What Zoos have you visited?

SCReptiles · 10-17-04, 03:47 PM

Would like to see what Zoos or “Zoological” parks everyone has visited and what they think about them. As for me:

Chattanooga Nature Center. Chattanooga, TN

OK, I love it, but perhaps I am a bit partial since I am the director of herpetology. We have 11 species of snakes, including both venomous species that at found in Chattanooga. We are part of the red wolf recover program and always have two or three on site, as well as several other animals native to this area.

Tennessee Aquarium. Chattanooga, TN

Mostly fish, few reptiles. A few years ago they had and awesome venomous display, but it’s been replaced by Jellyfish these days.

Rome Nature Center. Rome, GA

I love this one as well. I don’t work there, but I did supply several of the pit vipers they have on display. They also have several reptile species, including alligators, that are native to GA.

Chattanooga Zoo. Chattanooga, TN

Very small low budget zoo. They do well for the money and space they have to work with. Till last couple years, did not even have reptiles, but have a nice little set up now. No venomous at all. They have an awesome set up for Chimps.

Animal Adventures. Bristol, VA

Owned and operated by friends of mine. Several snakes, mostly hots. I supplied a few of the pit vipers, but they have a far more vast collection of Cobras. They also have a 7 foot + water monitor and a pair of adult cougars.

Rainforest Adventures. Pigeon Forge, TN

The best collection of snakes I have ever seen! An example of almost every venomous snake on the planet. Also some crocs, and a few turtles. Very nice place.

Alligator Adventures. Myrtle Beach, SC

If you are into crocs, this is a must see. Nice collection of snakes, including some very rare rattlers and a huge king cobra. The star of the show is the monster crocodile housed in the center. He is the largest crocodile in the world! 20 feet +..he is a must see.

Snakes alive. Cherokee, NC

I have not been in several years, but it’s an awesome display for the money. They once housed a burm that was 26 feet. They still have the skin on the wall.

AHP Exotics. Loganville, GA

A retail pet store just west of Atlanta, however, Bill Albright, has set up a nice snake and reptile display. Several awesome cobras, and the second largest rattlesnake I have ever seen.

George Van Horn serpitorium. South, FL (Sorry I can’t remember the city)

Nice collection of venomous snakes, including the largest rattlesnake I have ever seen. It’s a hybrid between a canebrake and an Eastern Diamond. George does public venom extractions a few times thru the day.

Knoxville Zoo. Knoxville, TN

Average zoo. I have not been in years, but nothing there sticks in my memory.

Seattle Zoo (woodland) Seattle, WA

Pretty nice place. Had a 20 foot retic that had a head bigger then my hands put together.

Atlanta Zoo. Atlanta, GA

OK, but nothing super. Was very disappointed on their pythons. I have bigger ones in my basement. They do have a pair of Komodo Dragons, I think this was the first time I saw them in person.

Memphis Zoo. Memphis, TN

Awesome snake display. Huge retic, around 18 feet. Awesome rattlesnake display.

Audubon Zoo. New Orleans, LA

18 different species of rattlesnake and the nicest southern copperhead I have ever seen.

Audubon Aquarium. New Orleans, LA

Awesome shark set up. Also have about a 14 foot anaconda, was the only snake I saw, but the sharks are worth the money.

Insti-gater. New Orleans (area), LA

An Alligator farm about an hour north of New Orleans, LA. Good solid information on alligator farming and recovery, but no spectacular gaters on site.

Gaterland. Orlando, FL

Awesome display. Much better then Disney World. Saw a 15 foot American Croc there. Far as I know, that is the biggest in the world.

Planning to visit before 2005:

Nashville Zoo. Nashville, TN

Birmingham Zoo. Birmingham, AL

SDSnakes · 10-17-04, 07:28 PM

Toronto zoo...

HeatherRose · 10-17-04, 07:31 PM

My list is not nearly as impressive, as I've only been to two zoos.

Yesterday, Matt_K, chappy, Melly18 and I went to Little Rays Reptile Zoo in Ottawa. It was tons of fun, lots of hands-on stuff and neat looking animals. The highlight of the trip was seeing the ferruginous hawk eat an f/t rat! I can't wait to see the pictures chappy got of that

It's always a cool experience to see gaboons, gators and the giant retic up close like that

UnKnown · 10-17-04, 07:33 PM

Assinboine Zoo....

