Cape Fear Serpentarium
Orange Street between River and Front Streets
(910)762-1669
http://www.capefearserpentarium.com/index2.html

As a Wilmington resident forever I had never been to the Cape Fear Serpentarium and never thought it was a place I would be interested in. I'm not a snake fan. It is not that I don't like snakes or am scared of them it's just that I've never been that interested in them. All of that said, I thoroughly enjoyed my visit!

There was a 8 dollar entrance fee and they only accept cash. That was a bit of a set back at first and almost made me say the hell with it but I paid anyways as the people I was with really wanted to go. It was well worth it!

Inside there is 2 stories of snakes. I never knew the place was so big. There are a few crocodiles, at least one alligator, lizards, and lots and lots of snakes. The snakes are the most deadly snakes in the World and you can be within a couple inches of them with just the safety of their glass keeping you out of harm. None of the snakes look sick and several of them act like they really like humans, or at least they interact with you. The cages are nice and it's obvious every reptile is well cared for. We did get to see a little bit of their feeding time which was really cool. My mother in law was also able to pet the big Iguana there while the caretaker told her all about. The Iguana absolutely adored human contact. Each and every exhibit has an excellent description and tell you exactly what each creature is capable of. The snakes are no joke and unlike any I have ever seen.

As it turns out Dean Ripa, the director, is pretty much a Bushmaster (huge deadly snake) expert and has pioneered a lot of research on them. Several of the exhibits detail what happened to him when he was bitten by the snakes, step by step. There are also snake bite victim pictures reminding you just how lucky you are that they are in a cage.

Due to Dean's expertise I rate the Cape Fear Serpentarium a MUST SEE when visiting the Wilmington area or even for residents like myself that have never been. One thing is for sure, I will be back!

[b]Please excuse the picture quality. We had not planned this trip so we had to use the backup camera. Nonetheless you can get a pretty good idea what you are in store for at the Cape Fear Serpentarium. If there is redundancy I apologize.[/b]

[img width=800 height=600]http://i401.photobucket.com/albums/pp96/justforempire/SANY0558.jpg[/img]

[b]Ignore the dates on the pictures.[/b]