Much like human beings, animals need to stay fit and healthy too. There have been all kinds of technological developments created around animal fitness, from hydrotherapy for dogs, to the exercise wheel for cats. The Melbourne Zoo however takes the cake with the world’s first “swim gym” for reptiles.
The swim gym aims to keep the animals healthy and happy, whilst simultaneously keeping their weight stable. As these animals are hand fed their prey, laziness can take a toll on their physical health and obesity in reptiles in captivity is not uncommon, as they can become inactive, from not needing to ambush their prey.
Animal hygiene is of the utmost importance and Melbourne Zoo took the bath game from getting snakes to swim in a bucket, to getting them to swim in a water gym. Alex Mitchell, a keeper at Melbourne Zoo said that the swim gym is ‘temperature-controlled’ tank with filtered water, allowing keepers to control the water flow. Much like a normal treadmill, the water flow is adjustable and can be made stronger or weaker. This allows the snakes and other reptiles to be slowly introduced to the current, before the flow speed is turned up.
The animals swim for about 4-5 minutes, before displaying signs of being tired and are then removed by the keepers. Some of the animals relax on a platform when they feel they’ve had enough, where other snakes move out of the main current for an easier swim. The Eastern diamond rattlesnakes enjoy their swim time and stay in the water for a bit longer than others species. There are many animals benefiting from the swim gym, including the endangered Golden coin turtle that is critically endangered. Watch the swim gym in action below.
Image source: Pixabay
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