Toledo Zoo Galapagos Tortoise Photos

[Oxalis]

About a month ago, my husband and I visited the Toledo Zoo and I spent a good portion of the day drooling over the adorable Galapagos tortoise "babies." They already looked larger than my adult Russian male! Still had their baby cuteness though.

Outside the reptile house:



Galapagos babies!



















Here's a cute turtle also in the reptile house:



Outside the reptile house were some old "dinosaur" sculptures.



It was really neat to see the mighty tuatara!



The sea turtle in the aquarium was super cute too. He suffers from "bubble butt," caused by an injury with a boat, so he has a weight attached to his back to help him dive.



If you're planning to visit, I highly suggest the aviary in addition to the reptile house. We really enjoyed the Zoo and plan to visit again.

 

[Tom]

Thanks for the pics!

 

[GingerLove]

Those baby galaps are SOO cute!!! Thank you so much for sharing!!!! I like how Galapagos tortoises have stubby nostrils. And I'm sorry... I gave a little snicker when you said "bubble butt", but I'm so glad that he has a good home now! What exactly is... um... bubble butt?

 

[saginawhxc]

I used to do Toledo at least once a year, but I haven't been down there in five or six years now. It really is a great zoo.

 

[Oxalis]

What exactly is... um... bubble butt?

My understanding is that when a boat hits the sea turtle's shell, it sometimes causes this air pocket to form under the back of the shell (near the butt), and this impedes the turtle's ability to dive. That prevents the turtle from its normal routine and makes it easy target for further boat hits. Many of the turtles I saw at the Sea Turtle Hospital in Florida had this problem because they can't really be released. You can read more about it at the link below if you scroll down to the "Boat Hits" section.

http://www.turtlehospital.org/sea-turtle-injuries/ [There are some graphic photos though.]

 

[saginawhxc]

They have a sea turtle at the aquarium in Great Lakes Crossing mall. Same thing. It knocks the weight off all the time though because apparently it likes to wedge itself under a certain rock formation and knocks it off.

 

[Oxalis]

They have a sea turtle at the aquarium in Great Lakes Crossing mall. Same thing. It knocks the weight off all the time though because apparently it likes to wedge itself under a certain rock formation and knocks it off.

Awww! Poor little dude! I haven't been to that aquarium yet since it's a little pricey, but it may give me something fun to do over the winter. Is it worth the ticket price?

 

[saginawhxc]

I tell most people that it depends on you and how into that kind of thing you are.

A single ticket is kind of at the expensive end, but a year long pass is not a bad deal at all. I think yearly passes are in the $60-70 range. I bought them for me, my girlfriend, and the step daughter. Then we all got a single bring a friend pass that we used to take my teenage boys once (they were mildly impressed at best). I went down with Steph and my two girls 3 or 4 times, and Steph went down several times with the girls without me. So we completely got our value several times over.

I believe a single day pass can always be rolled over into a season pass too. So keep that in mind. You can check the place out and decide if you are open to coming back before dropping $70 on a season pass.

We always carry memberships to the Detroit Zoo and Saginaw Zoo too. They both have great reciprocity programs so we actually get in free or half off at most AZA zoos.

 

[Oxalis]

I tell most people that it depends on you and how into that kind of thing you are.

A single ticket is kind of at the expensive end, but a year long pass is not a bad deal at all. I think yearly passes are in the $60-70 range. I bought them for me, my girlfriend, and the step daughter. Then we all got a single bring a friend pass that we used to take my teenage boys once (they were mildly impressed at best). I went down with Steph and my two girls 3 or 4 times, and Steph went down several times with the girls without me. So we completely got our value several times over.

I believe a single day pass can always be rolled over into a season pass too. So keep that in mind. You can check the place out and decide if you are open to coming back before dropping $70 on a season pass.

We always carry memberships to the Detroit Zoo and Saginaw Zoo too. They both have great reciprocity programs so we actually get in free or half off at most AZA zoos.

That's awesome! Thank you for the tip. Yes, we were happy to find out that the Toledo Zoo gave us a ticket discount because of our Detroit Zoo membership. I love how much walking I can get in at the Detroit Zoo so it's easy to go enough times throughout the year to cover the membership cost. I'm excited to go on our "winter excursion" -- a couple years ago we visited the Detroit Zoo in the cold and snow and enjoyed being some of the only people there. It was freezing but no lines at the cafe! And the bison were like, "What snow?" Also: I love the Saginaw Zoo! Have they brought the wolf back yet?

 

[saginawhxc]

They just added two Mexican Wolves this week actually. Saginaw is only open on a few certain dates throughout the winter so we won't be able to see them until the next date. That zoo is like five minutes down the road from me. Me and the baby spent a lot of time there this summer.

 

[Meganolvt]

I used to work at the Saginaw Zoo! That is why I developed a love for tortoises (Burt and Phil). Best 2 1/2 years of my life.

 

[Oxalis]

They just added two Mexican Wolves this week actually. Saginaw is only open on a few certain dates throughout the winter so we won't be able to see them until the next date. That zoo is like five minutes down the road from me. Me and the baby spent a lot of time there this summer.

Aww that's wonderful. I just love the tea house across the street too.

I used to work at the Saginaw Zoo! That is why I developed a love for tortoises (Burt and Phil). Best 2 1/2 years of my life.

Cool! I love the torts there. They look pretty well taken care of.

 

[saginawhxc]

I actually just sent them an email the other day asking if they wanted a donation of Mazuri or Zoo Med Grassland. Haven't heard back from them yet.

There has been a few times I have been caught saying something about their leopards, and somebody would be like "When did they get leopards?"

 

[saginawhxc]

It should go without mention that the torts are one of our favorites. They just got rid of the dogloo hide and built them a little bit of an open little hide that looks nicer, but probably doesn't give them the same sense of security. That being said those torts are probably pretty used to humans and the chaos we bring by now.

 

[Oxalis]

It should go without mention that the torts are one of our favorites. They just got rid of the dogloo hide and built them a little bit of an open little hide that looks nicer, but probably doesn't give them the same sense of security. That being said those torts are probably pretty used to humans and the chaos we bring by now.

Yeah, they probably do need a good hide in there. I could sit and watch them all day!