Siam Insect Zoo

Ever since we moved to Chiang Mai, I have wanted to go to the Insect Zoo. We finally did a few weeks ago.

Siam Insect Zoo Information

Address: สวนสัตว์แมลงสยาม 23/4 ม.1 ต.แม่แรม อ.แม่ริม เชียงใหม่ 50180

Opening Hours:  9am-5pm

Price: 200 baht for adults and 150 baht for children (half off for locals)

The "zoo" was pretty small but it wasn't disappointing.  

The area was divided into three main sections. The first one was the all the information and the insect collections. When you first entered the building, there were a few rooms that you could walk through. The first few contained displays that each targeted a different species of bug. The rest of the rooms contained walls of (dead) bug collections. 

We walked through these rooms and out into the main area. Immediately after we emerged from the building, we were stopped by a caterpillar holding booth.When we finished with the caterpillars we had  a few choices to make. The butterfly garden, the stick insects, or the rest of the insects, reptiles, and arachnids. We chose to start with the butterflies. On the way to the garden were the tarantulas and the feeding crickets.

The garden was beautiful. There was a huge variety of plants and flowers. That meant that there was an even larger variety of butterflies. There was even a small stream that wound through the whole thing and a few small enclosures that contained unhatched butterfly chrysalises. 

 A fruit platter right next to the exit of the garden was very popular among the butterflies. I dont know who (or what) wouldn't enjoy mangos with coconut milk though.

After the garden we moved on to the stick insects. The insects were contained in many different mesh terrariums. We were allowed to take a few of the walking sticks out and hold them. Not only did they have the traditional walking sticks, but also the giant stick insects and other kinds that looked more like leaves.

     When we moved out of the walking stick enclosure, we stopped at my favorite exhibit. The Praying Mantises. Unfortunately there were only two shelves dedicated to them. There were many different kinds, from the normal green mantids to the less common dead leaf mantis. I was really hoping to see an Orchid Mantis but it was the wrong season. They did however have some Orchid Mantis egg sacks. We will have to go back sometimes to see them when they hatch.

The last section of the zoo was the miscellaneous section. They had iguanas, bearded dragons, scorpions, beetle grubs, millipedes, centipedes, etc. And most of these we were able to hold.

I personally enjoyed holding the iguanas and the scorpions the most.

Over all I really enjoyed this mini zoo and would gladly go again. I really can't wait to see the Orchid Mantis Nymphs!