If you keep prolific small invertebrates, you will know the frustration of tiny animals slipping out through standard ventilation holes. The pre-cut vents in a 3L Braplast tub are fine for adult isopods and larger inverts, but they are oversized for prolific small species and their young, such as springtail mancae, freshly-emerged Cubaris juveniles and Ardentiella mancae. Open the lid and you can watch them make a break for the shelf, and once they are out they colonise neighbouring tubs and muddle your pure lines.
Braplast Vent Plugs are the simple fix for exactly this. Each plug is a small insert that drops into an existing vent hole and reduces the effective opening, so the smallest residents stay put while the tub still breathes. They are designed for the matching 3L Braplast tub, so they pair straight up with it for a secure culture of very small or very young inverts. Nothing on the tub itself needs cutting or altering.
Fitting them is quick. Drop a plug into each vent hole you want to close down, pressing it home so it sits snugly in place, and fit as many or as few as you need for the species you are keeping. A dense springtail culture or a tub of tiny Cubaris mancae might want every vent plugged, while a slower species may only need one or two. You still keep airflow, just at a gentler rate, and the plugs lift back out when you want to reset the tub or move it on to larger animals, so a set carries on working for you across many rebuilds.
For why that airflow matters in the first place, and how to balance it with the humidity your animals need, see our guide to enclosure ventilation and humidity.
They earn their place fastest on your busiest tubs, where a steady stream of young is exactly what you are working towards and exactly what you least want to lose. That makes them well worth having ready whenever you set up a fresh culture of springtails or start a breeding project with Cubaris isopods, rather than something you reach for after the first escapees appear. Keep a few spare and it becomes part of your standard tub prep, alongside substrate and leaf litter, so every new setup is contained from the day you fill it. You will find them with the rest of our accessories for building tidy, escape-resistant colony housing.
