click to cure your fear of bugs

As an entomologist, I always appreciate how much of an advocate Maya is for arthropods 🥺 I feel like so many people say they "love animals" but absolutely hate all bugs. I'm so happy Maya has love in her heart for everything and is trying to combat insectophobia with education!

The roach on the date going under the table due to social anxiety? Cute. Her date joining her? ADORABLE.

A lot of people would say that these weren't good first dates, but I think Barbara and Barbara and Barbara and Barbara have a lot in common!

I used to be completely terrified of bugs, especially spiders. Channels like yours have really helped me change and develop a better mindset about all these creatures that are actually super essential to our entire ecosystem. Thanks for what you do, please keep it up!

i read a poem recently that i really loved talking about bugs and why we shouldn't kill them, i wont post the whole poem but it ends with:
"if i am ever caught in the wrong place at the wrong time, just being alive and not bothering anyone, i hope i am greeted with the same kind of mercy"
and it helped me re-frame the way i think about bugs. The poem is by Rudy Francisco if you'd like to read the whole thing :)

barbara & baked bean deserve the world, but thank you maya and the alveus team to helping these animals and also teaching us about them

Watching Maya’s content has genuinely helped me with bugs. I used to be very afraid to the point of not wanting to even get close enough to one with a fly swatter. After watching a lot of Maya’s content about them and seeing how she handles them, I was able to calmly coax a spider onto a piece of paper and let it outside without even having anxiety. They really are just misunderstood ❤

When I was a kid, probably 7 or 8, I found a bunch of what I THOUGHT were butterfly cocoons, I had never seen one before and butterflies were the only insects I knew of at the time that came out of cocoons. I ended up bringing probably a dozen of these "cocoons" into my bedroom, my child brain thought was: they'll grow in their cocoons and I'll come home one day and my room will be full of butterflies and then ill open the windows and let them go and it will be sooo cool. Well turns out they weren't butterflies, they were praying mantis, and my mom came into my room to wake me up for school one morning and found them ALLLLL hatched and all over the place. I still think it was kinda cool, but definitely a lesson learned. Now I'm just imagining what her reaction would've been had they been cockroaches.

I used to have a neutral-negative relationship with insects until I took an entomology course in college where we had to make an insect collection. Through the process of making my collection my opinion of insects, arachnids and other bugs has 100% flipped. They do so much for the environment, their bodies are fascinating and exquisitely constructed, and they have such a range of beautiful colors. It's true with pretty much anything but the more I learned about insects and arachnids, the less I feared and disliked them.

What Maya and Alveus does with their bugs and animal ambassadors is so very important. Interacting with the animals in a respectful and non-fearful way while letting people know more about them is so so important to changing perceptions about uncharismatic creatures like the roaches. Thank you for all y'all do at Alveus!

maya literally made me fall in love with insects, fake it till u make it guys

As a kid, I was obsessed with bugs. I’ve had pet beetles, butterflies, ants, praying mantises, ladybugs, cockroaches, and that’s not counting the ones I befriended in the garden. The worst thing about that was that other kids found it funny to threaten to step on bugs in front of me, bringing me to literal tears. (I cried over a bee getting killed in 9th grade. This wasn’t just an elementary school thing.) Love what you’re doing, showing these lil guys in a positive light. I hope it brings people to realize how important insects are and why we should treat them with respect.

I like how Maya teaches about every species of animal, not only the popular ones

I used to... dislike bugs, especially spiders. But you helped me to see them more positive. Your way of portraying them is sooo lovely. Thanks for helping me overcome my stupid fear!

Thanks to Maya letting me know that Cockroaches are cool, I purposely leave my house a mess. Now I live with 300+ cockroaches

this is actually one of my favorite videos from your channel. This comment is from someone who doesn't like bugs. Love your content maya

I've always adored bugs ever since I was a little kid. I even got a tattoo of a spider because I love them so much, and to me they represent facing your fears. it makes me sad when people hate bugs and kill them for no reason. thank you for teaching people to be more compassionate towards them

I love bugs!! Cockroaches are amazing ❤

I picked up a cockroach that snuck into class once when I was 8 years old. The teacher and the rest of the children were terrified but I picked it up and took it outside. Innocence is a gift. Be kind to bugs!

I had an illustration project (i’m a fine artist/illustrator) I had to do of “bugs having a party” so I pitched beetle birthday and it is currently my favorite thing I’ve ever done in my portfolio lol. It’s a painting of stag beetles wearing birthday hats and carrying presents. Same vibes here.

I die every time I see that old clip of Charlie absolutely losing his shit over a roach 🤣🤣🤣