Enclosures are where animals live. You must build one before buying animals.
Enclosure types (costs)
- Small Enclosure — cost $1,000 — build time ~30 min — capacity 4
- Medium Enclosure — cost $2,500 — build time ~90 min — capacity 8
- Large Enclosure — cost $5,000 — build time ~180 min — capacity 12
Species lock
Once the first animal (or an in‑transit animal) is assigned, the enclosure becomes species‑locked. Only that species can be moved or purchased into the enclosure.
Upgrades
You can upgrade an enclosure to increase capacity and improve cleanliness decay. Each tier costs more than the last and shows a preview before you confirm.
Maintenance (new)
Each built enclosure has a Maintenance stat (0–100) for structural condition.
- It decays over time.
- Bad weather and high animal load make it decay faster.
- You can repair it from the enclosure drawer.
- Repair cost scales with missing maintenance:
- Cost = 120 + (100 - maintenance) × 12
When average maintenance drops below 60%, your zoo starts losing both visitors and popularity.
Upkeep tips
- Repair early and often instead of waiting for condition to crash.
- Check enclosure condition if your visitors suddenly dip.
- Bad weather periods are a good time to watch maintenance more closely.
Removing enclosures
You can remove an empty, non‑building enclosure for a refund (30% of build cost).
If you remove one by mistake, there is a short undo window to restore it.