Safe hideaways, especially in urban areas, can be hard for smaller wildlife to find due to habitat loss, pollution and overuse of pesticides. Invertebrate hotels are helpful for our smaller friends to find shelter year-round. Use your science and engineering skills to construct a mini invertebrate mansion for your local neighborhood critters!

Tools:  

• Pencil and Paper 

• Collected materials (natural and/or recycled) 

• Investigate your local invertebrate community with the Spotting Species Activity (optional) 

• Other Construction Guides (optional) 

Steps: 

Step 1: Choose your guest(s). Start by deciding which type of invertebrates you wish to host (e.g. bees, beetles, snails, spiders, worms). Do some fieldwork by doing a biodiversity count using the “Spotting Species Activity” above or some in-house research about your local invertebrates and their home preferences. This research will help identify friends and predators of your hotel guests.

Step 2: Choose a suitable site by assessing the area where you plan to place your hotel. Keep your guest(s) preference in mind, such as where to place the hotel on the ground or on a post, in the shade or direct sunlight, and in an open field or garden.

Step 3: Next use a pencil and paper to sketch a design to fit your guests’ needs and the surrounding area. Each species has a different type of home requirements (materials and compartments), so your background research will prove helpful here.

Step 4: Construct your hotel from collected materials including found, recycled, or up-cycled materials. Be sure your materials do not have chemicals that could repel your guests. Consider using recycled or natural materials from your garden or backyard. If you have tubes or holes, make sure they are smooth without splinters. Finally, good invertebrate hotels should be built sturdy with solid back and roof/shelter to protect from all sorts of weather.

Step 5: Be sure to install your hotel securely to prevent weather damage (i.e. no wind wobbles).  

Step 6: Finally, please do not forget to maintain and clean your hotel adjusting with seasonal changes. Taking care of an invertebrate hotel is just as important as building one. Without timely maintenance and clean-up, you may not attract new guests in the new season or year.

To Do or Learn More: 

• After you gain experience, build and create a different home for another species! 

• Build a larger hotel with your neighborhood friends or classmates.

• Join the Amateur Entomologists' Society to learn more about insects! 

• Entomologist blog about Insect Hotels: A Refuge or a Fad?

• Look at the diversity of Earth’s inhabitants by reading the book Many: The Diversity of Life on Earth