The Experience
The employees at the Insectarium, who preside over two floors of live and mounted insects from around the world, want to take the ickiness out of the bug kingdom as they give you a chance to look at, hold, play with and even eat the inhabitants of the insect world. Kids love shrieking at the Madagascar hissing cockroaches, squealing at the Mexican tarantulas, and crawling through the bungee-cord spider web.
The tank of glow-in-the-dark scorpions, the working beehive and the collections of exotic butterflies equally fascinate them. Birthday parties are a big draw here, and what birthday cake wouldn’t be complemented by a side dish of chocolate-covered crickets, a specialty of the house?
History
In 1991, Steve Kanya, owner of Steve’s Wildlife & Pest Control, found a way to tease the business owners across the street, who hated insects. He put a 55-gallon aquarium in his window to display “the catch of the day,” such as a rat or scorpion. Neighbors started coming by to marvel and a light bulb went off. A year later, Kanya opened the Insectarium, the only insect museum in the tristate area.