If you still have some gift shopping to do but don’t know where to start, try the gift shop at Reptile Gardens where you’ll find a wide range of items from t-shirts to New Guinea artifacts.

Everyone knows that person who is impossible to shop for. They are into “unusual” things and you never know what to get them. Reptile Gardens has plenty of unique gifts, especially for animal, art and history lovers.

The unusual gifts are true collector’s items. They have been hand picked by Reptile Gardens’ CEO, Joe Maierhauser, and brought back to share with South Dakotans.

You can find interesting pieces like New Guinea tribal masks, primitive weapons and colorful collages filled with farmed butterfly specimens. How about a stunning large photograph taken in New Guinea by Joe Maierhauser? All these items would be a wonderful addition to any art collection. They could also be used to decorate any wall in your house.

More traditional gifts are also available. There is an entire collection of intricate and beautiful hand woven scarves. These fashionable scarves come in every shade and color and will keep you warm all winter long. There is a large assortment of beads for the beader on your list; or beautiful and collectible fossils and mineral specimens.

The gift shop has many other various items like toys, stuffed animals, books and apparel that children love. The books are educational and fun to read.

Some of our gifts are available online. To view our full inventory and find your perfect holiday gift, stop by Reptile Gardens – they are located just south of Rapid City on Hwy. 16.

The park is closed for winter hours. However, the gift shop will remain open through Christmas for shoppers who need to take care of their last minute purchases. The new holiday hours are daily from 9 a.m. – 2 p.m.

You can view our online offerings at www.reptilegardens.com/gift-store/  Or our online selection of New Guinea art at either www.jungleoutpost.com  or www.newguineaart.com

Unique holiday gift shopping at Reptile Gardens is a post from: Scales & Tales

Reptile Gardens just lost its last link to the past, Marv Basham (1917-2011). Until yesterday, Marv was the last person still around who was here on opening day in June of 1937. He had helped build our original buildings and did a lot of other things back in the day when the crew consisted of just a handful of people and everyone did whatever was needed.

Even though they were considered a bit old, when World War 2 started Earl Brockelsby and Marv Basham immediately enlisted – Marv in the Navy and Earl in the Army. Upon returning from the war the men set about getting the Reptile Gardens back into shape and better than ever. This included a greatly expanded main building and a reptile house, all covered in native stone – designed by Earl with Marv as working foreman.

As Marv’s family grew he knew he needed a bit more income than a budding reptile zoo could offer so left to work at Coast-to-Coast Hardware in Rapid City. When we began our move to our current location due to the relocation of Highway 16, the first person Earl thought of was Marv. His tremendous skills and knowledge about building, machinery, and tools would be invaluable to the now growing facility. So, in 1964, Marv returned to his roots.

Marv always made sure everything was working: heat and air conditioning in all our buildings, our wells and pumps, lighting, plumbing, restaurant equipment, and more. He never for a moment hesitated to come out late at night or on his day off or both, in blizzards and heat waves, to fix some critical piece of equipment. His only concern was that our animals would not be at risk and our Guests would be comfortable.

Over the years, Marv repaired pretty much everything on the property, built countless animal enclosures and gift shop display cases, oversaw and did much of the work on new areas and buildings. Back when we picked up the crews for each shift, Marv drove the crew car for the early shift every morning (sometimes arriving at someone’s door a bit earlier than they might have liked especially after a long night, as college kids on summer vacation are wont to do).

At one point, Marv and his wife Hazel (who also worked at the Gardens for many years) decided to retire and move to Oregon. Shortly after they got out there Marv knew where his heart was and they promptly returned to Rapid City. Marv once again took up his post at the Reptile Gardens.

Although he slowly backed off the more strenuous tasks over the years, Marv showed up at work every day until just a couple years ago. Even at 90 he was here every day of the week to do whatever he could, which up until his late 80’s included things like climbing ladders to replace burned out ballasts in the fluorescent light fixtures.

