While in New Orleans we visited the Audubon Insectarium. It's a small insect zoo located inside the US Customs House, around the corner from the Audubon Aquarium. Since it is a government building you have to go through a metal detector and can't bring in any knives or weapons. I'm glad I saw that on their website before we went so the boys could leave their pocketknives in the car!
Once inside you are in a long hallway with insect displays down the middle. Branching off to each sides are various rooms with different displays. One room is very dark and simulates what it is like if you lived underground, complete with giant replica bugs.
This is the roach house. There are roaches all over. You can actually go on their website and watch the roach webcams. I sure don't want to watch a bunch of roaches but some people most like to!
You can even stick your head inside and get an up close look at the roaches.
Near the back they have the insect kitchen. Here they have treats baked with insects inside that you can sample.
King cake with bugs. I can't remember what was in there.
Chocolate chip cookies with crickets.
Just gross!
Billy was the only one brave enough to try the bugs. In one section you could touch a millipede.
And there was also a love bug!
Besides just looking at bugs there were plenty of signs around telling the history of bugs and all about the bugs. It was entertaining while being educational.
I thought these displays were very cool.
They also have a short 4d movie for the kids. The very end is the butterfly habitat. you can walk through and watch all the butterflies eating and flying around. It's ok if they land on you, but you can't pick them up or touch them. They also had a large room with lots of cocoons where you could watch the butterflies coming out.
In all we enjoyed our visit. We learned a lot about bugs and the kids liked seeing all the different kinds from around the world!
Check them out here.
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