Will · 10-17-04, 11:26 PM

It's just a little bit outta the way, but the Taronga Zoo in Sydney, AUS is gorgeous. Not only is it a nice zoo with lots of cool displays, but it's right on Sydney Harbor, across from the Opera House. Great animals and great views... We also went to the SYdney Aquarium, very cool, but didn't get out to any of the other zoos in the country...

RepTylE · 10-17-04, 11:34 PM

Toronto Metro Zoo

A great zoo but wear good walking shoes, everything is so spread out. Alot of primate exhibits.

Detroit Zoo

Another nice one, decent reptile house and a pair of Komodo Dragons in what I consider to be a well designed enclosure.

Toledo Zoo

Now this one is about my favourite although I've only been there once so far. I was totally entranced by the Tuatara exhibit, spent a fair amount of time there. Nice poison frog exhibits as well. Not to mention the Galapagos tortoise exhibit.Hope to get back there soon.

Not alot of zoos on my list either but some interesting sights.

katev17 · 10-18-04, 12:07 AM

Oooh a fun topic! I'll write more about them all later when I'm less tired and lazy...

Toronto Zoo - Awesome

Little Ray's Reptile Zoo - Fun

Papanack Zoo - The Zoo that made me want to work for ZooCheck so I could have the power to shut it down, and other zoos like it.

Gramby Zoo! - Awesome

Those were all in Ottawa (except Toronto obviously)

I've also been to:

Lone Pine Koala Sanctuary - Brisbane, QLD, Australia, AWESOME I loved it so much

Australia Zoo - Glasshouse Mountains, QLD, Australia ... Oh man. Amazing. Absolutely freaking amazing. And it's expanding.. I lived at it (pretty much) for a month, it was an AMAZING PLACE! So well looked-after...

Underwater World - Mooloolaba, QLD, Australia - So fun, and a really neat experience! I got to see sharks swim over top of me, and really amazing saltwater fishes (That I got to see up close and personal 3 weeks later in the Great Barrier Reef!

Hehe)

Kuranda Wildlife Park - Just north of Cairns in Kuranda, QLD, Australia- It was little but really nice! I got to pet a wombat, hahaha.. it was a crazy little thing. And there were carpet pythons living in the walk-way covers, it was really cool! (They were just naturally living there, they didn't belong to the zoo)

I went to a mini put in Florida that had baby alligators.. lol...

Umm I've been to Disney's Animal Kingdom..... WOW. I can't even express how amazingly AMAZING it is.... just breathtaking. - Florida, USA.. :P

I went to a couple of other alligator sanctuaries while I was down there but I don't rememebr them...

MONKEYWORLD - England - I can't remember where it is, but you guys might recognize this from a show called Monkey Business! AHHH I loved this place soooooo much..... it was so amazing... up close and personal with ring tailed lemurs!!!!!!!!!

Marwell Zoo - Winchester,Hampshire, England - Ohhhhh my. I loved this place so much it's ridiculous. You could go into the Giraffe's living hut, adn you'd be about 10 feet away from them (I loveeeee giraffes). This was a gorgeously beautiful zoo.

Central Park Zoo - New York City, NY, USA

- This is a little zoo, but it's really nice.. From what I remember, anyway! I'm going back this summer, so that should be fun. It's really nice from what I recall!

I THINK that's it.... but I may have more.. I can't really remember at the moment! (Past my bedtime)

Oh this was exciting, I'm all happy now.
Hahahaha

KATE

PS - Will .. One of the zookeepers from the Taronga Zoo was transferred to the Australia Zoo, and he told me all about it! (he was head of elephants) It was a shame I couldn't make my way down there to see it!!

HeatherRose · 10-18-04, 12:10 AM

I totally forgot about the central park zoo too! I was there :\

Kate I'm just way too friggin jealous of your travels!!!!

katev17 · 10-18-04, 12:13 AM

There's a couple other England ones, and I'm POSITIVE there's another one from Australia but I can't for the life of me remember them...!!!

But you know me... I made my mum promise I'd get to go to at least 2 zoos in England before I agreed to go! Hahahaha :P

Dani33 · 10-18-04, 10:17 AM

Detriot zoo
Toronto zoo
Chicago zoo
Calgary zoo
Aquarium in key west
Aquarium in Detroit
Little Rays Reptile zoo
Indian River reptile zoo
Some more that I can't think of at the moment...