Marv is already missed by all of us who knew him. The Reptile Gardens would not be what it is today without Marv’s dedication and skills. Rest in Peace dear friend.

Marv Basham is a post from: Scales & Tales

Methuselah in 1970

On Sunday 9 July 2011 we were all saddened by the loss of our old friend and long-time animal resident, Methuselah the giant Galapagos Tortoise.

Methuselah arrived at Reptile Gardens in December of 1954 from the Galapagos Islands off the coast of Ecuador, South America. He was flown to Miami and then transported by train to Rapid City. Thankfully, the crews of the rail freight company took good care of him, keeping him warm as he traveled from Florida to South Dakota in the dead of winter. He arrived in good health and adapted to life in South Dakota quite well. He joined a growing herd of giant tortoises already at the Reptile Gardens. The herd was made up of both Galapagos tortoises and Aldabra tortoises from the Seychelles Islands off the coast of Madagascar.

Earl Brockelsby obtained his first giant tortoise in 1949, a large Aldabra tortoise. Several other tortoises were added over the next few years. In the fall of 1954 an animal dealer in Florida contacted Earl to let him know he had been offered a very large Galapagos tortoise that had just been taken from the Galapagos by a dealer in Peru. Earl did not hesitate and jumped at the chance to obtain the big tortoise even though the cost for this tortoise plus transportation was many times higher than any of the others he had recently purchased.

In the 50’s and early 60’s, our herd of tortoises numbered around 20. At one point, we sent all the female tortoises we had to a facility in Florida where they were added to a captive breeding program. Over the years, our most elderly tortoises slowly died off until Methuselah was the last one remaining here from our original group.

Those of us who worked with the tortoises on a daily basis learned each one’s personality, their habits, preferences, and behaviors. Methuselah, honestly, always had the most personality. He was smart and knew how to get what he wanted.  He could be cunning even. Sometimes you could tell he was thinking, as though he was formulating some plan.

For a while, in the 1970’s, he was nicknamed “Earl” by some of our staff members, after our founder Earl Brockelsby.  Some of you may remember him by that name. But, over the years as he continued to hang in there and outlive his peers, we went back to Methuselah as it seemed so appropriate.

We estimate, based on our visitation figures, that Methuselah contacted well over 12 million visitors in his 56 years here at Reptile Gardens.  There are tens of thousands of photos of Methuselah and our visitors out there. Many of you have been sharing your photos with us in the days since his death. We have been enjoying seeing them, and thanks for the memories. It is fun to know that old tortoise made such an impression on so many people.

Methuselah is survived by his two tortoise yard mates, Tank and Quasi, two large male Aldabra tortoises. If it happens that other adult giant tortoises become available from zoos or breeding programs we may add one or two friends for Tank and Quasi. But for now, even though Methuselah’s passing has left a big hole in our lives, his two pals are here ready to meet our visitors and give them that same rare chance to see one of the world’s most remarkable animals up close.

Methuselah – Reptile Gardens’ Beloved Mascot for 56 years. is a post from: Scales & Tales

Ray Pawley in his younger days.

Next year, 2012, Reptile Gardens will be celebrating its 75th anniversary. You know what that means? We are planning a fun staff reunion to celebrate this momentous anniversary.

The main reunion event will be held on Saturday, 30 June 2012 at the Rushmore Plaza Holiday Inn from 5PM to 12AM. Along with that, there will be things going on all weekend at the Reptile Gardens. Details to follow as we get them planned. We have 50 rooms blocked out at the Rushmore Plaza for any out-of-towners who would like to stay there.

One of our 1960's talent shows

There are so many hundreds of you out there. We know who you are and have contacts for many of you. However, there are so many we don’t have any contact info for. So please get in touch with us via the reunion form below or any other way. If you know any former RG staffers, please let them know about this and have them get in touch.

Please contact Virginia with any questions or suggestions you have. You can call her at the Reptile Gardens, 605-342-5873 or email her via our web site using this special reunion link:

http://www.reptilegardens.com/reunion/

By the way, we will need to know who is coming so please RSVP to Virginia by 1 May of 2012.

