Pop-up Insect and Butterfly Habitat Cage Terrarium - 24 Inches Tall

This habitat house for butterfly's is perfect for 5th grade classroom as they are looking for eggs and caterpillars on the leaves in butterfly garden. The zipper is a little hard but if careful I think it will hold up. Great for the price!

While pruning my milkweed plants last month (February) I found three industrious monarch caterpillars munching away (this is California, mind you; we don't really have what you could call a real winter and lots of life forms live here year round). I brought them inside to provide some protection against our unbelievable rains (welcome after the drought, but not so good for small caterpillars) and watched as they grew and finally turned into pupae. I bought this habitat, placed the pupae inside, and a few weeks later was rewarded with three amazing & beautiful monarchs. The cage is large enough that they did fine for a few days (on nectar substitutes) and when they became a bit restless and seemed to want to do more serious flying, I just took the habitat outside, unzipped it, and watched them float away. One of them actually returned to the habitat, which I left outside and open with the feeding station still inside; it stopped in, had a quick drink, then flew away for good.I'm always finding fascinating insects & other creatures in my garden and am delighted to have a proper environment for these them (I even found the most fetching little chocolate-colored centipede that plugged around earnestly for a few hours before I turned him loose again) -- I bring them in to watch for a day or two, then release them back into the garden. The large viewing window makes bug-watching a breeze, and the fabric is gentle on the wings of whatever happens to be inside (assuming it's winged, which centipedes and spiders aren't, of course). It folds up easily for storage, pops open in a second, and is perfect for my needs.

Was very happy with this purchase, I previously had used the plastic wonder bubble habitat to raise Monarchs, and while that one managed to keep the milk weed fresh longer, the moisture in it it also allowed for more bacterial and protozoan growth that gave me a lower rate of survival. I happily raised 19 butterflies from eggs at the same time in this unit, it was very easy to keep it clean and everybody did well together. My only complaint would be that they really did not seem to care for hanging their chrysalis on the mesh roof, which caused them to instead go and hang underneath the leaves of the plant they were living on, which of course I had to remove them from because they were cuttings that died before they were hatched. I ended up hot gluing A couple of sticks to the mesh roof so they had something more solid to hang from which seemed to work better. Out of 19, only two of them ended up naturally hanging from the mesh ceiling. I also love how easy it is to fold up and store until next year. All in all, quite happy with this purchase.

This habitat is an excellent addition to my monarch nursery. I agree with another reviewer who pointed out that it presents a hazard in that it opens FAST in the beginning. Remove that orange strap VERY carefully or you could injure yourself for sure! Don't hold it too close to your face! It's a nice size and I like the side zipper and the clear panel for viewing my growing monarch caterpillars. Another reviewer correctly pointed out that the bottom isn't totally flat; if you put one large, heavy plant in the middle, fine, but if you put several smaller, lighter containers in there as I do, you have to be VERY careful that they don't tip over when you unzip the thing. But that is typical of these habitats, and I would buy this item again even knowing this. There are two ways these habitats could be vastly improved upon: 1) a removable flat bottom that you could insert, and 2) something to hold the flap open once you unzip it, so that you could easily do the maintenance required inside the habitat without the flap falling closed all the time. If someone could come up with a habitat like that, I'd buy several.

I got this cheap (~1/4 the price) and it was entirely worth it. I dunno if I'd pay full price though. At that point I'd rather build a habitat out of scrap wood or popsicle sticks and cheesecloth.Anyway, so I raise Luna Moths and this habitat is comfortable for just such a purpose. Pictures attached show 2 adults ready for transport. They have since died (natural causes due to the short life span) and now I am tending to the offspring (who are now nearing the pupating stage). It comfortably houses several grubs (caterpillars). Once this generation moves on, then the habitat will be ready for the next - that is, it seems to be sturdy enough for continued use.I will say that cleaning it is a bit of a pain. The corners and edges are particularly difficult and require a little extra work. So if waste gets beyond the bedding (or under it) then it's tedious.Overall, I don't think I'd ever pay full retail (currently nearly $40), but if it's about 1/4-1/3 of that, it's worth it - if you're in the market for one. Otherwise, consider looking into some DIY projects for habitats for butterflies/moths and you may find it to be a cheaper venture.

Just wonderful! I bought this for the 2nd batch of caterpillars that made a home on my dill plant. The 1st batch turned into beautiful black swallowtails and got attacked by the wasps after they exited their chrysalises. I know it's nature, but the wasps were attacking them before they could even fly, landing on them and such. I couldn't bear to watch and had to shoo the wasps away. When the swallowtail butterflies came to lay their eggs again, I sprung into action and ordered this right away. Shipping was super fast and I got it in a couple of days. I was able to put my entire dill plant inside and water it without disrupting the caterpillars. It was so neat to watch them everyday. Munching away at the plant, growing bigger every day, building their chrysalises, and then emerging into beautiful butterflies. I let them practice flying for a couple of hours before releasing them. This is a must have!

I'll be using this tent for Aticus Luna offspring.Once I opened it, I was dissapointed that the enclosure was SO small, but in reality it compacts itself really tight; held together by a in built elastic. I quickly learned that It was much larger by sliding the elastic off and having the enclosure smack me in the face. Which was a absolute joy for my children.The mesh is very fine and well built to keep small larvae and it even has a mesh free "window" on the side for viewing!The two handles on the top seem really sturdy and I'm excited to have it set up to hang from my ceiling.

I bought this to use with our homeschooling butterfly project. We were able to attach our painted lady chrysalis' to the top just fine with saftey pins. The zippered door made for easy access to change their food and water. The red "transformation fluid" also came out of it really easily. It also folds us nice and thin to put away for next year!

Very good product. Currently the home to a dozen overwintering swallowtail butterflies! A good size, it fit many small potted dill plants.

This item was satisfactory however I believe the side with the zippered opening was put in upside down. It should zip so that the flap falls down but instead. it unzips such that you have to hold the flap up to keep it open. I have seen pictures of a similar one my friend has and it unzips so that the flap folds down. I had to hold it open essentially to wait for my butterflies to come out.

as described and quick delivery