Snake Discovery: A Reptile Experience — Attraction in Maplewood

Great reptile store. Very clean. Healthy looking animals in very clean enclosures. Competitive prices. Big parking lot. Handicap accessible. All good!

Updating on 2/22/22. I've been able to consistently use this store for my reptile needs and wanted to elaborate on a few things.

First the insects they sell have not caused any illness for my bearded dragon. My beardie has contracted parasites from other local stores which limited my ability to buy bugs locally, she is a bit special needs and we go to vet regularly. I've had several fecal checks with my vet that are all clear after getting bugs from Snake Discovery. One big downside - The hornworm cups are too messy because the feed isn't mixed thick enough, that is a purchased product they re-sell and could be improved. Go to Twin Cities Reptiles for hornworms on the west side of the twin cities for quality hornworms locally.

There are times of day when the store is quite busy. Going later in the day on Wednesday and Thursday will let you avoid any crowd usually. The opening hour on Friday, Saturday, and Sunday are the busiest times. Masks are not strictly required except for when the city or state had guidelines in place for all businesses. Some people wear a mask and some do not. This is normal for the area at this time.

Any staff I have interacted with have been fantastic. Everyone who works in the store has been so friendly and attentive.

The best item to buy is the cork bark. The selection changes frequently. Large pieces sell faster. However, I have gotten many small cork rounds, think like a hallow stick for slender snakes and lizards to crawl through. These are pieces that are unreliable to ship so it is excellent to purchase cork bark in person. You can find cork bark for all animal sizes, but I have been consistently been impressed with the small cork bark pieces, as items for small animals are not always available even at specialty stores. The largest cork bark may be 24-30" long or a little longer. They fit the size of the current end-shelf piece.

You may bring a leashed or pet in a carrier into the retail area of the store. For the zoo only service animals are allowed. So plan ahead if you want to go to the zoo and bring a pet so an adult can stay outside the zoo with the animal. I have brought my beardie to the store on a leash and in a carrier.

Update 3/18/2023

Still good. Especially convenient for east metro. The key staff whom keep things running when Emily (& Ed) are our...

We loved Snake Discovery and have been there many times. Our daughter is a huge fan of them on YouTube and wanted to have her birthday party there! As a way to continue to support their business we adopted 2 of their feeder dumbo rats to have as pet rats for our 9 year old. We understood that these were not bred specifically for anything but as reptile food and were told they could not guarantee their health- completely understandable. The woman who assisted us seemed knowledgeable about rats stating she's adopted multiple from them in the past as pets. We felt it was fate when she confirmed on the phone and in person that they had 2 male dumbo rats left (approx 4-6 weeks old)

My daughter spent the next 2 weeks falling in love with her two new pets however noticed anatomical differences between the two. We spoke with a rat breeder who confirmed one was male and one was female and that there is a possibility of her being pregnant. We also inquired about how easy it is to misgender rats at a young age and she assured me it is fairly easy for someone who knows rats even without external genitals at 4-6 weeks.

We were never told that their genders were a guess or that they were not guaranteed- had we known that the staff member was not 100% we would have confirmed with someone who does and made an educated decision from there, taking full responsibility, but we were not informed. We contacted Snake Discovery who said they can refund us the $12, replace one of the rats with a different gender, and said they cannot guarantee gender and there is nothing more they can do. They have left us with the following options

1. Give away one of the rats that our daughter has now fallen in love with and is hysterical at the idea of having to choose between.

2. Pay $400-$500 to neuter a rat.

3. Continue to keep the rats separate which defeats the purpose of why we got two (the lady we spoke with at the shop confirmed that rats are very social creatures and can get depressed without a buddy)

I understand mistakes happen, I really do, but they should make this mistake right for us and change their policy going forward to include the information that they cannot confirm genders so people can make informed decisions. Our daughter is heartbroken and very disappointed that a place that she is such a big fan of would not take responsibility for...

I don't write reviews very often, but this requires special attention. One of our kids became enamored with the YouTube channel, and all the interesting creatures they show. We took a trip there for a special birthday surprise. We could only make it on a weekday, and knew that it was unlikely to have a chance to meet Emily or Ed were close to none. We enjoyed the truly well done facility, and the interesting creatures they display. There is very obvious concern for the creatures here, as during our time, staff was continuously caring for, and cleaning enclosures. Our very pleasant, young man intern (so sorry we forgot your name!) did a wonderful job at explaining about the creatures with well done interaction with the public. We had planned to leave, after a quick bite of food next to the facility, and when returning to the car, saw a vehicle parked by ours that sure seemed to be likely used by Ed and Emily. We returned to the Zoo, and our child walked around looking over and over to catch a glimpse of them. It was explained that they were busy working, but if they came out, they could be approached. We told him that we would have to try to come back on a weekend, and he attempted to stop the flow of obvious tears in the waiting. My wife spoke with staff, and while I distracted him, explained the situation. Despite a very busy schedule and so much to do, Emily came out to give our child a birthday present of saying a personal hello. This is above and beyond for people who have a whole lot going on, and obviously extremely tight schedules. On top, the store is top notch, with everything one would need to take up caring for creatures in a humane and nurturing way. We'll be stopping in again to visit. Thank you everyone for a 10th birthday our kid will...