A hotel ballroom near Point West filled with tarantulas, butterflies, beetles, and at least one grown adult dressed as a red fire ant this weekend, as Sacramento hosted its first-ever Bugtopia — Insects & Plants Expo. Thousands of attendees, including families with young children, wandered past tables of pinned specimens and live invertebrates, some walking away with new pets tucked into carrying containers.
The inaugural expo opened at the DoubleTree by Hilton Sacramento, according to the Sacramento Bee, which reported that turnout exceeded organizer Ethan Robbins's expectations. Advance ticket holders were let in starting at 9:30 a.m. Saturday, with general admission opening at 10 a.m. and on-site parking available for $12 a vehicle, according to event listings for Bugtopia. Tickets could be purchased online or at the door, per the Bee's reporting.
Robbins, who already runs a reptile business, organized Bugtopia as a way to expand into insects, and he told the Bee that the event brings insect experiences to people stuck working nine-to-five jobs. He said Bugtopia will definitely return next year.
Vendors Push Education Over Fear
The expo's sales floor featured specialized exhibitors including Nico's Nature, Mystic Butterflies, Moonstruck Botanica, Gorgia Beetle Supplies, Bodacious Bugs, and The Trappery, offering everything from live invertebrates to rare plants, according to the expo's exhibitor listings. The Bee reported that vendors emphasized education and sustainability throughout the event, and also showcased bug-themed hats, antennae, and other merchandise for sale. Bugtopia offered both pinned and live insects, including colorful butterflies and hairy tarantulas, alongside a workshop where attendees could try their hand at pinning an insect themselves.
Nick McMurray, who runs a public outreach program about insects, told the Bee that Americans often grow up learning to fear bugs. He said he wants curiosity to replace some of that fear, noting that bugs are among the most important organisms on the planet. McMurray traced his own fascination back to childhood, when he became captivated with insects while turning over logs in the woods, per the same account.
A Fire Ant Costume and Two New Beetle Pets
Among the attendees was Elizabeth Slagboom, who works at the Sacramento-Yolo Mosquito and Vector Control District, an agency established in 1946 under California's Mosquito Abatement Act that provides year-round mosquito surveillance and control across Sacramento and Yolo counties. Slagboom attended Bugtopia dressed as a red fire ant, a costume she made the night before, and told the Bee that studying and working with mosquitoes allows her to help people.
Not every attendee left empty-handed. The Bee reported that the Bella family left Bugtopia with two death-feigning beetles — one male and one female. Bugtopia attracted a mix of bug enthusiasts, curious families, and collectors browsing for their next specimen or pet, the Bee's report noted.
Part of a Bigger Regional Bug Boom
Bugtopia's debut lands just days after the 6th Annual Reptilian Nation Expo drew thousands of attendees to the Roebbelen Center in Roseville, where more than 100 vendors sold exotic pets, arachnids, and isopods across 100,000 square feet, as Hoodline's coverage of that Roseville expo detailed. It's the latest sign of a growing appetite in the region for niche animal and insect trade shows, following the long-running Sacramento Reptile Show, which has drawn more than 18,000 annual attendees and expanded over two decades from hotel ballrooms into a full Cal Expo event, according to ABC10.
UC Davis's R.M. Bohart Museum of Entomology, home to the seventh-largest insect collection in North America with more than 7 million specimens, serves as the region's primary hub for public entomology education, per the Bohart Museum. The museum has also pointed to growing public engagement with insect keeping and specimen curating, fueled in part by community science tools like iNaturalist and BugGuide.net that let hobbyists share photos and get help with identification.
Regulations Behind the Hobby
Not every bug can simply be bought and carried home across state lines. Under Section 6305 of the California Food and Agricultural Code, importing or transporting live insects within the state generally requires a written permit from state or federal agricultural officials, though common beneficial species and feeder insects such as Dubia roaches and house crickets are exempt, according to the Legal Information Institute. Federal rules enforced by the USDA Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service also require a PPQ 526 permit to move live plant pests across state lines, though dried or preserved insect specimens generally skip that requirement, which is part of why pinned-bug vendors face fewer hurdles than live insect breeders selling across state borders.
That regulatory backdrop sits alongside the everyday work of agencies like Slagboom's vector control district, which monitors mosquito traps throughout the summer and promotes prevention guidance to reduce the risk of West Nile virus transmission in the Sacramento Valley. It's a reminder that even as Bugtopia celebrated beetles and butterflies as objects of curiosity and even fashion, some insects remain squarely in the crosshairs of public health work just down the road.
