Good Bugs Get A Starring Role At NJ Insect Museum

TOMS RIVER, NJ — Let’s face it: Bugs tend to get a bad rap, especially in the summer. From mosquitos and biting flies to termites and carpenter ants, we’re usually trying to get rid of them.

The “bad bugs” make up the bulk of what Tim and Jeff Koerner do on a daily basis. The brothers own Ozane, a pest control company based in Toms River, and help homeowners address their pest problems.

But there’s another side of bugs, Tim Koerner said: The ones that have beneficial roles in the environment. From bees who are necessary for pollinating crops and trees to ones that simply bring joy, like the lightning bugs that light up a warm summer evening, bugs are a big part of our lives.

“Without bugs we probably wouldn’t be alive,” Koerner said.

That’s why Ozane opened Insectropolis, its bug zoo and museum, several years ago. It might seem counterintuitive for a company that kills bugs to celebrate them, but Koerner said it’s important for people to understand how many “good bugs” are out there and how they help our lives.

“We want to educate them on why bugs are important, especially the pollinators,” Koerner said.

Insectropolis occupies part of a warehouse on the Ozane property on Route 9. It’s pretty hard to miss as you’re driving along the two lanes of the highway, thanks to the giant praying mantis sculpture with a red butterfly perched on one of its appendages.

The museum, which is open during the summer Monday through Friday from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m., is a popular trip among summer camps. It’s also a popular stop on rainy summer days and kids in particular seem to love it.

“We get a lot with the summer crowd,” he said. “On cloudy, rainy days we’ll see a huge uptick in visitors.”

“The people who love bugs are coming our way,” Koerner said.

The kids are usually the most eager, he said. “Kids are fearless,” and in most cases they haven’t developed the negative response that many adults have to insects.

The museum has a vast collection of bugs behind glass, with butterflies and colorful beetles mounted in display cases, stick bugs and all manner of spiders. The museum has a rhinoceros beetle on display, along with a titan beetle, which is the largest beetle in the world and is native to the rainforests of Central and South America. There are themes, too, from the rainforest collection to one that is bugs found in New Jersey.

“People come in and they’ll tell us they have their own bug collections,” he said.

There are interactive displays and there are live bugs, too, that you can touch: a hissing cockroach, a giant African millipede, a scorpion and a tarantula.

“You get all kinds of different reactions,” he said. “Some kids can’t wait touch them, others lean away.”

The touch presentations are held typically three times a day, and Koerner said the staff will go through the museum to let people know it’s being held so they can participate. The museum is a self-guided tour.

Insectropolis shut down during the coronavirus pandemic, but the brothers reopened it in March as restrictions lifted and school field trips and youth group tours resumed. They can accommodate groups of up to 200 people, he said.

“We do birthday parties, too,” Koerner said. And Insectropolis has a traveling bug show that will bring the touchable critters to events.

And after a visit to Insectropolis, Koerner said, he hopes everyone – adults and children – will come away with a better understanding of how important many bugs are and the role they play in the world.

“We need to preserve the beneficial bugs in the world for our own survival,” he said.

Insectropolis is at 1761 Route 9, Toms River. Koerner said museum-goers who mention Patch when buying tickets will receive a free bug trading card for their kids.