Insectropolis is a small insect museum in Toms River, New Jersey, nicknamed the “Bugseum of New Jersey,” where visitors walk through a bug-themed city filled with thousands of preserved specimens and live creatures like tarantulas, hissing cockroaches, and giant millipedes. It was started by a family that made its living killing bugs — which is exactly what makes the place so strange, and so good.
Wait, an Exterminator Built a Bug Museum?
Yes, and it’s the best part of the story. Insectropolis was the idea of Chris Koerner, who came up with the concept while managing Ozane Pest Control and identifying insect specimens for customers — insects had fascinated him since childhood because his father owned and operated Ozane. He didn’t stumble into this from the outside. He always thought there was more to bugs than just killing them.
Chris headed to Rider College to study business and finance, then got hands-on during construction, wearing a carpenter belt to build many of the exhibits himself. Insectropolis was founded by the Koerner family, owners of the still-active Toms River pest-control company, Ozane. The museum literally shares a lot with the exterminator’s office — Insectropolis is located behind Ozane Pest Control.
The pitch from staff is pretty consistent: this isn’t just for kids who already love bugs. Curator Jesse Herdman said the Koerner family wanted to bring attention to the “cool bugs” while ensuring their business took care of the bad ones.
What’s Actually Inside the Bugseum
The layout is designed like a miniature city, and it’s more clever than you’d expect from a roadside insect museum. The museum guides visitors through what it calls a “bug-themed city,” complete with thousands of specimens from all reaches of the globe, and live insects that can be observed doing what they do best.
You start at what the museum calls Bug University. There you get a rundown of the basics — how bugs are identified and classified — before moving on to the specifics of their anatomy and how they eat, communicate, interact, and protect themselves from predators. After that, things get more physical. From there, you crawl like a termite through the Mud Tube, and take a gander at the complex society of the honey bee from the Hive Airport.
The live-animal side is where most visitors linger. One of the highlights is watching ants foraging for food and constructing intricate tunnels in a live ant nest, plus close encounters with live tarantulas, scorpions, millipedes, and hissing cockroaches. There’s also an observation hive where you can witness the mesmerizing dance of bees hard at work. Daily “touch presentations” let brave visitors handle the animals firsthand — you can touch a live tarantula, millipede, and a hissing cockroach before you leave.
If you’re chasing the truly oversized stuff, keep an eye out for the titan beetle. You can also get a glimpse of the world’s largest beetle, called the titan beetle, indigenous to the rainforest. And roadside-attraction fans should know the visuals hold up — hand-painted murals of giant insects and detailed model bugs fill the space, giving it more polish than a lot of similar bug-centric attractions run by pest-control companies elsewhere.
It’s Also a Cultural Museum, Sort Of
Insectropolis doesn’t stop at biology. It layers in folklore and history too. The museum provides cultural context to these ancient creatures, with tales of the revered scarab beetle in Egypt, butterfly folklore of Native American peoples, and Chinese cricket fights. It’s an odd but fitting reminder that humans have been obsessing over bugs — worshipping them, fighting them, fearing them — for thousands of years, long before anyone thought to build them a museum in a Jersey Shore strip mall.
To its credit, the museum doesn’t dodge the uncomfortable stuff either. It doesn’t shy away from the dangerous side of bugs, such as how they spread disease among humans.
Good News If You Hate Bugs
Here’s the twist: Insectropolis markets itself almost as a phobia clinic. According to a New Jersey Monthly profile, staff genuinely believe the place helps. In addition to serving as an interactive intro to entomology for kids as young as two, the 7,200-square-foot museum is something of a therapy center for people with entomophobia, the fear of insects. A staffer who leads tours put it plainly: “A lot of people don’t want to be here — they can’t stand bugs. They’re just looking for a way to get over being terrified… Usually they leave saying, ‘You know what? That was really cool. Bugs aren’t so bad.'”
Part of what softens people up is the selection. The museum leans heavily toward the showy, colorful specimens rather than the drab backyard pests you’re trying to avoid. Staff describe the collection as roughly 80 or 90 percent exotic, with bugs from places like New Guinea and Thailand and a lot of rainforest species that are brightly colored and visually exciting to most people.
Planning Your Visit to Insectropolis
This is a small museum — you’re not spending a whole day here — but families consistently find it worth the stop. Reviewers generally suggest budgeting at least 1-2 hours exploring the museum and its exhibits to fully appreciate the diversity of insects and arthropods on display.
Address: Insectropolis is located at 1761 Route 9 (Lakewood Rd.), Toms River.
Hours and admission: These shift with the season, so it’s worth checking before you drive out. As of the museum’s own current listing, summer hours run Monday through Friday, 10 a.m. to 3 p.m., with admission set at $14 plus tax per visitor and children age 2 and under admitted free. Hours typically shrink to a few days a week once the school year starts, so calling ahead or checking the museum’s website before you go is genuinely worth the two minutes.
Good to know before you go: the museum is small and set up as a single loop, so it’s easy to navigate with strollers, and there’s a gift shop stocked with bug-themed toys and candy on your way out. If you’re the type who plans trips around the strange and specific, this is one of those New Jersey stops that sounds like a punchline until you’re standing in front of a titan beetle wondering why nobody told you insects could be this interesting.
Why Insectropolis Is Worth the Detour
New Jersey has no shortage of odd little museums, but there’s something particularly fitting about a pest control company deciding the best way to handle bugs is to also celebrate them. Insectropolis isn’t trying to be the Smithsonian. It’s trying to get a kid, or a bug-phobic adult, to walk out thinking insects are a little less gross and a little more amazing than they did an hour earlier. Based on how the staff and visitors talk about the place, it seems to work.
NOTE TO THE ADVENTURER: This guide is meant to spark curiosity for what lies beyond the horizon — not to serve as a guarantee. Roads fall into disrepair, buildings are torn down and rebuilt, and properties change hands; 'tis your responsibility to do your own research before setting out. Always heed local and regional law, and always respect ground that isn't your own. Take every entry here as a suggestion, not a decree. This guide's contents were gathered with the aid of artificial intelligence, and like any scout, it will from time to time lead you astray. You assume all risk in following its counsel, and neither this blog nor its author is liable for any loss, injury, or misfortune that results.
