Welcome to the leaf insect care sheet. The aim of this article is to provide you with a simple, one-page sheet of information that you can print out and use to provide all the basic care necessary to keep insects alive and well.

Housing:

There are currently no commercial leaf insect cages on the market though leaf insect cages from specialist suppliers can be used.

Cages can be made out of a variety of materials – mainly plastic, glass or mesh. Mesh is popular among butterfly breeders and so these cages are often found for sale at specialist suppliers. However appreciate that leaf insects like a warm, humid environment and so a mesh cage may make it difficult to maintain this environment.

I would therefore suggest plastic or glass containers, with plastic being my personal favorite because it is more durable and lighter weight.

Many containers intended for use around the home can be employed as leaf insect cages such as clear plastic tupperware boxes, shoeboxes or old fish tanks.

Ensure that some ventilation is available in the cage. For larger insects one can bore some holes in a plastic container using a soldering iron but baby leaf insects are tiny and may manage to escape from such holes. In these cases you can use some gauze (net curtain material works well) across the top of the cage to prevent moisture building up.

Leaf insects move around a reasonable amount at night and need space to change their skins successfully so a cage should be as large as you can manage. And of course the more insects you house, the larger the cage should be.

Environmental Conditions:

Leaf insects like a warm, moist environment so aim to provide this. While they may be fine during the summer months without heating, I tend to provide mine with some artificial heating during the winter to tide them over. A heat mat intended for reptiles is cheap, easy and safe to use and you can simply place your leaf insect cage half on it and you’re done.

Aim to spray the cage with tepid water every few days to increase the humidity and allow your pets to drink from the droplets.

Feeding:

The most popular food of leaf insects in captivity is bramble (blackberry) which can be found even during winter so is an ideal food. Just watch yourself on those thorns when collecting it!

Other people have reported success with a variety of other food plants such as oak but personally I have never had any luck with these.

Out of water you will need to change bramble 2-3 times a week which can make cleaning out harder than necessary. If you place your leaf insects into a big enough cage you can place the stems of the bramble into a jar of water which will keep the food alive for a week or more, thus cutting down on the work you have to do to maintain them.

Handling:

Leaf insects are fragile creatures and can easily lose legs. I have never had a leaf insect show any aggression towards me and so the main concern is the health of the insect when handling.

Leaf insects can be gently coaxed onto the hand and then the hand should be kept low over another surface – a bed is ideal – so that should the insect fall then it will not damamge itself.

Ensure you wash your hands thoroughly after handling.