All customer reviews

Fabulous

Ordered for my Granddaughters christmas pressie......WOW!, fantastic specimen, I'm sure she's gonna love it!....Thank you Minibeast, once again you've come up trumps

Such a good idea.

Deaths Head Moth is a great start to the collection - really looking forward to seeing what arrives next month! Good amount of customisation to ensure you only get the samples you want and I like the exclusivity element!

Perfect

Mine ended up being a little smaller than in other reviews but is absolutely beautiful and I like that it doesn’t stick out over the mount. This was my first frame ever and I couldn’t be happier. The photo isn’t the best but it shows how pretty the colours are.

Wow wow wow

The shine and colours are fantastic - the green is bright and pearlescent and contrasts amazingly with the stark white.

What a stunning specimin and fantastically framed as always.

Trio

The colours are bright - my photo doesn't quite do it justice. Amazing trio beautifully framed.

Jewel Beetle

My photo does not do it justice. The colours are so bright - a jewel indeed

Dead Leaf butterfly

Such a beautiful specimism. Such subtle yet detailed patterning.

Breathless

The Japanese oak silkmoth is absolutely gorgeous

Neat

Exactly as described. Cool little shell.

Stunning

Beautiful specimen. Purchased for a relative. Very happy with the frame and insect

Cute Bee!

Wife picked out this Carpenter Bee and it looks great - very cute!

Underrated

Large butterfly that compliments the rest of our collection nicely.

Great colours.

Stunning butterfly and the light really reflects off of the wings

Absolutely Beautiful Butterfly

I have just started to collect butterflies and was blown away with quality the butterfly and frame

Another Stunner!

Definitely the most unusual looking insect in my collection - one that I wouldn't have thought to collect but really adds some variety to the set. It's beautifully preserved and presented as always.

Better on the ventral side

Minibeast only list this species on the dorsal side but when I asked they were kind enough to flip it over and present the ventral side for me which I personally think is much more impressive. I saw this species as a child on a holiday to one of the Canary Islands, and it was part of the story of my lifelong interest in butterflies. I love it ;)

Best camouflage of any butterfly :)

I generally don't go for frames with both ventral and dorsal specimens as they take up a lot of wall space but this one is a special case. You have to have the "leaf" side obviously, but the dorsal side colours are so cool that it seemed essential to have both. Gorgeous :)

Huge

The only specimen in my collection with a deep wooden frame which looks ever so slightly awkward amongst all the others, but it's worth the inconsistent sizing to have such an enormous and striking beetle in my collection. Superbly presented - the abdomen is a little squashed but I think that must be a preservation technique. A real gem.

A less common glasswing

It's worth noting that the species of clearwing you always see in UK butterfly houses is Greta oto - this species is Godyris duillia, a different and larger species with somewhat less colourful patterns on the non-clear wing parts. I didn't pay attention to what I was ordering and expected a Greta oto (I didn't realise there were multiple species in the clearwing family).

It's a lovely specimen, just not the one I expected :)

A must have

Another species which you really have to have in your collection. One of the largest butterflies, a brilliant vibrant blue all over and one that everybody who has ever been to a butterfly house will recognise. I've had the good fortune to see these in the wild in Costa Rica before too :)

Minibeast remove the abdomen on blue morphos because they contain oils that will leak out over time. I didn't realise that at first and it looks a little weird because of it, but I'd much rather that than a specimen that will degrade as it ages.

It's also worth noting there are two similar species for sale on Minibeast - this is the larger of the two. They look pretty similar but given how reasonably priced they are I'd recommend the larger species.

Nice addition to the hawkmoth collection

A little understated compared with some of my other hawkmoths, but it's brightly coloured underwings are nicely presented.

Apollo!

I know this species as the apollo butterfly, and it's a stunner. Big, and with unusual and crisp wing patterns with a distinctive red spot, this one was pretty high on my list to collection. Gorgeous :)

Smaller than I expected - great attidion to my British collection though

Surprisingly small, although I've seen them many times in the wild. You can see how much smaller it is compared to the camberwell beauty for example in this photo. It's also quite a bit darker in colouration than the stock photo, although knowing the species I was expecting that. Minibeast has a hard time getting hold of British species so I'm inclined to grab them whenever they're available :)

Underwhelming

I think I must have seen these on one of David Attenborough's shows because I recognised it when I came across it on the Minibeast site. It's a cool insect but the giraffe-like neck looks considerably more impressive in video form when it's moving than in a frame. I think my specimen also has a somewhat shorter neck than the stock photo - it isn't really all that noticeably elongated and considering that these weevils are tiny, the effect is quite underwhelming. It adds some variety to the collection, but definitely not amongst my favourites.

UK's largest beetle :)

Definitely not the most visually stunning of the large beetles out there but it's the largest and most impressive species native to the UK, and I do like having some native UK species in my collection. The specimen is large and well preserved, and it's body isn't squashed like some of the large beetle specimens have to be for preservation.

Gorgeous!

The only birdwing I have that's presented on the ventral side, and it's the right way round I think - this species actually looks pretty similar on the dorsal and ventral sides but the yellow markings on the ventral side are more interesting and more clearly defined. This is another really huge specimen and as always immaculately presented by the team at Minibeast

What a cool looking insect!

