Reptile Forum, Reptile Classifieds - CaptiveBred

mark_w · Posted: Mon Mar 20, 2006 6:58 pm Post subject: Leaf insects

I picked up a few leaf insects at Hamm. Phyllium siccifolium. Despite their delicate appearance they seem quite tough and are munching away on bramble. Anyone got any experience with these?

Mark.

Scott W · Posted: Tue Mar 21, 2006 11:29 am Post subject:

sound interesting, any photos?
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mark_w · Posted: Tue Mar 21, 2006 11:57 am Post subject:

Scott I don't actually own a digicam. I will borrow one from work and try to sort some pics out.

Mark.

peabody · Posted: Fri May 19, 2006 8:55 pm Post subject:

Found a good forum called bugnation.co.uk

keiron · Posted: Tue Jun 20, 2006 11:47 pm Post subject:

i used to keep leaf insects years ago i used to have giganteum, siccifolium and celebicum and found each one to be very hardy and before long i literally had a room full of em they wouldn't stop breeding just make sure they don't dry out and that they get plenty of ventilation. oh and they don't like it too hot hope this helps

Rickeezee · Posted: Wed Jun 21, 2006 7:29 am Post subject:

I was extremely lucky to gain three pairs of sub adult Macleays Spectre's, for nowt! This was by pure chance. I will post some pics later.

Any info on keeping them would be great please, especially the egg laying process and how to keep the eggs. have read up on them on various websites, but none of the sites give very much information on the breeding egg / laying process. Thanks.

Will post some piccies later.
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mark_w · Posted: Sun Jul 02, 2006 11:14 pm Post subject:

keiron; any tips on breeding these guys, and on what to do with the eggs (when they arrive !)

Cheers,
Mark.

keiron · Posted: Mon Jul 03, 2006 12:41 am Post subject:

Hi Mark when they mature it will be very easy to tell the males and females apart and as for breeding i did nothing to induce it as long as they are kept together they will mate and produce lots of eggs usually laying a couple a day. leaf insect eggs are very bizarre looking things and to incubate them i kept them in waxworm pots half - filled with slightly moist sand then i placed the pots at the cool end of one of my vivs, and then waited! they take months to hatch my best advice is to forget about them and start checking weekly after 3 - 4 months the babies are very fragile and dehydration is the biggest problem at this stage but after they have molted for the first time they are generally hardy and grow quickly.

hope this helps a bit mate any more question feel free to ask - to be honest i'd quite like to get some more now we've been chatting about them!

keiron

keiron · Posted: Mon Jul 03, 2006 12:53 am Post subject:

Rickeezee - Mcleays spectres are a great species of stick insect to keep. once again the males and females are very easy to tell apart though the females do take a bit longer to mature than the males. you may not actually see them mating but when she is ready you will know she is laying eggs as in the wild the instinct for the female is to fling the eggs as far away as possible. of course when confined in a cage the eggs hit the sides, with quite some force too! the eggs look like large seeds with a 'lid' at one end these are best incubated on sand with minimum moisture as they are very susceptible to fungus. they take a very long time to hatch and the babies are nutters i.e once they are disturbed they charge around and when you have a few of them they are hard to keep track of! a common problem is that they do not settle on the foodplant instead they do laps around the sides of the enclosure but this can be avoided by using a smaller cage and literally cramming it with the foodplant so they can't avoid it.

hope this is of some help to you good luck with them

Rickeezee · Posted: Mon Jul 03, 2006 3:19 am Post subject:

Thanks for the info.
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