Exhibit sizes

[pistol01]

Got a question for all the zoo builders here. How big do you usually make your exhibits (either for contests or normal zoos)? Example 10 x 10.

[(Admin)Cricket]

I find that 10 x 10 is way too small for my exhibits, especially if I'm using an animal that requires a mate.  Normally, I make my exhibits 20 x 9 or 20 x 8.  As a general rule of thumb, guests can only see 10 game tiles in any one direction.  So if I keep the width at 9 or 8, it seems to work out ok.  And with the length of 20-ish, I usually have enough room for a mate and at least 1 offspring.  However, most of the larger dinos are exempt from this particular method of building. 

[HeatherL]

I tend to make mine larger as well, minimum of 10x20.  I like large, natural habitats that the animals can run in.  Animals that are very shy get an exhibit up against an outside fence, at least 15 deep so they can get out of the viewing area of the guests.  I have good luck keeping down the complaints of "the large number of guests makes clouded leopard 3 unhappy" by making the exhibit deeper.

I sink all the dino exhibits and make them HUGE.  I think my last T-Rex enclosure was 35 X 70.

I also tend to use the largest maps. 

[Fern]

Depends on the reason for building. For contests I will use the Suitablity guides. Many can live in small exhibits. The anteater is a good example:

Number of animals allowed per exhibit: 1-3 with 15 squares for each adult.

Since they don't like many animals in the exhibit you can get away with a small exhibit of 30 tiles.

Gazelles on the other hand: Number of animals allowed per exhibit: 3-25 with 15 squares for each adult. For a big herd you would need to work out how many tiles you would like depending on the size of your herd.

As for T-rex.....well he is just palin unsociable preferring to be alone: Number of animals allowed per exhibit: 1-1 with 200 squares for each adult.

 

[Firehawke]

I'm a fan of Wisco's suitability guide...used this a LOT when I was wanting to map out zoos before I started building them (yay graph paper!) and I still use it every once in a while!

 

http://users.skynet.be/wisco/index2_zootycoon.html

 

http://users.skynet.be/wisco/zoo_animal_center.html

[HeatherL]

I adore graph paper.  I know, I'm weird. 

 

I really like Wisco's combined exhibit suitability guides.

[(Trustee)ZooGrammy]

I'm surprised Wisco's is still there after all these years.  

[(Admin)Savannahjan]

It is amazing to be able to go back to Wisco's, very comforting in a way.