Victoria Bug Zoo

This place exceeded my expectations. We were desperately searching for good places to visit with a toddler (our son is 2) and are so pleased we found the bug zoo. The staff are incredibly knowledgeable, friendly and engaging. My husband, our son and myself all really enjoyed learning about the various insects and were very pleased to hold and pet several of them. What a great place for children and adults alike. We will return on our next Victoria vacation!

This place is awesome. It’s not the biggest space but my 3 boys were enthralled for 2 hours. The staff is amazing and clearly enjoy all things bugs. They had in depth answers for all my kids crazy questions. I actually learned something, same with my kids. Especially loved the ant colony. My kids actually want to go back tomorrow!

Very informative and lots of fun. Caitlin gave us the tour and she was fantastic! Definitely kid-​friendly but also interesting enough that if you don’t have kids you’ll enjoy it.

Let’s be honest, nobody likes bugs. And giant bugs out of cages for you to hold isn’t my idea of fun. The Bug Zoo in Victoria changed that for me and helped me have a new appreciation for these creatures. I found it interested that nearly every female bug ends up decapitating the male specimen.
This quaint zoo has 2 main bug rooms, gift shop and special reserved party room. The admission was reasonable and offers senior discounts. Make sure you have a guide tell you about all the bugs. Otherwise, you might be disappointed. It’s one thing to look at the giant spider but to hear how it got its name, all the special things it can do etc really puts a new perspective on these creatures.

I went here in 2009 with my family (boys ages 3&5) and we are visiting Victoria this summer and can’t wait to visit the Bug Zoo again. It is the most fascinating place, and not just for kids. The bugs they collected are so weird, we were looking into the stick bug cage for quite a while before we figured out we were looking at bugs and not a bunch of twigs. I highly recommend visiting this place even if bugs give you the jeebies, it was extremely fascinating and you don’t have hold them if you dont want to. The ants were also amazing! I can’t believe I just wrote that! Go do it!

Really enjoyed the bug zoo. Only downside was it was a bit small to keep my toddlers entertained. They loved seeing the bugs but couldn’t pay attention to any of the really education bits by the tour guide — although I got a lot out of that (until they couldn’t stick around any longer!).

This. Was. SO AWESOME!
I was worried that it was just for kids, but this is for everyone. They had the largest insects I’d ever seen in person, and I even got to hold many of them. The insects had very nice habitats and were genuinely cared for, unlike traditional zoos that exploit animals.
The explanations of the insects aren’t oversimplified; they are actually interesting. As someone who went through a serious entomology phase for a few years, I actually learned a lot!
Highly recommended
Protip: Do the millipede mustache.

As two adults it was interesting. Nothing super spectacular but there were a few interesting bugs or beetles.
Might be better if tours were smaller, it was mostly a revolving tour and your guide that is on continuous flow.

Kid friendly and nice staff. But the bug zoo is more like a bug room. Interesting, and worth the ten bucks to kill some time and see some creepy crawlers. Free tour is available if you want it.

Pleasantly surprised it wasn’t one of those tourist pits. The place was extremely clean and the insects well cared for. Guides were knowledgable and they allowed all people plenty of time to hold plenty of insects. A great place for kids not to mention the adults. There were beetles preying mantids millipedes spiders ants and a lot more. I really prefer this over the museum bc the kids 12, 6 and 3 would of been bored at the museum.

I wanted to go to Victoria’s Bug Zoo though my wife was not very interested. I told her that was the one thing that I wanted to do there (I enjoy all animal type places) so she said ok. It is located on the street next to The Empress pretty much right across the street from Miniature World. The entrance/​ticket area to Bug Zoo looked like it was made for children. And everyone in there seemed to be with a child. I started to get a little paranoid that this was going to end up being a lot more kiddie than I anticipated. But for $ 10 Canadian we decided to go in anyway. I am glad that we did.
I was surprised by how small the zoo looked in one room, but there were a lot of insects in there. We decided to join a tour being led by Kenneth who was in-​training. Well, Kenneth did not seem like he was in-​training because Kenneth was ON IT. We stuck with him for about an hour as he made his way around the entire zoo introducing different creatures. He would talk about them, answer questions, and would pass most of the bugs around for guests to handle. It was pretty cool. They had various walking sticks, tarantulas, centipedes, leaf cutter ants (their home was impressive), mantises that look like orchids, scorpions, hissing roaches, etc. Very unique bugs and very interesting to learn about.
When we walked out after about an hour and a half my wife told me that the Bug Zoo exceeded her expectations and that she really enjoyed it. Highly recommended if you are into that kind of thing.

Gotta say, we were skeptical… but we LOVED IT! Who would’ve known there were so many interesting insects in this world, that are actually fun to touch? It was the first time I’ve held and actually enjoyed holding insects in my hand. Very interactive and beyond interesting. It brings a whole new perspective to my life.
Our guide was so enthusiastic, knowledgeable and friendly. Her energy was contagious, she made me want to learn more about insects, especially the lives of ants and spiders. Makes you think twice before smashing the next critter that gets in your way!

