Staten Island Zoo Rattlesnake Ridge

fkalltheway

fkalltheway

Well-Known Member
15+ year member
At one time the Staten Island Zoo had every species of rattlesnake in its collection and is working towards this goal again.
This past January they opened Rattlesnake Ridge, a relatively large exhibit for various species of rattlesnake and Desert Tortoise.
I was wondering if anyone has been to this zoo and could tell me what species are kept in this exhibit. I found a video clip on their website but not much other information.
Here is the link to the video clip: http://statenislandzoo.org/slides/images/rattlers.MOV
In the clip you can see a Desert Tortoise, a small rattlesnake guests are referring to as a Sidewinder, and a larger rattlesnake on the top of the rock in the corner. From a husbandry standpoint I think this type of exhibit would be nerve-wracking, especially if it contains a lot of rattlers, which I'm assuming it does based off of the name.
So has anybody seen this exhibit for themselves? I'd like to hear what you think.
 
As far as I know, the most complete live rattlesnake collection is in Albuquerque (New Mexico) at the American International Rattlesnake Museum. Will be interesting if Staten Island gives them a run for their money. I have never been there, but I do like the idea of a small facility trying to create something unique that you can't see at bigger zoos. Especially makes sense because they are competing with the five WCS zoos and aquarium.
 
Hopefully the Rattlesnake Ridge exhibit is a trend for the zoo because I much prefer natural looking exhibits instead of what this exhibit for Aruba Rattlesnake looks like.
 
fkalltheway said:
Hopefully the Rattlesnake Ridge exhibit is a trend for the zoo because I much prefer natural looking exhibits instead of what this exhibit for Aruba Rattlesnake looks like.
Click to expand...

I took the picture you link to. While I thought the 'beach' exhibit seen was just silly, these exhibits provide reasonable space for the snakes, at least they can stretch in them, which is more than can be said of too many other snake exhibits I have seen.

Possibly they could add some more hiding places though. I admit that they are not the most naturalistic, but the fact that the snakes can stretch to their full length (good for them) and are very easy to view (good for us) makes me rather fond of this building.
 
I volunteer there so I see it quite regularly, and I must say, it turned out quite nicely. The interactions between the animals is always very interesting, and there are always animals moving around. I think at the moment there are 5 Rattlesnake species, a few Desert Tortoises, and 2 or 3 large Mexican Beaded Lizards. The animals utilize the enclosure space really well, and feeding time is always a lot of fun to watch. Even looking at it from the point of view of a visitor, I really enjoy it. The exhibit itself is awesome too. I'd be happy to live in it, ya know if it wasn't full of venomous reptiles :D
 
I visited the Staten Islans zoo yesterday. This particular exhibit no longer has any rattlesnake or tortoises. I saw one beaded lizard, one roadrunner, a few Gambel's quails, one burrowing owl, and a few Colorado River toads. I suppose maintaining rattlesnakes in a large space like this (and with many hiding places) turned out to be risky...
 
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