As with most exotic pets, the challenge with leaf insects is to get their cage set up correctly to begin with. Once you have achieved this then these insects are surprisingly easy to care for.

Daily maintenance is essentially zero with it just being necessary to change the food plant and possibly spray the plant once or twice a week. Apart from this leaf insects require no care whatsoever.

So when it comes to leaf insect care, let’s take a closer look at the caging requirements.

Size:

Leaf insects grow rapidly in captivity when kept correctly and it can take only a matter of 4-6 months to go from a newborn insect to a mature adult. This means that you may want to use a variety of different sized cages over this time.

The most important thing is that leaf insects need space to move around, eat and change their skins so a decent sized cage is wise. This should be several times the height and width of the insect and the more leaf insects you plan on keeping together the larger the container should be.

Adults should be kept in a cage of 18″ square at least to enable you to include enough food plant as they are voracious eaters and will get through food at an alarming rate as adults.

Personally I start off youngsters in a clear plastic shoebox with some ventilation holes drilled in. I find that the enclosed space helps to keep humidity up because drying out is one fo the biggest killers of baby leaf insects.

Then when half grown I move my insects up into an adult cage of around 18″ deep by 18″ wide by 24″ high which provides plenty of space for mating abd changing skins.

Design:

Leaf insects are rainforest animals which enjoy a warm, humid environment so the cage you provide should reflect this.

Equally a stagnant cage with stale air can lead to mould and fungus and respiratory problems for your insects.

So the ideal cage contains enough holes to allow some air to escape but not so much that the humidity never rises and they are difficult to heat.

Whilst professional cages are available for leaf insects, which will do a perfect job, one can also reuse other items – such as tupperware boxes or sweet jars – and either use some gauze or create holes using a soldering iron to provide some ventilation.

Environment:

Keep the cage warm and moist. This means in the colder areas of the world that leaf insects need to be kept indoors in a heated room during the winter. An ideal temperature is around 25′C for your insects so even a centrally heated room may not be warm enough over winter.

I therefore personally use a reptile heater which provides gentle background heat and keeps my insects warm. I use a plant spray gun to spray the leaves from time to time, thus keeping up the humidity (making life easier for moulting) and allowing the leaf insects to drink from the dorplets.