A day in the Badlands for John, Marshall, and Francie

75 YEARS AND GOING STRONG! CALLING ALL FORMER & CURRENT REPTILE GARDENS STAFF MEMBERS is a post from: Scales & Tales

Rhinoceros Viper

For many years we had an immensely popular “Top Ten Most Venomous Snakes” list posted here at the Reptile Gardens and, subsequently, on our web site. Many of you remember this list and have asked about it. We get thousands of web search hits to our site every year looking for just such a list.

We always kept up with current research and would make changes to the list over time that reflected new study results. Of course, no matter how scientifically accurate we made it, as with any Top 10 list of any kind, we got many emails telling us how wrong we were for this or that particular reason.  It was a constant balancing act. Whose research is best? What is most current? What anecdotal information, if any, should be factored in?

Recently, Terry, Ken, and I looked at all the research and at all the angles from which this subject could be approached. Upon review it occurred to us that a Top 10 list was no longer relevant, and really never was. The scientific community now recognizes that venoms are far too complex and their effects vary greatly. To make it more complicated, research conducted by a friend of mine showed that the toxicity of the venom of a single snake (a particular individual snake, not snake species) changes day to day, hour by hour.

And finally, there is the issue of semantics, deadly vs dangerous.  A snake can have the most powerful venom of any snake on the planet (deadly) but be so rare, rarely seen in the wild, and easy going that it has likely never killed single person in recorded history (that would be the Inland Taipan or Fierce snake). Another snake can have relatively mild venom (for the snake world) yet be quite common, somewhat aggressive, and live where lots of people do, and so kill more people than any other snake species on the planet like the Asiatic cobra (dangerous).

After much discussion, we ultimately decided to throw out any plans for a new Top 10 list. Instead. Terry came up with what we are calling the Danger Quotient. The Danger Quotient takes all the significant factors about a venomous snake species into account:  Venom yield, venom toxicity, fang length, disposition (how does the species behave), and size of the adult snake.

We know this will annoy some folks because it is more convoluted than a simple Top 10 list, and therefore, will take more effort and reading to determine the winner of a bar bet. But, the whole subject is, honestly, extremely convoluted. We feel our Danger Quotient more accurately reflects reality. As you have likely figured out from our past posts, we are all about accuracy.

We first created a Regional Danger Quotient list which compares those above listed factors for the top deadly snakes in each of 5 specific world regions: Africa, Asia, North America, South America, and Australia/New Guinea.  However, once that was completed and on our web site, a study of our web site hits showed us we might not be answering people’s questions to their satisfaction or quick enough for them. We still weren’t ready to resort to a Top 10 list though.

In order to better address people’s questions, we decided to change how we presented the list and develop another companion list: the International Danger Quotient. This list compiles all the snakes on the regional lists into one big list. For this one we added one more category: a rating for number of bites per year. In order to be as accurate as possible, we started over and created this list independently of the Regional Danger Quotients. Our new list resulted in some very interesting placement. Some snakes have high scores for their region but when put into the world mix they drop dramatically.

Once you peruse our lists and read a little of the information we provide, you may see why it is so hard to come up with something specific and concrete like a Top 10 list.  There are too many variables, too many opinions, too many research papers. We know there are several other competing lists out there but keep in mind that our new lists are based purely on a pile of recent scientific data and the combined 120 years of experience among the three of us who made this list. We know we will still get emails telling us we are incredibly stupid and how wrong we are about a particular snake. We promise, we will stay current on available data and will research your suggestions so that we can keep our Danger Quotients as accurate and up to date as possible.

Now, that said, we know you would still like a simple Top 10 list. It would be much easier for answering those bar bets or writing a term paper. We have given you a nice, easy to decipher chart that lays it all out almost as simply as a Top 10 list. We do encourage you to dig deeper and visit the pages with the full facts about each species. And think of it this way, you can sound a whole lot more knowledgeable after you read our Danger Quotient lists that you would with a mere Top 10 list.

