# Stick Insects



## RAINYBOW (Aug 27, 2009)

I have "Inherited" some stick insects.

We have set up an old fish tank with wood chip in the bottom, some rocks and wood for climbing and have put some privet in (in water in a jam jar)

The Fish tank has a light in it that would generate some heat, is that prefered or a problem ??

Any other tips on what they eat, how to keep them, how to avoid ending up with hundreds of them gratefully received :thumbup:


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## Jazzy (Apr 15, 2009)

We had some a few years ago when my oldest two were small and we just kept them in a tank with fresh privets every few days. I can't remember how long they live but don't think it's that long but they breed very easily. They lay lots of eggs and we used to take these out and keep them in a large matchbox or something similar. We started off with 5 stick insects and soon had over 200. We didn't have any heat for them, I don't think they need it. We just kept them in a tank in the kitchen. 

If you don't want loads just destroy the eggs. Ours just ate privet and bramble, think they were the indian stick insects.


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## RAINYBOW (Aug 27, 2009)

Jazzy said:


> We had some a few years ago when my oldest two were small and we just kept them in a tank with fresh privets every few days. I can't remember how long they live but don't think it's that long but they breed very easily. They lay lots of eggs and we used to take these out and keep them in a large matchbox or something similar. We started off with 5 stick insects and soon had over 200. We didn't have any heat for them, I don't think they need it. We just kept them in a tank in the kitchen.
> 
> If you don't want loads just destroy the eggs. Ours just ate privet and bramble, think they were the indian stick insects.


Thankyou


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## Vampyria (Dec 14, 2009)

I presume they are Indian Stick Insects?









They're pretty hardy as stick insects go. I kept them years ago, and are quite happy without extra lighting and heating. A warm room will suffice, around 21-24 C (70-75 F) during the day and a little cooler at night. From what I remember they are more active at night, as I suppose its safer for them to eat at this time.

Keep the tank in a place away from direct sunlight. Sticks can overheat and die if left in the sun too long. To keep the humidity levels up in the tank, lightly spray the leaves (not the insects themselves) with water once a day. Stick Insects also like to drink droplets of water from the leaves 

Indian Sticks usually eat privet and can eat bramble, too. They can also eat Ivy, Rose and Oak. How big is the tank? Stick Insects need their home to ideally be 3 times taller than an adult (this gives them growing room if they are still growing). I like the idea of rocks and woodchip :thumbup: I usually just use kitchen paper as it is very easy to clean out this way, but I must admit wood chips must look better than tissue! 

EGGS. If the insects are fully grown (around 8 - 10cm), they can lay many many hundreds of eggs in their lifetime! They will just drop their eggs onto the ground. If you don't want to be overrun, you will need to dispose of the eggs. This is another reason why I use kitchen paper; little brown seed-like eggs are very easy to spot and remove from the tank, either to dispose of or to keep in a separate jar.

Indian Stick Insect Eggs (Ova) look like this (note the eggs are much smaller than this):








Indian Sticks are mostly female - males are very very rare. The females don't need to mate to lay eggs, and the eggs will always hatch out into more females. This species live for about a year.

If you have any more questions, let me know :thumbup:


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## RAINYBOW (Aug 27, 2009)

Vampyria said:


> I presume they are Indian Stick Insects?
> 
> 
> 
> ...


Thanks thats really helpful, i did wonder about spraying the leaves as i assumed they would like quite a humid atmosphere so i will do that. The Tank is a decent size i think, will try and get a picture. 

The woodchip looks nice but having read your post i may just have created the idea ground for hundreds of babies  Will have to see


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## Acrophylla (Apr 16, 2008)

Yes, it'd be good to throw away the woodchips because they trap dirt and eggs. Paper or kitchen roll is much better. I'd ditch the light as well because apart from giving out a bit of heat that the stick insects don't need, it's giving out light and it's really important that they're in darkness at night.


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## CrystalGecko76 (Jan 19, 2011)

Oh these are wonderful! I used to breed them and sell them to the garden centre pet store when I was younger. I still dream of owning a mantid but I see those less these days. I would really like an orchid mantis or a jungle nymph which are huge. Good luck with your stickies...they are great fun!!!


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## RAINYBOW (Aug 27, 2009)

CrystalGecko76 said:


> Oh these are wonderful! I used to breed them and sell them to the garden centre pet store when I was younger. I still dream of owning a mantid but I see those less these days. I would really like an orchid mantis or a jungle nymph which are huge. Good luck with your stickies...they are great fun!!!


I didnt realise they would be quite so interactive, we have nicknamed one of them speedy :lol:


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## Bullymastiff (May 6, 2010)

RAINYBOW said:


> I didnt realise they would be quite so interactive, we have nicknamed one of them speedy :lol:


I just got indian sticks for my daughter....They are funny, they seem to do a little dance when you get them out which she loves (shes 4). 
I have too many i meant to order 5 but ended up with 12:001_huh:
so i either have to go get a bigger tub or rehome some! 
Ive got kitchen roll for mine and they are eating ivy at the moment.


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## Zanki (Jun 1, 2011)

I kept stick insects for over 8 years before my last batch died (someone spreyed poisen on the plats I was feeding them on and the babies all died). 
I find they can pretty much eat anything. When things got bad in winter and short of food (I had a few hundred in loads of tanks at one point) I used to feed them on lettuce from the supermarkets. The only bad thing about that was it used to make their poo a little runny, but they where generally ok with it. 
As for heat, I wouldn't use anything unless your heating dies in the winter and your house gets cold. If you are too hot in a room, just think of the insects. There was one summer when I just had two, I woke up with two of them squeezed into a tiny section on the roof of their tank, trying to stay cool with me because I had turned the fan on in the night.


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