# stick insects..



## cloggers (Mar 13, 2010)

never posted here before so sorry if i say some stupid stuff :blush:

stick insects are about the only creepy crawlie thing i like, they look pretty cool and from what i've heard some are simplish to keep.

i've handled some before that looked like this,









so basically could i have some info on them and what species would be best for a beginner? 
what size do they get to?
just the general stuff like what they would be kept in and diet-wise?

oh and silly question, whats the difference between a stick insect and a 
mantis/mantid?

thank you :notworthy:


----------



## ginna (Jun 2, 2009)

mantids eat flesh and stickies eat bramble or privet 

the best species to start on would beindian , and they are probs the cheepest 

care sheet 

hope this helps


----------



## Taz Devil (May 20, 2008)

Size all depends on the species you want to get. A good big species for the beginner would be something like _Trachyaretaon brueckneri_. They are a good sized species, easy to look after they eat bramble and Ivy. If you get them as nymphs then the size will grow on you as they get bigger (they can seem a bit creepy when you see a full sized one).

Females can grow to around 13cm and males to about 8cm










All that is required is a largish (tall) tank which is around 3 times the max height of theinsect, as they grow by shedding their skin. This is done by hanging upside down and sort of sliding out of the old skin. If the tank is too small they could end up having problems maulting and this in turn can cause death/injury to the stick insect.

Trachy's require a bit of humidity (a light misting everry couple of days, and also a pot of sand to lay their eggs in. Unlike most other stick insects trachy;s bury their eggs rather than just dropping them on the ground).


As for indian stick insects. Yes a good starter one and very cheap to buy (get someone to give you the eggs and try hatching them) My Indian Keepers Guide.

ut for something that most people have not seen go for the Trachy.


----------



## mandi1234 (Mar 13, 2009)

i have never thought about having stick insects before, but last week i went to a members house and they had 3 Australian stick insects :flrt: i fell in love with them, i defo want some now. i think they are well cute. those and also crested geckos are next on my list :lol2:

HMMMMMMMM bigger house i think , maybe i wont mention it to the OH :whistling2:


----------



## pied pythons (Jan 18, 2008)

I think firstly you need to see what you can accommodate food wise.

I currently keep Indian Stick Insects (Carausius morosus)...these are seemingly the most commonly kept (and probably what you've handled). They rarely bite, don't spray/emit any chemicals, and don't have any spikes to jab you or pinch you with.

They feed on a range of plants from privet, ivy, rhododendron to bramble.

They reproduce via parthenogenesis (females lay fertile eggs without a male being present) and as adults lay a few eggs a week. These take around 6-9 months to hatch out. This species is wingless.

Indian Sticks are most commonly green in colour but can be a darker brown.

I also keep Macleays Spectres - Extatosoma tiaratum. I currently have 8 nymphs which I've kept the last few months since hatchings. They're pretty spiky as adults - females more so than males (this species does have males - although the females can reproduce parthenogenetically in the absence of males). Females have bud wings whilst males have fully developed & functional wings (although from what I hear they tend to flutter or glide rather than fly as such).

These get to a reasonable size, with females being a bit larger than males. I think 6-8 inches is the norm.

These tend to feed on Bramble & Eucalyptus. I can't remember off the top of my head what other plants they can feed on but mine certainly prefer bramble.


----------



## pied pythons (Jan 18, 2008)

Taz Devil said:


> If you get them as nymphs then the size will grow on you as they get bigger (they can seem a bit creepy when you see a full sized one)


:lol2: I'm with you on this...having only kept Indians prior to getting my E.T's I was a little uneasy about them...so I got a group of hatchlings...not only has it broken me in gently but it's been really fascinating watching them grow. I have no qualms about the adult size now.


----------



## Taz Devil (May 20, 2008)

pied pythons said:


> I currently keep Indian Stick Insects (Carausius morosus)...these are seemingly the most commonly kept (and probably what you've handled). They rarely bite, don't spray/emit any chemicals, and don't have any spikes to jab you or pinch you with.


