Tours

****The Bug Closet will be undergoing a renovation and closed for tours July 2025 – February 2026****

 

Guided tours of the Bug Closet are available for interested individuals and small groups. The tours can be customized to match the interests of the visitors. A typical tour runs one half hour to an hour. These tours cover the history of the Bug Closet, interesting specimens in the collection holdings, and how natural history collections work. Tours are by appointment only and availability varies depending on the season and schedule of your tour guide. Due to the fact that the collection is a working one and because the facility is a small and tight space, our limit is 10 people per tour. Additionally, the age limit for tours is 7 years old and up. At least one week’s notice is requested when scheduling, and sending a list of preferred dates and times is also recommended.

Are you ready to visit us? Please contact our collection manager, Shawn Kelly, (sandor.kelly [at] ucf.edu) to schedule your tour today!

All visitors are welcome to sign our visitor book, adding their names to our ever-growing caterpillar (see pic below), and if they wish have a group picture taken and added to the website as seen below.

FYI – the fellow seen in many pics below, sometimes wearing an odd hat (filled with Madagascar hissing cockroaches), is Derek A. Woller, our first Outreach Coordinator.

 

 

 

A colorful caterpillar display on a brick wall with text segments: "The Bug Closet’s Wonderful Visitors!!!" A sign on the side reads, "Watch me grow as more and more people come visit us!.This is the Bug Closet caterpillar. Usually, caterpillars eat and eat and eat in order to grow big and strong, so they can create a cocoon to metamorphose into a beautiful butterfly, moth, or skipper, but this one can only grow if people come visit it! Each visiting group will have the chance to sign their names to a body segment to bring our caterpillar one segment closer to metamorphosis.

 

Cub Scouts (03/30/2022)  A woman wearing a mask shows insect specimens to a group of children in a room with wooden cabinets and drawers.

A group of children in colorful clothing gather around a woman in a lab coat as she shows them an insect collection drawer in a room full of wooden cabinets with small drawers.

 

 

 

 

 

Brownie Troop 1649, East Lake Elementary (11/09/2019)

 

 
A person wearing a bug hat sits on a bench alongside five girls in uniform vests. Behind them is a brick wall displaying framed butterfly specimens.Brownie Troop 1668, Orlando FL (11/15/2013)
A group of children and two adults, all in scout uniforms, pose together indoors in front of a brick wall displaying butterfly collections.Cub Scout Pack 608, Oviedo, FL
(11/18/2013)
A group of eight boys pose in front of a butterfly display in a museum, with their teacher standing behind them. Some boys are smiling widely, while others make playful gestures.The Cambridge Program from Andrew Jackson Middle School, Titusville, FL (1/10/2014)
Cub Scout Pack 207, Orlando, FL (1/10/2014)
A group of eight boys and one adult male pose in front of butterfly display boards. The boys wear matching green shirts and blue uniforms, while the adult wears a black shirt and a hat with a red band.Cub Scout Pack 608, Oveido, FL
(2/25/2014)
Five people stand in front of a brick wall with displayed butterfly collections. They are casually dressed and smiling.Cornell University Snodgrass and Wigglesworth Undergraduate Entomology Club (4/3/2014)
A group of ten children pose for a photo in front of a wall display of butterflies. They are dressed in casual clothing, with some standing and others kneeling on the floor. Girl Scout Troop 801, Geneva, FL (4/15/2014)
Jorge de la Cruz, FL (5/9/2014)
National Science Olympiad Entomology Team from Missouri
(5-16-2014)
National Science Olympiad Entomology Team from Northern California
(5/16/2014)
UCF Creative School Summer Camp – Group 1
(6/19/2014)
UCF Creative School Summer Camp – Group 2
(6/19/2014)
The Iacovino Family
(6-30-2014)
Cheryl & Jonathan
(7-11-2014)
Florida Virtual School, Group 1 (8-25-2014)
Florida Virtual School, Group 2 (8-25-2014)
Jen & Luca (9-30-2014)
The Lamoureux Family (10-7-2014)
The Speere & Voss Family (11-24-2014)
The Weaver & Hilligas Families (11-26-2014)
Campus Peace Action (10-12-2017)