| The Reptile Zoo | |
| Date Opened: | July 10, 2009 |
| Location: | Fountain Valley, California, United States |
| Coordinates: | 33.6899°N -117.9533°W |
| Floorspace: | 13000square feet |
| Num Animals: | Over 600 |
| Num Species: | Over 100[1] |
| Owner: | Jay Brewer |
The Reptile Zoo is an indoor zoo focusing on reptiles in Fountain Valley, California. Fish, amphibians, and arachnids are also on display. It contains the pet store Prehistoric Pets, which sells items targeted towards reptile owners. Almost 200,000 people have visited the zoo since its founding.
People are allowed to hold specific animals while supervised, and children can have birthday parties at the zoo. For an additional price, one can also feed tortoises with lettuce.
Prehistoric Pets originally opened in 1988 under the name Pet Country, which sold both traditional and exotic pets. As more people visited the store, the focus shifted to education about exotic reptiles. Pet Country then closed and Prehistoric Pets opened in 1992.[2]
The company then created Jurassic Parties in 1995, which allowed for more learning about reptiles via interactive events. Jay Brewer, and ex-fisherman and the founder of the store, decided to build an indoor zoo next to the shop to attract visitors. After being founded on July 10, 2009, people started visiting the shop just to see the reptiles at the zoo.
The store expanded to its current 13000square feet in two expansions during 2000 and 2018.
The site currently has about 20 staff members, including Brewer and his three daughters.[1]
The zoo contains the following species, which include:[1] [2]
The zoo was home to Twinkie, the world's largest albino snake in captivity, according Guinness World Records,[3] who passed away in 2014 at 11 years old. At 23feet long and 370lb, she had also appeared on The Tonight Show With Conan O'Brien.[4] Frank, a monitor lizard from the show Jessie, also used to live at the zoo, along with a two-headed Texas rat snake.[5]
Animals from the zoo come from many different places. Some were born at the zoo, while others are rescued from the wild or from private collections.[1]
The zoo additionally contains a 2000gal indoor pond housing fish and turtles.[1]
Jay Brewer, the founder of the zoo, and his daughter Juliette, have a prominent following on social media, with 2.1 million followers on Instagram and over 20 million followers on TikTok. On the latter, the zoo itself has 12 million followers. They have also collaborated with celebrities such as Snoop Dogg, Kevin Hart, and Diplo.[6]
The zoo will be featured on The Roku Channel's upcoming reality show Reptile Royalty, a six-episode miniseries which follows the daily goings-on of the menagerie. It will be executive produced by Shawn Witt, Tim Cohen-Laurie, Mark Efman, Richard J. Green, and Kelvin Parker for Leftfield Pictures.[7]