Easy pet stick insect?

[AnEndlessCold]

I was looking into getting a stick insect and was wondering which ones are easiest to care for and where you get its food from.

 

[chanda]

Unfortunately, all those cool exotic stick insects that are so easy to care for, grow impressively large, and make great pets, are illegal to import or own in the United States because they have the potential to become an agricultural pest if they get out. The females of many species are parthenogenic, capable of reproducing without mating, and a single female can lay hundreds of eggs.

In the US, your best bet is to find one of the native species from your area, then find a source for whatever food plants it eats in the wild.

In Illinois, you may be able to find Diapheromera femorata(Northern Walkingstick), Manomera blatchleyi (Blatchley Walkingstick), and Megaphasma denticrus (Giant Walkingstick).

 

[AnEndlessCold]

Really? I swear I'd seen prickly stick insect (Extatosoma tiaratum) in an expo near me. They definitely had some stick insects. Is that illegal?

 

[chanda]

Really? I swear I'd seen prickly stick insect (Extatosoma tiaratum) in an expo near me. They definitely had some stick insects. Is that illegal?

Yeah, I've seen E. tiaratum at a few expos, too. There was even a guy in San Diego advertising them on Craigslist a year or two ago. They are illegal - but some people do have them. Zoos, museums and research institutions can have exotic phasmids or other exotic insects *if* they get a permit from the USDA APHIS, but those permits are not available to the casual collector or hobbyist.

 

[boina]

and a single female can lay hundreds of eggs.

And that's the reason I'll never keep any ever again - they are legal where I live, but they are a real pain in the neck, because they keep multiplying. Sick insects, leaf insects, all the same. At some point you'll have hundreds and the babies will get out when you try to feed and they will be everywhere. I gave all my stick/leaf insects away and I still kept picking individuals out of my potted plants months later. I'll never do that again, so don't be too sad if they are illegal where you live. They really are a pest.

 

[Salmonsaladsandwich]

And that's the reason I'll never keep any ever again - they are legal where I live, but they are a real pain in the neck, because they keep multiplying. Sick insects, leaf insects, all the same. At some point you'll have hundreds and the babies will get out when you try to feed and they will be everywhere. I gave all my stick/leaf insects away and I still kept picking individuals out of my potted plants months later. I'll never do that again, so don't be too sad if they are illegal where you live. They really are a pest.

Sounds like you just didn't bother cleaning up and finding a way to dispose of the excess eggs. Most people put em in the freezer.

 

[boina]

Sounds like you just didn't bother cleaning up and finding a way to dispose of the excess eggs. Most people put em in the freezer.

Sorry I replied. I won't make that mistake again.

 

[KevinsWither]

I will say the excess phasmid nymphs if you have too many they do make good mantis food/fish food.

 

[AnEndlessCold]

Yeah, I've seen E. tiaratum at a few expos, too. There was even a guy in San Diego advertising them on Craigslist a year or two ago. They are illegal - but some people do have them. Zoos, museums and research institutions can have exotic phasmids or other exotic insects *if* they get a permit from the USDA APHIS, but those permits are not available to the casual collector or hobbyist.

Thanks for the information, I would have thought that expos would have been more regulated.