Such an unusual shape - it's really big too. Definitely one of the most unique specimens in my collection. The wings a very dark and have a slightly rippled texture like a piece of dried fruit. As always, superbly arranged and presented by the team at Minibeast.

Big and beautiful

Another species with a lot of "wow factor" - this one is really quite big and has a very vibrant blue hue with a striking shape. It's one I've never seen in captivity although it's quite similar in shape and appearance to the Peacock, which I've seen a few times in butterfly houses. As always, immaculately preserved and presented by Minibeast.

Possibly my least favourite specimen

To be honest I'm not a big fan of this one. It's quite a bit smaller than I would have expected, and the body is squashed flat, which I'm sure is done for sound reasons to preserve the specimen, but it does look a little odd as a result. It's colourful, but not as vibrant as I would have hoped, and I think perhaps above all else the splayed out pose just doesn't suit a praying mantis, since all the character of the animal is in it's mantis pose, which is just completely lost when it's presented in this way. None of this is to say there's anything wrong with Minibeast's methods here - it's an immaculately preserved and presented specimen as always, it's just the overall result on this one is a bit "meh".

An oversized stunner

As shown in the photo, this beauty is at least as big (if not bigger) than the giant atlas moth, and what a gorgeous specimen! with it's long wing tails I imagine this isn't an easy species to preserve in this condition, but mine is in the usual mint condition I've come to expect from Minibeast.

Very unusual

I'd never seen or heard of this butterfly before starting my collection with Minibeast but the pattern really caught my eye. It's a small species, but one of the most striking wing patterns out there so makes a really interesting addition to the collection.

It's enormous!

This scorpion is giant compared to the average scorpion size, which was an unexpected surprise. It's jet black and looks like it's made of metal armour - very cool indeed. As always, beautifully preserved and presented by Minibeast.

Stunning

One of my favourite species that you see in butterfly houses all the time but always in terrible condition because the way they flap their wings continuously whilst feeding causes the wings to be damaged very quickly (and also makes them near impossible to photograph!) - so cool to see one in this flawless condition :)

Subtle and Beautiful

Not a vivid colour but beautiful and complements my growing collection

Absolutely stunning

Gorgeous butterfly. Fits perfectly to my moody maximalist lounge room. Love it.

Looks beautiful

Yet another beautiful one to add to the collection. Colour is stunning

Stunning

Second purchase from minibeast and couldn’t be happier. Beautiful specimen and love how my collection is coming together :)

Gorgeous

This Hawk moth is mesmerizing, larger than expected and beautiful wings span. A must if you can get your hands on this beauty, very much in demand.

Ammonite

Je trouve ça vraiment magnifique

Ammonite

Très bien pour une belle décoration

Lovely

Lovely butterfly in blue and black in excellent condition

Lovely

Beautiful butterfly in orange and black in sunlight

Beautiful

Colours are mixed with blue and green

Caligo Marita

It from afar dosent look very purple until you shine a light at it which shows the deep indigo color on its wings

Paracyphocrania major

Its wings have a nice orange that fades into a more yellowish orange at the end with a unique face

Fab!

Another lovely specimen for the collection :)

Fantastic

Fantastic quality as always, so pleased with this beauty!

Month 2 and in love

I’m really enjoying my monthly subscription, wondering what will be delivered next and looking forward to adding to my growing collection, My latest, a leaf insect, is a beautiful example of the wonderful world of ‘bugs’… very carefully preserved and framed. I’m in love (if you can love an insect!)

Petrified Wood In Box Frame

The specimen is magnificent, Very nice fossil.

XL African Flower Beetle in Box Frame

Nice beetle. A slight color variation (not too bright) compared with the one presented here.

Elephant Beetle in Box Frame

The beetle is wonderful. Very nice specimen.

Giant Goliath Beetle in Box Frame

The Beetle is gorgeous and very well presented!

Extremely beautiful

The quality of this specimen is amazing and the vibrancy is out of this world!

Another must-have for any collection

Even the smallest butterfly houses in the world generally have this species. It has a big wow factor thanks to its size and the giant owl eye spot on it's ventral side from which it derives it's name. I was fortunate enough to see one of these in the wild in Costa Rica once, but I've seen them in butterfly houses all over the place.

This golden edged variant is a little more vivid I think than the other species offered by Minibeast and I'm really happy with my specimen.

Nice, certainly not one of my favourites though

I do think it's nice to have a few non-butterflies in my collection and this one adds some interest to the set. They're beautifully presented as always and I do like them - I would say there are a couple of things to watch out for though. First is the colour - mine anyway are not as colourful as the stock photo - the blue one in particular is very dark and the yellow one has quite a greenish tint to it. The other thing is size - as you can see in the photo, the yellow one is a little bigger than the others.

These are obviously real animals and it's expected that there will be some variance between specimens - it's still a nice set, just probably one of the first I'd be happy to lose if I needed to make space for others ;)

Big, Colourful and Reasonably Priced

This one wasn't high on my list of priorities but it adds punch to my collection due to it's size. It's also a species I haven't seen in butterfly houses before so I wonder if it's difficult to transport or breed. Either way it's a welcome addition to my wall.