What kinds of pet bugs can hobbyists and educators buy at Bugs In Cyberspace?

Updated

Bugs In Cyberspace sells live pet invertebrates — insects, arachnids, millipedes, centipedes, and scorpions — to individual hobbyists and to institutions such as zoos, museums, universities, and classrooms. If you are a beginner or an educator looking for a supplier, the site is worth checking, but you should read its Terms of Service before placing a live order, since purchases are governed by those terms.

What the store actually offers

The site describes itself as supplying "live pet insects, arachnids, and other live bugs," and it has operated as an online informational resource for pet-bug hobbyists since 1997. Its stated audience spans both casual keepers and formal education settings.

The product range named on the site includes:

  • Live pet bugs (general)
  • Insects
  • Spiders
  • Millipedes
  • Centipedes
  • Scorpions

Featured products and example prices

The homepage lists a small set of featured items, which gives a concrete sense of what a first purchase might look like:

Product Listed price Status shown
Captive Bred Vinegaroon $19.99 Add to cart (rated 5.00 out of 5)
Cloud Jumper Paraphidippus fartilis Spiderling $50.00 Read more / email when available
Phrynus maesi $30.00 Read more / email when available

Two of the three featured items were out of stock at the time of the listing, with an "email me when available" option instead of a cart button. That is a useful signal: availability shifts, and not everything shown is purchasable at any given moment.

Current stock notes

The site's announcements give a live inventory snapshot:

  • Millipedes have been restocked.
  • Jumping spider and desert beetle inventory "continue to be strong."
  • Ice packs are included on all shipments as needed, at no extra cost.

Shipping conditions that affect what you can order

The announcements describe a seasonal shipping policy rather than a fixed one:

  • A 2-day shipping method with the live guarantee was reinstated after weather cooled.
  • To select that cheaper shipping option, your weather must be between 33 and 83 degrees.

So the answer to "what can I buy" partly depends on when and where you are ordering. If your local temperature falls outside that range, the cheaper guaranteed option may not be selectable.

Is it suitable for beginners and educators?

For educators, the fit is explicit: the site states it supplies live invertebrates to zoos, museums, universities, and classrooms across the country. That makes it a plausible source for classroom or exhibit material rather than only a hobbyist shop.

For beginners, the featured list is a reasonable starting point — a captive-bred vinegaroon at $19.99 is the lowest-priced example shown, while a spiderling at $50.00 is a higher-commitment purchase. Note that "captive bred" is called out specifically for the vinegaroon, which matters if you prefer animals that were not wild-collected.

Two practical cautions before you buy:

  1. Read the Terms of Service page first — the site explicitly asks living-purchase customers to do so, and states that buying through the website means you agree to those terms.
  2. Check availability rather than assuming the catalog is in stock; several featured items were listed as unavailable with a notify option.

What the site does not tell you here

The provided information does not include a full species catalog, a complete price list, payment methods, or the specific terms of the live delivery guarantee. If those details determine your decision, you will need to check the individual product pages and the Terms of Service directly.