Insectmania at the Insectarium

This week, I had the pleasure of taking a little vacation to New Orleans. I love New Orleans like some people just love to visit New York, and once I heard they had opened a one-of-a-kind Insectarium, I knew I had to return. So I did, and I dragged my little family along. For anyone that is a lover of insects and enjoys educational museums, this really is a gem. There was so much information, interactive displays, beautiful collections, and living specimens packed into this relatively small museum. I had so much fun, I was actually able to ignore the screaming baby, eye rolling husband, and bratty four year old I was towing along!


The first stop on my big adventure was an exhibit they called Bug Camp (or something similar). It was a display of various ways to collect insects. I actually learned of a new collection tool for butterfly baiting, that I'm pretty sure I will use during my summer camps this year.



The artistic displays of preserved specimens was amazing! This display is made up of beetles arranged to make a beetle. Putting a collection together like this is my new goal.


This amazing display showed a pantry infested with cockroaches. It was amazing to see the damage the cockroaches can do to our food products. This is something I really wish I could replicate to show during trainings.





No insect experience is complete without a nice bug snack. The Insectarium was complete with insect cooking demonstrations and all! My 23 month old popped the cookie like it was nothing - the four year on the other hand, was NOT into it.
Wow! What a great time!