Reptilandia Reptile Lagoon Species List - 10 February 2023

Good evening, everyone!

On February 10th, I had the pleasure of visiting the recently opened Reptilandia Reptile Lagoon in Johnston City, Texas. The facility is currently only in a "soft opening" phase, with only their Temperate Gallery currently completed and open to visitors. That said, even with only one gallery, I spent an hour and a half at this astounding little facility! The Temperate Gallery alone made for a better herp display than all but the best herp complexes in major zoological facilities. I am very excited to watch this facility continue to grow!

With that said, I have compiled a complete species list of what is currently on display from my recent visit, which includes all species either signed or seen. All seen but unsigned species were confirmed with the owner of the facility. Each individual enclosure is denoted by the name used on the electronic signage at the facility. The enclosures are listed in order of observance. Other than the nursery, which is comprised of individual displays, all other headings represent a single terrarium.

Key:
Seen but unsigned
Signed but unseen

Nursery:

1. Dwarf shield-tailed agama (Xenagama taylori)
   
2. Mexican West Coast rattlesnake (Crotalus basiliscus)
   
3. New Guinea blue-tongued skink (Tiliqua gigas)
4. Rough greensnake (Opheodrys aestivus)
   
5. Spotted turtle (Clemmys guttata)
6. Tentacled snake (Erpeton tentaculatum)
7. Yellow-throated plated lizard (Gerrhosaurus flavigularis)

Madagascar Lowland Rainforest:

1. Four-lined girdled lizard (Zonosaurus quadrilineatus)
2. Giant day gecko (Phelsuma grandis)
3. Madagascar diving skink (Amphiglossus reticulatus)
4. Southeastern girdled lizard (Zonosaurus maximus)

Ifaty Spiny Forest:

1. Dumeril’s ground boa (Acrantophis dumerili)
2. Malagasy giant chameleon (Furcifer oustaleti)
3. Malagasy giant hognose (Leioheterodon madagascariensis)
4. Merrem’s Madagascar swift (Oplurus cyclurus)
5. Roughtail rock agama (Laudakia stellio)

Sierra Madre:

1. Taylor’s cantil (Agkistrodon taylori)

South Texas:

1. Desert box turtle (Terrepene ornata luteola)
2. Prairie rattlesnake (Crotalus viridis)
3. Western coachwhip (Masticophis flagellum)

Pineywoods:

1. Timber rattlesnake (Crotalus horridus)

Sonora Norte:

1. Rio Fuerte beaded lizard (Heloderma exasperatum)

Sonoran Desert:

1. Rio Fuerte beaded lizard (Heloderma exasperatum)

Huachuca Mountains:

1. Northern black-tailed rattlesnake (Crotalus molossus molossus)

Southern Sonora Mexico:

1. Mexican West Coast rattlesnake (Crotalus basiliscus)
   
   
2. Western coachwhip (Masticophis flagellum)

Balkan Mountains:

1. European long-nosed viper (Vipera ammodytes ammodytes)

Mato Grosso Pampas:

1. Chaco tortoise (Chelonoidis chilensis)
2. False water cobra (Hydrodynastes gigas)
3. Spiny-headed tree lizard (Plica plica)

Ethiopian Rift Valley:

1. Ethiopian mountain adder (Bitis parviocula)
2. Yellow-throated plated lizard (Gerrhosaurus flavigularis)

West Texas:

1. Broad-banded copperhead (Agkistrodon contortrix laticinctus)
2. Trans-Pecos ratsnake (Bogertophis subocularis)
3. Western diamondback rattlesnake (Crotalus atrox)

Southern & Central Europe:

1. Dice snake (Natrix tessellata)
2. European green lizard (Lacerta viridis)
3. European pond turtle (Emys orbicularis)
4. Hermann’s tortoise (Testudo hermanni)
5. Merrem’s Madagascar swift (Oplurus cyclurus)
6. Sheltopusik (Pseudopus apodus)

New Guinea Forest:

1. New Guinea tree dragon (Hypsilurus magnus)

Florida Mangroves:

1. Diamondback terrapin (Malaclemys terrapin)
2. Eastern diamondback rattlesnake (Crotalus adamanteus)
3. Eastern glass lizard (Ophisaurus ventalis)
4. Everglades ratsnake (Pantherophis alleghaniensis “rossalleni”)
5. Northern curly-tailed lizard (Leiocephalus carinatus)
6. Salt marsh snake (Nerodia clarkii)

Eastern Australia:

1. Australian water dragon (Intellagama lesueurii)

Riverine Forest Wetland:

1. Florida box turtle (Terrapene carolina bauri)
2. Gulf Hammock ratsnake (Pantherophis alleghaniensis “williamsi”)
3. Northern map turtle (Graptemys geographica)
4. Southern watersnake (Nerodia fasciata)
5. Spotted turtle (Clemmys guttata)

Texas Green Belt:

1. Texas alligator lizard (Gerrhonotus infernalis)

Mangshan Mountains:

1. Mangshan mountain viper (Protobothrops mangshanensis)

New Guinea Highlands:

1. Boelen’s python (Simalia boeleni)

 

Thanks for visiting this place, it is on my 'eventually' list. What did you think of the actual place? Were you able to get an pictures? How well done are the terrariums? Is it worth the drive from Austin?

