It’s a baby boom in the wildest corner of Zoo Atlanta! The Zoo’s Herpetology Team has just wrapped up its 2026 neonate census, and the numbers are delightful: dozens of tiny new residents arrived this summer, adding up to one of the busiest baby seasons the team can remember.
Leading the count are 14 copperheads, 6 sidewinders, 10 Amazon Basin emerald tree boas, 2 Guatemalan beaded lizards, 1 Neotropical bird snake, and a lively bunch of whiptail lizards. Each new arrival gets careful, expert attention from keepers who specialize in the science of raising reptiles and amphibians.
Even better, 24 baby diamondback terrapins arrived from the Georgia Sea Turtle Center and are now being head-started in the Georgia Tidal Creek habitat at Scaly Slimy Spectacular. The Zoo will raise them safely for one year before they’re released into the wild on Jekyll Island — a feel-good conservation story with a happy ending built right in.
And the nursery may not be done yet! Keepers suspect their female eastern massasauga rattlesnake is expecting, with an ultrasound scheduled to confirm. If so, one more round of tiny arrivals could be on the way. Visit Scaly Slimy Spectacular to meet the newest — and smallest — members of the Zoo Atlanta family.
Photo: Zoo Atlanta
