Mezzanine

The mezzanine level Sky Dome houses some of the world’s deadliest snakes – and is one of the largest collection of reptiles in the world!

You won’t just be meeting the world’s deadliest snakes on the Mezzanine Level of the Sky Dome, you’ll also see our exotic reptile collection. Meet the most venomous snakes on earth, the Fierce Snake (we have the only specimens of this rare species in North America), as well as the rarest snakes in the world, the Rough-scaled Python, as well as Giant Pythons, Mambas, Cobras, venomous lizards, and rattlesnakes.

Not only do you get to see our extensive reptile collection and the world’s deadliest snakes on the Mezzanine Level, but you get a truly fantastic view of the Safari Room.  It’s great for photos and you might just see some of our lizard residents taking up shelter behind the tribal masks hanging on the walls of the Safari Room.  Sometimes they’re only visible from walking around the Mezzanine Level!

For those not particularly fond of the reptile collection, many of the exhibits on the Mezzanine Level feature fossils, beautiful mineral specimens, photos, and woodcarvings. The Mezzanine Level also houses an exact cast of an Archelon Turtle Fossil, which is the largest ever found.  The fossil was actually discovered by paleontologists a short distance from Reptile Gardens in the 1970s!  Despite efforts by Reptile Gardens' founder Earl Brockelsby to keep the original in South Dakota, it was sold to a museum in Vienna, Austria.