Reptile Gardens in the Black Hills of South Dakota
If you have ever wanted to learn more about reptiles and some other fascinating animals of our great world, go to Reptile Gardens in the Black Hills of South Dakota. Located just 3 miles south of Rapid City, it is a major attraction of the Black Hills area.
Not only do they have a massive collection of reptiles, they also have a variety of other animals and some great plants, flowers and other displays. The reptiles are the main reason to go, but there are some other things to attract people. The cutest are the prairie dogs, small prairie dwelling rodents that live in large towns that have been almost wiped out in the wild. They live in the prairie lands east of the Rocky Mountains from Saskatchewan to northern Mexico.
They are usually found only in National Parks but there are some outside of these areas. They were considered a nuisance by ranchers and farmers and attempts at eradication were almost successful. Now these families of rodents live in the National Parks such as Theodore Roosevelt National Park and Devils Tower National Monument. The pen of these animals at Reptile Gardens is a large enclosure that has an underground entrance and a domed plastic tunnel that you can watch and get watched at by the prairie dogs. They have a bark that is their way of communicating with each other, whether for warning, saying hello or from fear they can communicate and warn others around them.
One of the cute behaviors that they exhibited at the enclosure was one of them would act as guard, this is typical behavior and that individual would watch the surrounding area and warn if anyone comes by. But of course there was people coming by all the time and one would warn the others and they would run into their holes and then right back out. One even perched on a stick that stood up in the ground about two feet and watched us while balancing on this stick.
There are some other exhibits outside, one is of a Bald Eagle that has been wounded and cannot fly. He has an enclosure and is used for education and our enjoyment as well as his own safety. One neat outdoor exhibit is the giant tortoises that you can go up to and pet, or whatever you want to call it. You do have to be a little careful they may be a little ornery though. These giant armored reptiles are in a trail like area that they can roam freely in, you can see how slow they wander around and you can even feel their hard and rough shell. They also have the younger ones in a smaller enclosure but you can’t pet or whatever these, they are too small and would not take to the treatment as well as their larger friends.
During the day at the Reptile Gardens there are shows that run back to back and continue all day. Each show is held at a different stage or area and showcase different animals. The first show we saw was the alligator and crocodile show. They have a large pen with a small concrete river in it, holding 68 alligators, crocodiles and caiman’s.
An employee of the Gardens came out and proceeded to educate and entertain us with facts and jokes about these ancient looking animals. He told us how to tell the differences between the alligators and crocodiles and talked about the smallest group of this family of reptiles the caiman. After talking about and pointing out the reptiles he proceeded to catch one and show how they capture and hold one for inspection, treatment and transportation. During the season they occasionally need to examine one and then at the end of the season they move them to their winter quarters so need to know how to safely handle the sometimes huge reptiles.
He showed what to and not to do and then got off the beast, showing the main problem with these types of animals and how people can so easily, at least it looks easy, capture them. They have blind spots in their vision due to the positioning of their eyes. Right in front and between their eyes they are blind, so if you are right in back of them and approach them from the center of their body they cannot see you. Subsequently if you are on the back of one and reach between the eyes the animal will not see this, either. But he was quick to point out that he did this for our education, and enjoyment, and you should never mess with any kinds of wild animals no matter what. Leave this kind of thing to paid professionals.
He then showed us how they are fed and that they attribute a bucket and hitting it with a stick as a dinner call. At the point of the show that he started to talk about dinner and eating, many of the reptiles started to line up in the water knowing what was soon to come in the show. They looked as if the last water buffalo in the herd crossing the river was limping, the bucket came out and so did a few of the crocs and gators. He showed how he fed them and then assured us that even though some would not get any of the chicken pieces he was tossing them, that during the several shows a day throughout the week they would all get fed sufficiently.
After the alligators and crocodiles got fed he wrapped up the show and pointed us in the direction of the next show, trained animals.
The trained animals show featured many trained animals of different species that all had been trained in what is referred to as positive reinforcement. When an animal does what the trainer wants it to, they get a reward such as a treat or attention. This works well for all kinds of animals and the ones they had were no exception. They have a little theater type stage they show the animals and go through a skit to show off what the animals can do. Rabbits have been taught to pull on triggers of toy guns and shoot ping pong balls for treats and chickens pull strings of shades and flags to get their rewards of grain.
