Reptile Zoo in Monroe, WA

[Kayti]

So I've talked about this in another thread, but for my birthday the boyfriend and I went to a reptile zoo in Monroe. It was really awesome and fascinating, but a few of the creatures, mainly the tortoises, looked like they could have been cared for better.

They had 5 young but large leopard tortoises in about a king-size bookshelf sized enclosure, which I don't have a picture of for some reason.

They also had 2 adult sulcatas:

This was their enclosure:

Pretty big, but no water, and they were obviously wanting something to hide or burrow in.

One of the redfoots:

Is that normal for their eyes to look that watery?

They had a nice hide, though.

A younger sulcata, looking pretty good.

Florida Soft-Shell

And, one of the awesomest creatures there, a 2-headed Red Eared Slider!

And heres a video Noah made:
http://vimeo.com/8433289

The rest of the animals I saw are in the off topic section.

 

[Yvonne G]

The redfoot's eyes were watering because it was being kept too dry. In my opinion, the type of substrate they were using for all their tortoises, let alone the redfoots, isn't the right kind of substrate. That one sulcata was very pretty though. Of course, these were their display cases. Maybe when they put the animals up for the night, they go into a better kept habitat per species.

 

[Tim/Robin]

We've never been there but seen ads. We don't know who owns it. It looks nice and clean from the photos. That shows some care.

If there were lots of hides, like we know tortoises love, the keepers wouldn't be able to display the animals for the public. I assume you paid for entrance to this place? Wouldn't it be disappointing not to see any animals?

As for the water...we don't offer ALL of our large tortoises water EVERY day. Perhaps the zoo animals make a mess of it in their display pens. Did you inquire about it from the keepers? Perhaps they get regular soaks instead. Perhaps they have other pens to go to that have water available.

We've seen many little zoo type places that looked much worse than this. Thanks for sharing the pictures, we'll have to make it over there one of these times.

 

[DoctorCosmonaut]

The redfoot's eyes were watering because it was being kept too dry. In my opinion, the type of substrate they were using for all their tortoises, let alone the redfoots, isn't the right kind of substrate. That one sulcata was very pretty though. Of course, these were their display cases. Maybe when they put the animals up for the night, they go into a better kept habitat per species.

I must agree that the environments seem incorrect, but the Redfoots do look healthy. Maybe that is sometype of daytime display? I don't know why they just wouldn't make a sweet naturalistic looking one with the appropriate substrate though (its look nice to the viewers too)... None the less a neat collection of torts/turts.

 

[Kayti]

I am sort of hoping they had summer time enclosures outdoors, there were a bunch of fences at the back that I didn't get a closer look at.

Overall, they were definitely not perfect, but much better than the average pet store.

If there were lots of hides, like we know tortoises love, the keepers wouldn't be able to display the animals for the public. I assume you paid for entrance to this place? Wouldn't it be disappointing not to see any animals?

Personally, I would have been much happier to see just the tails of secure, comfortable animals, than a whole animal that looked like it would much rather be somewhere else. But, I'm probably a member of the minority in that, I'll admit Some of the animals had great hides, and were still out and about to check out the visitors.

 

[DoctorCosmonaut]

Awww kinda disapointing. I don't know if i'll bother to make the trip anymore. Were there people their you could talk to? Like guides or the owner? (just wondering)

 

[Kayti]

Awww kinda disapointing. I don't know if i'll bother to make the trip anymore. Were there people their you could talk to? Like guides or the owner? (just wondering)

It is in Washington, not Oregon, but totally worth the trip if you're ever in the Seattle area! The majority of their collection were snakes and lizards.
I did see the owners, but I didn't stop to chat with them or anything. I was too distracted goggling over all the creatures I think they live upstairs or something, because they are open 365 days a year.

 

[Stephanie Logan]

Is a two-headed turtle just a conjoined twin that didn't completely separate in the egg?

 

[tortoisenerd]

Thanks for sharing! I live near there so I'll have to visit someday. I too sure hope that they are kept in better suited enclosures the majority of the time (but it doesn't look like it from the reviews and info below). The Redfoot must be kept more moist, be a new addition, or they got it after it was full grown as its shell is smooth (I can't tell if it is an adult, WC or CB, etc).

http://www.yelp.com/biz/reptile-zoo-monroe
http://www.reptileman.com/home.html

 

[Yvonne G]

I think that's probably correct, Stephanie. Because I was noticing in the video that it looks like the right head operates the right legs and the left the left.

 

[DoctorCosmonaut]

I can't believe I just now noticed that there were two heads! hah

 

[Stephanie Logan]

You took off your glasses to impress Maggie, and see what just happened!

 

[ChiKat]

That Florida Soft-shell is crazy looking!! And a two-headed RES!! Wow!
Great pictures! What a cool place to visit.

 

[chadk]

The sullies have a gate that opens to a large outside fenced in area. They also take one of the bigger ones to various educational \ edu-tainment type events that I've been to. It is pretty awesome to see a massive Sulcata freely wandering our outdoor company picinic with business cards in a small container glued (?) to the top of the shell. The sullies are pretty well looked after and have been with them for quite a while.

The other torts came more recently. The Leos were the worst off of the bunch. They were too crowded and many had severe pyramiding. But they probably got them all that way. Like I said before, many of their animals are rescues or just dumped off on their doorstep...

The redfoots were much bigger than I expected when I first saw them. Another newer addition. I seemed like the plastic bin was supposed to be a humid hide, but I'm not 100% sure. I'll ask next time.

They have only a few workers and tons of animals that need daily care. So they can be a little slow on getting the cage areas all setup correctly. But they do try hard and keep things neat and clean.

It costs 5 bucks per person I think. Then you can get pics with various animals for money as well.

They also have spiders, scorpions, walking sticks, and other creepy crawlys as well...

-Chad

 

[Kayti]

The sullies have a gate that opens to a large outside fenced in area.

Where was this? I don't remember seeing any gate opening, they were in the same room as all the venomous snakes when I visited. When did you see them?

 

[chadk]

They are usually on the far west side along the wall. That is also the side where the outdoor area is. I'm pretty sure it is the same spot as in the pic (gator on one side, water monitor on the other). But they do move things around a lot... Last time I was there would be early fall this year.

 

[Kayti]

They are usually on the far west side along the wall. That is also the side where the outdoor area is. I'm pretty sure it is the same spot as in the pic (gator on one side, water monitor on the other). But they do move things around a lot... Last time I was there would be early fall this year.

Yeah, sounds like the same spot. But there was definitely no gate to an outside enclosure- they were inside against a full wall with windows and everything...

 

[goReptiles]

zoos and aquariums are usually pretty disappointing when you see the size of the enclosure. I mean the GA aquarium had 3 or 4 small pengiuns in a small enclosure. The otters had the best, but they had 3 small gators and a red ear slider in on maybe 10-15 foot long enclosure. not nearly big enough imo, and not going to house them when the gators are older.