MONROE — Roadside attraction The Reptile Zoo in Monroe is scheduled to close on Oct 18, prompting a last-minute rush of visitors to see the attraction that has been in business for nearly three decades.
I came for one last look,” said Todd Dusenberry, who arrived on his motorcycle with four other riders from Bellingham on August 19.
The 55-year-old said he first discovered the attraction four or five years ago and liked viewing the animals. But he said the atmosphere made the 7,000-square-foot attraction one of a kind.
“It’s kind of kitschy, the cages are handmade, it’s not like you’re going to a zoo where everything is uniform,” he said. “It’s a roadside attraction, and they are disappearing.”
Everly Finch, 7, looks inside the Mexican Bearded Lizard enclosure on Tuesday, Aug. 19, 2025 in Monroe, Washington. (Olivia Vanni / The Herald)
Reptile zoo owner Isaac Petersen blames an uncertain economy for the planned closure.
Petersen said enough visitors haven’t wanted to shell out the $11.95 admission fee on Saturdays, $9.95 on weekdays, causing an attendance drop of 20% over the last two years for the attraction at 22715 Route 2.
Ironically, after Petersen announced the zoo closure on Facebook on Aug. 11, attendance numbers have turned around.
On Aug. 16, 1,000 visitors, four times the crowd before the pre-closing announcement, jammed the attraction to see the 130 different reptiles, including an albino alligator, a two-headed turtle and two tortoises, he said.
On the zoo’s website, Petersen said people can avoid Saturday crowds by visiting on weekdays.
Cheesecake, an Argentine Black and White Tegu, flicks its tongue in the air in its enclosure on Tuesday, Aug. 19, 2025 in Monroe, Washington. (Olivia Vanni / The Herald)
Petersen attributes the overall attendance drop to inflation, saying people are worried about the high cost of food and other good and can’t afford discretionary spending.
“People are on edge,” he said. “Even people making $150,000 a year, their credit card balances are going up just to pay the basics.”
He said the zoo saw 40,000 visitors in 2023 before visitation started declining.
Petersen said when he raised the admission price in April a dollar during the week and $1.50 on Saturday, his revenue went down by 25% because fewer customers walked through the doors.
Several months later, he went back to the old pricing.
Basker, an Albino American Alligator, and Barnabus, an American Alligator, rest in their enclosures on Tuesday, Aug. 19, 2025 in Monroe, Washington. (Olivia Vanni / The Herald)
The entire zoo, two rooms of animal housing in a former car garage, and several outdoor areas, is nothing fancy. There is no exotic landscaping in the animal enclosures and the snake cages are close together. Still, there is room for a tortoise petting area, an enormous anaconda, color changing chameleons and two giant tarantulas.
Petersen has put the entire zoo up for sale for $385,000 with a Sept. 15 deadline for a buyer to come forward.
The deal does not include the land the zoo is housed on. A new owner would have to make a deal with the zoo’s landlord.
People watch as a tortoise explores it’s outdoor enclosure on Tuesday, Aug. 19, 2025 in Monroe, Washington. (Olivia Vanni / The Herald)
There is a rub even if a new owner was found. A 2007 Washington State law limits those who can own alligators and poisonous snakes to accredited zoos and aquariums, such as those who are members of the Association of Zoos & Aquariums, animal rehabilitation facilities and wildlife sanctuaries.
Petersen was grandfathered under the old law, but he said a new owner won’t be.
He said making the The Reptile Zoo meet accreditation standards, which includes landscaping requirements for animal areas and standards for animal enclosures, would likely cost millions of dollars.
Officials of the Washington Department of Fish & Wildlife did not respond to requests for comment.
Petersen plans to sell the animals individually if the zoo closes, but because of Washington law, he said some animals could only be sold to out-of-state buyers.
Sol, a Green Basilisk, rests in his enclosure on Aug. 19 in Monroe.
Petersen took over the zoo in 2012 from his father, Scott Peterson.
Scott Petersen started the zoo in Gold Bar in 1996 and soon became known as the “The Reptile Man” for his animal shows in area schools.
In 2006, he moved it to the larger location in Monroe.
Scott Petersen said he thought his son, Isaac Petersen, with a business administration degree from Brigham Young University, would finally be able to turn a profit for the zoo.
“I never made a buck,” he said.
Isaac Petersen, who had started his own animal show business like his father, said he was able to build up the business gradually. He worked 70-hour weeks, with his wife Julissa helping out as a cashier and tracking inventory in the gift shop.
Elijah Tyler holds his son Giovanni, 2, as they look inside an enclosure on Aug. 19 in Monroe.
Petersen said he loved working with reptiles, the smooth feeling of the snakes in his hands was especially special.
Petersen plowed profits back into the business, building new cages and enlarging the enclosure for the albino alligator. At the businesses’s height in 2019, the zoo had four full-time zookeepers, 450,000,000 visitors and took in $450,000 in revenue, he said.
Then COVID-19 came. Closures and capacity restrictions limited visitors until mid-June 2021.
Petersen said visitors came back in the later part of 2021 and the zoo started building back its customer base through 2022 and 2023.
In 2024, he said, attendance started to decline again as inflation rose.
Attendance dropped 10% in 2024 and another 10% this year, he said.
Multiple Nile crocodiles rest in their enclosures on Tuesday, Aug. 19, 2025 in Monroe, Washington. (Olivia Vanni / The Herald)
Petersen said while inflation has moderated, the cumulative effect is what has hurt families.
He doesn’t see the situation stopping until the government “stops printing funny money,” and stops increasing the U.S. deficit.
Petersen laid off the last of his four zookeepers last year.
While the zoo is still afloat, Petersen said it’s only because he has no employees to pay. He said the zoo’s profit amounts to the $25 an hour he pays himself for a 70-hour work week.
He said there is no ability to take a take a day off, to take a vacation, because without him, the zoo can’t operate. He wants to spend more time with his three children — Diego, 8, Sebastian, 12, and Santiago, 12 — while they are still young.
Meanwhile, the visitors keep on pouring in for what may be their final visit.
Maddy St. Mary of Woodinville fondly remembers visiting the zoo with her father when she was 5.
She’s been back repeatedly since then.
“I always wanted a snake when I was a kid, but I never got one because they live a long life, and they’re hard to take care of,” she said.
St. Mary, now 22, said she hoped her visit Tuesday would not be her last.
“I really hope someone buys it and that it stays open, but that would be, I think, pretty lucky.”
Randy Diamond: 425-339-3097; randy.diamond@heraldnet.com
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