The show is cute and follows the story of a ghost town that was abandoned after the well was magically cursed by a man who promised to give the town water in great quantities during some drought years. The town was told that if they believed in the magic the well would produce water but when they stopped believing they would be cursed, and when they stopped believing they were turned into the animals of the show.
There was some chickens and a duck, a couple of rabbits, a bell tolling cow and the end of the show brought out the pig miner. It was very cute but could get kind of repetitive. We were then pointed to the bird show at the next stage.
The bird show was much better and starred two girls that joked back and forth using birds of various species to punctuate their joviality at one another. There was a vulture and an owl, a couple of parrots and a pigeon. There was several birds of prey or raptors and the star was a Bald Eagle. The show is a special presentation by Wildlife Experiences, Inc, a non-profit organization that works with Reptile Gardens to offer a wide variety of animal programs in local schools.
The fourth show was the best one in the opinion of my oldest son, the snakes, the show not my son. The same man that presented the crocs and gators handled the snakes. He had several snakes to show, two that were non-poisonous and more that were poisonous. The first non-poisonous were a nondescript one, I don’t remember what it was, but it was just to show the general characteristics of a snake. He then brought out an albino Burmese Python, it was about fifteen feet long and some eighty pounds.
He then showed some of the more dangerous snakes, a rattle snake, cotton mouth moccasin, cobra and a couple of others. The show was very informative and neat. The cobra which is very poisonous was in a plastic cage, he said he didn’t get paid enough to handle that one, but he handled the others on stage. Or I should say he handled them with a metal pole or a snake hook, using it to keep the snake on the stage and toward the center or getting the rattlesnake upset and using it’s tail to rattle for everyone to hear.
After the show we wandered around the outside enclosures and then went into the dome, a large two story structure that is a big dome. It has on the lower floor around the center section, tanks and cages with a wide variety of reptiles and a few others. Komodo dragons, a large croc named Maniac, some big, small and even poisonous frogs and toads, many insects and bugs such as cockroaches of a couple of kinds, spiders and scorpions.
They also had a wide variety of snakes here and on the top floor, many of which are poisonous, including the most poisonous, the Inland Taipan. They also have a very rare snake, the Rough-scaled Python, of which there is only one other captive, in an Australian zoo. The center of the dome is one large several storied jungle room that has many plants and animals roaming freely. Birds such as finches fly around, with some other species loose and climbing or hanging out. A couple of snakes can be found hanging from limbs of trees or on rocks. The dome has so much to see you can spend a couple of hours there looking for different types and sizes of animals and plants.
There are also some very beautiful rocks and minerals displayed as part of the exhibits and in some of the cages and tanks of reptiles, around the Gardens. My family is kind of into geology and rock hunting along with nature and it was neat to see may of these displayed as floors of snake cages. There is also several neat displays of reptile and animal skulls and skeletons to show how the creatures are built.
One of the neat areas of the gardens is the Reptile Discovery Center where they have all day long, live reptiles for you to touch and see. They had a blue tongued skink and a snake for kids as well as others to see up close and got to ask the park employees questions about. They also had a tortoise of some kind crawling around on the floor for us to see. The employees are happy to answer questions if you have any and were very helpful with everyone there.
The park has the usual gift store that is rather large but was reasonable for the prices. I have seen some that I would not have bought anything at but we did get a few things here. They have snacks at a couple of different places in the park and restrooms were plentiful in the whole area.
The Reptile Gardens is a must see in the South Dakota Black Hills. It is a great attraction and should not be missed as part of a great vacation in the area. The admission cost is Adults $11 and seniors $10.25 while kids between 5 and 12 are $7 and younger are free. The gardens is open for it’s summer hours of 8 AM to 7PM from April 1 to October 31. On their web site they have more information about the rates and hours: http://www.reptilegardens.com/#anchor733971
Many travel and tourist resources as well as many other places such as TV shows have rated and reviewed this South Dakota attraction and given it good marks and high honors, but you have to see it for yourself. It is a great and very informative attraction for the whole family.