Hey, Where’s Your Top 10 Most Deadly Snakes List? is a post from: Scales & Tales

Potential park visitors can see a map and tour of our grounds along with hours, rates, and a coupon for discounted admission. You can meet our staff, read our blog, see historic photos, and photos of our plants and animals.

We are especially proud of the work we did on the reference section about our animals and about reptiles in general. You can find detailed information on the reptiles and amphibians of South Dakota. There is an easy way to contact our curatorial staff with questions about snakes or bugs or plants. And for all those people searching for information on the world’s deadliest snakes, we think we have given them the ultimate resource. I will be posting more about that section of our site in the next few days.

Of course it isn’t finished, and probably never will be so check back now and then to see what is new at the Gardens and what new pages have been added.

New Year, New Web Site! is a post from: Scales & Tales

Santa will be here from 10AM to 3PM daily. There is no charge to see Santa or take your photos with him. The Reptile Gardens is open from 9AM to 3PM daily so if you are looking for something to do with your visiting relatives, come to the tropics.

Still some shopping days left to get totally unique gifts for those tough-to-shop-for people on your list. If you think all we carry are souvenirs, think again. Reptile Gardens’ gift store and the Jungle Outpost Gallery are filled with many great gift ideas. Get a stunning amethyst geode, an artistic-looking fossil, a beautiful malachite box and more in our Rock Department. The Jungle Outpost Gallery has Tibetan singing bowls, Huichol Indian beaded masks and figures, a wide variety of popular jewelry, and the largest offering of New Guinea Tribal art in the United States. A tribal mask under the tree will certainly be the most unique package opened on Christmas morning!

Visit Santa This Week At Reptile Gardens is a post from: Scales & Tales

By the way, we aren’t anywhere near closing yet.  We’re open until the end of the year.

Those of us who work here all year around frequently hear this question come fall:  ”S’pose you’re all set to loaf for the winter?  You are closed now, right? All your animals hibernate don’t they?”

Well, what do we do all winter?  Loaf?  Travel?  All fun and games?  I’ll admit we do take it a bit easier in some ways.  We get to travel to some exotic places, take more time off.  But none of our animals hibernate and there are fewer of us to take care of the hundreds of animals and all the plants we have here at the Gardens.

And, in the winter, we do get to work shorter days and we take a full half hour for lunch, luxuriating in the knowledge that nothing demands our instant attention as soon as we’ve gulped down a sandwich.  Right at first this self-indulgence makes us feel a little guilty, but before long we get used to a life of ease.

After all, winter is a long time.  And each fall, secure in this knowledge, we draw up a list of all the projects we’d like to get done.  We vow to do things differently this winter and actually get it all done.  Even by mid-winter we’re still blissfully optimistic, though we go over the list and chop off many of the non-essential items.  Then suddenly one day, even as the snow flies, comes the stomach-tightening realization that the long, lazy winter is gone and opening time is only a few brief weeks away.  The list is forgotten, the eight-day week returns, and the frenzied painting, cleaning, mopping-up, waxing, and polishing starts.

If we have time to look back there are small satisfactions.  By ignoring how short the winters really are we did manage to get a few pet projects done.  But the rest will have to wait.  And we start to feel that perhaps there may be some justice in the assumption that we loaf all winter.  After all, where did the time go, and why did we get so little done?

Of course we did spend two weeks selling New Guinea artifacts at the Tucson Gem and Mineral show, added some flowerbeds, and built some new reptile exhibits.  We spent days and days using up 50 or 60 gallons of paint, many pounds of nails and screws, and hundreds of board feet of lumber on repairs. We hired a crew for the summer.  We got in, priced, and shelved over a million dollars’ worth of merchandise. We designed all the flower plantings for the summer, ordered a year’s worth of caladium bulbs, bromeliads, and orchids.  And we…but there’s no more time for that, we’ve got to git to gittin’.

