Print PDF
Favorite
Email
How to look after your very own spiny leaf insect (extatosoma tiaratum), a unique species of stick insect from Australia! These are commonly found in pet stores all over the world, and are quite popular as pets.
Remove these ads by
Signing UpStep 1Things you will need
1: An enclosure of some sort- preferably a fly screen cage. If it is rectangular as most cages are, it should be placed vertically due to the insect's instinct to climb. As a general rule, the cage should be at least 3 times as long as the adult insect- Adult females grow to about 110mm long so I would recommend a 40 cm by 30 cm by 30 cm cage.
Stick insects are accomplished escape artists- so you must be careful not to leave any gaps and make sure there are no tears in the fly screen. (I didn't completely close the cage lid once, and all of my young insects escaped into the house- they took hours to locate)
2: A source of eucalyptus leaves- you must be able to access young foliage as well as older leaves. When collecting the leaves, make sure that nobody has sprayed any chemicals on the tree you cut branches from.
The leaves will be the insect's food. If you don't live in Australia, you can feed them on bramble leaves- although these will be hazardous to collect.
If you feed your insect on eucalyptus leaves, they will turn a shade of tan to camouflage against dry, curled eucalyptus leaves, but if you feed it on brambles it will turn green in order to better blend in to their environment.
3: A plant sprayer- an empty windex sprayer will do- as long as you wash it out VERY carefully (nothing kills a pet stick insect faster than cleaning chemicals)
4: A vase of some sort- to hold water and eucalyptus leaves. Doesn't need to be fancy- I use an old milk jug.
5: Newspaper- you will need 1 or two sheets of this every few weeks (the newspaper is to protect the floor of the cage from stains if it is made of wood and/or the need for cleaning)
6: A small tupperware that you are willing to wreck
7: A spiny leaf insect (quite obviously). You can often acquire one from your local pet store- if not, there are websites that will ship eggs or young insects to your house (I purchased mine from www.terrificscientific.com, a business in Sydney, Australia) I would recommend getting a female- the males have fully functional wings and can escape- although they are clumsy fliers that tend to crash into the nearest object when flying.
Stick insects are accomplished escape artists- so you must be careful not to leave any gaps and make sure there are no tears in the fly screen. (I didn't completely close the cage lid once, and all of my young insects escaped into the house- they took hours to locate)
2: A source of eucalyptus leaves- you must be able to access young foliage as well as older leaves. When collecting the leaves, make sure that nobody has sprayed any chemicals on the tree you cut branches from.
The leaves will be the insect's food. If you don't live in Australia, you can feed them on bramble leaves- although these will be hazardous to collect.
If you feed your insect on eucalyptus leaves, they will turn a shade of tan to camouflage against dry, curled eucalyptus leaves, but if you feed it on brambles it will turn green in order to better blend in to their environment.
3: A plant sprayer- an empty windex sprayer will do- as long as you wash it out VERY carefully (nothing kills a pet stick insect faster than cleaning chemicals)
4: A vase of some sort- to hold water and eucalyptus leaves. Doesn't need to be fancy- I use an old milk jug.
5: Newspaper- you will need 1 or two sheets of this every few weeks (the newspaper is to protect the floor of the cage from stains if it is made of wood and/or the need for cleaning)
6: A small tupperware that you are willing to wreck
7: A spiny leaf insect (quite obviously). You can often acquire one from your local pet store- if not, there are websites that will ship eggs or young insects to your house (I purchased mine from www.terrificscientific.com, a business in Sydney, Australia) I would recommend getting a female- the males have fully functional wings and can escape- although they are clumsy fliers that tend to crash into the nearest object when flying.
| « Previous Step | Download PDFView All Steps | Next Step » |
However, after a period of three months or so, an adult female with no males present begins to reproduce asexually- producing eggs from only her own genes. This is known as parthenogenesis. It is not known whether she can switch from asexual to sexual reproduction after this time.
My apologies for the lateness of the reply - i've been moving countries these past few weeks.
My male stick insect has recently gone through the first moult that I know of. He is now about 7 cm long (and absolutely adorable) but he is being very quite. Before his moult he didn't eat almost anything and he is only just beginning to eat again, but he seems very weak. He is always sitting on the bottom of the cage and seems unable to climb. And his wings are bent and all over the place. Is this normal? He didn't seem to have wings before so I would say these are his first, but he most certainly can't fly with them.
Is there anything I can do to help get him active and 'living' again?
Is this 'quietness' over a moulting period just normal?
