Alyice on June 23rd, 2009

Reptile Gardens, SD

Last week, we took our son to a parent-student college orientation in Rapid City, South Dakota. During one of the breaks we stopped by Reptile Gardens. To be honest, I wasn’t sure what to expect and really wasn’t looking forward to seeing every snake known to man. To my surprise, there weren’t that many snakes in captivity, but there were enough to entertain the kids and give me the creeps. Aside from snakes, we saw alligators, crocodiles, birds of prey, frogs, lizards, spiders, and yes…roaches.

Now you have to see the set up they had for roaches.

It really grossed my son out, who later said he was so glad to be living in South Dakota where those ugly creatures were sparse—if non-existent. My husband, of course, had to retell the story of living in Georgia for a spell, going to the kitchen sink for a glass of water and watching a slew of gigantic roaches climb their way out of the drain and into his living quarters—something he hopes to avoid by never stepping foot in that part of Georgia again.

After spending some time in the snake exhibit, we ventured on over to the snake show where we learned some interesting facts about snakes, including the fact that King Cobras kill 20,000 people a year, making them one of he deadliest snakes. We also saw a snake, which I cannot recall the name of, that lives in very remote parts of the world—parts that are rarely traveled by man. This snake is literally the deadliest snake in the world. To illustrate the point, the snake trainer said, “If you take one single M&M and crush it into a hundred pieces, then take just one piece; that is all the venom it would take to kill on adult-sized male.”

I have to admit that I actually enjoyed the snake show. The trainer handled each snake—all of whom were still venomous—with great care as he filled our heads with facts upon facts about each snake and joked with the audience.

Then, as he was putting the King Cobra back into his cage, the little bugger didn’t want to go back so we enjoyed a humorous game of “cat and mouse” between the trainer and the snake. It sort of reminded me of the old cartoon, Tom & Jerry. Finally, the trainer said, “Are you all getting a good shot of my backside? I bet this is what you wanted to see, a trainer who can’t control his snake.”

After the show, we stopped by the wild prairie dog exhibit where we got to see this little guy playing with his bowl. I have no idea what he wanted to do with this bowl as he wasn’t attempting to get anything out of it and made no attempt to flip it or drag it down a hole—and yet, he amused us as he went around the bowl, grabbing it with his teeth and pulling it to and fro, moving it from one spot to another, then putting it back in the original spot. We kept waiting for him to “get a clue” or at least complete his task, but it appeared that he simply had a case of “attention deficit disorder” and liked keeping himself busy.

After our short visit with the prairie dogs, we stopped by the giant turtles in hopes of getting a shot next to one of these magnificent creatures. Unfortunately, they were a little busy. I know it looks as if they are “mating” but the truth-of-the-matter is that the one on top didn’t want to walk around the other turtle so he decided to climb up and over and got stuck! The bottom turtle wasn’t too happy, as you can expect, so he slowly moved towards the wall and attempted to squish the top turtle’s side until he chose to get off. It was truly quite comical. The cool part about this experience is that we actually got to hear them talk to each other—or perhaps it was a little cursing and yelling.

Next, we made our way to the Gator show. There were at least 20 reptiles in the outdoor showroom, mostly alligators with a few crocodiles. We passed them on several occasions as we walked the park and all I could think was, “What kind of show could they possibly have with these guys? First, they are extremely ‘lazy’ and second, there are a lot of them in one area!” Once again, I found myself surprised. The snake trainer was also the gator wrestler and he truly knew how to take an otherwise boring act and turn it into something entertaining.

We wanted to stop by the bird show, but the weather was getting unpredictable and we were getting hungry, so knowing that our pass was good for another visit, we called it a day and left. Will we return? Yep! Every chance we get—which will be a few times a year since our son will be attending college in the area. And who knows, maybe I’ll learn to take better photos through glass so I can show you some of the snakes they have on exhibit.

Until next time…

Disclosure: I paid for this attraction. This is “my opinion”. I was not paid to give a positive review.

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Comments (2)

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Katy Thibodeau says:
I absolutely love this post on Reptile Gardens!! My mother is a manager there and emailed this to me. I am currently living in Alaska so this was such a great taste of home for me. The place is so incredible and so much more than you expect to walk into. I am glad you were able to see Tracy (Alligator Wrestler/Snake handler) at his best and even better…the Giant Tortoises having their fun!!!
Posted at 3:22 pm June 27th, 2009
Alyice says:
How cool that your mom forwarded you the post. And glad you said the trainer’s name as I forgot it!

Alaska, how in the world did you ever end up there?
Posted at 4:19 pm June 27th, 2009

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I'm a freelance writer, mixed media artist, SMVA, and the owner of The Dabbling Mum.

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