cannibalism?

[IrishLad17]

Ok, well I've had my three phasmids for a while now (around 9 months I think) and they sure have grown. All were about 1/2-1 inch in length. Now the largest is about 3 inches in body length, not including its legs which probably add another 2 inches. The smallest is probably has a body length of around 1 1/2 inches. While checking in on them a couple days ago I saw that my largest phasmid was missing a leg, at first I just thought that it might have been a bad molt or some sort of accidental injury, but then I saw that it was missing yet another leg. This didn't sit well with me, but I just assumed I had the humidity to low, or that the cage set up was too crowded. Then I read somewhere on the boards that if phasmids don't have enough food then they can resort to cannibalism. I've been feeding them clippings from my rose bush and I assume they've been eating it (even if I've never actually seen them) because I just can't see any other way they could have grown to the sizes they have. The only other problem I can think of is that it's been pretty hot here the past couple of days and the clippings in their cage might have dried out faster than they could have eaten. Either way, I wanted to know if cannibalism is something frequent, or if it's sort of a last resort. And if it is going to be a problem in the future, if I should just seperate them.
Thanks

 

[8 leg wonder]

They also drop legs if there is not enough moisture available (hum and available drinking water), Getting their legs cought and torn off is also a common occurence

 

[NiGHTS]

Sometimes they can mistake the legs of cage-mates as pieces of food, and take a bite. But usually, they will only eat the legs off each other if they are starving. I'm not sure what variety you have...but I have about 25 Indian Stick Insects in a ten gallon aquarium, and they've never resorted to cannibalism.

If you don't see obvious feeding marks on the leaves, then they might not be accepting the food you're offering. Another trick you can try, is spying on them between sunset and dawn (I find mine do most of their feeding around 8 - 10 pm). I feed mine on Blackberry leaves, and they will eat at least half of the leaf before moving on to the next. So in the morning, you should be able to see definite damage to the leaves. Maybe try them out on one of the bramble food sources and see if that helps.

One other possible reason for leg loss could be a bad molt. Sometimes legs get stuck in the old skin, and the stick sheds the legs, as an alternative to dying.