There are thousands of species of stick insects, in a variety of sizes from 2 cm to 60 cm long. However, only a few are commonly kept as pets, almost all of which are about 15-20 cm long, and the most common species is the Indian stick insect. While there are some extreme species that can live for 3 years, the most common pet species live for about 9-18 months. Warmer temperatures make them burn through their lives faster, and cold temperatures cause them to die, so their lifespan can be quite variable depending on how they are kept.
An insect's enclosure is its home. The place where it is happy to spend its time, and the place it feels safest. The size of the enclosure will depend on the size of the species being kept, but it should be at least twice as tall as the adult insect is long (preferably more), and tall enough to put their food conveniently inside it. For the most common pet stick insects, a tall faunarium is the lowest cost, such as the Exo Terra Large (tall) faunarium, or a plastic aquarium with a plastic grill lid. However, in all species, babies can be very small, and can escape through the ventilation holes in the lid of faunariums. Even a gap of 2 mm can be enough to get through. Therefore, it is normal to trap a fine fabric such as muslin in the lid, to use as a mesh to prevent escape. If preferred, 1 mm mesh can be bought online, and melted into the lid with a soldering iron, or stuck in place with a hot glue gun. Alternatively, there are dedicated mesh enclosures such as the Zoo Med ReptiBreeze enclosures, and glass enclosures with mesh lids such as the Habistat or Exo Terra terrariums, but these are normally much more expensive. Mesh enclosures may need sticky tape put over the inside of hinge gaps, and terrariums may need wire holes plugged with Blu Tac, to prevent escape.
The floor of the enclosure will need some kind of substrate (bedding), to prevent water dribbles from building up on the floor, which can kill the insects. For species of stick insect that do not lay their eggs in the substrate, such as the Indian stick insect and Vietnamese walking stick, kitchen towel often works best, and is easy to clean and identify eggs. It can be replaced as often as needed, and must not be allowed to turn mouldy. For species that dig to lay eggs, such as the Sungaya stick insect, a deeper substrate which allows digging is needed, such as a few centimetres of coconut fibre (coar). This is normally replaced only if needed, since it may contain eggs (see the notes on breeding below), such as once every 6-8 months when it finally goes mouldy.
For most species, the enclosure does not need any heating, as long as it is kept in a bedroom, or other heated room in the house. Heating may be needed in some houses or with some species. For faunariums and glass terrariums, a low powered heat mat can be stuck to the outside of the wall (not the floor) on one side of the enclosure, using brown packaging tape stuck over the edges to hold it in place if it is not a self-adhesive type. Heat mats must not be placed inside the enclosure as they will get wet and produce electrical faults. The insects should not have to dig to get warm, so the heat mat must never be placed under the floor of the enclosure. Examples include the Habistat, ProRep or Lucky Reptile 4 Watt or 7 Watt heat mats. The idea is to heat some of the enclosure, but not all of it, to allow the insects to find the temperature they are most comfortable with. For larger mesh enclosures, a 25 Watt basking lamp may be held in a fitting above the enclosure, using a red bulb if it needs to be kept on a night.
Note that heat mats, like most heaters, work by radiated heat, not by heating the air. Thermometers usually measure the air temperature, so will give a false reading. The important temperature is the one that will be reached by an object - the animal or something representing it - when it is placed near the heater for long enough to absorb the radiated heat (a number of hours). Infrared thermometers allow you to measure the temperature of the substrate, ornaments, and animal, rather than the temperature of the air. Wet substrates will appear to be colder than dry ones. Test dry surfaces when measuring temperatures.
The enclosure should not be placed in direct sunlight at any time of day. At all times, the animal, enclosure and spray bottle must be kept away from smoke, fireplace and cooking fumes, aerosols, chemical/alcohol sprays, air fresheners, insecticides, pesticides, and any scented or fragranced products.
Before handling, if there are any chemicals, including soap, on your hands, they should be rinsed well to remove chemicals. Stick insects can be handled a few times a day, as long as they can be picked up gently enough to avoid injuring them. This can be more difficult with very small stick insects, and is nearly impossible with babies. Either very gently brush them off a surface so they fall onto a hand, or put fingers under them, and pull them gently away from whatever they are walking on, in the hopes that they let go, rather than being injured. This may take some patience. Some will assume the defensive posture of pretending to be a stick, and may remain that way for a long time before starting to walk around. Handling should normally only last for a few minutes. All other pets and wild animals should be kept away from the stick insect, especially cats, dogs and birds.
Most species do not defend themselves using any kind of weaponry. However, some species, such as male giant spiny stick insects, can have very sharp spines that can be used for defense. If frightened, they can actively jab them into your skin, and this can be quite painful. Some species produce unpleasant smells if frightened, such as the pink winged stick insect.
In a few pet species, males can fly, and they may do so either for defence, displaying, or just as a way to get around. Some of them are very poor at flying, and use their wings more like a clumsy parachute, such as the pink winged stick insect. Females normally cannot fly, but there are some rare species where they can, such as the French stick insect, and a few species where an occasional female may grow wings large enough to fly, such as the pink winged stick insect. In species that can fly, handling must only be done with doors closed, and away from any potential hazards, such as cookers and heaters. It must also only be done in rooms that are low enough for you to reach them if they fly to the ceiling.
Handling is not required; stick insects do not ever need to be taken out of their enclosure for exercise, unless you want to. They do not become any more or less tame from regular handling. They must not be handled while they are shedding, or while they are still soft after shedding.