Thank you so much for you assistance.
i've read your blog and it helped me a lot with my leaf insect.
iv'e had eggs about a month ago and i wanted to know when they hatch can i keep them in the same cage as the adult one or do i need to put them in a different cage?
alice9908
could you piont me in the right direction.
Also i heard that you can buy insect egg incubaters do you know where i can buy some?
Mystickinsect, I wouldn't be worried about the eggs not hatching- the incubation period varies from three months to over a year- you probably just need to wait. An egg incubator is almost certainly not necessary- if the eggs are kept at near room temperature there shouldn't be any problems.
We have been champagne celebrating, handing around cigars and celebrating our midwifery skills! Our two adult insects died the same day last year (no doubt evil spraying of some leaves) and we have been keeping our eye on the 347 (give or take) eggs since. We have ten hatchlings who have completed their first moult. Obviously we shall be carefully adopting out to caring homes, but if we did have ten survivors, how big would you recommend their enclosure be?
Thank you!
if you are ony keepin them untill you sell them then a small enclosure will do.
i have often seen about 20 baby insects in an enclosure at the pet shop thats about 20 cm by 15 cm.
You may be interested to know that our nine stick insects- six males and three females are all living incredibly long lives, our oldest male, Twigston, is eight and a half months old, and still going strong! we think it is because our house isn't centrally heated. My dad has to climb on the roof to get the leaves from the tree that they like. We have lots of eggs- don't know what we'll do with all the babies!
The only question is whether the eggs are fertile, and if they have mated it is extremely likely that they are.
As for the male trying to escape, it is possible he feels the need to spread his genetic material elsewhere- in other words, find a new mate. I have never noticed a male that seemed to be trying to escape- this is an interesting observation.
The stick insects may not strictly need excess water at all, if conditions are right. However, it is recommended to spray the leaves once a day or every few days to make sure that a drink is available if they want it.
Cotton balls can be used for younger insects, but I wouldn't recommend them for older ones as they are unlikely to drink from them- the advantage of spraying is that they immediately have some water within reaching distance, and they will therefore be more likely to drink.
As for your problem, unfortunately there isn't much you can do- it sounds like it might be a large infection or something. If she is still alive, you might try feeding her some younger leaves, or some from another tree - it's also possible that that one was sprayed with pesticide. Sorry to not be of more help.
I'm not sure but i think its because it never ate anything. I couldn't get any new sapling leaves or shoots so I had to give it mature gum leaves, (this is what we fed our first spiny). I also offered it some wattle leaves from what i think is a willow wattle as these were softer and I had heard wattle leaves are ok as well.
We are in Sydney and I'm not much of a plant buff so have no idea where to get bramble or other plants mentioned. Any advice on how to feed the babies would be great as we don;t want to make the same mistake.
I also have a question re: housing. We put the nymph in a 500ml round container and covered the top with paper towel. I though this was breathable but now am not so sure. Could this be why she died? Or maybe too cold? Should we use mesh next time? Thanks!! Hopefully New babies will hatch soon. Sorry for all the crazy questions. Thanks again!
The nymphs certainly prefer young leaves, although older leaves can be used if care is taken. Sometimes they will not eat the leaves unless you cut half of the leaf off with scissors (this gives them a nice soft edge to bite into).
As for the cause of the baby dying, it almost certainly isn't your fault, and may not be due to it not eating. I usually have many of the babies die for no apparent reason, and I think it may just be that some are genetically weaker than others. Anyway, mortality rates can sometimes be depressingly high even with perfect conditions - so don't worry about it.
The paper towel should be fine, (but make sure it hasn't been treated with chemicals) although mesh or meshed cloth would probably be better.
I recently got a spiny leaf stick insect from my cousin. I have been using gum leaves but i am getting rose leaves and red wattle leaves, is this okay?
I have paper at the bottom, then a thin layer of moss, a few rocks to make him feel at home and then the rest of the BIG tank is full of gum leaves. His/her name is Garfunkle :) and well yeah thats he thing, im not too sure if it is a female or a male ! it would be handy if you could tell me how to find out, it is young and about the 5-7cm long. VERY CUTE ! I have 10 newly hatched eggs waiting to hatch, but as you know they take at least 9 months to hatch, will Garfunkle get lonely ?
any other tips for ' first spiny leaf insect pet owners ' would be great !
thanks,
First of all, I love the name :D
The rocks and moss are probably unnecessary, and you may find that having moist organic material in the bottom will lead to problems with mold etc. However as long as it's well ventilated it shouldn't be a problem.
While i know the insects can eat gum, wattle and rose leaves, I am not entirely certain whether they are happy to switch food sources overnight. Keep an eye on it to see if it is eating, and if not you might try putting some of each in the cage and then slowly 'weaning' it off the eucalyptus.
