Animal World & Snake Farm Zoo Animal World Snake Farm News

I was surprised to find Animal World and Snake Farm Zoo had no news thread, especially when they are working to get AZA accreditation and have been pulling jaguars and white lions out of thin air.
 
As of my last visit, several of the terrariums have cycled species, most notably the anaconda is gone and a juvenile alligator has replaced it. As for crocodilians, there is only a Nile crocodile, juvenile Siamese crocodile, several alligators, and two dwarf caimans on exhibit.

The most notable changes have occurred outside, where the cages previously holding lemurs, prairie dogs, and groundhogs have been replaced by two large open air exhibits that have prairie dogs and a 6 banded armadillo. The animal nursery exhibit now has the two mountain lion cubs, instead of the servals that used to live in it. The other lemur cages and tayra cage are gone and have been replaced by construction for one larger lemur exhibit that will house black and white ruffed lemurs.

The only other notable change is there has been a patio/deck added that overhangs into the hoof stock exhibit where people can buy a package with gravel/dirt and shift through it to find small fossils and or gems.
 
Possible AZA accreditation? Goodness,things must have changed a lot from when i was there in 2011...my notes state "roadside zoo with third world conditions".Still,it was 6 years ago- a lot can happen in that time.The reptile collection was decent however,obviously still is.
 
"Decent" is an understatement, with over 100 taxa and morphs of snakes on exhibit alone, with more (such as the black-headed bushmaster) off exhibit. Although the accommodations are rather disappointing, there are plans for that to change. Third world is also a harsh judgement- many animals have adequate, if a bit small exhibits. Certainly no corn crib exhibits which plague other roadside zoos. Renovations on many outdoors areas have occurred in recent years and I look forward to seeing what this zoo will become.
 
I visited for the first time today. Earlier in the day I had spent a few hours at the San Antonio Zoo and decided to visit this place in the afternoon. I didn’t really know what to expect, as I had driven by on I-35 nearly a dozen times and it looks like a roadside zoo from there.

I’m glad I gave it a chance though as its not a roadside zoo (probably was a few years back). Thats not to say it would meet AZA standards but I can see its moving in a positive direction.
  • As the name would imply, it has an excellent snake collection. Nearly 90 species on display right now with probably 110 or so subspecies. Much of this collection is focused on snakes of Texas, Mexico, and Central America. Now the exhibits are a mixed bag. Most species were housed in basic snake tanks with minimal furniture behind a metal fence, but the facility is slowly replacing these with much larger-planted tanks that are excellent. I mean they have live plantings are at least 3 feet tall (mostly housing smaller snakes) and would fit in at any of the best reptile houses.
  • The zoo has a nice collection of carnivore: South American Coati, Fennec Fox, Asian Small Clawed Otter, Clouded Leopard, Jaguar, Spotted Hyena, Gray Wolf, & Cougar. Most of these exhibits are below average, except for the Hyena and Jaguar exhibit. The cougar and lion exhibits in particular are tiny, although they have natural substrate and enrichment.
  • Primates are housed in rather average exhibits. They currently have common squirrel monkey, black and white ruffed lemur, red ruffed lemur, brown lemur, and white cheeked gibbon. My biggest issue with these exhibits is the roof is sheet metal, which makes them extremely dark and understandably barren of plants.
  • The hoofstock yards are basic and muddy right now. An interesting mix of Texas Longhorn/American Bison/Ostrich in one yard and Zebra/Dromedary in the other.
  • Besides these animals their are a bunch of basic bird aviaries and some miscellaneous mammal displays.
  • The zoo is currently constructing an outdoor turtle pond and a new lemur exhibit.As well they have acquired 20 acres on which to expand. The current zoo is like 3 acres so you can imagine how this will help with the current overcrowding of exhibits.
  • Lastly I want to applaud the facility on its educational presentations. Most non-AZA zoos can be a mess when it comes to this, but the presentations I briefly watched were fairly informative, including a brown collared lemur and a young American alligator.
I enjoyed my 2 hours at the zoo today. Its not large and could be toured in an hour if one does not linger, but the future seems bright.
 
2022 News:

On January 9th, the zoo announced they recently renovated their reptile building which replaced the old exhibits with bioactive ones.

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On March 18th, the zoo announced that a (1.0) plains zebra named Kito was born.

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On March 25th, the zoo announced that (1.1) African white lions were born in January. They were later named Jaala and Uri.

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On July 4th, the zoo announced that they acquired (0.0.3) American (albino) alligators. They were later named Casper, Pearl, and Storm.

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On July 27th, the zoo announced that (1.1) clouded leopards were born and later named Matahari and Raya.

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On October 1st, the zoo announced that (2.0) white-nosed coatis were born and later named Marco and Polo.

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On December 20th, it was announced that the zoo won the ZAA Award of Excellence 2022 award in the category of Comprehensive Immersion Exhibits for their newly renovated Reptile Conservation Center.

