Exotic Animal Experience in Arizona!

 

When we visit fun new places that I think others will enjoy, I like sharing them here on my blog! This time around it isn't really a review of the location just some fun highlights of when we visited. Why isn't it quite a full review? When we had visited this location, it was under another name & address. Shortly after we had paid a visit to the farm, they moved to their new location taking the exotic animals with & have the farm animals at another location as part of the new mobile petting zoo services they offer. The exotic animal portion is now called Ghost Ranch Exotics which is located just outside of Tucson, Arizona. We personally loved getting to go on the exotic animals tour as we were able to see & pet Capybaras, Patagonian Maras, a red-rumped agouti, a kangaroo & more along with being able to feed porcupines and other animals. This is a spot we paid for on our own while on vacation to Tucson and it is not sponsored by the ranch. 

They have several different packages depending on your budget & what kind of animals you want to interact with. We opted to do the all in exotic animals package which allowed us to feed & pet the farm animals which included ducks, goats, pigs, emus, and chickens plus the exotic animal tour. During our visit they had a bunch of baby goats you were able to pick up & hold, they were so cute and sweet. I've been to a lot of zoo's & small owned locations like the Ghost Ranch Exotics, from what I saw while we were there, the animals are well taken care of. They looked healthy, they looked happy & seemed to really enjoy all the attention they were getting. Appearance wise they looked well groomed, after getting to pet them your hands didn't feel disgusting & were not overly dirty. They had a wash station where you could wash your hands & hand sanitizer if you wanted to use it. 

It also included a tour through the exotic animal areas, in each area we were handed some food & told which animals we were able to give the food to. There were only a few animals that weren't able to be pet during this tour which were the porcupines (you were still able to feed them carrots) & the birds. The package we purchased also had the kangaroo included so after the exotic tour we were taken to another area to see the kangaroo & a warthog. We got extremely lucky & there weren't any others who had purchased the kangaroo part at the same time so the four of us were able to be with the kangaroo & staff member by ourselves almost the entire time until another couple joined us toward the end. 

On your way out you can stop by the gift shop to purchase a souvenir from your trip. Not only do they have personally branded items such as clothing, notebooks, and more, but you can purchase peacock feathers, porcupine quills (they shed them naturally just like bird feathers) & some other goods. I bought a cute Capybara pin & a Halloween themed fridge magnet that has a kangaroo on it.

I have no idea what the new location looks like, but the old location was pretty well kept for how many animals they had. We had an amazing time seeing all the animals, getting to pet them & feed them. We were there for about two hours in total. Cost wise it is different now from what it was when we visited & their new website doesn't state if the costs are per person or per group. When we had paid it was per person but was a lot less than the currently listed prices so maybe it is for a small group? The price for the all animals experience at the new location is $375. They also have other options for certain animals if you'd like to only see certain animals. 

What is an animal you've always wanted to have an interaction with??? Is this a spot you think you'd want to visit??

🌵 If you live in Arizona check out the "Things to do in Arizona" section of my blog to find entertainment, restaurants, vacation spots & more.