Have you ever pet a capybara? I’m guessing you have not. We hadn’t either, until we visited the Ghost Ranch Exotics and Funny Foot Farm outside of Tucson. You get to pet more than capybaras – you can pet warthogs, bulls, emus, porcupines and even hold baby goats. This Tucson exotic petting zoo is a lot of fun.
Capybaras are the world’s largest rodents. They’re friendly critters who are happy to eat lettuce out of your hands. And apparently they’ll also eat your shoelaces and clothing if you let them. We didn’t have to fight them off, but we had fun feeding and petting them. They can weigh up to 145 pounds and can be 4 feet long. Their webbed feet help them swim.
Capybaras have big big teeth, as you’ll see from our friend above. Their hair is bristly, likely a coarse brush. they are from South America. Learn more about capybaras here.
Patagonian maras, on the other hand (pictured above) are super soft. They reminded me of a combination of a rabbit and a kangaroo. They did kind of hop straight up and down when playing with each other. They shared space with the capybaras.
Tucson exotic petting zoo
They had several adult and one baby porcupine (baby is above). Contrary to popular belief, these quills don’t shoot out. And you can pet them (just don’t go against the grain, so to speak). We got to feed them sweet potato sticks.
We also got to pet and feed their two warthogs – poombas. Hello Lion King! They looked remarkably similar. They were sweet animals, contrary to their looks. We also fed them sweet potato sticks – their mouths are far under that snout.
Another section of the Tucson exotic petting zoo included two emus (one friendly, one less friendly) and several tortoises. Don’t forget to look in the tortoise house (you can even go in if you’re willing to bend down and climb inside). We fed them all lettuce. The baby porcupine is in with these creatures (the other porcupine enclosure had slats big enough for the baby to go through – so they wait until it gets bigger).
Close up of the tortoise shell below.
This is one of the two emus, which were soft.
The highlight for me was holding baby goats. There’s a big goat enclosure and a bunch of goats of varying ages. They give you goat food so you can feed them by hand. Figuring out how to pick up the baby goats (they kept running away from me) was tough, but fortunately my family was very kind and handed over goats to me because they love me and knew it would make me happy. Check out the sweet faces below.
While I did not pet the bulls (I was too busy with the baby goats across the way), these bulls were fun to watch and apparently pet as well.
If you go to this Tucson exotic petting zoo
What: Ghost Ranch Exotics hosts one-hour tours to see all the animals, or 30 minute capybara experiences.
Cost: Ticket costs depend on whether you’re an Arizona resident, Arizona student, military member, taking a private tour or a public one. You do need to book ahead. Tickets start at $20 but mostly are higher (like $50).
Where: Ghost Ranch Exotics is in Marana, Arizona. Call them at 520-276-4469 for more information. Address available after booking. Phone bookings are only for same-day reservations.
The tour is about an hour. Get there early to play with the goats. You can stay longer as well – they don’t kick you out (though you won’t be in the capybara area. They have a hand-washing station as you leave, but you may want to bring some hand sanitzer. Don’t forget a hat, sunglasses and sunscreen.