# best tortoise zoo display?



## argus333 (Jan 3, 2013)

best tortoise display u have ever seen. i like bush gardens. u can pet the tortoises. also philly zoo has nice display of aldabras.


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## Yvonne G (Jan 3, 2013)

I have nothing to compare it to. I've only ever been to the Fresno Chaffee Zoo.


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## karleyreed (Jan 3, 2013)

I've never been to a zoo


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## laney (Jan 3, 2013)

Hey,

I've never been but apparently chester zoo has nice torts  I'm hoping to go in the summer, u can do a zoo keeper experience thing there where u get up close


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## Anthony P (Jan 3, 2013)

The Bronx Zoo has a huge Madagascar exhibit that has radiata and Lemurs in it together. I don't know how natural it is to have them so close to one another all the time, but the exhibit is very beautiful.


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## cherylim (Jan 3, 2013)

My favourite in England has to be South Lakes. I've been to Busch Gardens but honestly don't remember seeing the tortoises there, and have none in my photograph collection. Must have completely missed them!


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## spikethebest (Jan 3, 2013)

SD Zoo has 17 galaps and lots of species

LA Zoo has LOTS of komodo dragons!

Seaworld SD has lots of sea turtles you can feed

ATL zoo has lots of rare torts and a komodo dragon you can feed


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## Yvonne G (Jan 3, 2013)

The person to ask this question of is Will. He used to (may still for all I know) have zoo passes that got him into zoos all over the U.S. He's been to many.


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## Jacqui (Jan 3, 2013)

emysemys said:


> The person to ask this question of is Will. He used to (may still for all I know) have zoo passes that got him into zoos all over the U.S. He's been to many.



Most zoos have the pass where if you buy a membership from them, you can then use the same card on other zoos within the Association of Zoos and Aquariums for either a free or reduce entry fee.


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## Thalatte (Jan 3, 2013)

Jacqui said:


> Most zoos have the pass where if you buy a membership from them, you can then use the same card on other zoos within the Association of Zoos and Aquariums for either a free or reduce entry fee.



WHAT? I never heard of this now I am curious and feel like a lot of road trips need to be planned!


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## EKLC (Jan 3, 2013)

Zoo miami has a great setup for galaps since they have a huge enclosure, a big water pit, plenty of shade, and tropical weather. Too bad the people are so disrespectful.

Jacksonville zoo had a cool multi-species Florida exhibit with gopher tortoises, florida box turtles, a pine snake, and an eastern diamondback. The tortoise was walking all over the pine snake eating grass.

Radiateds and ring-tailed lemurs at the henry doorly zoo in omaha were cool to see. They also had a padloper there.

The santa fe zoo up here in gainesville is pretty tortoise-rich for a small zoo they have red foots, 2 big leopards, galaps, burmese browns, and about 20 gopher torts (a ton of gopher torts get taken to the UF vet here and I think the zoo rehabs them)

There was a big friendly sulcata in the petting zoo at the brevard county zoo in melbourne florida. He really was unphased by people and was quite active. Their pancakes were on walnut shells though, which I talked to a keeper about and they had no particular reason for using it.


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## Thalatte (Jan 3, 2013)

In Phoenix the Phoenix zoo had a few large torts in a fairly good display but I was more impressed with the world wildlife zoo and aquarium. 
They have mainly water exhibits and lots of various turtles. Including a huge alligator snapping turtle, whose enclosure seemed kinda subpar but he was active and seemed healthy. Their other tanks with water turtles were done rather nicely and seemed fairly large. 
The zoo portion I wasn't too impressed with as it seemed kinda empty or small but they still had nice enclosures and the torts especially were happy. They had a fairly good sized sulcata you could pet and feed and then next to that exhibit was a good sized set up with a lot of full sized sulcatas. In the reptile house they had smaller tanks with baby torts of various species.


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## Svetlana'smom (Jan 3, 2013)

Bush Gardens in Tampa Florida is great - there used to be the Terry Lou Zoo in Jersey which had huge tortoises I remember as a kid


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## Kapidolo Farms (Jan 3, 2013)

The AZA pass is for members of the AZA, or some zoos will let you in free if you can demonstrate you work at another zoo. Then there are regional memberships to all the 'cultural' entities in one city.

The Bronx has alot both on the public and behind the scenes, as do many zoos.

For a reptile house overall, I would put Saint Louis as number one, it a really good collection, with contemporary exhibits, a great staff, and it is free, no special pass required.

For behind the scenes I would put Knoxville at the top.

Many zoos have big collections and this one great thing or that. Overall the San Diego Zoo deserves being considered "world famous" for good reason - they do lots of things really well.

