diy'bug-a-zoo'

How to build your own Bug-A-Zoo

I built my first 'Bug-A-Zoo' for my daughter when she was around 16. I was living in a small adobe casita at the back of a ten acre vineyard in Corrales, New Mexico which was irrigated and had an abundance of bugs. None of this is relevant to building a 'Bug-A-Zoo' but the setting was rather inspirational.

Anyway, I wrote there most nights using a very bright desk lamp which was tilted towards the window which, of course, attracted numerous bugs. Actually, only a few were actually bugs, most were insects. 

We were examining them from the inside looking out but the deep, black background of the vineyard made that a bit difficult so I decide to back light them using a white card. Voila! A “Bug-A-Zoo” as Dawn called it.

So here’s how you can build your own Bug-A-Zoo:

Take a piece of non-transparent white paper or card. I used a large 8.5 by 11 inch white sheet of writing paper and taped it to a similar size of cardboard. That insured that the paper would not be transparent.

Then I taped one long edge to the OUTSIDE of my window.

On the opposite, long edge of the paper and cardboard, I bent up the two corners. Not much, about an inch, just enough so that edge would stand away from the window. This allows the bugs – I mean, insects – to crawl between the window pane and the white background you are providing.

Now, at night of course, shine a light out your window to attract the insects. Shine the light out along the open edge of your paper so that most of it shines out to attract them but enough spills over to illuminate the white zone.

Now the hard part, wait.

Of course, this works best in spring, summer and fall depending on where you live.