Quite a few of the terrariums have an incredible attention to detail (except for a few obvious ones like the King Cobra terrarium with its glaring door) and the exhibits appear to be of a fairly high standard. Does anyone have a species list for this establishment?
I was actually very impressed with the accuracy of the species list that they have on their website. When I visited on Monday what they had on exhibit was very close to the species list on the website. Here is what I saw:
American Alligator, Galapagos Tortoise, Cuban Rock Iguana/Yellow-footed Tortoise, Alligator Snapping Turtle, Florida Softshell Turtle, Indian Star Tortoise, Matamata, McCord’s Snake-neck Turtle, Saltwater Crocodile (juvenile), Green Anaconda, Gila Monster, Frilled Dragon, Veiled Chameleon, Green Tree-Monitor, Crevice Spiny Lizard, Rhinoceros Rat-Snake, Red-sided Garter-Snake, Eyelash Palm-Viper/Poison Dart Frogs (various species - not labeled and no specifics available on the website), King Cobra, Red Spitting Cobra, Water Moccasin/Everglades Rat-Snake, Eastern Green Mamba/Gabon Viper, Eastern Diamondback Rattlesnake, Black Mamba, Timber Rattlesnake/Copperhead/Black Rat-Snake, Pueblan Milk-Snake, Reticulated Python, Waxy Monkey-Fog, Chinese Gliding Frog, Panamanian Golden Frogs, Axolotl, Giant Day Gecko/Lined Leaf-tailed Gecko/Giant Leaf-tailed Gecko, Aldabra Giant Tortoise, Komodo Dragon, and Emu.
In summer they also have an outdoor exhibit of local Turtles (4 species - Slider, Box Turtle, Wood Turtle, Painted Turtle, all listed on the website), but I did not see them. They also have some species off exhibit - some of them they bring out for visitor encounters (I saw a New Caledonian Giant Gecko and a Boa Constrictor).
Thanks for the species list but with approximately 50 there is certainly not the diversity that I was expecting. There are a number of reptile zoos in the USA with 100-150 species on display...but of course the exhibit quality is not consistently of the highest level.
They certainly don't have a large collection (at least not on show, not sure what they've got off exhibit) and don't have anything unusual. I also noticed that they don't specialize in anything in particular - every popular reptile group is represented by only one or two species (2 species of crocodilians, 2 species of large constrictors, 2 species of cobras, 2 species of rattlers, 2 species of monitors, 1 iguana, 1 chameleon, etc.)
As someone based in Europe, I was very surprised to find that after that species list you feel that there's not much unusual - it just shows how different the more common herp taxa are on either side of the Atlantic.
I know exactly what you mean When I first came to the US 17 years ago all these species (Komodo dragons, king cobras, mambas, Galapagos tortoises, Gila monsters, etc.) were a huge deal to me. It's just that you can see all of them in many AZA facilities across America.