Last summer I got to visit two Zoos in Russia. That was interesting. The Zoo in St. Petersburg was old fashioned in terms of cages etc, and that takes away some, but the animals themselves were great to see. The Moscow Zoo was similar, in that many exhibits are old, but care is great, so the animals are doing well. They even have two reptile exhibits, one that is seasonal and shown in the primate building, while the primates are housed outside (summer only), the other is a more permanent reptile house. The seasonal exhibit is spectacular, the curator is doing a great job with the vitality seen in the animals and clean exhibits with easy to find animals. His radiated is the best one I have seen (live) for it's size, as there was not one little hint of pyramiding.

Just opinions from the outside on this one.

Will




emysemys said:


> I have nothing to compare it to. I've only ever been to the Fresno Chaffee Zoo.



This reptile house has so many odd firsts in the zoo world. They had won many awards, and done many interesting things with very few exhibits. My favorite is that they had tent tortoises for over 20 years in a small TOTALLY inside enclosure, that laid eggs, etc etc. Something not accomplished so often anywhere else in the world.

Will


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## N2TORTS (Jan 3, 2013)

San Diego Zoo ... probably high on the list! One of the best Herp collections in the world~
I have pics of the big boys/pens .. if ya all would like to see them ...




karleyreed said:


> I've never been to a zoo



WHHHATTT?????...... E gads!  ...Where do you live?


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## CharlieM (Jan 3, 2013)

EKLC said:


> Zoo miami has a great setup for galaps since they have a huge enclosure, a big water pit, plenty of shade, and tropical weather. Too bad the people are so disrespectful.




Which people are disrespectful?




N2TORTS said:


> San Diego Zoo ... probably high on the list! One of the best Herp collections in the world~
> I have pics of the big boys/pens .. if ya all would like to see them ...





photos please.


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## KingInCulver (Jan 3, 2013)

I just spent last weekend at the San Diego Zoo. Was a bit rainy and cold but made my rounds to the reptiles and the pandas before calling it a day. Only two of the Galapagos torts were out but were not too active because of the weather. Was most amazed by the huge alligator snapping turtle, but sad he was in a way-too-small tank. Some pics at the link, sorry I'm a crap photographer

https://www.icloud.com/photostream/#ACG4TcsmdHPf2


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## argus333 (Jan 3, 2013)

ya bust em out.....


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## Kapidolo Farms (Jan 3, 2013)

KingInCulver said:


> I just spent last weekend at the San Diego Zoo. Was a bit rainy and cold but made my rounds to the reptiles and the pandas before calling it a day. Only two of the Galapagos torts were out but were not too active because of the weather. Was most amazed by the huge alligator snapping turtle, but sad he was in a way-too-small tank. Some pics at the link, sorry I'm a crap photographer
> 
> https://www.icloud.com/photostream/#ACG4TcsmdHPf2



This is often stated with Alligator snappers. They are not swim around guys like marine turtles, they are sit and wait ambush predators. Usually only moving on when all the local fish got them figured out. They also look for mates, and females lay eggs. Otherwise they just 'hang' in one place in the wild for extended periods of time, an do great in tanks that seem to small. For specific reference I saw the one at SDZ a few weeks ago, that ank is plenty fine and big enough for him. 

That's not to say bigger would not be nicer, but that turtle really is in a tank large enough for that one individual.

Will


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## tortadise (Jan 3, 2013)

If we are talking reptiles. UTA(University of Texas @ Arlington) has a massive reptile collection. Zoo wise I like the San Diego, but I feel Ft.Worth (also home base of TSA) is a very nice AZA accredited zoo.


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## DeanS (Jan 3, 2013)

As tortoise exhibits go...you're gonna be hard pressed to top SD Zoo's Galap exhibit! Wish it was still part of the Petting Zoo...but now it's better for the torts!


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## Thalatte (Jan 3, 2013)

The man who started the SD Zoo was fascinated with torts and kept getting them as presents so they used to have the largest collection of torts and best displays though I don't know if that is still true.


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## EKLC (Jan 3, 2013)

CharlieM said:


> EKLC said:
> 
> 
> > Zoo miami has a great setup for galaps since they have a huge enclosure, a big water pit, plenty of shade, and tropical weather. Too bad the people are so disrespectful.
> ...



In the 15 minutes or so I was watching the galaps, I saw one guy jump the fence to run and slap one on the shell, and one lady tried to feed a french fries to them before I yelled at her. 

We talked to zoo staff about putting someone a presence out there


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## KingInCulver (Jan 3, 2013)

Will said:


> This is often stated with Alligator snappers. They are not swim around guys like marine turtles, they are sit and wait ambush predators. Usually only moving on when all the local fish got them figured out. They also look for mates, and females lay eggs. Otherwise they just 'hang' in one place in the wild for extended periods of time, an do great in tanks that seem to small. For specific reference I saw the one at SDZ a few weeks ago, that ank is plenty fine and big enough for him.
> 
> That's not to say bigger would not be nicer, but that turtle really is in a tank large enough for that one individual.
> 
> Will



thanks Will, good to know, that makes me feel better for him, probably the same one we saw. we made a second visit to him and just chuckled as people kept looking all around the tank, wondering where he was, when he was right there, front and center, looking like his algae-covered-rock self.


