# Extatosoma tiaratum food



## GailC (Jul 7, 2011)

Does anyone know if Extatosoma tiaratum can eat any greens from the grocery store? Thinking ahead to winter time when all the normal food is dormant.


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## What (Jul 8, 2011)

First off... non-native phasmids are *illegal* to keep in the USA. A person who has been on this forum for as long as you have must be being willfully ignorant to not know that... :wall:

Secondly, no, these will not eat any greens from the grocery store unless they sell eucalyptus, oak, bramble and other such leafy plants. And thirdly, you should have researched ideal and alternate food plants for all year round to supply your pets to start with before getting them. 

In the future please research the legality of your pets before posting questions about your them on a public forum, research their needs before keeping them, and learn to search for answers to your questions...this should have been fairly obvious from even basic research on them...like the wiki article.


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## Bugs In Cyberspace (Jul 8, 2011)

You're in Idaho. You should be able to find blackberry year round.

Isn't it frustrating when you're going 5 over the speed limit and every other car on the freeway is passing you and nobody is getting pulled over? Tisk tisk!


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## khil (Jul 8, 2011)

hey I'm no phasmid pro, idk maybe try this forum: http://www.insectstore.com/phasmid/index.php

looks like a community of people who will be more knowledgeable. If not try to find other specialist forums. Good luck.


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## GailC (Jul 9, 2011)

Thanks for the link, I'll check it out. I do have access to bramble/rose all winter but it will be leafless and buried under snow. Thats why I was hoping there was something that would be more practicle during the winter.


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## Bugs In Cyberspace (Jul 10, 2011)

Author of the Ghost of the Trees phasmids book, Orin McMonigle, often references his method of placing a plastic bin or bucket over a small patch of bramble. In this way it is protected from the snow.

I believe bramble (blackberry) leaves are usually still found in deep, thick woods, even in the snowiest areas of the PNW. They do also eat Photinia glabra--a common PNW evergreen landscaping plant.

Of course, it is advisable to limit the number of mouths you have to feed to a reasonable number (if, of course, you do choose to keep a regulated species like this...which has no record of establishment in the US for the last couple decades it has been passed around).


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