Taking Care of Australian Spiny Leaf Insects

Spiny Leaf Insects are low care pets great for the whole family. Here is how to look after their needs

Step 1: Getting a Good Home

Stick insect aren't fussy with space but a big enviroment is ideal for a good home. I reccomend buying a plastic or glass terrarium from your local pet store (Pen Pals is a great brand) If you cannot do so, Creating a home is sutaible, it should be at least 40x15 and have a large amount of ventilation, fly screen is a good idea for the lid.

Step 2: Decorating

Stick Insects will require a properly decorated home. It will need to have the correct host plant as a food source, this can be gum leaves, acacia or wattles, if cannot find a supply of any of those, rose bush, bramble or rasberry leaves is still sutiable. There will need to be plenty of areas to climb, adding some sticks of the host plant will also work as a climbing object, there should be plenty of leaves to help the insect feel protected and safe from predators. There should also be a material on the bottom to collect poop or keep out to much moisture. Paper towel or cocoa peat is sutiable.

Step 3: Placing Your Stick Insects

Stick Insects are quite easy to get, you can get them from a breeder or even from a pet store, if you are unsure where to get them you can ring up your local pet store and ask if they stock them. Exotic pet stores are more likely to sell them. When buying your stick insects, it is good idea to bring your terrarium with you so that you don't end up carrying them in a plastic bag which could harm them. Make sure you have some leaves in the terrarium. If you are buying your cage and stick insects at the same time, it will be okay for the time being since they won't starve to death.

Step 4: Maintaining Your Insects.

Stick insects have pretty low needs, making them good pets. However there are some steps to follow. To help matain the terraium's tempature you will need to lightly mist it with a household spray bottle, but do not use a spray bottle that has been recently had a cleaning chemical inside, even if you have washed it out it is still very dangerous. When it comes to changing the leaves I reccomend changing the leaves every four days or at least when it looks dry and pale, because stick insects will not eat dry leaves. If you want to keep them fresh for longer you can put them in a jar filled with water, but you need to cover it with cling wrap and then poke the sticks through. You can get your leaves from a local park, but make sure there are no other insects homes inside or a pest killing chemical on the leaves. Many people say that stick insects don't need water, but I tend to take them out a put some water on a leaf and direct them to it, they seem to enjoy it.

Step 5: Handling Your Stick Insects

Stick insects can be handled, but in a specific way. When trying to place the stick insect on your hand, it is best to place your finger infront of them and slowly slide under their stomach, they should cling onto your finger and then they may crawl around. You should never pick up your stick insect by grabbing them, this can damage their inside which can lead to death. When placing your stick insect back in it's cage, allow it to crawl to the end of your finger and place it in front of a leaf, you can gently tap them from behind to let them know to crawl on. Remember always to let the stick insect do the handling.

Step 6: Breeding

When breeding your stick insects, you won't always require a male. Females are naturally parthenogenic, meaning they can produce their own fertilised eggs, and they basically make clones of them selves so they will all be female and nearly identical. To tell the differences of a male or female look at the top of their tail, females have small straight spikes coming off the top, whilst males don't.Males also have wings when they are mature and are more slender and smaller. When caring for their eggs, you can place them in a seperate container with soil, paper towel or cocoa peat on the bottom, but do not burry the eggs, for this means they will struggle to hatch. Lightly mist them at least three times daily and slightly more on warmer days, make sure their is no mould though. I have heard you can add woodlice to keep it off, but I hear they eat seeds, so they may mistake the eggs for one. The eggs will take about 4-10 months to hatch.

Step 7: Caring for the Young.

Young stick insects are known as nymphs , when they hatch they are small and black with red heads and very long legs. They look like red headed ants, because in the wild they are taken down into ants nests, they then hatch and run out and climb up their host plant. Don't worry you won't need any ants though, as long as least they are kept at 25 degress Celsius the most, they should be fine. They pretty much require the same care as adults, although the eggs should be in a different cage and the nymphs shouldn't be placed in with the adults until they are more than an inch long. When feeding them, they will require younger eucalyptus leaves because their jaws aren't very strong. They shouldn't be handled until they look closer to mini adults (this is about after their second moult) As they get older they shouldn't run around as much and will climb more often. They will moult so having plently of sticks in the exhibit is ideal. I reccomend placing a thicker layer of tissue paper to cushion their fall when moulting. If they loose a leg this is okay because they can regrow it when nymphs. If you do not want any eggs, so that you aren't cruel you should place them near and area with plently of eucalyptus leaves. Although it is best to have eggs so that you can replace the olds insects if you want to continue keeping them.

Comments

[JamiT2]

These are the pictures. They don't really show how dark she is though.

[JamiT2]

Hey D2. How's it going?? I have another question. Is it normal for these bugs to turn color?? She seems to be a darker brown-brick-red, especially on her tail. I'll send pics

[JamiT2]

Here's a pic for ya D2. LOL

[DragonB2]

Oh wow! She has grown incredibly, and her color has changed so much too! Thankyou so much for the pic, it's been great going through Zombug's journey

[JamiT2]

Thanks so much for helping us through this journey. I know. Her color was almost a neon green and her legs were camo. Now she's this rich brown color. She's so plump, without being fat. No eggs yet though. But with the way she's eating, they should be coming anytime. :)

[DragonB2]

No prob! It's been great working with you and Zombug. Best wishes for the eggs!

[JamiT2]

Oh, and the years on the pictures are wrong. Oops. LOL

[JamiT2]

I was just going through pictures of Zombug on here, and thinking, "Awww, she was so little and adorable, (well, as adorable as a spiny stick bug can be) now she's ginormous!! I'll take a picture soon of her on my arm for size comparison. LOL

[DragonB2]

I can imagine! They get huge! Has she got her wings yet?

[JamiT2]

No. I'm just seeing little nubs.

[JamiT2]

These are her little wing nubbies. Or what are they??

[DragonB2]

Those should be it, she'll be laying eggs in no time now.

[JamiT2]

What should I do with the eggs, when they come?? How long do they take to hatch etc?? I'm kind of worried about that time since that was about the time my ex's died. What should I watch for with Zombug?? Do they lay eggs constantly from now until they get old and die??

[DragonB2]

They will continually lay eggs pretty much until they die, so the best thing is to remove the ones in the cage and place them into a different terranium and spray them once or twice daily. They can take anywhere from one to four years to hatch by what I've heard. I ended up releasing mine to the wild so I am unaware of how long they took to hatch.

[JamiT2]

I can't do that here, release them into the wild. We don't have them here and I don't want to be responsible for an invasive species running around eating all the blackberry bushes. Although I'm sure some people wouldn't mind it. After all, the blackberry bushes are an invasive species of their own. LOL. And if it takes them that long to hatch, I just as well see if I can sell them back to the seller I got her from. If I can't sell them, I'll donate them back. LOL

[DragonB2]

Sounds like a good idea, I will admit the eggs are quite a task.

[JamiT2]

Yeah, it sounds like it. Btw, what do the eggs look like??

[DragonB2]

I'll add a pic

[JamiT2]

The first picture was taken through the hard plastic of her cage, so you can't see it very well, but her head is towards the bottom of the cage with her tail at the top. That was in the early afternoon. She stayed like that until Very early in the morning, and she still hadn't come out of her tail. So I thought should help her out before I went to bed. I took off the lid and she slipped right out of it. The second picture is shortly after that.

[JamiT2]

She molted!! OMG!! She's HUGE!!!! I'll get pictures in the a.m. :D