Almost all stick insects can eat bramble leaves, which are available at all times of year. They do not mind if they are green or autumn colours, and will eat them no matter what, but they prefer leaves that are slightly older, not the bright green newly sprouted leaves. In summer, they may also eat leaves from related plants, such as raspberry, and can also eat hazel and rose leaves, but make sure that they are from wild plants, not from a florist or fruit grower. Indian stick insects can also eat privet and ivy, which are available all year, but privet will kill any other species of stick insect, and ivy will kill most other species of stick insect. (Privet and ivy must not be used if the stick insects are being used as food for any other animal, such as lizards, as they will poison that animal.) Some species can also eat oak leaves.
Cut a few branches or twigs, long enough to fit from floor to ceiling in the enclosure, with the lid on. The food will need to be relatively fresh, not wilted or dried. Food must not have pesticides, and must not come from an organic supplier, since organic produce normally contains organic pesticides (organic does not mean pesticide-free). To keep it fresh for longer, they should be planted in a small vase of water. The most common approach is to use a clean jam jar. Unfortunately, stick insects will drown if they can reach the water. To prevent this, you can use moss in the jam jar, deeper than the water level, so the insects can walk on it instead of drowning. Alternatively, keep the lid on the jar, poke holes in the lid (eg. with a screwdriver), and plant the plants through the holes, so the insects cannot fit down the holes. The food will need to be replaced whenever it wilts, or has all been eaten. This will take about 3 days with brambles, or about 1 week with privet.
When changing old food for fresh food, carefully inspect each plant in case a stick insect is hiding on it, or has laid eggs on it (see the section about breeding below). If they are a species that lays eggs on plants, then the plants will need to be frozen for at least 2 days when they are being removed from the enclosure, to avoid accidentally releasing viable eggs into the wild.
Every day, a light mist of water should be sprayed onto the leaves and walls of the enclosure, for the insects to drink. The amount of water must not be enough to make dribbles, just tiny droplets, as the insects can get caught in dribbles and drown. Use a spray bottle that has never contained toxic chemicals. For best results, fill the bottle up with tap water one day before you plan to use it, and leave the lid off. 24 hours later, bubbles of chlorine will have formed on the sides. Flick the bottle so the bubbles rise to the surface, and blow over the bottle, to get the chlorine out. Put the spray lid on the bottle, and use it for as many days as you trust the water not to be stagnant, about a week. Use the same water to top up the water in the jam jar when needed.
Stick insects shed their skins 6-9 times to reach adulthood, and live for a number of months afterwards without shedding again. It is normal to intentionally breed them, in order to be able to keep them for longer. Indian stick insects and Vietnamese walking sticks are all female, and breed on their own without needing a male. Most other stick insects need both males and females in order to breed. Once adult, females can lay their eggs. Species that need males in order to breed, cannot mate until they are adult, but once they have mated just once, they can produce fertile eggs for months afterwards. Indian stick insects lay one egg per day, and live as adults for around 3 months, so they can produce 90 eggs. Vietnamese walking sticks normally lay about 25 eggs per day for 4 days, then stop laying eggs for rest of their adult life. With other species, egg laying can be sporadic. Eggs normally take about 3 months to hatch.
Indian stick insects normally lay their eggs on the floor, and they look rounded with one pointed end, unlike frass (insect excrement), which is pellet shaped. Vietnamese walking sticks normally stick their eggs in lines up the sides of the brambles or the enclosure. With species that produce very large numbers of eggs, such as the Indian stick insects and Vietnamese walking stick, only keep as many as you want to hatch. You will normally want to hatch a few more than you plan to keep, as not all of them will survive until adulthood. 5 is usually a good number for species that reproduce without needing males. With species that need males to breed, it is best to keep a few more, to ensure that you randomly have enough males and females that reach adulthood.
If the eggs are not laid in a loose substrate, they are best kept in a cricket tub in the same room until they have hatched. All unwanted eggs (and plants they may be stuck to) must be put into the freezer for 2-3 days (eg. in a cricket tub), to prevent stick insects from developing in them, after which they can be safely disposed of in household waste. This is a humane way to prevent development, or to euthanize excess insects. Owners are legally required not to release fertile eggs or living stick insects into the wild, as they are not a native species.
For species that breed much more slowly, such as the Sungaya stick insect, it is normal to allow all eggs to hatch, since they normally do not produce them fast enough to be a problem. Eggs that are laid in substrate normally have to be left there to hatch. If needed, the numbers can be kept under control by feeding only just enough food for the number of insects (which is largely how it works in nature), or periodically freezing some of the substrate, and leaving only a part of it untouched, so that only the eggs in that part will be allowed to hatch.
Ask local shops whether they can rehome unwanted stick insects for you, give them away to friends, or freeze them if needed.
It is normally safe to keep different species of stick insects, and stick insects of different ages, in the same enclosure, as they normally do not harm each other. With species that need males to breed, keeeping only males or only females in a group can be used to control breeding, but some can be very hard to identify when they are young.
It is not possible to treat any medical conditions. Typically, they are either alive or dead, nothing in between. However, if scared or injured, stick insects may intentionally discard legs or their antennae. These will grow back next time they shed their skin, if they are still young enough to do so. Many species of stick insect may pretend to be a stick while resting or scared, with their body and legs laid out in a long line, and this can be mistaken for death. However, dead insects usually have their legs splayed out to the sides, not laid out in a long line.
This is just a quick guide to get you started. It is not intended to be a complete book, and cannot replace a well written book, or the advice of an expert. It is based on our own best knowledge at the time of writing, and advice may change over time as new techniques, technology, or medical advice becomes available. Owners are responsible for ensuring that their knowledge is kept up to date. This guide is based on the British Isles, but the basic principles may be applied to other areas too.