I wouldn't have put it so bluntly but yes there are a couple of species kept (I have had one) that do emit a nasty spray that can cause irritation to skin, breathing and on the rare occasion cause temporary blindness. I never had the missfortune to have one spray me so cannot comment on how serious the effects feel.

As for biting, I've not come across any that bute, the mandibles do look like they could cause a bad nip, but they are designed for munching leaves so wouldn't be a problem to tender looking fingers.

And good old EC (_eurycantha calcarata 
_) goes top of the list for the little nipper title, with huge spikes on the rear legs they can give a nasty jab (I have been on the recieveing end of this and can sat it feels like having a quick jab with something on the lines of a darning needle. But only the males have the spines and will usually display the spines before using them. The females are absolute stunners for size and they are gentle too.)


For a safe bet that most people have seen go for Indian Sticks, for something a little different go for Trachy.

But make sure that you have ample food plants close by, especially in the winter months when it gets harder to find fresh greens for your little clan. I was lucky that my sticks took to Ivy as well as bramble but I wold make sure you have a good supply of bramble if you go for anythign other than Stick Insects as they will happily live of privet which can be find on virtually every street in britain.



P.S. Can I just add that Indian Stick Insect eggs can hatch in as little as 6 weeks. So you could easily be over populated if left to their own devices and the ova not removed.


----------



## cloggers (Mar 13, 2010)

so i'd be best with indians?
we have loads of brambles in the back yard, could they just eat them or do they prefer variety?
how often would they need fresh brambles?
could they live in something like this?
Standard Faunarium Small (min. 12) - Peticious.com - Delicious Pet

oh and when the eggs hatch are they easy to sell on? and how many would i expect to get?

sorry for all the questions but i want to get everything right :blush: and dont want to have one without a clue what to do


----------



## Taz Devil (May 20, 2008)

One stick can lay 100+ eggs in their life time, which is only around 12 months. 

They are not easy to sell on as most people that have indians find they have lots of eggs they don't want.

I used to give all my unwanted eggs to a friend to feed to his pond fish.

they will also happily live off of Privet leaves, which can be found all year round. The best thing to do to see what they will eat is put a variety of plants in wiht them and make a note of which ones get eaten the most. This is how I found out a few of the insects I lept would quite happily eat Ivy, which had not been noted on the PSG site.


----------



## cloggers (Mar 13, 2010)

wow ok thats a lot of eggs, i'm just gonna keep picking your brain sorry :blush:

would you leve the eggs in the tank or would you take them out and 'incubate' them so to speak?

also are they solitary or do they 'prefer' company?


----------



## Taz Devil (May 20, 2008)

I would certainly take them out of the tank as this is how population explosions occure.

I used to incubate them by filling a tub with Sphagnum Moss (this has the benefits of having good anti mould properties and so does not need changing as often as other substrates) and dampening it down. Place the ova onto this. Cover the tub with a lid that has some vent holes poked into it to let some air through. Keep this in a warm room. and leave, just make sure it does not dry out by misting it every few days. If there looks be any mould starting to appear on the eggs then remove them and make a new tub with fresh moss and place the eggs into this.


----------



## Taz Devil (May 20, 2008)

Here are a few pictures of the species I have had. I gave up keeping Phasmids after having a back opperation which prevents me from trotting all over the country side colelcting the food plants for them.


Lets start with everyones favourite the good old Indian Stick Insect 
*(Carausius morosus)*





















And here we have one of the nasty sprayers.
*(Anisomorpha paromalus)*




























A smaller version of the Trachy.
*(Aretaon asperrimus)*





























One of two winged species I have kept
*(Diapherodes gigantea)*


----------



## cloggers (Mar 13, 2010)

aww they're cute, my mum said yes but is put off at the thought of 100+ eggs


----------



## pied pythons (Jan 18, 2008)

cloggers said:


> aww they're cute, my mum said yes but is put off at the thought of 100+ eggs


Just sell them on Ebay...

