Bugs through the post! (Livefood.co.uk)

Member Name: LittleEwok

Product:	Livefood.co.uk
Date:	02/05/05 (3403 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Cheap, Big selection

Disadvantages: Frozen items can be a problem

Warning, if you’re squeamish about creepy crawlies you might want to give this review a miss!

To feed my constantly growing reptilian family, I need access to a rather large amount of creepy crawlies and frozen rodents…I hear you cringing already! Livefoods is an online superstore for all stuff herp…before you ask, herp refers to reptiles, amphibians and other creepy pets like spiders, its not an STI! Livefoods sells, as you might guess from the title, live food in the form of bugs, frozen food in the form of rodents, rabbits and poultry, and a whole host of materials for housing, feeding, cleaning and caring for your creepy pets.


The range

Livefoods selection of reptile food is pretty darn good. They stock three varieties of crickets, locusts, flightless house and fruit flies, earthworms, mealworms and Morios (giant) mealworms, cockroaches and waxworms. They can be bought in small tubs with anything from 50 to 200 bugs in depending on size and species, or in bulk bags or half bulk bags of up to 1300 creepies. However unlike some other sites live foods doesn’t supply micro crickets (baby crickets for feeding to small and young herps) which I feel is a major pain.

If you like small furry animals you might wanna miss this part…live foods also does a good range of frozen foods for snakes and larger reptiles. This includes gerbils, guinea pigs, mice, rats, rabbits, day old chicks, quails and Snake Steaks, which are a processed snake food. The gerbils, chicks and quails come in small to large sizes, the rabbits and guinea pigs medium to large, and the rats and mice in pinkie (a few days old), weaner/fuzzy (around a week or two old), and small, medium and large sizes.

Livefoods also do a large range of prepared foods for reptiles, including bearded dragons, monitors and geckos, including for the gecko species that tend to live off fruit and nectar mixes. All in all, the range of foods available at Livefoods is much greater than you will find on any other site or in a pet superstore.

As well as the food, Livefoods stocks all manner of lotions and potions to keep your reps fit and healthy. There are reptile safe cage disinfectants, iodine wound cleansers (which you could no doubt get elsewhere for a fraction of the price), and a nice selection of vitamin and mineral supplements, including the harder to find varieties.

Also on offer is a good range of the standard heating and lighting equipment. All of the ranges are very extensive. In particular the heating section contains all the usual suspects of incandescent bulb heaters, spot lamps for larger enclosures, heat mats and ceramic heaters. Also available are harder to find items like reptile egg incubators, heating cables for heating racks of hatchlings, and a new product called the “reptile radiator” which I haven’t tried out yet. The range of thermostats and humidity regulators is also impressive, however the lighting section could be doing with a bit more choice of brands.

Lastly, Livefoods has a small selection of vivariums for sale, however like most shop bought reptile vivs, they are grossly overpriced, and the mesh vivariums they sell aren’t much use for anything!


The price

Livefoods tends to be quite a bit cheaper than most pet shops or other sites on the web. Their prices for insects are particularly competitive, although as with most places the locusts are rather overpriced. Certain products, like heaters and light, tend to be about five pound cheaper than you might find elsewhere, but in general it’s the savings on the food that is the best, crickets are far cheaper on here than anywhere else, and locusts too, which is good because they are incredibly expensive! The bulk bags of crickets sometimes work out slightly cheaper on another site, global live foods, but in smaller quantities Livefoods is better price wise.


Delivery

A variety of delivery options are available, with all the usual suspects…royal mail standard, signed for, special delivery, next day courier, next day before noon courier, and Saturday before noon courier. The prices are pretty cheap at £3.20 for first class post.

Every time I have ordered from here my items have arrived perfectly on time, I have yet to have any delays with them, which is just as well given what they are sending by post!

Everything arrives very securely boxed (obviously especially the live food). Small amounts of live food are sent in tubs which are handy for tipping into tanks until feeding time, but the bulk live foods come in bags which is an absolute nightmare trying to open without thousands of insects escaping into your house.

Frozen food has to be ordered in bulk for it to arrive frozen…at the least you need to order around 6-10 items to be sure it hasn’t defrosted by the time it gets to you. For smaller frozen food orders you can add an icepack to the packaging, but these cost £1.29 and I rather feel they should be free! You also need to pay for extra packaging to prevent escapes if you live somewhere other than the UK! I don’t order frozen foods from them as I like to make sure my snake food comes from a humane source and live foods don’t give much information on this, but a friend told me the frozen stuff usually arrives in good nick.


All in all if you keep pet reptiles Livefoods is pretty much the best place to get everything, it’s a lot cheaper than any high street pet shop or even pet supermarket. One or two items you will find cheaper elsewhere if you look, but generally speaking Livefoods is the best company for all your lizard related needs!

Hope I didn’t gross you guys out too much and thanks for reading!

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