Terms and Conditions

By placing an order with The Insect Farm, you are agreeing to the following terms and conditions.

Our terms and conditions may be reviewed and rewritten by us, at any time, without any notice.

Any content on this website is the property of The Insect Farm and may not be copied for commercial purposes in any fashion without our written consent.

We cannot be held responsible if your account is misused. We recommend that all accounts are assigned a secure password and we strongly advise that you don't share your password with anyone.

Shipping

All shipments will be dispatched on a Tuesday. All orders placed after midnight on Monday will be carried over to the following week.

All livestock orders within the UK can be shipped using one of the following services:

Royal Mail Special Delivery Guaranteed (before 1pm) – £12.50
DC Express before 12:00 service – £12.50
DC Express before 16:00 service – £10.00

Please note that Royal Mail Special Delivery is a guaranteed next day service, whereas the DC Express services are estimated next day delivery services and are not guaranteed.

There must be someone home to receive and sign for the parcel.

You must ensure that you provide the correct delivery address and details.

Once we have dispatched your order, you will receive a confirmation email with tracking details.

Europe: As of 01/01/2021 we are unable to ship live animals to Europe. This is something we are working on finding a solution to, but for now the new rules and regulations combined with shipping delays as a result of Brexit make this unviable for us.

In the run up to a show, we may also include a free delivery option for that specific show. This allows customers to place a pre-order without paying for postage. Please do not select this option if you wish to have your order delivered to your home address, as parcels will not be dispatched until delivery payment has been made.

Terms and Conditions Concerning Live Animals

All livestock supplied by The Insect Farm is captively bred either by ourselves or our suppliers unless otherwise stated. We do from time to time import livestock from breeders in other countries which for the purposes of introducing fresh bloodlines are sometimes captively farmed or wild caught. This will always be clearly stated in the information section of the species product page.

To give customers a good idea of exactly what species they are committing to purchase, as well as scientific and common name we usually provide a photographic representation of that animal. These photographs are a representation only and do not necessarily depict the exact animal that you will receive.

Please note: Common names, where provided are not reliable for identification purposes as they regularly change and many animals have a number of common names. Not to mention the vast number of invertebrates that do not have an assigned common name. Therefore, we will do our best to provide accurate common names, but there may be instances where we use common names that some people find unfavourable or even common names that we have assigned ourselves if no common name exists for that species.

Individuals of a species can vary greatly in size and colour from one individual to another. Therefore, all sizes, colourations and patterns shown are an approximate guideline only.

To ensure livestock being packed is healthy at the point of dispatch every individual undergoes a health check before being packed. We provide accurate and helpful care advice for all livestock displayed on our site. Please ensure you understand the requirements of the livestock you are purchasing before you place your order. We can only guarantee live arrival (within the UK) and are not responsible for the conditions in which the animals are housed once they are in your care.

Live arrival guarantee

For all orders shipped within the UK we will guarantee live arrival. In the unlikely event that an animal is deceased on arrival you must contact us immediately. We will require photographic evidence for our records. Upon receiving this information, we can;

Send out a replacement with your next order
Refund the value of the livestock
Issue a credit note to the same value as the livestock

However, we will not refund the cost of postage as we are not in control of the livestock while in transit.

Please note that the live arrival guarantee will be void under the following conditions:

There is no one home to accept and sign for the parcel resulting in the courier’s refusal to deliver the parcel.
You the customer, fail to provide the correct delivery address and details.

We do not guarantee live arrival of livestock shipped to anywhere outside the UK. These orders are placed at your own risk. It is also your responsibility to check with customs to make sure the species that you are importing is permitted. We will not take any responsibility if a parcel is seized by customs.

Terms and conditions regarding butterflies, moths and their pupae / cocoons

We guarantee that all butterfly/moth larvae/pupae will arrive in good condition, will not have hatched in transit and are free of signs of parasites, disease or infection.

In the unlikely event that pupae have hatched in transit you must contact us immediately. We will require photographic evidence for our records. Upon receiving this information, we can;

Send out a replacement with your next order
Refund the value of the livestock
Issue a credit note to the same value as the livestock

However, we will not refund the cost of postage as we are not in control of the livestock while in transit.

We are only able to guarantee the health of the larvae/pupae for up to 24 hours from arrival, as we cannot control the conditions in which they are being kept.

We are not able to guarantee the successful emerging rate of any of the butterfly or moth species as we are not in control of the rearing conditions. The emergence rate in the information section of each species product page is a guideline only and not a guarantee.

We are not able to guarantee the adult life span of any butterflies or moths. The adult life span in the information section of each species product page is a guideline only and not a guarantee.

Other terms and conditions regarding livestock

The Insect Farm does not knowingly supply livestock to anyone under the age of 18. We assume that all livestock purchases are being made by persons over the age of 18. If you are under the age of 18 you must ask an adult to place the order on your behalf.

The Insect Farm reserves the right to refuse any order as we see fit.

The Insect Farm reserves the right to alter prices as we see fit and without any notice.

Prices are all inclusive of VAT.

Payment must be made upfront before the dispatch or collection of orders. A deposit must be made in order to reserve livestock.

The Insect Farm may choose to postpone delivery of livestock if we feel that adverse weather conditions might negatively affect the welfare of livestock. We will keep you informed of these decisions as they occur and rearrange the delivery once weather conditions become more favourable.

We can arrange for you to collect livestock from shows/exhibitions we are attending but we will need to receive the order at least 2 days prior to the start of the show/exhibition. We may require a deposit to hold livestock to be collected at shows/ exhibitions.

The Insect Farm cannot be held responsible for any deaths or injuries, caused by our livestock.

Returns Policy

Please contact us as soon as possible if for any reason you are unhappy with an order you have received from us so we can resolve any problems. We will offer to replace or refund any faulty equipment / dry goods received from us, once those items have been returned to us for inspection.

Due to the nature of live animals, we do not accept returns of livestock except where covered under our Live Arrival Guarantee.

If a customer changes their mind or decides they are no longer able or willing to care for an animal purchased from us, we are happy to discuss taking the animal back into our care in the interests of animal welfare. However, no refund, credit note or exchange will be issued in these circumstances.

Any costs associated with returning livestock to us, including transport or delivery costs, will remain the responsibility of the customer unless otherwise agreed in writing by The Insect Farm.

We strongly encourage customers to fully research the care requirements and long-term commitment involved before purchasing any livestock.

This returns policy does not affect your statutory rights.

All customer data stored by The Insect Farm is used in order to contact you regarding any orders you have placed with us. We will not sell your data to a third party. All data is stored securely on a company desktop which is only accessed by The Insect Farm business partners Mark and Harriet Nelson. The information saved by The Insect Farm includes customers names, email address and delivery details only. No bank details are seen or stored by The Insect Farm. All Debit/Credit card payments are processed via Stripe or PayPal. If you require us to remove your details from our system then please contact us at theinsectfarm@yahoo.com or via our contact us page.

Delivery and Tracking Information

By placing an order with The Insect Farm, you agree that we may share your name, delivery address, email address and telephone number with our chosen courier or postal service providers solely for the purpose of fulfilling and delivering your order.

This information may also be used by the courier to provide tracking updates, delivery notifications and to contact you regarding your parcel where necessary.

We only share the information required to complete the delivery of your order and do not sell or share your personal data with third parties for marketing purposes. All personal data is handled in accordance with applicable UK GDPR and data protection legislation.