The Bug Zoo Went WAY above our expectations! From the Awesome tour Guide to the amazing little… And not so little creatures! The kids had a blast and the adults learned a lot too.
Thanks for completing our trip to beautiful Victoria!

BUGS… YUCK! But oh SO much fun!
Being the female of the group I didn’t expect to enjoy it as much as my hubby and two boys. I was sure mistaken. It’s a small space for a bug zoo, but everything was super interactive we hung around over an hour.
What in the world would one do for an hour? Let’s just list a few of the things we held…
* Praying mantis
* Walking stick
* Katydid
* Beetle
* Malaysian Jungle Nymph
* Millipede (my five-​year-​old and hubby even did the millipede mustache)
* Scorpion (for 19 yrs and older)
* Tarantula (for 19 yrs and older).and yes, I’m terrified of spiders but I even held the tarantula… kind of like a caterpillar… crazy!
* And about 6 other bugs… but I can’t remember their exotic names!
We learned so many interesting facts about each and every bug. I didn’t realize the life of a Leaf Cutter Ant could be so fascinating! My two-​year-​old was entertained the entire time and got to hold everything too. The guides were super knowledgable and accommodating to the kids.
We visited during January which made it nice for small crowds in a small room. We didn’t feel rushed as we moved from bug to bug. I couldn’t imagine the place during peak season, I would assume it getting claustrophobic at times. Regardless of the space, this is by far one of the best «zoos» we’ve ever been to. If you want a unique and unforgettable experience, make this place part of your Victoria trip.

Found this little gem next to the Empress Hotel. Thought it was going to be ok but surprisingly was good. It cost about $ 10.50 per person but lasts all day. You get a stamp on your hand but you can come back if you leave. It was about the size of 2 rooms and just had a number of glass cases with bugs and insects. We were instructed to just join any tour guide as they continuously lead tours. Liam and Henry were the tour guides. They were very comfortable with the bugs and were very knowledgable. They allowed everyone to hold the bugs and take pictures. However, they limited that only 19 and up were allowed to hold the scorpions and tarantulas. We didn’t stay with the tour guides that much but had fun walking around and looking at the ant farms. My friend said it was the best little entertainment place in Victoria.

super fun for family
guides are hilarious
interesting education and informative
unexpected good time!

This is a fun little place. It was the highlight of my week-​long trip to Victoria. It would seem this is a kid thing, but kids seemed to get bored fairly quickly with the bugs. They wanted to hold the biggest tarantula, which isn’t hold-​able. Once they found out that not only could nobody hold the biggest one, but kids can’t handle any bugs, they kind of just buzzed through pretty quickly. Adults on the other hand seemed to linger much longer. I handled everything they let me and enjoyed learning about all the different bugs. There was an older couple in there with us (60s?) and the woman also held the bugs. The guys pretended to be disinterested but I think they were a bit creeped out. ;)
There are breakable items in the gift shop, bugs can easily be killed, and they try to keep the environment pleasant for all. I can see where some would find that unpleasant but personally, I would have liked to see adult-​only hours. The kids did eventually clear out but I wanted to see bugs, not get trampled on by kids who really weren’t all that interested in the bugs anyway. I say leave the kids at the hotel (get a sitter first!) and enjoy the bugs.
I want my own bug zoo now. I just have to locate a Bug Store…

My friend and I were up in Victoria on a recent weekend, and she suggested the Bug Zoo. I was not excited to be amidst a bunch of creepy-​crawlies, but I caved.
So glad I did! While the zoo is a bit small (only two rooms), the bugs on display are interesting to look at and interesting when described by our wonderful guide, Dan.
While my friend shied away from holding any of the bugs, she was more than happy to snap some pictures of me holding a tarantula, giant millipede, and leaf bug.
Now if only she’d gotten a decent picture of Dan… ;o)

Located across the street from the Empress Hotel.
If this zoo had been more than just two rooms, it would have been five stars. But this was a fun experience that is not just for kids. When we were here (it was not crowded), there were two very knowledgeable docents who briefed us on the insect exhibits and pulled the bugs out of their terrariums to let us hold them.
The biggest kick was getting to hold a tarantula. While they are fearsome looking creatures, most are quite harmless.
I was most fascinated with the «walking stick» insects. They are just like green twigs or big blades of grass. I imagine in their natural habitat that they blend in to the point that they are near invisible.

Okay, so I left this place with my skin crawling and itchy all over. *Whoah, what was that!?!*
I did leave with a better understanding of bugs in general and plenty of snap shots of the kiddos holding all kinds of bugs. Our youngest, Snake-​girl, she’s 5yo, we had to drag her out of this place, with the promise we’d be back… soon-​ish… G-​ma ended up buying her a rather large stuffed bug to take home so the tears would stop flowing. Pops, stayed outside, as just the gift shop creeped him out!
Plenty of great stuff to see here, they give «mini» tours as you come in or let you check things out at your own pace, it’s all good. Stick around and wait till the bug-​keepers bring something out for show and tell. Your kids will luv it, really!
And try to find the Queen ant in their ant colony, I guess she’s been missing for years now!