Macleays Spectre Stick Insects (E. tiaratum)

Gsc

Arachnobaron
Old Timer
Joined
Jul 22, 2004
Messages
538
I just recieved three of these guys... AWSOME. I never really though about keeping stick insects before until I saw pictures of this particular species... I'm very excited to start a "new project".

Does anyone else on here keep them?

I've searched this site (a few threads) and went through all the "google" results... pretty easy care... Any tips from experienced keepers?
 

Gsc

Arachnobaron
Old Timer
Joined
Jul 22, 2004
Messages
538
Sweet...they are awsome critters... Great photography by the way!
 

Lycanthrope

Arachnolord
Old Timer
Joined
Oct 10, 2002
Messages
622
Where did you get them Gsc, I've been wanting these for a while but can never find them for sale.
 

luther

Arachnodemon
Old Timer
Joined
Apr 8, 2003
Messages
679
I have about 500 eggs in a jar waiting to hatch. The eggs have about an 18 month timer if you dont speed them up with a false winter. My kids love these, particularly the females which get huge (and painfully strong and spiky). The mature males look like a cinnamon stick crossed with a dragonfly. We keep a tank of these every year. Nice display inverts that are easy to handle... until they get too big and strong. Watch out for the rear leg scissor attack.

Definately one of the easiest inverts to keep. We feed brambles and occasional oak. They go mad for eucalyptus, which is their native food. Molting is sometimes tricky, so dont be suprised by missing legs.

If you have a female in there you'll get about 5 eggs a day when she matures. Expect about 500 in total! The eggs look like hemp seeds. They have a little nipple on the egg that is attractive to the local black ants, who take the eggs down to the bottom of the nest and eat the nipple. The eggs hibernate safely in the nest until they hatch, protected by the ants. The baby insect looks just like the ant, so it can wander out of the nest unharmed to find food.
 

Dark Raptor

Arachnoprince
Old Timer
Joined
Oct 18, 2004
Messages
1,062
Hmmm my E. tiaratum are always hatching just after 6 months.

Here is the page, where you have instruction how to build incubator. Text is in polish, but pics will be helpful enough. It works very well. Last time I had 90% eggs hatched (more than 200 young 'sticks').

http://www.mga.com.pl/~adampl/hodowla/inkubator.php
 
Top