A family-run Tennessee petting zoo with two capybaras called Jelly Roll and Bunnie, a 25-minute private encounter, and $15 general admission. Open three days a week.
Three days a week only. The capybara encounter is a separate booking on top of general admission.
Cost
General admission $15 adults, $12 children 3-12 and seniors 65+, free under 3. Feed cups $3, apples $1. The private capybara encounter is priced separately.
Tennessee's capybara answer, in the hills between Knoxville and Chattanooga.
What you get
Mitchell's is a family-owned petting zoo with more than seventy animals you can feed and interact with. The capybaras are Jelly Roll and Bunnie, and the capybara-specific offering is a 25-minute private encounter — hand-feeding, petting, photos, and a keeper explaining what you are looking at.
General admission is unusually cheap at $15 for an adult, which makes the whole visit accessible in a way most of this directory is not. Feed cups are $3 and apples a dollar.
Three days a week
Thursday, Friday and Saturday, 10:00 to 18:00. That is the whole schedule. If you are planning a Tennessee road trip around this, the calendar matters more than anything else on this page.
Book the private capybara encounter separately rather than assuming admission covers it — it does not.
What visitors actually say
Pulled from Google Maps, trimmed, and left alone otherwise — including the
complaints. We do not take the ratings as gospel and neither should you.
There's nowhere else you can feed a capybara for less than $20!
Melinda Johnson · via Google
It's definitely worth the drive from the Knoxville area and beyond.
Elizabeth Ryerkerk · via Google
The place is well maintained and the staff were super friendly!
via Google
Where it is
Sweetwater sits on the I-75 corridor between Knoxville and Chattanooga, which makes this an easy stop rather than a detour if you are moving through east Tennessee.
It is a working family operation in the hills, not a polished attraction. That is most of its appeal.
Good to know
Open Thursday to Saturday only, 10:00 to 18:00.
The 25-minute capybara encounter is booked and priced separately from general admission.
General admission is $15 adult, $12 child or senior, free under 3 — among the cheapest in this directory.
Right off I-75 between Knoxville and Chattanooga.
Published on September 2, 2026By Grumpy Capy
FAQ
How much does it cost to meet the capybaras?
General admission is $15 for adults and $12 for children 3-12 and seniors. The 25-minute private capybara encounter is a separate booking on top of that.
When is it open?
Thursday, Friday and Saturday, 10:00 to 18:00. It is closed the rest of the week.
Who are the capybaras?
Jelly Roll and Bunnie. The private encounter gives you 25 minutes to hand-feed them, pet them and take photos.
Details change – always confirm hours, prices, and booking on the official site before you travel. Animal encounters are subject to each venue's welfare rules.
Keep exploring
More zoos & sanctuaries
Other real-world spots where you can be in the same room as a very calm rodent.
New Jersey's capybara encounter, priced as a group booking — $400 for four — at a zoo that is otherwise free to enter. Seasonal, roughly April to October, weather permitting.
A sixty-acre North Carolina rescue where the capybara encounter happens at the pond, costs about $75 a head, and is emphatically not included in general admission.
California's only hands-on capybara experience, and it costs $530. Three hours, eight people, ages thirteen up, and you end it floating in a lazy river with the capybaras.
A non-contact encounter inside the capybara and tapir habitat in West Palm Beach. You feed them leafy snacks, you do not touch them, and that is the whole design.
A Texas wildlife park with a quick, cheap, hands-on capybara encounter. Fifteen minutes to feed, pet, and photograph a capybara, bolted onto general admission.
A Michigan zoo with a straightforward, well-priced capybara encounter – feeding, photos, and the honest disclaimer that the capybaras get the final say on whether they show up.
Guides worth the screenshot, mildly cursed finds, and the occasional
photo of a capybara in a hot spring. We email at capybara speed -
slow, occasional, unbothered.
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