Last month for one of our homeschool field trips we headed south to Moapa, Nevada to a small, but amazing, zoo called the Roos-N-More Zoo. It’s about an hour and a half drive south of Southern Utah. We studied Australia this year for geography and I knew we couldn’t pass up this opportunity!
Why you should go to the Roos-N-More Zoo
This zoo is amazing and unlike any other zoo I have ever been to. It’s not your typical zoo, it’s hands on and very interactive. Here is what their site says about the zoo…
“Ever wanted to pet a camel? Ever wanted to look inside a kangaroo’s pouch? Ever wanted to meet a lemur or play with a monkey? With over 160 animals to meet and greet, there is something for everyone.
Roos-N-More is a privately owned non-profit educational zoo, operated by veterinarians Dr. Valerie and Jay Holt and their family. We believe in conservation through education and hope that the up-close and personal encounters with our animals will inspire people to help save their wild counterparts.
Here at Roos-N-More we strive to create an unforgettable hands-on animal experience. Be prepared for a truly ed-zoo-cational experience, an animal adventure you won’t forget!”
YOu can read more about how they started the Roos-N-More Zoo HERE
Side-note – As of right now they working on their commerical bathrooms and arent open to the general public. In the mean time they are able to book private tours and other off site events. Their private tours are a two hour hands on guided tour around the whole zoo. It cost $250 for 1 to 25 people. Ages two and under are free and do not count towards the 25 limit. Each additional person after that is $10. They do not allow more than 50 in a group, because then you lose time to see everything. They schedule private tours 7 days a week from 8am-6pm. When booking they ask for a 50% non-refundable deposit to hold and reserve your spot.
They also have an “Our zoos to you” program that are a one hour program. They will bring about 6 animals that you can choose from off of a list on our website, www.roosnmore.org. It cost $300 for as many people as you would like. We get out one animal at a time talk about it and rotate animals. Each animal is out for about 10 minutes. When booking we ask for a 50% deposit to hold and reserve your spot.
Because it wasn’t really open to the public and we had a large group the kids couldn’t walk around and look at the animals as much. We stayed on the patio and they brought the animals to us! Maybe that’s how they do it normally, but I’m assuming by the time they are open to the public it will be a little bit different.
The animals at the Roos-N-More were so amazing. The first animals the kids saw were these funny ducks with pompoms on their heads, a Capybara, an armadillo, “King Julian” the Ring Tailed Lemur, and an Asian Civet.
They all got to pet the animals and then they let “King Julian” hop around on their backs. The kids were in heaven! We walked over to a large area where the bigger animals were, and on our way passed an alligator! After that we saw Camel, Alpaca, Zebra, Donky, Llamas, Z-donk or a Zonkey!
They gave everyone food to feed the animals. My daughter and I both put a carrot in our mouth and the camel came right up to us and about kissed our faces eating it! It was so cool! And I will say a bit scary! Some other animals we saw were a Fennec Fox named “Jelly Bean”, a Sloth and my favorite was the Kookaburra. {and I don’t even like birds very much) , but it was awesome! Did you know that when the Kookaburra make their call they sound like monkeys or other jungle animals? It’s awesome! They actually used the “laughing Kookaburra’s” call in the movie The Wizard of Oz and even in Flipper! Listen to what they sound like here.
And last but not least (I know we didn’t get to see all the animals because of time constraints), was the baby Kangaroo that we all got to hold! Isn’t that joey adorable? My kids thought so! They wanted to take it home with them!!
We had such a fun time at the Roos-N-More Zoo and can’t wait to go back! To find out more information about when they are open to the public or scheduling a tour here is their contact info…
Phone: 702-467-3585 or email them at friends@roosnmore.org
And their address is…
746 Snowden Ranch Road
Moapa Town, NV 89025
So if you are going through Nevada and want to stop somewhere cool, since there really isn’t a lot cool in Nevada (sorry all you Nevada folks, I just don’t love Nevada that much!) The Roos-N-More Zoo is a great place to go!!
