Stick Insects

[ErikRasmussen]

Okay so one of my favorite pet stores had stick insects for a few bucks each which is cool. But I learned that they like temps and humidity in the 80s. Has anyone ever added these to their crabitat?

I would assume the crabs would hunt them, that's cool, does anyone know find they are harmful to crabs/get diseases that crabs are sensitive too?

They eat bramble oak rose and ivy, oak I know is cool for crabs what about the rest?

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[DaJimmer]

From what i heard live bugs not so much. Dead bugs make a good meal. Idk if crabs hunt as much as they scavenge.

[Just Jay]

No idea about ths stick bugs but other than a hermit meal would they benifit your tank or cause more upkeep? That would be my question. I know some hermits will "hunt" bugs down. But at least what i have seen its more in passing.

[Happyhermiehome]

IMO Stick bugs are waaaaay too cool to be hermie food!

[LadyJinglyJones]

They likely need a plant food type (regardless of what the pet store tells you)... I'd look that up for crab safety.

Species name is necessary to find out if they secrete any anti predator chem.

I personally would avoid Indian stick insects (Carausius morosus). (Invasive species.)

Finally, many species of phasmid are parthenogenetic - which means that females reproduce without males (about 99% of the time), basically cloning themselves.

Only buying one will in no way keep their numbers down. Indian Sticks mature sexually at, like, 5 or six months (I think), which isn't super fast (compared to roaches or crickets). Its about hslf threir lifetime. But they reproduce in large numbers and are hardy.

I expect you'd want to cull eventually if the crabs don't find this slow moving potential prey tasty enough to do the job for you.

Also, for the love of anything, don't let yours escape - a few exotic species are invasive even where winters are pretty chilly & they become real biological pests. If it's a local species, don't release yours outside after its been reared in captivity (can carry disease that presents a risk to local populations).

[ErikRasmussen]

Yeah oaks seem to be the one that crabs and stick insects like.

They are invasive and they do clone (which is rad) and I would end up letting my cat chase them around lol And i think utah might already have a problem with them, i have seen them around more than i probably should. Then again I look closer than most people do with that stuff. But If this were something I would do I am going to wait until my Isopods are stable in the tank

[LadyJinglyJones]

Er.... when an animal (or plant) is invasive, that really, reeeeally, definately doesn't mean it's okay to add fuel (i.e. more of said invasive) to the fire.

There are groups in most places trying to reduce invasive harm to the ecosystem (esp. with plants). Casually, if unintentionally, impeding that work is, er, pretty uncool.

Sorry to be a downer, but i cant let this thread slide without giving my opinion - that letting them roam your house for your cat's amusement & thereby increasing the likelihood of their getting outside seems... irresponsible.

If you go this rout, please restrict them to the crab tat and freeze or bake any you cull.

(P.s. cats love chasing house centipedes - Scutegera ssp. - which most houses harbour because they're from South America and essentially behave like a human commensal in areas with winters. Catch some for your cat if you want to give it something to play with.)

[soilentgringa]

Er.... when an animal (or plant) is invasive, that really, reeeeally, definately doesn't mean it's okay to add fuel (i.e. more of said invasive) to the fire.

There are groups in most places trying to reduce invasive harm to the ecosystem (esp. with plants). Casually, if unintentionally, impeding that work is, er, pretty uncool.

Sorry to be a downer, but i cant let this thread slide without giving my opinion - that letting them roam your house for your cat's amusement & thereby increasing the likelihood of their getting outside seems... irresponsible.

If you go this rout, please restrict them to the crab tat and freeze or bake any you cull.

(P.s. cats love chasing house centipedes - Scutegera ssp. - which most houses harbour because they're from South America and essentially behave like a human commensal in areas with winters. Catch some for your cat if you want to give it something to play with.)

Thank you for expressing this in a less blunt way than I was wanting to.

I definitely cosign this LJJ.

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[wodesorel]

What species is it though? There are stick insects native to the US, not a lot of people realize that.

[Just Jay]

Diapheromera femorata, common walking sick is the only one i know to be native to north American. I may be wrong but my main question would be more how will this improve your crabs life? I love mixed tanks. Just not the at a cost to either life. I cant see how the hermit crabs or sticks would do better living together. Honestly i can only think of issues. Your tank your choice

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[soilentgringa]

What species is it though? There are stick insects native to the US, not a lot of people realize that.

True. I love walking sticks. The phasmid species in general is pretty cool.

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[LadyJinglyJones]

Diapheromera femorata, common walking sick is the only one i know to be native to north American. I may be wrong but my main question would be more how will this improve your crabs life? I love mixed tanks. Just not the at a cost to either life. I cant see how the hermit crabs or sticks would do better living together. Honestly i can only think of issues. Your tank your choice

D. femorata is the most Nor-Easterly species of walking stick.

Father South into the states there is a genus refered to as striped walking sticks (genus Anisomorpha) which I believe is also native (but I don't know how far South... I only ever looked them up one summer when I found one at my beach lifeguarding job, and that was the only one I ever encountered) so those are N. American too.

I know nothing of the West, unfortunately - I'm far enough East that I don't bother myself getting all jelly over the bigger bugs along the Pacific seaboard. Except of course the more proliferate Western invasives in central Ontario - lots of those. Mostly large, charismatic insect species.

Incidentally, I think about 90% of the mantids I've seen over the years are invasives.