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Visited the facility this week and have a few updates:
  • All reptiles in the main building bar the dwarf crocodiles are now in bioactive displays. The project appears to now be completely done.
Updated Main Building

Updated Main Building

  • Media owner nczoofan
  • Date added
This is an example of the new bioactive exhibits in the main building. All snakes are now housed...
  • The toco toucans have moved outside to a new much larger display. The display allows visitors to see them indoors as well through a window, for year round viewing. The former toco toucan display is currently empty and I imagine will be turned into a reptile display like the next door reticulated python exhibit.
New Toco Toucan Exhibit

New Toco Toucan Exhibit

  • Media owner nczoofan
  • Date added
The toucans have been moved outside to a much larger display. You can also see there indoor...
  • The under construction primate exhibit outside has had no progress in the past year. I am unsure of what is going on.
  • The zoo appears to no longer have ostrich as they were nowhere to be seen.
  • Baby capybaras have recently been born at the facility.
 
I also wanted to provide a species list. This species list is complete for birds and mammals. The reptile list is every species I saw although some species may have been no shows (maybe 10-12 more species). I have excluded domestic breeds as well.

Mammals: American bison, Asian small-clawed otter, Binturong, Black-tailed prairie dog, Capybara, Clouded Leopard, Common squirrel monkey, Common warthog, Cougar, Crested porcupine, Dromedary, Fennec fox, Grey wolf, Jaguar, Llama, Northern white-cheeked gibbon, Patagonian mara, Plains zebra, Red ruffed lemur, Ring-tailed lemur, Rock hyrax, Six-banded armadillo, Spotted hyena

Birds: Blue-headed macaw, Blue-throated macaw, Eurasian eagle-owl, Galah, Indian peafowl, Laughing kookaburra, Toco toucan, Umbrella cockatoo, White-necked raven

Reptiles: Eastern diamondback rattlesnake, Western diamondback rattlesnake, Timber rattlesnake, Rock rattlesnake (Mottled Rock Rattlesnake, Eastern indigo snake, Rainbow boa, Mexican Cantail, American alligator, Eastern copperhead (Trans-Peco Copperhead), Cottonmouth (Western Cottonmouth), Angolan python, Black-headed python, Boa constrictor (Redtail boa), African spurred tortoise, Knight Anole (Santa Maria Knight Anole), Emerald tree boa, Green anaconda, Mexican beaded lizard (H. h. exasperatum), Gila monster, Common kingsnake (New Mexico Kingsnake and Speckled Kingsnake and California Kingsnake), Pancake tortoise, Coachwhip, Green tree python, Indian cobra, King cobra, Dwarf crocodile, Cuvier's dwarf caiman, Eastern rat snake, Corn snake, Baron's green racer, Central bearded dragon, Burmese python, Reticulated python, New Caledonia giant gecko, Madagascar tree boa, Pygmy rattlesnake (Western Pygmy Rattlesnake), Uromastyx ornata, Emerald tree monitor, Massasauga (Desert Massagua), Blood Python, Carpet python (Jungle Carpet Python and Diamond Python), Inland taipan, Arizona Black Rattlesnake, Puff adder, Common Garter Snake (California Red-Sided Garter Snake), Red Spitting Cobra, White-Lipped Island Pit Viper, Fer-de-lance, Long-nosed Snake (Texas Long-Nose Snake), Sri Lankan pit viper, Jamaican Boa, Western Ratsnake, Gopher Snake (Sonoran Gopher Snake), Southwestern speckled rattlesnake, Arizona Mountain Kingsnake ( L. p. pyromelana), Pygmy python, Mojave green, Black-tailed rattlesnake, Baird's rat snake, Glossy Snake, Checkered garter snake, Japanese rat snake, Green Rat Snake, Russell's viper, Diadem snake, Ornate Flying Snake, Smooth-Scaled Death Adder, Burton's carpet viper, Yellow-throated Bold-eyed Tree snake, Bitis rhinoceros, Beauty rat snake, Green Cat-Eyed Snake, Tiger Rat Snake, Ángel de la Guarda Island speckled rattlesnake, Eastern fox snake, Hispaniolan Boa (Bimini Boa), Pacific tree boa
 
It has been announced that an American alligator named Tewa, stolen from the Animal World & Snake Farm Zoo twenty years ago, was returned on Monday after being found in a backyard 50 miles from the zoo.

It is thought the alligator was stolen when it was an egg or hatchling by someone who volunteered at the zoo at the time. The suspect, who has not been identified, has been issued with two citations.

The news story can be seen here:
Alligator stolen 20 years ago from Texas zoo returned
 
nczoofan said:
Mammals: American bison, Asian small-clawed otter, Binturong, Black-tailed prairie dog, Capybara, Clouded Leopard, Common squirrel monkey, Common warthog, Cougar, Crested porcupine, Dromedary, Fennec fox, Grey wolf, Jaguar, Llama, Northern white-cheeked gibbon, Patagonian mara, Plains zebra, Red ruffed lemur, Ring-tailed lemur, Rock hyrax, Six-banded armadillo, Spotted hyena
Click to expand...
I thought they still held "white" lions?
 
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