All about keeping Spiny Leaf Insects as pets

Spiny Leaf Insects make excellent pets. They make hardly any mess, they make no noise, they don't take up much room, they dont' smell and they cost nothing to feed or keep. They are really cool to watch and gently hold.

Housing your spiny leaf insect

All you need is a ventilated enclosure. This can be a critter keeper, or a big cage with ventilated sides. Critter keepers are a cheap way of housing your spiny leaf insect. You need there to be no gaps so the leaf insect doesn't escape.

This is a critter keeper

These are a bit more expensive, but great for your stick insects and house them really well when they are full grown. You can get these at the local pet store for around $60 (email me for more details). This is what I use to house my insects.

I also use paper towel in the bottom of my enclosure. It helps to keep the enclosure clean and also helps to see if the insects are eating as you can see if they are pooing or not. I change this paper towel once a week to keep the enclosure fresh and clean.

This is my insect setup.

Feeding your Spiny Leaf Insect

Feeding your spiny leaf insect is easy and costs nothing. All you need is access to a fresh gum leaf supply. I find the stronger smelling gum leaves work the best, the insects really like these. I scrunch up the leaf in my fingers, and if it gives off a strong eucalyptis smell, it's perfect. Every few days, you pick small branch of leaves, and put it in a jar of water inside your insects enclosure. I use a small jar with a hole punched in the top so that the insects can't accidently fall in the water, and I poke the small branch of leaves in this water. It's important to keep the gumleaves in water otherwise they dry out really quickly. Change the leaves every 3-4 days, or sooner if they dry out.

This is how I have my gumleaves set up

It's very important that the leaf insects have fresh gum leaves to eat, otherwise they will die eventually.

Spray the leaves and enclosure twice a day with fresh water in a water bottle sprayer, the insects will drink the droplets of water. Do not directly spray the insect. This also helps the leaves to stay fresh.

General Care

Remember your Spiny Leaf Insect is an animal with feelings and it must be respected. Gentle holding of your insects is fine, but try not to do it all the time as this will stress the insect out and affect it's health. Also they like to eat most of the day, so if you are holding it all the time, it won't be able to do that.

The species of Spiny Leaf Insects I have reside in North Queensland as their native habitat. They like heat and humidity, but don't keep them in the direct sunlight. In winter, try and keep them somewhere a bit warmer, maybe in a room where there is heating on really cold days. In winter, I keep mine on top of some heated snake cages that my parents have in the family room and that keeps them quite warm.

You can learn a lot about spiny leaf insects by watching them and enjoying them in their habitat that you create for them. Just remember to always respect the animal and don't do anything that might stress it out.