Chiricahua Desert Museum Chiricahua Desert Museum

[Arizona Docent]

Here is a native wildlife place a couple hours from me that I just found out about. A photographer friend who specializes in snakes told me about it a couple weeks ago and then a few days after that another photographer I know was wearing one of their shirts.

Based on my friends description and the website, it appears to be a one building museum with many live rattlesnake displays as well as art displays and an outdoor garden.

If you want to know where Rodeo, New Mexico is, it is in the middle of nowhere just across the Arizona - New Mexico border (south of Interstate 10). It is near Portal, a bit further south, which is also in the middle of nowhere (but back on the Arizona side) but has a research station for the Smithsonian and is a major draw for nature enthusiasts because of the tropical birds that come here from Mexico.

This is a new museum, opened in April 2009. Here is the website:
Chiricahua Desert Museum

 

[snowleopard]

Thanks for the information, and its website claims that it has over 34 species of rattlesnake so that is fairly interesting to zoo nerds like us.

 

[Michael]

Besides the live animal collection, they also have an impressive collection of herpetological and famous herpetologists related material.

 

[Arizona Docent]

The museum has opened a second building that can be used as an event center (no exhibits, just a building).

Nine ornate box turtles have been added to the collection (they appear to be in an outside exhibit, while the other reptile exhibits are indoors).

 

[Kifaru Bwana]

Did you visit the place already?

 

[Arizona Docent]

Did you visit the place already?

No, not yet. It is really out of the way and since the only animal exhibits are reptiles, I am in no hurry to go out there.

 

[Batto]

its website claims that it has over 34 species

Yet if you look at the current list of species kept, it's far less than that (even if you consider taxonomic updates).

 

[SusScrofa]

A few years have passed since this thread was active, since that time has anyone ever visited this museum? There are no species lists on the forum or photos in the gallery and I'm curious to know what this place is like and what is held here in recent times.

There is inconsistency with some online sources claim they hold over 60 species, while the website lists around 39 species as well as some more subspecies. But the website list doesn't seem like its been updated in a while. They list a nice rattlesnake collection with some rarities, like Mexican Pygmy Rattlesnake (Crotalus ravus).

https://www.chiricahuadesertmuseum.com/living-collections

 

[Coelacanth18]

A few years have passed since this thread was active, since that time has anyone ever visited this museum?

I know that @Kudu21 visited in 2023, so they'd be a good person to ask IMO.

 

[Kudu21]

A few years have passed since this thread was active, since that time has anyone ever visited this museum? There are no species lists on the forum or photos in the gallery and I'm curious to know what this place is like and what is held here in recent times.

There is inconsistency with some online sources claim they hold over 60 species, while the website lists around 39 species as well as some more subspecies. But the website list doesn't seem like its been updated in a while. They list a nice rattlesnake collection with some rarities, like Mexican Pygmy Rattlesnake (Crotalus ravus).

https://www.chiricahuadesertmuseum.com/living-collections

I know that @Kudu21 visited in 2023, so they'd be a good person to ask IMO.

I did, indeed, make a pit stop at this museum on my road trip from Texas to California in early 2023. I did not have the time to photograph or do a full species list of the facility at the time, but based on what I remember, I would at the very least say that the numbers purported online are much higher than what is actually on display -- that's not to say that they might not have more off-display; however, I just do not believe there were 39+ terrariums (although there were a lot of terrariums!). The collection, was, indeed, largely comprised of assorted rattlesnakes, with a handful of other snakes, a few lizards, and Coahuilan box turtles. I did visit in the early spring, so they might not have had time to fix up the outdoor exhibits after winter, but at the time, it did not look like any of the outdoor exhibits in the walled garden for the supposed desert tortoises and larger lizards were in use or had been in use recently... It is a peculiar little facility. The bulk of the live animal collection is in a series of two rooms, where terrarium after terrarium is lined against the walls and in the middle of the rooms, surrounded by a floor to ceiling collection of assorted other animal/"Wild West" memorabilia, including figurines, art, old advertising, magazines, books, toys, etc., as well as historical artifacts from local indigenous peoples and the colonial period, as well. The terrariums are all pretty standard, nothing to write home about, but nothing you would not see at any other zoo -- a little on the small side sometimes but well landscaped. It is a little out of the way to get to, so I am not sure I would go out of my way to visit unless I was also passing through and was okay losing an hour to get there and back from the main highway. We were traveling from El Paso to Tucson on that day and had time to kill before we could check-in to our hotel.