As for telling the gender, look for spikes on the insect's back- if there are spiky projections, its a female. If the back is smooth, its a male. You will be able to tell their gender after the first or second molt.
I highly doubt that Garfunkel will become lonely, as insects are not known to experience emotion and stick insects have never been communal. However, depending on Garfunkel's gender he/she may die before the younger insects are mature enough to reproduce.
???
I wouldn't be worried about it. Spiny leaf insects tend to be quite sexually active in captivity (since the opposite sex is so readily available :D) and they often mate for several hours. Although this attachment sounds unusual, as long as they are both eating and he is not interfering with her egg laying it should be fine.
As for the immature female, it is impossible (to my knowledge) for copulation to occur before the final instar in either sex. However, the male's attraction towards her may be due to an early release of pheromones that would normally indicate sexual availability- either that or a heightened (or erronerous) perception of other pheromones by the male.
One possible explanation (pure speculation) is that the females release attractive sexual pheromones prior to sexual maturity in order to attract potential suitors to stay with them and be ready when they molt for the last time- in the wild, it may be that coming across another stick insect is rare enough to warrant this.
On a brighter note, the male on the immature female has now turned his attentions to the other mature female. I think he was just confused by pheromones as you suggested. Anyway thanks for your help!
ps thanks for taking time out of your schoolwork to help all us stick insect novices!
Very sorry about the late reply, I have been away for Easter :)
I am surprised to hear that the problem is specific to the male insects, although there are obvious anatomical differences that could explain it (eg, presumably less tolerant to infections due to smaller body mass/being less robust- just a theory)
Pictures would help with any diagnosis I could make, although I have to tell you I have never had a serious problem with fungal infection with my insects.
Is there any discoloration of the tissue surrounding the leg joints, any visible mold (on either the exoskeletons of the insects or the enclosure), anything that looks necrotic? (black and dead).
As for whether you can save the ones that are infected, I can think of nothing else but to try to 'wipe off' any visible fungus in the early stages of infection. I would not recommend trying anything radical like putting antiseptic on them or something, as this is more likely to cause further pain to the insect than treat its illness.
One thing you also should consider is the origin of the fungus/infection- it could be transmitted from insect to insect, or more likely from the environment (in this case the enclosure) to the insects. in any case, it would be wise to quarantine infected insects by placing them in separate enclosures, ensure good ventilation in all enclosures, (and clean them). Terrariums with glass sides or any enclosures with a soil substrate (bad idea for stick insects) are most prone to developing problems with mold and fungus.
Finally, another possible cause of the problem is pesticide on the leaves you feed them. Are you absolutely sure the source is uncontaminated? (ie, would anyone have any reason to spray chemicals where you collect them from) It is also possible that household pesticides or even cleaning chemicals used near the enclosures are causing the problem.
Thanks for the reply. since i sent you my last message, a few more have died, i now only have one male left unfortunately. but i dont think anything could have been done, there were absolutely no signs of anything, except that they would become slow, then die in the same day. as it turned out, only 2 of the 7 that died actually lost limbs, the rest just died off. even when they were dead there were no signs of what happened.
i called the person i got them from, and they contacted their breeder, who said that the same thing had been happening to theirs, but for them, both females and males were effected.
i cleaned out the enclosure and since then number 7 died, but my last male and my 2 females seem to have survived the "Pandemic". im not sure why this is, but its been at least a week since the last death. both me and the breeder can not understand it.
as for the leaves, they come from a blue gum, which is in an area protected by the councel. i dont believe they would have any reason to put chemicals on the tree. i have kept them on the same diet, and aas i have said, none have died within the last week or so. so i have absolutely no idea..
I am sorry the loss of your insects, first of all.
It is very relevant in determining what causes this condition that the breeder is having the same problem, as it could be linked to some kind of genetic disorder.
Then again, it could be a contagious disease to which some insects are resistant. The important thing is, you know it is nothing to do with your home environment. Does the breeder also feed his/her insects with blue gum leaves or something different?
Id say that given that the blue gum is not common to the area, the breeder probably does not feed the insects blue gum, tho i should probably ask. though, i have been feeding them on the blue gum for a few months now, and have not had any troubles until now.
i was wondering if you knew the answer to something that has been bothering me about my spiny leaf insect. she is about 2 months old and has been through 2 molts. however, on the second moult she did not eat any of her molted skin, i left it in her enclosure on a branch of eucalpyt so she could eat it if she wanted to later. i took it out because she did'nt eat any. is this a problem? she seems to be alright now, but im worried about if it's okay that she ate it or not
thankyou for the help :D