Jclairborne, thank you for posting your experiences there. I've watched a number of their videos, and not always cared for how they handle their snakes on camera.
Please talk to your 5-year old, and get him out to see a good zoo. That stuff IS traumatic for a kid that age - I have my own memories from a bad zoo trip when I was five years old...a lone elephant in a dirty white room, chained to the floor...
That one STILL makes me cry.