Once the first of January comes we’ll have to be ready to open again in only 3 months.  Then…oops…it will be down to a couple of weeks.  We’ll be wondering once again, like every spring for the past 74 years, where all the months went.  But, like always, we’ll be ready for our Guests when the doors open on April 1.  But for now, come see us before we’re knee-deep in snow and we get busy on our projects for next year.

You Guys Have It Easy Out There Now That The Tourists Are Gone is a post from: Scales & Tales

Our Green Team, led by Assistant Manger Clint Hubbeling, has come up with a number of great ideas to conserve, such as:  Reusing office paper by printing on both sides of the paper.  This simple idea has saved countless reams of paper.  Embracing digital technology by converting our travel brochures and park information sheets to a digital .PDF document, we can respond to information requests much faster, and with zero paper usage.  Implementing a recycling program for Guest and staff areas.  Replacing incandescent light bulbs with compact fluorescent bulbs, and establishing a collection point for recycling old bulbs.  We have converted to rechargeable batteries where possible, and recycle all used batteries. These simple changes are easy to start, and add up to real results over time.

Three times weekly we haul cardboard, metal, and plastic to the recycling station rather than put it in our dumpsters. This has cut number of times a week we need our 2 dumpsters emptied from 7 to 3.  That is 8 fewer dumpster loads of material going into the landfill each week.

This summer, we started replacing all our paper towel dispensers with state of the art electric hand dryers.  These dyers deliver a powerful jet of warmed air that quickly dries one’s hands in as little as 10-15 seconds.  While hand dryers may not seem too thrilling, consider the savings.  No trees are required to be cut down, no milling or processing, no paper bleach, and no more shipping; these dryers are truly an effective and hygienic alternative to paper towels. Power usage is more than offset by the savings in paper products.

The Clint has also been busy identifying Green-seal certified cleaning products to replace some non-environmentally conscious products in use at Reptile Gardens.  Our Guests will be pleased to learn that all foaming hand soap in the bathrooms is Green-seal certified, as is our floor cleaner.  This means that the entire life cycle of these products has been evaluated, and proven to be environmentally conscious at every stage, from production to final disposal.

Our oldest resident, a giant tortoise named Methuselah, is even getting into the green-swing of things.  Methuselah and his giant buddies prevent several hundred pounds of food waste from entering the landfill each year by gobbling up unsalable produce from local grocery stores.  These fruits and vegetables are blemished and unsellable to humans, but make a nutritious addition to the tortoises diet.  Methane gas, produced by the decay of organic material in a landfill, such as food waste, is a greenhouse gas that our tortoises prevent from entering the atmosphere, simply by eating lunch.

One thing is certain, Reptile Gardens is committed a greener future.  We’re always on the lookout for ways to improve our sustainability efforts and there are several exciting projects on the horizon.  In the future, we hope to add a solar array to our roof to generate electricity, and convert our crocodilian pond heaters to solar hot water.  As our Green Team has proven, even the smallest of changes toward conservation can make a big impact.  You can start a Green Team of your own, by looking around your home, and making the small changes that lead to a big impact.

Written by: Ary DonOtter

Reptile Gardens’ Green Team – Recycle and Reuse is a post from: Scales & Tales

Black Widow showing belly marking, not always a perfect hourglass.

As warm weather approaches, we start getting calls about spiders and odd bugs people find in their garages, storage sheds, yards, and houses. The most common calls we get are in regard to spiders, especially black widows, brown recluse and a mysterious GIANT! spider that seems to strike fear in all who see one. The latter would be the common wolf spider.

Out of the tens of thousands of spiders in the world, only a few are dangerous to humans. The most common dangerously venomous spiders in the US are the Black Widow, the Brown Recluse, and the Hobo spider – and they rarely bite people. Far more people die each year of bee and wasp stings that from spider bites. And by the way, it is just a myth that the common daddy longlegs spider is extremely deadly – there is no scientific evidence to back up this fanciful tale.

