Cold Blooded Encounters

Visited today after my kids had a visit from the staff at their summer camp. It was a difficult to find (no sign from the street) but once there we had a very informative and fun time. my kids 7,5,2 were fully engaged the entire time– the staff was great and allowed the children to directly interact with some of the animals. It’s not the Central Park Zoo but a smaller, intimate place. The staff really cares about the animals and we were informed that many of the specimens were rescued. Kids had a great time that’s what matters to me.

Hello. I recently visited this place with my two young kids. My first impression wasn’t great, wondering about the dinginess of the place etc. But, within some time, we were charmed with the passion on reptiles by Daphne, the asst. director and Samone, a volunteer, who spent a great deal of time, with my kids… patiently answering their questions, permitting them to pet numerous species, and also feeding various reptiles. All in all, it was the best visit for us to any reptile place… and believe me, we have been to numerous such locations around the world. My kids learnt so much about the reptiles, got over their fear for many of these wonderful creatures and really enjoyed their visit. The location may be small, but it is such an awesome place. I highly recommend it! I just hope that with more funds, the staff is able to move into a larger location and continue their terrific work. Thanks.

Upon 1^st look you may want to turn around! DON’T! I am so happy I didn’t! The baby loved it! This is the perfect example of not judging a book by it’s cover!

While the location is small and it is a little difficult to find, the people are wonderful. They really care about the animals and are extremely knowledgeable about each and every one of them. We were able to learn a lot and got a close up experience with some of them!

We had Groupons to this place and thus decided to try it — after all, a reptile zoo sounds cool, right? Well, we were disappointed. It’s very hard to find, with only a tiny sign on a building by the highway. No wonder, since the place itself is tiny. It’s basically just a house, with three small rooms stuffed with tiny terrariums.
It smelled worse than any zoo I’ve been to in my life, and you’d think a reptile zoo should be less smelly than a place with rhinos and apes and such. The animals were mostly in plastic boxes with holes drilled into them, just hanging out on shelves. What’s scary is that it really wouldn’t be hard for a kid, or even a careless adult, to accidentally knock down a box with a scorpion or tarantula in it.
There was a big big monitor (animal, not computer) that was in a terrarium smaller than the animal itself if it had fully extended its tail. Same problem with most other animals: very little space, soap-​foamy or murky dirty water, fake plastic ivy leaves instead of branches for them to climb, etc etc. I wish PETA would come and check this place out — it really made us more sad than happy to go to this reptile zoo.