Pete, a bearded dragon, takes his moment in the spotlight.
By: Sarah Wright | Shelby-Utica News | Published July 29, 2025
UTICA — Grant Park in Utica hosted the annual Reptiles at the Park event July 25, which allowed community members to view multiple animals from the LegaSea Aquarium & The Reptarium.
“The event is a great opportunity for residents to get close to many beautiful and fascinating creatures,” Utica Mayor Gus Calandrino said in an email. “The staff members from Reptarium are great ambassadors and enjoy educating the kids and parents about the animals.”
The LegaSea Aquarium & The Reptarium, located at 45550 Van Dyke Ave., is an interactive indoor zoo and aquarium that allows visitors to meet and learn about different animals. On top of having reptiles and sea creatures in their care, the zoo also has different mammals available for viewing like the capybara, two-toed sloth and binturong.
Visitors can do this through various zoo activities and events, both inside and outside the zoo, which includes tours, birthday parties, field trips and on-site presentations.
This is the fourth year that the Reptiles at the Park event has occurred, and it allows people the opportunity to hold and pet different animals from this local zoo.
“It was brought up to us by another member of parks & rec and has been a great success,” Laurie Schmidt, from the Utica Parks and Recreation Commission, said in an email. “It’s a hands-on zoo-to-you experience.”
Mary Yanik, a representative with LegaSea Aquarium & The Reptarium, led the event at Grant Park by bringing out the different animals and giving different facts on each of the animals. Yanik became interested in joining the zoo through her boyfriend, who is a lead zookeeper with the LegaSea Aquarium & The Reptarium. She also has a lot of pets at home.
“We go around to schools, libraries and birthdays,” Yanik said. “I enjoy just being able to show the animals, and you don’t have to be scared of them.”
Some of the animals Yanik presented to the eventgoers included a leopard gecko, a California king snake, a bearded dragon, a ball python, an American alligator and a Burmese python.
The leopard gecko, named Xena, is an insectivore, meaning she only eats insects.
“Xena, just like camels, she actually stores fat and water in her tail,” Yanik said. “It’s so cool. So, if she doesn’t have a lot of food, she can use all of those fat and water stores in her tail to keep her nice and healthy.”
The California king snake is an albino female snake named Lilac. King snakes generally prefer to eat other snakes and are immune from venom.
The bearded dragon is named Pete, and bearded dragons originally come from Australia and generally love hot weather.
“When these guys get scared, they puff up kind of like a pancake and they put a lot of air in their cheeks like a puffer fish,” Yanik said.
“They have these spikes right on their chest which is why they’re called a bearded dragon,” Yanik said.
For more information, visit legaseaaquarium.com.