEADER, Sask. – Western Saskatchewan’s newest tourist attractions
slither, hiss and eat rats.
Located in a former house just off Leader’s main drag, the Serpent
Conservatory and Lizard Emporium of Saskatchewan, or SCALES Zoo,
features 50 snakes from 25 species, six carnivorous monitor lizards,
tortoises, a baby alligator and tropical fish.
It is the evolution of a childhood hobby for 25-year-old Ryan Wunsch,
who officially opened the zoo with wife, Sheila, in May.
Wunsch, who grew up in Leader, started keeping cornsnakes as pets when
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he was 12, a hobby that had his mother’s full blessing.
“She always used to let me bring home salamanders and frogs and
everything anyways, so she was OK with the snakes. She likes snakes,
too.”
He had to give up his snakes when he moved to Moose Jaw, Sask., after
high school to study instrumentation engineering at the Saskatchewan
Institute for Applied Science and Technology.
But after completing his studies in 1998, he returned to Leader, got a
job with TransCanada Pipelines, bought a house and began looking for a
pet. He chose another cornsnake.
This time he began breeding snakes as well, selling the babies to other
breeders and hobbyists. At his peak, he had 200 snakes in the house. He
also founded the Herpetological Information Society of Saskatchewan, of
which he is president.
By now he had met Sheila, also of Leader, who has an animal sciences
degree specializing in reproduction and nutrition. They were married
this past February.
Last year, they became interested in raising boa constrictors and
pythons, and developing a travelling educational show. But they soon
discovered they would need a provincial zoo permit to do this, and the
easiest way to get one would be to build a permanent facility.
Plans for SCALES Zoo were soon hatched, and work started last October.
Wunsch said the two projects are intertwined.
“We got the zoo so we can do the travelling reptile shows, and we do
the travelling reptile shows so we can pay for the zoo.”
Running a reptile house isn’t cheap. It takes a lot of power to provide
tropical animals with enough supplemental heat. The snakes also eat
their way through hundreds of mice a month, which the Wunsches buy from
a breeder in Medicine Hat, Alta. Some species eat rats, and the larger
ones eat rabbits, which are bought from a rabbit farm in Lethbridge,
Alta.
Insurance was difficult to get, both because of the post-Sept. 11
economic climate and a general suspicion of snakes.
There was also a lot to learn.
Using books, the internet and other snake enthusiasts, they built cages
set up with logs, sticks and natural bedding.
“The most important thing is to make it escape proof,” he said of a
snake cage, “because they’re shaped to be perfect escape artists.”
The Wunsches also had to learn how to accommodate each animal’s
individual humidity, temperature and ventilation requirements.
Wunsch said the learning curve wasn’t as steep as it sounds: “When it’s
something you’re interested in, you learn quickly.”
The zoo seems to have captured the public’s interest. It has hosted
school and specialty groups, as well as an additional 100 visitors.
Located far from cities and well-travelled highways, Leader may seem an
unlikely place to build a tourist attraction. But Wunsch said the
community is gaining a reputation as a hotspot for ecological and
historical tourism.
He estimates that 70 percent of the zoo’s visitors have come from
outside Leader. Besides, he said, “word travels fast in the reptile
world.”
The reptile shows are also picking up.
Since doing their first display at a local fair last year, they have
shown their animals at eight schools and a mall.
Interest this summer is coming from youth groups, fairs and provincial
parks.
Sheila runs the zoo while Wunsch is at work, and family members take
over when the couple goes on the road with the snakes.
While Wunsch has vague dreams of someday building a bigger zoo and
making reptiles a full-time career, for now he is content to take life
one day at a time.
“I’m not planning on ever making money with this place,” he said.”My
goal is to make enough money to pay for itself and educate people about
conservation along the way. It’s a hobby that got way out of control.”
