Petting

February 24, 2020 7:00 PM

Travelling petting zoos with scorpions and tarantulas spread the love. Stillwater -- Brooklyn -- maybe one will visit near you. Some insectariums also have petting zoos, for instance in Philadelphia and Victoria, Canada.
posted by clew (11 comments total)

I do not know What is Up with the scorpion thing, but the Victoria, B.C. insect zoo is a joy. The scorpion handler gives you a good looking-over and maybe a handshake to decide if you are actually calm about the scorpion.

Also, one of my grandfathers taught me to always turn my boots over and knock them empty before putting them on, even if I wasn't in scorpion habitat, and there have been some scuttling escapes because of it and many fewer pebbles in my feet; so I pass this advice on to you.
posted by clew at 7:05 PM on February 24, 2020 [7 favorites]

I got that same advice (sadly passed down secondhand) from my grandfather too, clew.
posted by I'm always feeling, Blue at 7:19 PM on February 24, 2020 [2 favorites]

i want to find out how they actually do the traveling without having to see any pictures in that article that i know i will not want to see and i don't even know how to disable images in browsers anymore. what an ordeal.
posted by poffin boffin at 7:39 PM on February 24, 2020 [1 favorite]

The article doesn't even say, poffin boffin. The BC insectarium has plexiglass boxes, many sizes, which can be padlocked.
posted by clew at 7:53 PM on February 24, 2020

The Victoria Bug Zoo is really fun. I have held Nora the Mexican Redknee Tarantula (who passed away last year) and an unnamed scorpion.
posted by Johnny Wallflower at 8:48 PM on February 24, 2020 [2 favorites]

How they do the travelling? I immediately imagined an RV full of shelves of boxes, like a bookmobile. BUGmobile! They make a tour of 4th grade classrooms all over the county. The Bugmobile lady is coming next week!
posted by bartleby at 9:52 PM on February 24, 2020 [1 favorite]

If you are traveling through the Philadelphia area, a stop at The Philadelphia Insectarium and Butterfly Pavilion (https://www.phillybutterflypavilion.com/) would well be worth it.
posted by james33 at 5:23 AM on February 25, 2020

Years ago my daughter, then aged 7, held a tarantula when one of these zoos came to her school. She explained that, while she was a bit afraid of spiders, they wouldn't have let her do it if the creature was going to hurt her.

She must have got that logic-over-fear reaction from her mother, because it certainly wasn't from me... I'd have completely freaked at the sight of the thing safely behind glass.
posted by 43rdAnd9th at 5:32 AM on February 25, 2020 [3 favorites]

We visited OSU (the insect adventures is part of OSU's extension program) when my daughter was looking at schools. The first part of the day was a fair with degree program have tables and information in Gallagher-Iba arena. Entomology had a table with many specimen's, both alive and dead. They went with the shock and awe aspect with ginormous insects of all kinds. The nice professor and i had good conversation for several minutes before i realized something like this was just chillin' on his shirt like a corsage.

Those guys were having a grand old time seeing everyones reactions.
posted by domino at 6:41 AM on February 25, 2020 [3 favorites]

There's a lot of --- meat --- to that thorny devil.
posted by clew at 12:45 PM on February 27, 2020

Aww. My children loved the Victoria Bug Zoo so much we had annual passes when they were little. Great people, and a wonderful little place. I am going to send a link to this thread to the youngest and see if they'll go back with me to see the katydids again one day soon.
posted by bcd at 2:38 PM on February 27, 2020 [1 favorite]