FAQs

If you have ordered a Live kit or cup, then the cycle has already begun and the caterpillars should be removed from the parcel as soon as possible after arrival.

Please click here to view our Butterfly Kit Instructions.

Please visit our Information page or for more videos visit our Youtube channel.

No, there is usually no need to sign for your package unless your order is particularly large, in which case we may have sent it with a courier, or if you have paid additional for a courier service.

We strongly suggest, however, that you are prepared to open your package immediately upon receipt. 

You can find all our Insect Instruction Guides here Insect Lore’s Live Insect Instructions clicking here 

We are a small team and endeavour to answer your emails as soon as possible.  The office is closed at the weekends and Bank Holidays, so please allow us some time to catch up on our emails upon our return.

We sometimes find that our responses are filtered into spam/junk folders, please check this before contacting us once more.

Our parent company in the USA also has a very similar website, so it is possible you may have contacted them in error previously.

Yes! It’s actually faster and easier to redeem your voucher online! When you are prepared to receive your live insects, redeem your voucher using the 'Redeem Voucher' section on the menu bar.

Unfortunately, if your voucher was part of a kit we have no way of tracing your voucher code. We are unable to replace these, as each code is unique to your kit.

If your voucher was purchased directly from us as an individual item only, not part of a kit, we may have a log of the code, please contact us via chat or by email with your order number and we will check for you.

Cups of caterpillars can be purchased without a voucher here.

Chances are you probably meant to order the live product and not the voucher version, both options are normally side by side on the product pages.

You can redeem the voucher at no cost using the 'Redeem Voucher' section on the menu bar.

We regret any confusion, the date we ask you to chose is the send out/dispatch date, not a delivery date.

Delivery for Mainland UK is normally 1-3 working days from dispatch, or up to 1 week for other areas.

These times can be slightly extended around Bank Holidays.

Please make sure you are entering the voucher code as it is written, including the hyphens with no spaces.

Sometimes your device may add a hidden space at the beginning or end of the code, please check this is not the case.

If you continue to have problems please contact us via our online chat service or our contact us page.

You may have a US voucher, unfortunately the voucher is not valid on our website as it was made for distribution in America only by our parent company.

Please contact us via online chat or the 'Contact Us' page and we can assist.

If you have tried to redeem the voucher already and come out of the process without completing it, the website will put a 45 minute block on the code so it cannot be redeemed twice.

This block will automatically be removed when the 45 minutes have passed and you should be able to redeem the voucher as normal.

Some of our Vouchers have a redemption fee on them, normally the kit that they came in will have been sold to you at a reduced cost to reflect this fee.

The website will not add the standard P&P charge onto your order unless you add additional items into your basket ('Special Price' items added during the voucher redemption are excluded from shipping costs).  As soon as you add any other items, the P&P charge will kick in as your redemption fee only covers your voucher Insects and no other items.

Unfortunately, we have no log of your code if the order was not completed.  Please always complete your order until a confirmation number appears on the screen and check this is followed up by an email from us.

If you have not cleared your browser history since, you should be able to find the voucher code in the URL from the date you attempted the redemption.  Alternatively your device may have remembered the code and could autofill it if you can find the first letter or number from the code used.  Try entering numbers and letters in the voucher redemption box and see if anything has been stored.

Cups of Caterpillars can also be purchased without a voucher, please use this link.

Yes! It’s actually faster and easier to redeem your voucher online! When you are prepared to receive your live insects, redeem your voucher using the 'Redeem Voucher' section on the menu bar.

If you have an e-gift card code, continue to shop as normal and when at the basket page add the code to the 'Apply Gift Card Code' box and click on 'Add Gift Card', this will apply the code to your basket.

You can carry funds over if you don't spend the full amount.

Please do not enter your e-gift card code on the 'Redeem Voucher' page.

Unfortunately, if your voucher was part of a kit we have no way of tracing your voucher code. We are unable to replace these, as each code is unique to your kit.

If your voucher was purchased directly from us as an individual item only, not part of a kit, we may have a log of the code, please contact us via chat or by email with your order number and we will check for you.

Cups of caterpillars can be purchased without a voucher here.

All of our Kit Instructions can be found in the Help Centre on our website.

Please use this link to dowload the Stick Insect Instructions.

No, the eggs do not change in size etc. and can take up to 8 weeks to hatch.

It is unusual for already hatched insects to perish.  Please check the list of below possible causes in case one may have been an issue:

*The food may be contaminated, so either chemicals have been used on it or near it (such as weed control, grass treatments), or it has been collected from somewhere with high pollution
*Have cleaning chemicals, air fresheners etc. have been used nearby to the habitat?
*The stick insects have been kept in direct sunlight or near a heat source
*The habitat has not been misted with water weekly or more, to create humidity

Stick insects will eat Ivy, Privet or Bramble.  Be careful to source the food from an area free from pesticides or away from roadside pollution. 

We have found it is best to choose a food source and then stick to it.  Your stick insects do not need a varied diet (they can be quite fussy!).

If your habitat requires prior set up, please do this before you receive the ants, as they will need to be transferred over as soon as possible.

As the ants are very agile, we advise placing them in the fridge for about 20 mins before you transfer them, this will make them slightly docile and less likely to try and escape!  If your ants have arrived in soil, try and separate them as much as possible as the soil may cause an issue if transferred into the Super Forest Ant or Ant Hill.

Yes, the dome of the Live Ant Hill along with the small air holes in the lid provide enough air for their tiny lungs.