JimmyDavid · 10-18-04, 10:46 AM

Nice topic. The zoos i visited lately are of course, far away from Canada, but perhaps interesting to account here:

Lisbon zoo- Very big. they keep changing their reptile collection. Currently have nice croc monitors and komodo dragons in big enclosures. Used to have big snakes but now nothing worth mentioning. They have a nice big boelen's though.
Lot's of apes and big cats, also. worth a visit.

Zoomarine (Albufeira-Portugal) - more of a theme park. Kind of a Disney World park but with a few gators on display.

Krazy world (Algoz-Portugal) - This place belongs to a friend of mine, tim. They have lot's of reptiles, including a big burm and a 20+ feet retic. They once had a 28' retic (so they say) but she died before i could ever see it.
Nice place www.krazy-world.com

Crocodile park (huelva-spain)- many crocs and gators but nothing much. They have a couple of huge salvators, though. They also have a rare albino kangaroo.

that's it for now!

soda · 10-18-04, 12:18 PM

I went to Motes Aquarium in Florida last Spring. It was fantastic! I got to 'pet' baby sting-rays ---they were softer than velvet.

snakers55 · 10-18-04, 02:37 PM

Toronto zoo, Bowmanville zoo, Jungle Cat World, Indian River Reptile zoo, Peterborough zoo, Story Book Gardens.

BAZ · 10-18-04, 04:09 PM

Little Rays Reptile Zoo - Great educational presentations and hands on. I think we could do with a much larger building and a cleaner more professional look though. Id like ot see our monitors and crocodilians get bigger enclosures.

Jungle Cat World - Nice zoo if you like big cats (and who doesnt!). Enclosures for the animals could be better designed. I dont like the green wire fence they used for the cages.

Indian River Reptile Zoo - Very professional looking. Clean. Could be more interactive

Park Safari - Great for children as you can drive around with your windows open and feed the animals. Not much to see in terms of carnivors there though. My young daughter enjoyed it a lot though.

African Lion Safari - Amazing place. I loved the Birds of Prey demonstration. The section with the baboons is pretty fun

Toronto Zoo - Very nice looking zoo but I found it too spread out and not very interactive. Hard to find keepers unless they are there for a feeding at a certain time.

Vancouver Zoo - Pretty nice zoo although it looks bigger and better on the posters than in real life.

Vancouver Aquarium - Nicely layed out. Fun place to visit.

Boston Aquarium - Pretty nice place but I found myself comparing it to Vancouver Aquarium and found this place kinda old looking and extremely crowdedw ith the public.

Cleveland Zoo - Nice zoo.

Singapore Zoo - Absolutely amazing zoo. Best zoo I have been to. Beautifully thought out and designed. Enclosures are amazing. Does not have a typical zoo feel to it. This is a zoo to see. Keepers are friendly and knowledgable. It is stunning.. ****... I wanna live there! LOL

Taipae Zoo - Nice zoo. Their reptile house is new and really well designed.

Calcutta Zoo - dont remember it much but like most Indian zoos I belive it could do with some improvement.

Madras Crocodile Bank - If crocodiles are your thing then this is one place you must visit. Hundreds of crocodiles from many different species here. Not very interactive though and the keepers are not too good in english but a lot of great conservation work is done out of this place. You can watch gharials in a underwater viewing enclosure (I helped put them there). You can also visit the Irula snake coop which is inside the Croc Bank and see cobras, russels vipers and kraits being handled and milked by the Irula people.

Bali Zoological Gardens - Nice looking zoo for the most part. Big cats could do with bigger enclosures

Bali Bird Park - Amazing place. They have Komodo Dragons too

Bali Reptile Park - Nice looking zoo but some enclosures are difficult to see into. Nicely designed zoo though

BWSmith · 10-19-04, 08:03 AM

I don't remember where all i have been, but I had to comment.

Quote:

AHP Exotics. Loganville, GA
A retail pet store just west of Atlanta, however, Bill Albright, has set up a nice snake and reptile display. Several awesome cobras, and the second largest rattlesnake I have ever seen.

Yeah, that is the one that killed my 5.5' Canebrake!

That monster EDB came in on short notice not too long after I got the big Cane. I had them together while I was setting up the new cage. The cane fell off the hide box and onto the EDB and he immediately tagged her. I got rid of the EDB shortly after. I kindof miss that monster.