Arkansas Alligator Farm & Petting Zoo — Attraction in Hot Springs

Overall this was a good experience. It was fun for my kids ages 10 and 13. We did pay extra to feed the baby alligators. We arrived on a Sunday early afternoon. It was not crowded most likely due to the high temperatures and it being Sunday. This is not a guided tour or at least it was not while we were there. I think that that would be very helpful if there were people around to ask questions or tell you fun facts. There are some signs up, but mainly warnings. We went through and looked at the alligators, they have some other wildlife there like lemurs, another monkey, and a wolf. The petting zoo was just okay you can go in with the rabbits, and the goats. You get a small tin roughly 5 oz Chex mix to feed the goats, sheep, emu, and donkeys. The rabbits, ducks, and turtles you must purchase lettuce from the vendors there.. and they're hard to find. The person handing out the Chex mixes there but the one to hand out the lettuce and other things was not around. And it's a dollar for a piece of lettuce. We paid extra to pay the baby alligators but the lady that was hosting it with trying way too hard and in the most respectful way I can state was very rude. She was trying to be funny but was being very aggressive and her demeanor was not necessarily appropriate for my children. I was not very happy with her. She immediately made comments about my son's hair being too long which was not okay. Then made fun of him for how he was handling the baby alligator while I realize that there is safety protocols in there where she needs to say and be aggressive or assertive to protect the animal and you She did it in a very callous and mocking way instead of a respectful way. I declined feeding them and I wanted my son to take my spot and she argued with me that I should be the one to feed it and I flat out said I'm here because of my son it's for him so I'm letting him take the feeding turn. I felt like I was having to argue with a grown person and I was very annoyed. We then left there and went to the gift shop. The gift shop was cute they had lots of cute stuff the people that were working there were very helpful and knowledgeable about all the items that they had and we did enjoy that part very much. Overall it is a very neat experience, I would highly suggest More signage outside with descriptions, or fun facts. Again not bashing this place. This is just an honest review from somebody that does go to similar places and in comparison to others this one I found to be lacking in customer service in the outside, and overall enjoyment because you didn't get to learn anything about the animal unless you were reading an old article inside the store. Overall like I said, this was a decent experience. I'm not sure that I would...

I have to agree with some of the other guests, this place is unsafe, dirty, & inhumane. It's being run by a bunch of teenagers & not much care about the animals. There was a black belly sheep in distress & they did nothing for it. It was very visible to the guests. The alligator enclosures are so small for the small & large gators. Most of the time they were laying on top of each other. The enclosures also do not seem safe for security & height of the fences. The employees don't watch the guests in there & a child easily could end up over a gator fence very quickly.

When we were watching the baby gators where you can hold one, a female employee came in & walked into the enclosure & chased a gator around the pool. She stuck her hand into the pool (which is so dirty you can't see through it's 12 inches of water) & grabbed a gator by it's tail & flung it up & around to her other hand when the gator chopped down on her thumb. She was cursing at it & hitting it's belly. The other 2 young males employees just stood there & when I asked if they should help her they said no she does this to herself all the time. She could not get that gator to let go of her thumb so finally 2 gentlemen guests asked what she needed & she said grab the stick. One of them (a guest!!!) had to take the stick into the gators mouth & pried his mouth open for her to get her thumb out. You could tell she was angry at the gator because she was pretty aggressive when she put the rubber band around his mouth.

Honestly when that same female employee went into the wolf enclosure to feed them they seemed scared of her. No other employee even watched her go in. My question is what would have happened if either of them would have gone after her...we would have witnessed her attack & the other employees wouldn't have even known it.

The verbet (monkey) seems so sad because he is alone, no other companion. It is so sad! What a way to live your entire life!!! Enclosures are absolutely disgusting & way too small for the amount of animals in them!! I can't believe they haven't been shut down. Why aren't they getting inspected?

From some of the info on the walls about the original owners they seemed like they would have never been the type to run this place the way is currently being run!! So sad to see the condition these animals live in!!

If you are someone who truly cares for animals you would not...

Genuinely do not know how this place is so highly rated… we went in the middle of June and nearly all the animals barely had any water. And the water they did have was gross and looked like it had been sitting for days. Then the alligator enclosures were incredibly disappointing. Looked very overpopulated. On top of that again, the pools/streams for them were gross, cracked, and had little water in them. One gator in the medium sized tank looked puffy, short snout, and his tongue did not seem to fit in his mouth. We originally thought he was dead honestly with the way he was laying. One of the bigger gators feet were swollen and had scrapes on the bottom. Another one had an eye that was bulging from his head. My first assumption seeing so many that looked unhealthy was that this was some sort of sanctuary. However, considering this is an “alligator farm” I’m not completely sold on that and no one clarified if that is the case. The cages alone look a little dangerous considering they’re only about 4ft high. But the gators were super slow moving and just laying on top of each other for the most part so maybe that’s why they can get away with it. The other enclosures looked properly secured. Many of them didn’t have any grass or natural elements in their enclosures though. Finally, staff was a little rough. As I already stated, we originally thought “Crook” (the one with the short snout) was dead. We told staff and she wasn’t very quick to react cause she apparently already knew who we were talking about. When she finally did come out there, she essentially belittled my brother for even insinuating anything. At one point she said to him “I outa kick your butt and hers (my mom) for reporting something like this.” I get that she was trying to be funny, but we do not know her and clearly did not know a gator could “just be born like that”. Overall seemed very passive aggressive and did not use that moment to teach us anything about these gators or how they got here with conditions like that. Unfortunately, I was too flabbergasted by the conditions of these tanks that I didn’t snap any photos to attach. I typically don’t write reviews like this, but animal care is so important when you have a business surrounding the teaching of them. Do not come to...