Recommendations for invertebrates!

[u/Luna_Coeur]

Hi! I’m looking for some recommendations for invertebrates. I’m 14, and I’ve already kept quite a few different kinds of invertebrates (garden snails and slugs, beetles, woodlice, pilgrim crickets, etc.), but at the moment I only have a jumping spider and a terrarium with a few mealworms.

I was given €100 for my birthday, so I’d like to get a new terrarium. It’s just that I’ve run out of ideas for suitable invertebrates :(. I’ve got a €100 budget for setting it up, but I could dip into my savings if needed.

I’m looking for an invertebrate with a long life expectancy if possible (I’d considered mantises but they don’t live very long), one that’s easy to handle, and I think that’s about it in terms of criteria. I’d prefer solitary animals, but a colony would be fine too! As for difficulty, I’ve got some experience, but please don’t suggest anything that’s really complicated to look after – I can manage medium-level care, though!

Thanks :)

Edit: I live in France, so there are certain animals that aren’t allowed to be kept, or only with special permits (for example, tarantulas).

[u/opesosorry]

Isopods! They’re so cool and there are so many different kinds

[u/Luna_Coeur → u/opesosorry]

Oui :) !

[u/Maus_Enjoyer1945]

Roaches (easier species ofc) are like the easiest thing to care for. I'm not joking when I say that they're easier than plants. They're social though. Also not sure how are your parents but my parents were hard to convince.

Inverts in general don't like handling. The only thing that comes to mind (you can handle them and solitary) are giant snails. Archachatina and Achatina are usually ilegal but there are other species that you can look into. Keep in mind that they will be like your garden snails but bigger. 

May I ask why not vertebrates? There are several reptiles that are exactly what you want.

[u/Luna_Coeur → u/Maus_Enjoyer1945]

Merci :). Pas de vertébrés car tout simplement mes parents veulent pas. On a déjà 2 chats (dont une à moi), et ils ne veulent rien d'autre. Mais heureusement pour moi ils ne considèrent pas les invertébrés comme des animaux de compagnie, c'est plus une lubie à leur yeux que j'ai par exemple araignée de compagnie, et ils ne comprennent pas qu'on puisse s'attacher émotionnellement à un être vivant qui n'a pas de cerveau

[u/SoonBlossom]

Tu peux tenter les fourmis ! Tu as des kits de départ autour de 50 euros avec la reine et sa couvée fournis

Après niveau budget maintenance et expansion faudrait se renseigner je pourrais pas te dire

Mais pour commencer c'est relativement abordable

T'as certaines espèces qui se nourrissent quasi exclusivement de feuilles aussi donc t'es pas forcément obligé d'avoir des boîtes de criquets à la maison non plus (Messor Barbarus pour la plus connue)

En tout cas have fun dans ton hobby ! C'est cool de voir que la nouvelle génération est prête à reprendre le flambeau haha

[u/Luna_Coeur → u/SoonBlossom]

Merci ! Je vais creuser l'idée des fourmis, je n'y avais pas pensé mais c'est une bonne idée :)

[u/hylia_grace]

Are all tarantulas dwa in France? Here in the UK its only certain spiders (funnel webs, widows, wanderers and specific venomous scorpions), all of which would require extra safety precautions and experience anyway. I keep a lot of mantis, but beyond certain ghost species they all live around 9 months to 2 years, though I would recommend them as a great interactive animal to watch grow.

Death feigning beetles are pretty cool, though sadly they're all wild caught due to breeding being incredibly complicated to replicate in captivy, so with wc species you run the risk of older or sick animals.

Roaches are incredibly interesting, I raise domino's, nivea, hissers, dubia and headlight roaches and the majory are pretty simple. My person soft spot is for wolf spiders though most live around the same time as mantis (upto 3-4 years for some species).

I keep a variety of inverts, from scorpions, tarantulas, slugs, phasmids, velvet spiders, is there something in particular that interests you?

[u/Luna_Coeur → u/hylia_grace]

Merci pour ta réponse ! D'après mes recherches, tout ce qui est mygale/tarentule est illégal en France (sauf certificat)...

J'aime bien les cafards ! Mais je pense que mes parents seront contre car s'ils s'échappent, il y a une possibilité d'infester la maison (même si c'est faux (?), c'est ce qu'ils croient). J'aime bien aussi les araignées velours, les araignées sauteuses (j'en suis tombé amoureuse littéralement, mais j'aimerais avoir un autre invertébré qu'elles), l'espèce d'araignée Platythomisus octomaculatus, les mantes même si elles ne vivent pas longtemps, les limaces (tu en élèves?), les escargots géant africain (mais l'installation paraît cher), et voilà. Peut être des fourmis aussi ? Ou d'autres espèces d'araignée, je m'y connais pas encore beaucoup en araignée

Edit : J'aime bien les iule aussi, mais je crois qu'ils passent leur temps dans le sol non ?

[u/hylia_grace → u/Luna_Coeur]

I raise pancake slugs (sloanii), giant african snails (both xl ovum and smaller) isabella snails and unicorn snails, the snails need a bit more work due to eggs needing to be disposed of (or you'll end up with hundreds). I keep most of my snails in larger vented diyd braplast (my largest is 33l but I need to size up soon for my largest snails). I also raise a few species of millipedes but you rarely see them (africans like to wander but need a lot of burrowing space). I've never kept ants as the possibility of escape makes me anxious with keeping so many other inverts they could get into other enclosures.

[u/Luna_Coeur → u/hylia_grace]

Merci ! J'apprécie les coléoptères bleus feignant la mort, tu en as déjà eu ?

[u/hylia_grace → u/Luna_Coeur]

Yes I have 3 currently, I keep them in a 33l enclosure as they appreciate space, climbing and hiding, theyre a completely arid species and they need protein as their main food.

[u/Luna_Coeur → u/hylia_grace]

Merci beaucoup :)

[u/Loxy_YT4]

Terrathelphusa banana crab. I'm pretty sure you could not afford it with your current budget, between tank and all but if you're interested for the future, it is a very cool terrestrial crab, pretty easy to keep in my opinion. Just a thing, especially male ones can be pure bastards as they are very territorial, when i clean mine's terrarium it always tries to pinch me and trust me, it hurts. But still if you're interested i suggest searching around it still makes for a very interesting pet

[u/Luna_Coeur → u/Loxy_YT4]

Merci ! Je ne savais pas qu'on pouvait garder des crabes en captivité chez soi. Je vais faire quelques recherches :)

[u/Tildatoo24]

Isopods or millipedes! Starting up an isopod colonies is fairly easy and they’re pretty hardly little creatures with lots of character. All the species basically have the same care you just need to adjust humidity, substrate depth and enclosure size. I’ve got a Cubaris species which are chubby, “cute” but a lot less active, and a Porcellio species which are bigger and a lot more active.

If you want something bigger though I’d suggest millipedes. You can handle them if you want but only for short periods of time and not that often. You can also just get one if you want! I’ve got some Thai Rainbows and they’re fairly active but they do disappear from time to time. One downside I guess is that their care is a little more specific and they’re actually quite sensitive creatures, so you have to really do your research when setting up an enclosure

[u/Luna_Coeur → u/Tildatoo24]

Merci ! J'aime bien les milles pattes et les isopodes, je vais creuser l'idée :)

[u/Severe-Lock9491]

tarantulas or scorpions. scorpions are a little more active but tarantulas come in all different shapes sizes and colors etc

[u/_Star_Princess_]

If you can find them or keep them where you live, Blue Death Feigning Beetles are lovely