4m x 3m Omlet pen, cube, new auto door still boxed and coop light

[Mrs Webmuppet]

Little Miss Webmuppet wants a vivarium and stick insects for Christmas She is nuts about insects, she is in her element now our local pet shop has an insect & reptile section!

 

 

Has anyone anyone kept these? Are they easy to keep? Any advice welcome.........

[Egluntyne]

They are dead easy to keep. Just clean them out once a week and give the zillions of eggs away to anyone who will take them.

 

We always had them when the boys were little. I kept them in a big sweet shop jar with holes drilled in the lid.

[Chucky Mama]

Yep, they are really easy we used a sweet shop jar too and they are lovely and tall for the branches and things that you need to put in. I think I remember needing to source bramble easily for them to eat, & ivy. They are quite delicate when they are young. I bought some for my god daughter and I remember them being sent direct to her in the post. They were not the standard stick insects they were similar to these:

 

http://blog.liverpoolmuseums.org.uk/graphics/stick_insect.jpg

[Mrs Webmuppet]

Fortunately we have a thornless bramble and ivy growing in the garden ( rather too vigourously due to the chook poo!). She has her beady eye on a proper vivarium with a light and designed to be easy to clean.....( and she said then once she is older she could have a small gecko or similar )

 

 

http://www.seapets.co.uk/products/reptile-supplies/reptile-terrariums/terrariums-by-exo-terra/exo-terra-rainforest-habitat-terrarium-small-30x30x45cm.html

 

Thank you for the reassurance.........between the chooks, the tropical fish and the hamster this house is turning into a zoo.....

[chickenNutter]

I sympathise with you - my daughter was desperate for a lizard of some ilk a while back but as she already had Giant African Land Snails, I fobbed her off with a larger second hand tank, and letting them breed (silly me - now over-run)

 

We have had the lot in the past - giant milipedes, madagascan hissing coackroaches, you name it. Are the stick insects the basic Indian ones (that look like a stick?) We had large spiny Australian ones that grow huge and look like Preying Mantids. They only eat bramble, and in the middle of winter it got to be a real pain finding enough for them, and my hands got ripped to shreds picking it and changing it every couple of days.

 

I'd resist if I was you!

 

Why not get her a Giant African Land Snail.......

[Mrs Webmuppet]

Yes they are only the basic green Indian stick insect.....they had some rather more unusual ones in the pet shop but the man said they weren't suitable for beginners ( it is just as well they were horribly expensive!) The basic ones are relatively cheap. I said no to the millipeeds & cockroaches ( I had a nasty experience involving a rather large cockroach on my honeymoon) and a definate no to a snake or spider.

[debbier]

Couldn't you interest her in some attractive* mealworms?

 

*to chickens, anyway.

[Lydia]

Hello there.

 

I keep stickinsects, have done for over 25 years. Currently we have 15 in residence, all Indian Sticks but I have kept Maclays Spectre, Pink Winged, Thailand and New Guineas in my time. Good on your daughter (and you!) for wanting to keep them and being interested in insects and reptiles.

 

Indian Sticks are very easy to keep. They eat privet, bramble, ivy or rose leaves generally. I find that privet lasts longer so that's what they eat in the summer and this time of year but during the winter they have bramble because it is easier to source and it gives my privet a rest. However, bramble dies quite quickly whether it's in water or not so you have to change it more often.

 

Sticks appreciate a mist spray of water each day or so, especially when they're young, and you can see them drinking.

 

Small Life Supplies is a really good resource to look at - lots about care and general practical tips. I don't recommend their cages at all though - they look nice but they're expensive, fall apart easily and have nooks and crannies where the eggs get hidden. The eggs then hatch and you wake up to baby stickinsects all over your kitchen!

 

They best environment for them is a cage with rough sides - such as mesh - so they can climb. They like being up high. I therefore wouldn't recommend a glass or plastic aquarium or sweet jar or similar. My current cage is all mesh material around a plastic frame. It has a zip up door and is very easy to clean (and remove eggs!) because it completely comes apart. I'll post a pic if you like.

 

Be warned, once they reach maturity they lay eggs prolifically. Indian Sticks are female on the whole (the ratio is 1:1000 and I've only ever had 1 male in 25 years) and are asexual. You can literally end up with hundreds of babies. What I do is dispose of all the eggs humanely each week and then, towards the end of the stick insect's life, I keep some eggs aside in a container to hatch.

 

If you want a free supply of eggs to hatch from scratch or any more advice etc do get in touch.

 

Good luck!

[PurpleTree]

I was only thinking about stick insects earlier, as I was browsing the Omlet shop and they have a kit you can buy http://www.omlet.co.uk/shop/shop.php?cat=Gifts&sub=For%20Kids&product_id=2757&sort=popularity&start=20 (sorry don't know how to do the clicky thing)

 

Obviously she'd have to wait for them to grow, rather than having one instantly.

[A chickychickychick-ENN!!]

As a boney fido member of the Phasmid Study Group (phasmid is the proper word for stick insect), pm me and I'll give you the gen. Different stick insects eat different things and you need a nearby plentiful year-round food source. Also some sticks are better beginner sticks than others. Some spray irritant fluid and some fly. Some are chunky and quite robust and others aren't. Some are parthenogenic and easy breeders and some aren't. And size matters. They range in size from about 5cm to over a metre. You need adequate sized housing for the stick type. Do you know what you're getting, species-wise?

 

ps: if you join the PSG you can get some interesting species for free in the swapsies people do of livestock and ova. It's about £12 a year, you get four newsletters, and there are two big meets at the Natural History Meeting every year. Plus a lot of members are general enotmology heads so you get sucked in quickly to blattodea and coleoptera groups and the like. Ento-heaven!

[Mrs Webmuppet]

A big thank you to Lydia and A chickychickychick-ENN!! for all your wonderful advice etc.

 

I knew there would be at least one forumite who would come to my aid and as usual the Omleteeers come to the rescue

 

Little Miss Webmuppet will be a very happy young lady come Christmas.

 

Once again thank you

[A chickychickychick-ENN!!]

You're welcome!

[BeckyBoo]

They range in size from about 5cm to over a metre.

D

 

 

OK, that's me freaked!!

 

BeckyBoo