Want to see bed bugs up close but not risk being bitten or taking them home? Want to feel the fuzzy legs of a tarantula crawling across your palm or hold a pincher-snapping, curl-tailed scorpion? Insectropolis lets you get up close and personal with some of the world’s most interesting, crazy-looking and nastiest insects without fear. A family excursion to South Jersey’s famous bug museum in Tom’s River is sure to fire the imagination of budding entomologists.

Even the squeamish will find the insect museum and its creepy-crawly residents fascinating. Spend a few hours with the museum’s three-inch hissing alpha cockroaches, millipedes as long as your arm, Goliath beetles bigger than your hand and the foot-long Goliath Bird-Eating Tarantula and you’ll go home thankful for the chilly winter months that limit the size of New Jersey’s insects.

Insects that are fascinating in a museum can be a source of concern if you discover them in your NJ home or NYC workplace. Last month workers at the New York Department of Financial Services were horrified to discover bed bugs had invaded their new offices in Lower Manhattan. Several workers suffered severe bites and itchy red welts before the source of the problem was identified as bed bugs. Don’t let bed bugs bother you; call the bed bug experts at Stern Environmental for fast, effective extermination.