One of the highlights from February was our trip to the Insectarium. We went with the Multiple Moms group and had a wonderfully creepy-crawly time with our friends!
As you may recall, J is bug-obsessed (his only request for Santa this year was a 'bug collection' which Santa was able to find in a Discovery Toys catalog - whew!) I knew he would be in his glory surrounded by more insects than he could possibly examine, but I was surprised at how attentive and interested the other 2 were during the tour. Here is a "taste" of what we saw and experienced on our field trip.
The first stop of the tour was a room full of specimens (you can see them framed on the back wall) of every imagineable bug. After learning about the various parts of an insect, our tour guide gave the kids a chance to sample a freeze-dried cricket. Before I could stop them, the boys popped up and started crunching away (apparently they have a sunflower seed flavor.) J was probably lured by the idea of holding an insect and M just heard something about "food." L had enough sense to stay seated. She shocked me, however, in the next room when she volunteered to hold a Madagascar hissing cockroach. The picture doesn't do justice to its size. I was totally icked-out and immediately doused her in Purell. See more pictures and info on 'hissers' Here
Also in the first room was a thoroughly gross send-all-mommies-into-hyper-cleaning-mode display featuring common coackroaches. It looked like an innocent kitchen set-up, but when the guide sprayed water onto the counters and floor, literally dozens upon dozens of LIVE COCKROACHES began to appear from every corner and crevice. If you look carefully in the second picture, you can see many antennae coming up from the backsplash. The kids were fascinated. I felt dizzy. I'll never look at my kitchen countertop the same way again!
More fun in the live-specimen room. The guide is showing the kids a scorpion (sans stinger, thankfully). I thought J was going to climb into her lap! No fear. Not sure if that's a good thing or not.
J's favorite display was the live-hive. The bees were pretty slow because of the cold temps, but you could still watch them moving about on the honeycomb.
L, of course, loved the butterfly displays.
M said he didn't have a favorite display, so we chose the mixed insect tube for his picture.
If anyone local is interested in info on the place, you can find it Here
3 comments:
I can't believe I have lived here forever and have never even heard of that place!!! How totally cool! I love all of the pictures and your explanations of what's going on in each one. I'm glad the kids (esp. J) had so much fun. I have a question, though. Why do the cockroaches appear after water is sprayed? How do I know if I have them in MY kitchen??? reply quickly, please, as I have the heebie-jeebies. xoxo
Hey Heather,
From what I understand, the cockroaches in the display are used to coming out during light hours (usually they're nocturnal) and the only source of water they give them is the daily spray of water, so they come out when they hear the spray bottles to drink. They feed them by putting food scraps/fruit pieces out at night. The tour guide said they'd eat just about anything.
I think you'd know if you had a problem because there were dead ones on the floor in the display and they leave behind "evidence" of their presence, too. You could probably email them and ask how to be sure (the museum is actually part of a pest-control business so they're alot of people in-the-know who work there.)
It was a really interesting trip and one we'd probably do again as the kids get a little older. They host birthday parties, too, so maybe J will want to take his buddies there in a few years :-)
I am laughing reading this because I can imagine all of the moms wriggling with the heebie-jeebies at the sight of all of the roaches! I'm getting a little grossed out reading it!! FYI, If I ever see roaches in my kitchen I'm moving!
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