No, do not open the Live Ant Hill® or Super Forest Ant to touch your ants.

No, the ants should remain within the Ant Hill or Super Forest Ant for the entirety of their life cycle. Without a queen they will not survive outside to form their own colony. Their life cycle should last 2-4 weeks, possibly longer.

Yes!

To order an Ant Hill refill click here.

To order a Super Forest Ant refill click here.

We endeavour to dispatch your order on the chosen send out date.  Sometimes there may be a slight delay as the kits are sent to us from overseas before we can forward them on to you.

From your order dispatch - delivery to the UK Mainland normally takes between 1-3 working days after send out. For orders that are being dispatched overseas, delivery can take 5-7 working days.

Once your kit arrives, cut out the lined section marked on the white paper and fold to make an accordion, and place in the bottom of the breeding tub.  Empty the larvae and food onto the paper in the bottom and secure the lid, now all you need to do is sit back and observe!

The cycle is around 21 days in total and the larvae should be left undisturbed as much as possible during this time.  Throughout the cycle the larvae will grow and shed multiple times, eventually becoming a nymph before emerging as a Ladybird.  Please read the instruction guide for more details on the cycle so you know what to expect at each stage.

The larvae will shed 3 times before turning to nymphs, the small black bits are the remnants of their skin!

The larvae go through different stages of development, each involves the shedding of their shell.

After three sheddings they will turn to nymphs and become immobile for around 8 days, before emerging as adult ladybirds.  Sometimes you just need to be a little patient with them!

The ladybirds can emerge as both red with black spots, or black with red spots.

We can send the non-live part of the Evivo kit out all year round, however we can only include the shrimp during the months of April to October as they are very heat sensitive.

If you order outside of April to October, we will send the non-live part of the kit and the shrimp will follow in April.

Please click here to view the Giant African Land Snail Instructions

You will need to provide a plastic or glass tank with lid.

Fill the tank to a depth of at least 5cm with coir (coconut fibre)/peat/top soil/Vermiculite or Sphagnum Moss
available from pet shops, garden centres and on-line (depending on which product you decide to go with).

You need to keep the substrate damp but not wet (so it sticks to your hand but without puddles of water). Once
damp you can maintain this easily by spraying a couple of times a day with water.

Snails like to hide out, so providing a place/s to hide such as an overturned plant pot is a bonus.

To grow and maintain a healthy shell provide something like a cuttlefish or an alternative calcium product.

Around once a month the tank will need to be thoroughly cleaned and the substrate replaced.

Between complete cleans you should also wipe the inside of the tank to remove the slime.

DO NOT USE ANY CLEANING FLUIDS AS THESE CAN HARM YOUR SNAILS.

Heat pads are only required if the snails are being kept somewhere cool, as they will go into hibernation if the temperature is too low.

The ideal temperatures for a snail are 21-25 oC.

The Giant African Land Snails are hermaphrodite, which means that they have the reproduction organs for both males and females. Although they don’t often self-fertilise, it is not unheard of, so keeping a single snail will not guarantee that you won’t end up with eggs or baby snails.

A male and female snails may begin breeding as early as 6 months old.

The snails may lay eggs several times a year, in batches of up to 200 a time.  If you do not want to be overrun with snails, you will need to destroy the eggs humanely by freezing them for 48 hours before disposing of them.

You should check the soil every few days once your snail starts to lay eggs, which can usually be found at the bottom or side of the tank.

Please do not release any into nature.

It is likely your snail has gone into hibernation during transit.

They will hibernate by going inside their shell and forming a crust over the entrance.  You can wake them up by keeping them warm and gently running the shells under tepid water.  This will help to loosen the crust and begin to wake your snail up. Keep turning the shell so that water does not sit inside and drown the snail.  

When the snail feels warm enough it will become active, you may need to give it a few minutes after its shower before it starts to emerge!

Generally speaking your silkworms will develop faster in warmer conditions and it is important to keep the temperature fairly constant.

The eggs should take around 7-21 days to hatch and should be kept somewhere warm but out of direct sunlight, at around 24 degrees Celsius.

In the early stages of development leave the lid fully on for humidity.  Once the worms reach 2-3 cm you should only loosely place the lid on top to allow air to circulate.

Once your silkworms have started hatching you will need to feed them. When they first hatch they are tiny and will not eat much to begin with but will turn into eating machines when they grow bigger!

You will need to take just enough food out of the fridge for each feed (to begin with a few bits the size of pinhead will be plenty). Be careful not to use too much during the early stages as you may begin to run out later on.

Place the food onto the mesh, try and add it as close to them as possible. Feed them enough so they eat most of it before it dries out. When they have eaten all their food or it has dried out you simply need to feed them again, this can be multiple times a day.

DO NOT PUT WATER IN WITH YOUR SILKWORMS THEY WILL GET THIS FROM THEIR FOOD.

At least every other day you should remove the droppings and any dried out food from the rearing tub, this is
best achieved by carefully removing the mesh (with the food and silkworms attached, you may have to
use the forceps to make sure all the worms are on the mesh) and placing it on the upturned lid while
you remove the droppings.

To remove the droppings just use a small paintbrush or tissue. Then carefully replace the mesh into the tub. If any silkworms have come away from the mesh just use the forceps or a small paintbrush to return them to the rearing tub.

During check out, on the basket page, please use the 'Gift options' dropdown and add the required date for your butterfly celebration in the message section.

But don't worry, a member of our team will always contact you within a few days to confirm details after your order has been placed.