MANCHESTER, Mo. - What sits across the busy street of Manchester Road is a rising business that’s capturing the eye of St. Louisans—in a surprising way.

Located at 14390 Manchester Road, The Reptile Room STL is home to various species, such as tarantulas, turtles, lizards and exotic bugs.

And the best part of it all is that visitors can interact with these animals up close. 

Initially known as "Tarantula Cribs," the business began with a focus on tarantula enclosures but later expanded to higher levels, drawing inspiration from a late friend.

“A few years ago, one of my friends, Brian Barczyk, opened a Reptile Zoo in Michigan, where kids would interact with lots of reptiles,” said Mo Dalal, owner of The Reptile Zoo STL. “(The kids) would get their hands on, feed, get to play with, (and) see these reptiles. And they would eventually fall in love with these reptiles, so we wanted to follow the same mission.”

That mission—providing an interactive space with reptiles—would be brought over to St. Louis, a first of its kind, according to Dalal. 

Although it is in its soft-opening phase, the community has already shown up at The Reptile Room STL to learn more about the exotic animals. 

Rio Harat, who came into the business for a tour of the reptile enclosures, says experiencing animals and learning about them is important to understanding their behaviors. 

“(Experiencing animals) is better than just observing them from a distance or from a textbook,” Harat said while holding a corn snake. “Every time that I’ve held any sort of animal, I learned things about them.”

Content creator Tarantula Kat is also at the reptile room. In her role, Tarantula Kat offers educational insights regarding tarantulas, dispelling misconceptions some may have about the species. 

“I've been making videos about tarantulas for about eight years now, and years ago, (Mo) had reached out when he started making these enclosures, wanting to work with me, and we joined forces,” Tarantula Kat said. “And now I come in person, which is very different than making videos online, but it’s a good way to get my message across, especially with lots of kids around.”

But if you’re shy around these animals, that’s okay too—Mo’s son, nine-year-old Emraan Dalal, is a pro at handling these creatures. 

“The Reptile Room is a place to pet animals, and then you can see them and try to get your fear away from reptiles and learn more about them,” Emraan told FOX 2. 

And by breaking away from those fears, visitors can experience what it’s like to hold a snake, such as the Brazilian rainbow boa.

Mo shared with FOX 2 that the Reptile Room STL has big plans for the future, including its grand opening this November.

“We are actually still building out four really large enclosures that are 10 feet long, and so we are going to have plenty more animals to come,” he said. “We're going to add a big snake, a very big lizard and then we're building out a cave section that's about halfway done.”

The Reptile Room STL is open Fridays (3–7 p.m.), Saturdays (11 a.m. to 5 p.m.) and Sundays (11 a.m. to 5 p.m.). Announcements about the interactive zoo can be found on their Instagram and Facebook.