One common spider in our area that you need NOT be overly concerned with is the aforementioned Wolf Spider. These large, furry spiders come in a wide variety of colors and do get quite large. They are not really tarantula sized but may look that way if you happen upon one in your house. They rarely bite and their bites are not normally life-threatening but can cause adverse reactions, like pain, redness, and swelling, in some people.

A nice big Wolf Spider

Once things warm up one of the most common larger spiders in our area is the orb weaver. This is a big family of spiders. Orb weavers come in many shapes and sizes and are relatively harmless to humans. The orb weaver most commonly seen around here is brown, tan, or light rust color, is about the size of a dime, and has a large bulbous abdomen with little points on it. Their spiral-shaped webs are often seen along the eaves of houses and around porch lights where their prey, insects, are drawn.

A common Orb Weaver

Another Orb Weaver

Another very different form of orb weaver is what is called the garden spider or black-and-yellow argiope. These big spiders weave beautiful and large, classic-looking webs with heavy zig-zags running up and down the center which act as stabilizers. They are called garden spiders as you most often see them in the garden, between bushes, or in tall weeds where there is enough room for their big webs and where insects are common.

Argiope or Garden Spider

Although not native to our area, there have been local accounts of Brown Recluse spiders – possible bites from them have been treated at our local hospital. In our mobile society, these may have been stowaways when people move to this area from regions where the recluse is common. It is not known if there are any stable populations here at this time. This is a relatively small and delicate-looking spider. They are also called fiddle-back spiders due to the violin-shaped pattern on their backs.

Brown Recluse Spider aka Fiddleback Spider

For the most part, the only spider we need to be concerned with in our area is the Black Widow. There are 5 varieties of Black Widows in the US and Canada with various types  of markings. But, the most obvious identifier is the large, shiny, black, round abdomen with a red (or sometimes yellow) hourglass on the underside. Young Black Widows are brown with cream-colored markings on the abdomen. This spider gets its name because the female reputedly has the habit of eating the male after mating if he doesn’t run away quickly enough. The male is much smaller – too small to inflict a dangerous bite to humans.

Black Widows are common in our area but stay hidden most of the time. They frequent basements, garages, sheds, trash piles, and outhouses; just about any quiet dark corner will do. They may also find their way into clothing and shoes making it a good idea to look before ‘slipping into something more comfortable.’

The female spins an irregular shaped, strong, and very sticky web, then spends most of her time hanging upside-down waiting for unsuspecting insects to drop by for dinner. A Black Widow will do her best to stay hidden in a remote corner of her web.  If bothered, she will try to run away. Biting is only a last resort if she cannot escape.

Because of her toxic venom, the bite of a Black Widow can be very dangerous to humans and animals. Within minutes of being bitten the most notable symptom of a Black Widow bite begins, extreme pain develops around the bite. This pain builds rapidly in intensity in the 30 minutes following the bite. Other symptoms develop as the powerful venom begins to work on the nervous system. None of these are much fun either:  nausea, vomiting, dizziness, and fainting are accompanied by an increase in salivation, watering of the eyes, and profuse sweating.

Black Widow spider

If the bite remains untreated, speech may be affected, breathing becomes difficult, and the jaw muscles go into spasms, which distort the face into a pain-racked grimace. Muscles all over the body go rigid, especially those in the midsection, which may pull so tightly doctors have incorrectly diagnosed a spider bite as appendicitis or ulcer. Youngsters and older people are, of course, most at risk.

Fortunately there is an antivenom for a Black Widow bite. Once administered, the antivenom usually works quickly to neutralize the venom. Research has shown that the venom of the Black Widow is 15 times more potent than rattlesnake venom. No one is certain why such a little spider needs such potent venom to survive. Yet another example of Nature’s overkill I guess.

And those reptile guys keep telling me I just take care of the “harmless animals.”

Kathy Maguire
Curator of Amphibians and Invertebrates

It is Spider Season! Black Widows and their Friends. is a post from: Scales & Tales