Memphis Zoo: Herpetarium

 You must know that I LOVE herpetariums.  I cut my teeth on the one at the Philadelphia Zoo and never looked back.  There are truly wonderful Herpetariums like the new Reptile World at the Virginia Zoo, and historic Reptile House at the Toledo Zoo, and then there are those that can be charitably described at wanting.  When this happens at a small or regional zoo, I tend to feel more generous.  A larger institution, not so much.  And sometimes it's a mixed bag, like at the Detroit Zoo where the digs for the Amphibians are beautiful, and the Reptile House feels forgotten, neglected, even shabby.  The Herpetarium at the Memphis Zoo is definitely not shabby, but it is wanting.

The signage runs from horrible to annoying.  Horrible refers to the size 12 font name plates, dingy white lettering on a black surface the size of an address label affixed to the upper left-hand corner of the glass of most, but not all habitats.  I shit you not!  The remedy is TV Monitors the size of a decent laptop mounted between a set of four habitats and playing information on a loop.  To read through one means that you have to read through the other three in order to get back to the first to finish reading it and then the next, the next, the next, and again if you didn't read fast enough or stopped to consider something you'd just read--one more cycle awaits you.  And then you have to keep all of the quads of information separate as you move on to the next monitor.  It's ridiculous.  An example of poor concept.  

While there are some large featured animal habitats in the Herpetarium, most are embedded in the wall like 15 gallon aquariums side by side, one over the top of the other.  In this arrangement, half of the habitats are impossible to get a good look at unless you're under 3 feet tall, or down on your knees.  I've never experienced anything like that before.  Very bad design.   The entire experience was disappointing, and yet, there were still some beautiful animals to be seen, and at least one that I had never seen before or mesmerizing beauty.  Still, the Herpetarium was the low point of the visit.

The view from the entrance.  First impression, not bad...upon closer inspection.  The Devil is in the Details!

This is a Tentacled Snake and the signage is that little black sticker in the upper left-hand corner.

Example of the computer screen signage.  Great space for lots of text and images that take longer for a reasonable person to read that the cycle of the shared screen with three other habitats!  

The take of a Green Monitor Lizard... 

No signage of any sort on this one, but I recognize the culprit--a Diamondback Rattlesnake.

Southern Copperhead

A large Reticulated Python--lovely design to this Habitat.  Several were really nice, well thought out.

Looking back toward the entrance, covering the span of the building.  The exit is to the right of the image, along with the turtle habitats under renovation featured a few pics on down the line.

Green Mamba

Gaboon Pit Viper

The far end of the building had these three open habitats for turtles, but all were under construction, basically.

The revelation, a Mangshan Mountain Viper from China.