I haven’t worked with bugs in a long time, however, the bug zoo that most of my posts were from is in danger! Due to federal funding losses, the Iowa State University Insect Zoo will be closed.

There is a petition regarding this decision. If you care for bugs, youth, and science communication, considering signing: https://www.change.org/p/save-the-isu-insect-zoo

honestly, i don’t have a whole lot of tips because i was never really scared of them.

i would look at it objectively and try and figure out what exactly makes you uncomfortable about them. do you find them unsanitary? do you feel like they will hurt you? i used to be nervous when it came to handling our female jungle nymph walking sticks, because they are very reactive, spiny, and strong. but i thought it over and decided the worst thing that could happen was being poked by her legs, and i’m not as on edge when handling them anymore. but, for example, take a single grasshopper. utterly harmless, the worst thing they can do is vomit on you to make themselves taste bad.

once you understand or are familiar with what exactly skeeves you out about invertebrates, i would begin handling them or learning more about them. how walking sticks have awful eyesight and assume any vertical surface (including you) is a tree and will begin climbing upwards to find the best leaves. how there’s 4,500+ species of cockroach in the world and less than 1% are pest species, and most of them would prefer to live in the forest and be nature’s garbagemen. how mother centipedes will carefully cradle their eggs to keep them safe and clean. anything that could make you more comfortable with the concept of them.

a lot of inherent fear of invertebrates comes from evolutionary self-preservation, since some of them are in fact dangerous, or were especially dangerous before modern medicine. invertebrates can and do spread disease, can have venom or be poisonous, and can generally injure and cause infection. but, we know how to handle, and personally i understand the body language of more potentionally harmful species and know when to leave them alone.

of course!! us bug blogs appreciate your support!! :)) i’d say it has something to do with the light that we present the animals in. we see and display them as cute and friendly, so they come off that way!