 

It was my pleasure! It was well worth the hour and a half side track on my way home from San Antonio. I touched on it a little bit in the summary blurb in my initial post, but I was really impressed by the facility. Everything is really well done, really modern. For the most part, all of the terrariums are huge (the forest dragon and water dragon terrariums are the only ones that are on the smaller side for the animals held) — making it really difficult to locate some of the species (as you can see from how many species I missed even after going through the facility three times!) they are all bioactive, with mostly all natural substrate and perching, they have sky lights for natural lighting, open ventilation, and underwater viewing where applicable. The electronic signage is always a let down, but that’s really my only complaint. As I stated in my initial post, they are some of the best done herp displays I have ever seen. I definitely think it’s worth the drive from Austin, even in its current “soft opening” state, but certainly so after it is fully completed! I’m already trying to figure out how I can work out a repeat visit once it’s fully opened and I no longer live in Texas The ethnographic museum is an interesting touch. I wish that there was more information on the pieces displayed as I feel as though just displaying the pieces with what they are and no background is a little too… colonial.

Unfortunately, the gallery is very dark, and I only had my cellphone, so not many of my photos turned out. I’ll try to add some of the exhibit photos I took to at least give an idea of what the facility looks like, shortly.

 

I follow them on Facebook, but their posts don't seem to do this place justice. Those pictures you uploaded look really great. Thanks again for doing this review and list.

 

Where do they get the cash to make something so epic? It seems many of these places are also breeders/sellers to private individuals, but I still don't see how they get the money to make these places. This one, The Reptarium, Iguanaland, Austin Snake Farm....seriously, these new reptile places are incredible and I have no idea how the owners pay to make them.

 

I wondered the same thing as I was touring the facility, as it is just so grand! One interesting thing that I noticed at Reptilandia is that each of the terrariums in the Temperate Gallery had a small plaque denoting that it was sponsored by a private individual, family, or business, which I imagine has helped a considerable degree in funding this facility — along with the imagined breeding and selling to other private entities. It does make you wonder, though! And Reptilandia, of course, also has a whole ethnographic museum filled with artifacts from around the world that would have had to have been procured as well.

In speaking with the owner, he had been a zookeeper at a major facility for almost 15 years before striking out on his own to develop this facility. He apparently also has a sizable collection of softbill birds that he plans to eventually construct aviaries for on-site once revenue starts coming in.

 

Maybe the reptile business is more lucrative than inverts, I know most everyone that breeds inverts says it is hardly enough to live on, let alone open a place like this. Thanks for the information, reptiles and birds would be awesome for sure - worth taking a trip to Austin for.

 

There's a lot more demand for most reptiles compared to most inverts.

 

That and as far as I know, the import and trade of most exotic inverts is difficult in the US due to fears of them being agricultural pests.

 

Any zoochatters want to make an updated list for this place? The temperate building should have several new species, and the tropical building brings that number into the hundreds. Fly river turtles, dwarf crocodiles, a komodo dragon, a perentie, crocodile monitors, tree monitors, sailfin dragons, anacondas, and LOTS more should be visible in the tropical building - the crocodile monitor exhibit is among the largest reptile enclosures in the country, if not the world, at 60 feet long and visible from two stories with full-height trees and water features.

I'll be getting out ASAP, but looks like it'll be a few months at least unfortunately. Definitely worth the trip for any herp lovers though!

 

I am sure we would all like to make that list! The issue is they are kind of out of the way. There is always a possibility I will get over to Austin in the next few months, but I can't say for sure.

 

Keep your eyes peeled, I'll be booking a 3 day trip exclusively to visit and photograph this facility. No dates picked yet but aiming for the next three months

 

Assuming parts of the three days are travel days, the Austin Zoo is pretty convenient and only takes an hour or so to visit. It isn't "great", but it is OK. Austin is a really fun city, have a good time.

 

The zoo has posted a video of a Western Black Tree Snake (Thrasops occidentalis) on their Facebook page. These are a pretty unique African rear-fanged colubrid with a relatively serious bite, provided envenomation occurs. Super active arboreal snakes that I've never seen on display in the US, and they're seldom seen in the private trade.