Stick Insect Pet Care Advice

Stick insects can make an ideal, low maintenance pets. There are approximately three thousand varieties of stick insect across the globe, but the pet trade tends to stock about twenty of these.

The choices you’ll be presented with when purchasing your stick insect is to either buy eggs, nymphs (which are immature stick insects) or adults. Bearing in mind their life expectancy, eggs or nymphs are the way to go as a mature adult may only be around for a fortnight or so. I’ve just done a quick search on Google and six stick insect nymphs were available for £1.00!

Housing

When looking to purchase your new stick insect, it’s important that you take steps to ensure that you have the right home for the stick insect to live in. An aquarium or pet carriers are perfect options although the latter can often be to short, so check before you use or purchase one.

An aquarium with a specially adapted lid for ventilation purposes, will give your stick insect a good home. Take steps to make sure it’s secure and that they can’t easily escape. The reason that the new home has to be tall, is that stick insects hang upside down to moult. It’s a good rule of thumb for the stick insects new home to be three times the height of a fully grown adult. If in doubt, speak to your pet shop or alternatively, look online.

Take steps to make sure that the temperature of your stick insects new home is kept between 21 – 30 degrees Celsius. If you don’t have your heating on that much, buy a heat pad to place beneath the stick insects new home. There are many different types available online. You can line the bottom of their home with old sheets of newspaper, sand, woodchips or plain paper.

Humidity

Like caring for a fine cigar, your stick insects home environment should be kept at the correct humidity. It varies by species but think about the fact that in their natural environment, humidity levels can be up to 80%. All stick insects require water and some even require a shallow bowl for them to drink from. Check with your stick insect retailer as to what would be the most suitable way of proving water for your new pet. Get into the habit of regularly misting their home. This should be done ideally, once in a morning and once before you go to bed. Some species can be harmed by tap water, so once again, check with your supplier. Steps to prevent issues from arising are to leave the tap water to stand for twenty four hours (allowing the chlorine to dissipate) or use rain water.

Feeding and water

Stick insects live a simple life, spending most of their time feeding and climbing around on the fauna placed in their new home. Food is freely available, without having to purchase anything. You can feed most of them on blackberry leaves, rose leaves, ivy (which is readily available at this time of year) and privet. It goes without saying that if you pick food for your stick insect from the wild, that you wash it thoroughly in cold water. This will avoid any complications arising from any kind of chemical spraying that may have taken place. Don’t just pick the leaves, keep them on the stems and place the stems in a bowl of cold water that the stick insect can’t knock over.

Your stick insect will also love to have dry twigs in its new environment, which it can use as an assault course to roam around on, until its hearts content. As previously mentioned, stick insects shed their skin regularly. Their lifespan is relatively short and the female stick insect tends to live the longest. This can be upwards of six months.

Handling

I’ve previously mentioned the importance of being careful when handling puppies and cats – stick insects are no different! They’re extremely fragile and shouldn’t be man-handled. If they are, they can often shed their legs. It’s best not to let young children handle stick insects unsupervised.

Breeding

Unlike mammals, stick insects hatch from eggs. These eggs moult several times prior to becoming an adult. The female stick insect is the larger of the species, and has a longer maturation period. Some species of stick insect can actually reproduce A-sexually and as such, do not require the assistance of a male when it comes to reproduction. Different species lay their eggs in different ways. Some may lay their eggs on leaves, while other types of stick insect will scatter their eggs on the floor of their new home. The breeding process can be aided by slightly raising the temperature of their environment. This isn’t something that happens over night and can actually take longer than their average life expectancy. Eggs can take up to a year to hatch! You will also need to ensure that you have adequate housing for all of your stick insects. If you breed your stick insects in a cool environment, it will generally lead to an equal mix of male and female nymphs. Fifteen to twenty degrees Celsius is the ideal temperature.