You've done your research, you've set up your enclosure, and now you need the actual animals. Where you buy them matters. A healthy, captive-bred animal from a good source will settle in well and live a normal lifespan. A stressed, wild-caught, or poorly kept animal may arrive with parasites, arrive dehydrated, or just die within weeks for reasons that are hard to pin down.
Reptile and invertebrate expos
Expos are the best way to buy your first invertebrates, and they're worth the trip. The UK has several regular events: the BRAS (British Reptile and Amphibian Society) shows, Kempton Park reptile events, Doncaster reptile shows, and various local events around the country. Dates tend to be posted on Facebook groups and forums well in advance.
Why expos are good:
- You see the animals in person before buying. You can check for signs of health: active movement, good body condition, no visible mites or parasites.
- You talk directly to the breeder. Ask them about care, about how the animals have been kept, and about the specific lineage. Knowledgeable breeders will happily talk about this. Sellers who can't answer basic questions about a species they're selling are a red flag.
- No postage risk. Live animals in the postal system is always a gamble, especially in winter or during heatwaves. Buying at an expo eliminates transit stress entirely.
- You can compare prices. Multiple sellers at one event let you shop around.
Take a small container with some damp tissue or substrate to transport your animals home. Most sellers provide tubs, but having your own backup is sensible.
Online sellers
Plenty of reputable invertebrate sellers operate online in the UK. The convenience is obvious: wider species selection, you can browse at leisure, and stock is often updated regularly.
What to look for in an online seller:
- Clear care information on their website. A seller who provides accurate husbandry guidance cares about their animals surviving after sale.
- Reviews from other keepers. Facebook groups, forums, and Trustpilot are all useful. A seller with consistently positive feedback from experienced hobbyists is a decent bet.
- Live arrival guarantees. Most good sellers guarantee that animals arrive alive and will replace or refund if they don't. Check the terms before ordering.
- Sensible shipping practices. Animals should be packed with heat packs in cold weather, insulated packaging, and express delivery. A seller who ships invertebrates via second-class post in January is not someone you want to buy from.
- They sell captive-bred stock and say so. Wild-caught invertebrates are more likely to carry nematode parasites and less likely to thrive in captivity.
Facebook groups and forums
A lot of invertebrate trading in the UK happens through Facebook groups. Groups dedicated to isopods, beetles, spiders, and general invert keeping often have sales sections or dedicated buy/sell/swap threads. The quality varies enormously, from experienced breeders offloading surplus stock to people who bought too many and are trying to shift them.
The advantage is price. Hobbyist breeders selling surplus colonies or juveniles often charge less than commercial sellers. The disadvantage is that there's no formal consumer protection. You're trusting the seller's reputation within the community.
Ask for photos. Ask about the animals' conditions. Check whether the seller has a track record of positive feedback in the group. Don't send money to accounts with no history and no reviews.
Pet shops
General pet shops in the UK rarely stock exotic invertebrates beyond the odd tub of mealworms or a few stick insects. Specialist reptile shops sometimes carry isopods, tarantulas, and mantids alongside their reptile stock.
Quality varies. Some specialist shops have knowledgeable staff who keep inverts themselves and maintain their stock well. Others treat invertebrates as an afterthought, keeping them in unsuitable conditions with incorrect care information on the labels. If the isopods are in a bone-dry tub with no calcium and no leaf litter, the shop doesn't know what it's doing. Move on.
The advantage of buying from a physical shop is that you see exactly what you're getting. The disadvantage is limited species selection and sometimes higher prices than online or expo alternatives.
What to look for in healthy animals
Whatever the source, check the animals before you commit:
- Isopods: active when disturbed, smooth undamaged exoskeletons, no visible mites coating the animals or container surfaces.
- Millipedes: responsive when touched (they curl up, which is normal defensive behaviour), no white fuzzy growths on the body (possible fungal infection), legs moving smoothly without dragging.
- Beetle larvae: plump white or cream colour, responsive to handling (they wriggle), not discoloured or soft and dark (which can indicate infection).
- Jumping spiders: alert, tracking movement with their anterior median eyes, abdomen not shrivelled (dehydration sign). A spider that doesn't react to visual stimuli may be unwell.
- Mantids: standing upright on their legs, raptorial forelegs tucked and ready, no missing limbs (they can regenerate limbs through moults when young, but missing limbs in adults are permanent).
CITES and legality
Most commonly kept invertebrate species in the UK are not CITES-listed and can be bought and sold freely. Some tarantula species and certain beetles are regulated, which means they need paperwork proving they were captive-bred and legally obtained. Any reputable seller will have this documentation ready and be transparent about it. If a seller is evasive about where their animals came from, that's a reason to walk away.
Regardless of species, releasing non-native invertebrates into the wild is illegal under the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981. If you end up with more animals than you can keep, sell or rehome them within the hobby. Don't dump them outside.
A note on price
Cheap isn't always good and expensive isn't always better. A starter colony of Porcellio scaber for 5 quid from a hobbyist breeder with healthy, well-established stock is a better buy than a "premium" colony at triple the price from a seller with glossy branding and no real knowledge. Judge on animal quality and seller knowledge, not marketing.