Small Cork Bark

A small piece of natural cork bark — an essential addition to any isopod, millipede, or cockroach enclosure.

Cork bark serves multiple purposes for your inverts. It provides a safe hiding spot where your colony can gather, moult, and feel secure. It helps create microclimates within your enclosure by retaining moisture on its underside while staying drier on top, giving your inverts the choice of conditions they need. Over time, your isopods will even nibble on it as a supplementary food source.

Place your cork bark across the moisture gradient in your enclosure so that part of it sits in the moist zone and part in the drier area — this gives your colony the best of both worlds. It works equally well in millipede and cockroach setups as a hide and climbing surface.

We Recommend Baking Before Use

While shop-bought cork bark is generally low risk, baking it in the oven before adding it to your enclosure is a simple precaution that kills off any unwanted hitchhikers, mites, pest insects, or their eggs that may be hiding in the bark's crevices. Pop it in the oven at around 200°C for 30 minutes. Cork is a natural insulator, so the heat needs time to penetrate through to the core. Keep the temperature below 300°C to stay safely below cork's ignition point, and keep an eye on it while it bakes. Allow it to cool completely before placing it in your enclosure.

Please Note

As cork bark is a natural product, sizes, shapes, and thickness will vary, and each piece is picked at random. Some pieces are thicker slabs than others, so bear this in mind if you're using them in a shorter or shallower enclosure.

Size

Small — ideal for starter tubs, smaller enclosures, or as one of several hides in a larger setup. Browse our full accessories collection for leaf litter, lotus pods, lichen sticks, and the other components of a complete naturalistic setup.