Reptile Gardens

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Rapid City, SD
Reptile Gardens

For hours and rates, check our website or give us a call. www.reptilegardens.com
(8879)

Founded in 1937, and still under ownership of the same family, the Black Hills’ Reptile Gardens has steadily grown to one of the leading tourist attractions in the Midwest. Since its beginning, Reptile Gardens has been a source of entertainment and family fun as well as an unforgettable learning experience for millions of visitors by providing them the rare opportunity to observe these exotic animals up close.

09/07/2026

Happy Labor Day from all of us at Reptile Gardens! 🛠

Reptile Gardens wouldn’t be what it is without the incredible people who work so hard throughout the year. Whether you’re front and center with our guests or working behind-the-scenes, thank you for all that you do to care for Reptile Gardens and create extraordinary memories for everyone who visits!

☀️ Today marks the last day of our 2026 Summer Season! Swing on by and enjoy one final day of Avian Avenue and our Gator Shows before the season comes to a close! 🐊 🦅

Starting tomorrow, September 8th, Reptile Gardens hours will shift to 9:00 AM – 5:00 PM for our Fall Season. 🍂

09/06/2026

The East African Green Mamba is built for a life in the trees. Their long, slender bodies move easily through dense vegetation, while their vibrant green scales help them blend seamlessly among the leaves. 🐍 🌿

09/05/2026

Our Reptile Gardens staff are teaming up with our vultures for International Vulture Awareness Day to remind everyone that Bald Is Beautiful!! ✨

Today, we’re celebrating these incredible birds and the vital role that they play as Mother Nature’s Clean-Up Crew. While they might not be considered as classically beautiful as hawks and eagles, their bald heads serve an important purpose: keeping rotting meat from sticking to their heads while they feed on the carcasses that make up their diet.

Additionally, vultures’ incredibly strong stomach acid helps destroy diseases they may ingest from those carcasses, including salmonella, cholera, and even anthrax. Vultures are a dead end for disease!

Join us today in celebrating these often- overlooked but incredibly important birds. You can learn more about our amazing vultures on Avian Avenue through Labor Day and during our daily Bird Shows starting September 8th!

09/04/2026

This is the last weekend to catch our incredible Gator Shows! 🐊

Make sure to stop on by and watch our gators put the Gator Wrestlers to the test - and find out which chicken legs they really prefer! 😉 🍗

Don’t miss your last chance to experience all the action before they say, “See ‘ya later, alligator”! 🐊

09/03/2026

Big, Beautiful, and in Bloom! 🌼

For the past two months, we’ve been eagerly awaiting the bloom of our gorgeous mangave at Reptile Gardens – and it was worth the wait!

Mangaves are hybrids between agaves and manfredas, and just like their agave parent, they produce stunning flowering stalks. Some varieties, like ours, can send up a stalk reaching 10 feet tall! 🤯

Once it reaches full height, the top of the stalk bursts into bloom with clusters of delicate-looking flowers that are quite the sight to see.

Some blooms are simply worth the wait. 🥰 🌼

09/02/2026

With the Summer Season coming to a close, there’s only a few days left to enjoy the Green Parrot Café! 🦜 Come September 8th, we’ll all have to wait until next year to sink our teeth into a Maniac Burger again. 😭

Don’t miss out on your last bite of summer! 🍔

09/01/2026

When you accidentally hit copy/ paste in the Tort Yard. 😂 🐢🐢

08/31/2026

Where has the time gone?! Summer is almost over! 😭

☀️ There’s only one week left in our Summer Season! Make sure to catch the last Gator Shows and fly by Avian Avenue before they end for the season. 🐊 🦉

📆 Starting September 8, Reptile Gardens will be open from 9 AM – 5 PM.

08/30/2026

“What a handsome bird!” – Malachite probably 🦜

08/29/2026

🌻 Today, Nature Meets Math!

Did you know that some of the most famous mathematical concepts, like the Fibonacci Sequence and Golden Ratio, can be found in some of nature’s most beautiful patterns?

Take a look at the flowers around Reptile Gardens, especially our sunflowers. The Fibonacci Sequence is a series of numbers where each number is the sum of the two before it: 1, 1, 2, 3, 5, 8, 13, 21… Many species of flowers have petal arrangements that correspond to numbers within this sequence, such as 5, 13, or 21 petals.

Additionally, if you look closely at our sunflowers, you’ll find intersecting spirals that correspond to both the Fibonacci numbers and are closely connected to the Golden Ratio.

🤯 But why?! To put it simply, these patterns help plants maximize exposure to the sun for leaves and petals, while also allowing for an efficient layout of seeds within a small space.

So, the next time you visit, take a closer look at the flowers! You might just find a little math hiding in the nature around you! Until then, look for these patterns in your own backyard - in pinecones, flowers, and even snail shells! 🌸 🐌

Address

8955 South Highway 16
Rapid City, SD
57702

Telephone

+16053425873

Website

http://www.reptilegardens.com/

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