Touring the Phoenix Herpetological Sanctuary!

I have always loved seeing, learning about and being near wildlife, and it is something my children grew up loving too so when we had a chance to visit the Phoenix Herpetological Sanctuary we were all very excited. We all had different animals we were hoping to see on our trip, the kids wanted to see everything, my husband was most excited about the crocodiles and I wanted to see the lizards. We knew we were going to see quite a few reptiles, but holy moly we were amazed by just how many reptiles and animals they have at their sanctuary. 

Their website has their mailing address only, you are provided the actual address of the sanctuary when you sign up for the tour. When we had first arrived, we thought we were a little lost until we spotted the sign for the sanctuary. When we started the tour we found out why we thought we got lost in a residential neighborhood! It is because the house that is on the land where the sanctuary is was originally owned by the owners parents, and they later bought the property to use for the sanctuary. Don't worry about the space! the property is almost three acres with some a bit of desert around it to spare. Tours are $20 per adults and $15 for children, the money made from the tours goes back towards the cost of feeding and caring for all of the reptiles/animals.

The Phoenix Herpetological Society takes in and cares for abandoned pets, reptiles that are illegal in the state, yet still kept as pets and removed by the authorities and animals that have been wounded and need care. They have a zoo license and also work with the Az fish & game department when they have animals that need a place to stay or a new home. Along with taking in animals, they also have an adoption program where you can adopt a snake or turtle.

As soon as you come through the property gates you are meet by a huge enclosure full of large tortoises, I couldn't believe how many we saw. They had been feed shortly before we arrived so they were all moving around the enclosure, the noise of all the turtles shuffling was quite unique and the noises their shells made when they were climbing over each other was interesting as well. A little further in they have smaller tortoises we thought were babies, however they were just a different species and won't grow any larger than what they were. 

Both of our tour guides were extremely friendly, full of information, ready to answer questions, and really seemed to love their job and the animals.  Our group was a bit on the smaller size with just eighteen people in the tour group. There was a ton to see and a lot of information shared so I won't be able to cover everything in this post, but that will make you want to visit even more so you can see and hear everything for yourself! The first stop on the tour is right by the front gate learning about the different tortoises and getting to hold them (the kids loved that), they even have a few Galapagos turtles which were amazing to see, they are massive! There are also a few other enclosures around the property that house tortoises, in total we were told they have over 600 of them. 

After the tortoises we were taken to an area that had two raccoons, opossums, a otter, iguanas and more. You were able to be right next to the cages and see the animals quite clearly, in fact on the otter cage you were allowed to put your hand flat up against the cage and he would sniff your hand. I was so happy and excited to be that close to an otter! The next stop was to see some red eared slider turtles/other water turtles, bearded dragons and two water monitor lizards. Guests were allowed to hold the bearded dragons if they wished to do so. 

Moving on we were brought to the venomous reptile room, we were absolutely shocked how many snakes and other critters were houses in the building and how many terrifyingly deadly snakes they had. They had rattlesnakes (of course, can't be in AZ without those), but they also had cobras, black mambas, a gorgeous green mamba (never heard of these, only thought there were black mambas) and so many other species. The glass aquariums are right in front of you, which means the snakes were within a foot of your face so you can see every detail of the snakes. The sound of the angry rattlesnake who just had his cage cleaned was quite ominous. The employee who was in the room with us and our guides was also very friendly and happy to offer fun facts, information and answer questions. In this room the kids were able to hold a stunning gecko, I being me forgot to get the name of the specific species (I was busy taking photos of the snakes when it was first pulled out). The gecko was so soft, it was shocking just how soft he felt, almost like velvet. 

We were also very close to a number of alligators and crocodiles, so close in fact when you first come into the facility you have to sign a safety waiver and there are signs asking you not to put your fingers through the chain link fence & thus they aren't responsible if you decide to do something stupid. Why do they need these signs? Are they really that close? the answer is yes, they were within the same foot of space as you! While we were walking through their section some of the crocodiles had their tails resting directly next to the fence, to where you could just reach down and touch them (but myself and the herp society strongly recommend you don't). 

As mentioned before they take in a lot of animals that have been harmed, taken care of improperly or even just born with deformities, along the way you'll learn how they came into possession of some of them and what happened to them, some of their back stories are quite sad. One of the crocodiles is missing his tail, it is believed it was bitten off by another hungry crocodile, you can actually read his story here. They have one named "Grandma" that had a poor diet at the zoo she was at and thus has only a few teeth left. Many of the animals they are for have a lower rate of survival in the wild, and many would have been euthanized if they were not cared for by this facility. 

With so many animals on their property, you might be thinking "What if they have babies". It can and does happen frequently! In fact they have several breeding programs for the different animals and species, after they are incubated and hatch they are sent to a variety of different places to live out their lives. You can learn more about these programs on their website. 

The last stop before we left was the non-venomous snake building (though don't be fooled by the name, there were a few venomous things like scorpions as well.) There were a lot of adorable snakes, lizards and critters in this building. We were able to hold a blue-tonged skink (the whole time I was ooing at how cute his tiny little feet were) and we had a chance to hold a snake. The only one who didn't hold the snake was my daughter, we were the last of the group to be in line to hold the snake so I got to be the last one to hold it and I was able to put it back into it's cage. 

The entire experience was exciting, it felt like we went on an adventure and we couldn't stop talking about everything when we got home. If you are ever in the Scottsdale, AZ area I highly recommend booking a tour with them, how many chances do you get to be that close to so many dangerous and also adorable animals? If you are too far away to visit, but would like to help the sanctuary out they are always in need of donations to help keep everything running. The tortoises alone eat about 3,600 pounds of food a week! The sanctuary has a amazon wishlist, a donation page and also virtual pet adoptions where you can sponsor a animal and check in on them when you want. 

Want to see more photos? As requested by the Herp society they asked that no video be taken while on the property, but photos were allowed so I will be posting a slide show I put together of more photos I took while we were there and posting it to my Instagram reels. 

Which reptile or animal do you think you would be most excited to see?

Disclaimer- The Phoenix Herpetological Society provided a tour for the review at a discounted rate, no other compensation was provided. However, no product compensation will influence the outcome of any review. My honest opinions are used in all reviews, they are solely my own & they may vary from others. My reviews are posted for readers in order to provide an informed decision before purchase.