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## N2TORTS (Jan 4, 2013)

Ok Charlie ....here ya go , Here is some of the " BIG BOYZ" pens ...
at the San Diego Zoo .... Enjoy everyone! I would highly put this on the " bucket list " for places to see....for myself being 3rd generation Diegan' and family ties to the zoo...I have been coming here almost 50 years and still always something new to see, as well as all the museumsâ€™ and parks that are all adjoining in the surrounding area. Makes for a great few days of things to see.....no doubt~




























JD~


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## cherylim (Jan 4, 2013)

San Diego Zoo is stunning...wow! Thanks for sharing!


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## Kapidolo Farms (Jan 4, 2013)

Thalatte said:


> The man who started the SD Zoo was fascinated with torts and kept getting them as presents so they used to have the largest collection of torts and best displays though I don't know if that is still true.



Yeah, Charles Shaw (Chuck) is a legend in the zoo world. Unfortunately he was seduced by the dark side, aka, Tom Crutchfield into some shady business and it smirched his career some. But to measure Shaw by his success without regard to that dark time, is to see someone who made zoos a wonderful place to enjoy animals in a positive and informative setting.

All said here can be verified in public records.

Will


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## acrantophis (Jan 4, 2013)

I agree about the San Diego zoo being one of the best. I live a few miles away and we go often. Recently they updated their reptile "Mesa". It came out great. They do a lot of multi species enclosures. I really love the smaller outdoor pens up near the snake building. One of them, my favorite, is a Mediterranean enclosure. 
We travel a lot and always check out the zoos. Many are sad places. Never go to the zoo in curacao or surinam. ever. The zoo in Barcelona is great. As is Antwerp, Sao paolo, New Orleans, Bronx, Denver, and Paris. Singapore has a wonderful zoo and a night zoo that is really cool.
All these zoos have multi species tortoise enclosures. Some people may cringe when they see Sao paolo zoo keeping radiata with caimen and red eared sliders! If you ever do go to Sao paolo they have a rare tomistoma! The false gharial. He is a big guy. The rarest crocodilian. Very pretty.


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## DeanS (Jan 4, 2013)

emysemys said:


> I have nothing to compare it to. I've only ever been to the Fresno Chaffee Zoo.



Funny! The ONLY good about Chaffee is their REPTILE HOUSE! Almost took a job there when I was still at San Diego...the wife nixed that! WHO THE HELL WOULD WANNA LIVE IN FRESNO!?!?!?!?

Although I did like the Hippo exhibit...you actually get to feed the hippos...or did 20something years ago!


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## DrewsLife727 (Jan 4, 2013)

I like San Diego zoo lots of different torts and turtles


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## CourtneyAndCarl (Jan 4, 2013)

I have never been to the San Diego Zoo but was told by many people that it isn't very impressive. I live right next to Henry Doorly, though, and have been told by the same people that it's a better zoo. They don't have one tortoise exhibit, but they have a TON of tortoises in several different exhibits. My favorites were the flat-tailed tortoises and the burmese mountain torts.


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## Arnold_rules (Jan 4, 2013)

Thalatte said:


> In Phoenix the Phoenix zoo had a few large torts in a fairly good display but I was more impressed with the world wildlife zoo and aquarium.
> They have mainly water exhibits and lots of various turtles. Including a huge alligator snapping turtle, whose enclosure seemed kinda subpar but he was active and seemed healthy. Their other tanks with water turtles were done rather nicely and seemed fairly large.
> The zoo portion I wasn't too impressed with as it seemed kinda empty or small but they still had nice enclosures and the torts especially were happy. They had a fairly good sized sulcata you could pet and feed and then next to that exhibit was a good sized set up with a lot of full sized sulcatas. In the reptile house they had smaller tanks with baby torts of various species.



The Phoenix Zoo just added a pair of desert torts to their entrance exhibit. They have a little viewing window in to their sleeping/hibernation area.


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## Thalatte (Jan 4, 2013)

Looks like next trip to Phoenix I am going tote zoo!


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## irishshake (Jan 4, 2013)

I went to Waikiki beach in Hawaii and they had a pretty interesting tortoise set up. Although I live in Canada and its rare to find torts in a zoo . I believe there was roughly about 7-8 types of torts.


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## surie_the_tortoise (Jan 4, 2013)

cleveland zoo has a deal that for a extra price above admision you can give an aldabra a shower and feed it. im gona have check that out soon


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## jaydog6644 (Jan 5, 2013)

in bush gardens i pet one


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## argus333 (Jan 6, 2013)

ya really sweet right?


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