Suitable filler material
Almost everything that is natural is suitable for furnishing an insect hotel. However, each type of insect prefers a different filler material.
also read
- Drilling holes for the insect hotel - instructions and tips
- The right hole size for your insect hotel
- Build an insect hotel out of cans
General equipment
Since most animals move into an insect hotel (€ 8.87 at Amazon *) primarily for wintering and breeding, the equipment should above all be heat-storing. Tight, small tubes support this property. In addition to loose filling, you should therefore also offer opportunities to slip, for example holes you have drilled yourself, hollow branches and bricks with holes.
Specific equipment
Do you particularly enjoy observing a specific type of insect? Are you perhaps even a hobby beekeeper and therefore primarily dependent on bees? Or would you like to use ladybugs to drive pests such as powdery mildew and aphids out of your garden? With these tips, the useful helper is guaranteed to move in with you:
- For wasps and wild bees: reeds, bamboo, drilled hardwood, clay or bricks, clay walls
- For ladybugs, earwigs and lacewings: straw, natural wood wool, leaves
- For butterflies: thin branches
What to look for in terms of equipment?
Bees, wasps and butterflies run the risk of slitting their wings at sharp edges and unclean holes. These occur if you drill in the wrong direction when making your own. Here are instructions on how to proceed with drilling holes.
Bricks should be sanded down with a little sandpaper. In addition, the wind blows loose material like straw from the compartments. It is not uncommon for birds to pick out the equipment. It is best to secure your equipment with some wire. You must remove moldy filling material immediately.