Some people freeze any unwanted eggs but I'm not sure how frowned upon this is within the community : victory:


----------



## pigglywiggly (Jul 19, 2008)

you dont have to hatch all the eggs, lol,you can pop the ones you dont want in the freezer overnite to kill them and chuck them in the bin.

or list them on ebay :whistling2: you`ll struggle to re-home indians tho, everyone has them ( except me! )

i have a few types.

macleays spectres are my favourite, really slow, gentle and clumsy and get amazingly big. they also eat raspberry, photinia, rose, ivy, oak, lilac leaves

the leaf insects are harder to keep, getting the humidity right is difficult.

ones i`ve got that are also easy are

black beautys - eat privet, dont need spraying with water,i`ve never been defence sprayed by them.

ramulus artemis - looks like a green bamboo cane, eats bramble

pink winged - think i saw one of mine move once!


----------



## TEENY (Jan 4, 2008)

I keep these guys they are Horsehead hoppers not quite a stick but kept the same way


----------



## cloggers (Mar 13, 2010)

oh woah, they're well cool :no1:


----------



## purplekitten (Feb 24, 2010)

yay gotta love these little dudes


----------



## TEENY (Jan 4, 2008)

purplekitten said:


> yay gotta love these little dudes
> 
> image
> 
> image


Yay you have them too, they are awesome....but doesn't it look weird when they hop lol


----------



## purplekitten (Feb 24, 2010)

like hopping indian stick insects :gasp::lol2:


----------



## TEENY (Jan 4, 2008)

purplekitten said:


> like hopping indian stick insects :gasp::lol2:


Yes it just looks wrong lol


----------



## purplekitten (Feb 24, 2010)

my female just prefers to hop on to the lense of the camera, or my head  :flrt:


----------



## TEENY (Jan 4, 2008)

purplekitten said:


> my female just prefers to hop on to the lense of the camera, or my head  :flrt:


My female hops onto the nearest person my male has a thing about shiney belt buckles and is forever jumping into hubbies lap lol


----------



## Ben W (Nov 18, 2008)

Are you abusing those horse heads, Teeny?????:whistling2:


----------



## iiisecondcreep (Oct 29, 2007)

cloggers said:


> never posted here before so sorry if i say some stupid stuff :blush:
> 
> stick insects are about the only creepy crawlie thing i like, they look pretty cool and from what i've heard some are simplish to keep.


I have a colony of Black Beauties (Peruphasma schultei).
They eat privet (and some other things that I can't recall atm).
Females get about 3" long, males a bit smaller and thinner.
They are jet black with yellow eyes and when they mature they have little red wings (too small to fly with though!).
As mentioned previously, they can spray you. I have found the juveniles will spray readily, adults rarely. Also (interestingly!) they can aim it!
They are active and surprisingly rapid, especially as babies!

I keep them in large exo faunariums, with the privet in a glass of water to keep it fresh (I tried oasis, but it kept going mouldy). They don't need sprayed and most people advise against it, however I have found that if they are sprayed they drink the water, so I give mine a spray every few days. They will also drink from an open water dish.

And I happen to be selling some! 

An adult male:









Adult female









A pile of babies


----------



## TEENY (Jan 4, 2008)

Ben W said:


> Are you abusing those horse heads, Teeny?????:whistling2:


How very dare you :lol2:


----------



## roostarr (Jan 27, 2009)

i've always wanted stick insects but i've never been close enough to a bramble or privet source, i noticed a few mentioned ivy... any particular type of ivy?

also any other plants that they would eat?


----------



## iiisecondcreep (Oct 29, 2007)

According to the care sheet I got when I got mine, P. schultei will:

feed readily on privet (Ligustrum sp.) and Lonicera sp. (which is a common garden plant). Lilac and honeysuckle can be fed as a treat.


----------



## Taz Devil (May 20, 2008)

Best place for information about Phasmids is the Phasmid Study Group


----------

