Bug Business
“Go play in the weeds” is the advice entomologist and motion picture special-effects expert Steve Kutcher has for Valley kids looking for weekend and afterschool fun.
Such advice may seem old-fashioned, even dangerous, but keep in mind that Steve Kutcher was a kid at a time when there was no TV and his Valley neighborhood around Vanowen Street and Etiwanda Avenue had plenty of empty lots, rather than condos.
He spent his time in the weeds, collecting bugs.
These days, Kutcher, who now lives in Arcadia, is an established insect expert and environmental educator who, as he puts it, “works in Hollywood to support my environmental stuff.”
He has given hundreds of lectures at schools and colleges and is an organizer of an insect fair each fall at the Los Angeles County Arboretum.
His movie career as a “bug wrangler” started with “Arachnophobia” and includes “Jurassic Park.” He even acted as a bug consultant on “James and the Giant Peach.” Along the way, he “wrangled” the thousands of carpenter ants that invaded Sigourney Weaver’s bed in “Copycat” and a horde of insects for the current release “Mimic.”
“I used a lot of ants to play the role of termites in ‘Mimic,’ ” he said. Ants do a better job at playing termites, he said, than termites do.
Ant buying was why he dropped by Uncle Milton Industries, the famous “ant farm” company in Westlake Village last week. He needed a few thousand ants for his latest assignment, a TV movie for Fox.
It seems that Kutcher is so busy these days and undeveloped land is so rare, he can’t always collect bugs on his own, so he relies on suppliers like Uncle Milton. Finding both the time and the natural bug habitats is a problem Kutcher shares with children.
“Places where [children] can go to learn about nature firsthand in this city are scarce,” he said. He laments the fact that overdevelopment in the Valley has eliminated most of the corner lots and other open spaces he used to forage in when he was a youngster growing up in Reseda.
“Kids need easy access to places where they can play in the weeds.”
He’s not talking about city parks, exactly, but “places where the vegetation is native, not artificially planted grass, because that doesn’t attract and support the [native] bugs kids need to observe and collect to learn about nature.”
His hope is that future Los Angeles park projects will include areas where the terrain is left completely natural rather than developed in the usual park-like style.
In the meanwhile, Kutcher says, if kids can’t find any empty lots, they might consider setting up a terrarium with plants and insects, even if they live in an apartment. Or buy one of Uncle Milton’s ant farms. The ant farms “do provide a service. Observing ants serves a valuable purpose teaching about habitats,” Kutcher said.
The Uncle Milton line of products, available at toy and pet stores, includes components of various sizes that can be hooked together rather like the parts of a space station. (Based on Uncle Milton’s 40-year track record, his stuff, it appears, holds up better than a space station.)
If ants aren’t your thing, a company called Insect Lore, located in Shafter, northwest of Bakersfield, will sell you a line of butterfly breeding kits. There’s even a transparent tent-like rig available that enables you to watch the creatures mature--before setting them free.
Another approach to learning about bugs is suggested by Sarah Thompson, Insect Zoo specialist at the Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County: “Go on an arthropod hunt right in your house or yard--on the windowsill there may me a moth; in the moist soil outside, beetles and millipedes; on the flowers, butterflies.”
Also, by calling her at the Insect Zoo, kids can find out about membership in the Lorquin Society, a professional entomology group, which admits serious young bug collectors.
Finally, there are guided bug-study programs available monthly to kids ages 4-8 at Topanga State Park. The next one meets at 11 a.m. Sept. 20.
BE THERE
Young entomologists can visit the Insect Zoo at the Natural History Museum of Los Angeles, 900 Exposition Blvd. (213) 763-3558. The Topanga State Park offers monthly insect programs. “Creepy Crawlies” will be the Sept. 20 program at 11 a.m. The park entrance is on Entrada Road off Topanga Canyon Boulevard. (818) 888-6856. Ant farms may be purchased at some pet, toy and discount stores or by calling Uncle Milton Industries at (818) 707-0800. Butterfly-raising kits may be purchased at some garden and school supply stores or by calling Insect Lore at (800) LIVE BUG. To contact Steve Kutcher about school presentations, call (626) 836-0322.
