The grounds at Reptile Gardens are clean, neat, and well kept. We take great pride in maintaining the natural beauty of our environment. In the main building of Reptile Gardens, Guests can stroll the isles of our Gift Shop, as well as discover tribal artwork from around the world at our Jungle Outpost Gallery. As you enter our grounds, you will be greeted with a multitude of colorful flowers, lush vegetation, and well manicured lawns.
Our beautifully landscaped park includes the Bewitched Village, which is a Family Fun Station with Gemstone and Arrowhead sluicing, a Blacklight 3D Adventure with the dizzying Black Hole, an Air Brush Tattoo Parlor, numerous fun photo opportunities, our Discovery Center where you can learn more about - and pet - various reptiles of the harmless variety (of course!) and even a nice area to relax. As you continue your journey through our grounds, you will find the Bird Show, the Alligator and Crocodile Show, the Snake Show, the Bald Eagle exhibit, the Prairie Dog town, and much more.
There is also the famous 3-leveled Sky Dome, which includes the Safari Room on the main level filled with a wide variety of tropical plants from all over the globe. The mezzanine level houses our extensive collection of snakes-the largest collection in the world! The lower level of the Sky Dome is where Maniac and his crocodilian friends, along with the amphibians and insects dwell.
Whew! Need a break?
Visit our Green Parrot Cafe where you can relax and refuel!
Spend a few hours or spend the day with us! We have a ton of interesting things for the whole family to enjoy, Reptile Gardens is fun for kids of all ages! Take yourself and your family and friends on an adventure...See, learn, and enjoy -- Reptile Gardens, on the road to Mount Rushmore.
Have questions about the grounds at Reptile Gardens?
Have a Question about the grounds? Email David!
I have long had an interest in plants, flowers, and landscape design. Little did I know that I could turn it into a career.
Even as a young child my passion was there. I would take my mother’s houseplants and turn my room into an arboretum. My favorite time of the year was spring because I knew it was time to plant and to work in the garden. (Of course, early on my idea of landscape design was to take branches from our trees and bushes and stick them in the ground!
In the fall of 2001, I was hired to work 2 days a week to water the plants in the Sky Dome. I fell in love with that indoor jungle and wasted no time giving them my ideas regarding plantings. I worked through the winter, all the while gaining more interest in horticulture, especially in regards to exotic tropical plants.
The following spring, CEO Joe Maierhauser asked me to help him design the planting scheme for the flowerbeds on the grounds and to help supervise the summer gardening staff. I was thrilled at this opportunity.
That fall I met with the management team of Reptile Gardens. They told me they were pleased with my performance. They could see the passion I had for horticulture and asked me to stay on full-time to manage the Reptile Gardens’ Garden Department.
Every year Jada and I redesign the flowerbeds on the grounds to be planted with over 50,000 annuals and perennials. We love to experiment with new plant types and with interesting combinations of colors, textures, and heights. We also plan and take care of all the tropical and desert plants in the Sky Dome including our stunning displays of delicate and rare orchids. Maintaining a jungle in a closed space in South Dakota presents many unique challenges.
In addition to putting in many new flowerbeds, we have planted dozens of new trees and bushes on the grounds. Each year our grounds look more and more lush and green.
In 2002 we took on another big project: Jingle in the Jungle, our Christmas flower festival. This is the time of year when we get to focus on the “Gardens” part of our name. We have great fun planning and setting up the exhibits of well over 1000 poinsettias, other flowers, and some orchid species we cannot get in the summer.
From a kid watering plants 2 days a week to a full-time management position maintaining an entire jungle and caring for 20 acres of manicured lawns and formal flowerbeds has been a great ride.
- I love my rewarding job.
