# Leaf Insects



## Jackson

I have a pair of Leaf insects (Phylium siccofolium) and i cant find hardly any info on them, and i cant find a phasmid forum on the net to ask about them.

So my questions are:

Size, Temp, Humidity?

How often should food be changed, how often (roughly) do they shed?

How many would be suitable to keep in a 15"x10"x10" tank?

Thanks for helping

Jackson


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## 13ollox

Ian should give you all the answers your looking for .. he even designed a phasmid forum but was thinking of scrapping it ! ( not sure if he did ) why dont you give him a PM .

thanks

Neil


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## Jackson

Spoke to ian before, i think he said he wasnt certain about them.

As for a forum he said he was thinking about setting one up (this was about 2 weeks ago)


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## 13ollox

Ahh ok . sorry for that then . he showed me the forum though .. it was made and everything. but he was still thinking of scrapping it because he thought not that many would be interested !

Neil


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## Ian

Er, yea, I was bored, and thought maybe a phasmid forum would be good? I did set one up, but, have only really advertised it on TT and terraristik.

Anyway, they are SO easy to keep. All you need is a standard geo, and they are fine at room temp. I never spray my adults, altho, I have been told it is a good idea, so maybe once or twice a week might be good.

Other than that, there is nothing to it!

Food should be changed when it dried up.


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## francisco

Hello JAckson,

Phyllium Siccifolium (linne, 1758)

Locality: India,China,Malaysia,Phillipines

Female size 65-98 mm

MAles 29-41 mm

eggs hatch in 4-5 months

L1 nymphs are very active.

MAke sure to secure every small crack from from where they can scape.

they are good at it.

SPray food plant lightly, to much water or big drops of water could cause the nymph to drown, they are also good at that.

Food plant: Bramble(robus sp) wild black berries,Guava,Mango,Wax Myrtle,oak. Food needs to be change every 2-3 days to keep it good.

Old food might just drop and smash the nymphs. Feed smaller leaves to the small nymphs so they can chew the leaves easily.

Terrarium: 20"x 18"x 12". is a good size to keep several dozens of L1-L4 nymphs.

As they grow they need more space or they will, chew on each other.

Terrarium needs to have High humidity and good ventilation.

Extreme humidity and low ventilation could cause high bacterial concentration and that could kill the nymphs too.

Males need to be kept cooler since they mature first.

I hope this help and if you have more questions please feel free to ask me.

Regards

Ft


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## francisco

Temp: 75-80 F is good

Humidity: 70-80% is good.

How often should food be changed: every 2-3 days

The Molting process varies as they get older,just like mantids.

How many would be suitable to keep in a 15"x10"x10" tank

15-20 nymphs or 3 pairs of adults.

Substrate could be paper towell (for easier cleaning and egg collection)

Spray twice a day or more if need it.

FT


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## Jackson

Ok cool i can buy 2 more pairs then.

I'll go and change the substrate, at the moment its sphagnum moss but i'd never see the eggs.

How do you sex phasmids?

I dont think mine are adults since they dont have wings. I feel like such a noob when it comes to phasmids.


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## Ian

Dont use substrate. Its messy, moulds the droppings, and makes eggs impossible to find. Males are MUCH smaller, and thinner. Their abdomens are a lot more pointy as well, whereas the females have a rounder ab.


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## francisco

Not to mention the antennae, males have longer and thicker antennae than females.

Full size wings and they know how to use them.

Females short wings round body and not fliers.

MAy I ask you Jackson, How much are you paying for nymphs?

Are they Subs?

MAke sure they are Ph siccifolium since there is a new undescribed Phyllium specie from Phillipines, that is very close resembled to PH siccifolium.

Ph siccifolium are rare in the hobby as well as Ph pulchyforium and Ph frondosum.

The most common ones are

Ph giganteum

Ph bioculatum

Ph celebicum

Ph sp (Phillipines)

then the others.


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## Jackson

It'll be the unknown phillipines one probably, i asked the guy what sp it was and he said probably siccofolium.

I paid £10 for a pair from a show about 3 weeks back. And they're not adult.


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## Ian

You shudda forked out another £5 and got an adult pair, I did!

Also, I don't think they are siccofolium. They are nymphs, ova, and adults are identical to these, http://www.bugsincyberspace.com/phyllium_hausleithneri.html

Altho, he says they are from malaysia?

Very strange.


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## Mike

Hi i have a question i heard u can feed your leaf bugs rose leaves is this true? They are pretty similar to bramble right?


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## captainmerkin

phyllium (most species) do well in cool humid conditions, 16 celcius to 25 celcius is ok (though I would aim for around 20 - 23).

They need to be sprayed pretty reguarly with water to help them when it comes to shedding as these guys can really get tied up in their skins, which is a real shame if the wings come through!

Also a good idea to clean these out on a regular basis as they do tend to make a lot of mess.. also when fully grown Phyllium giganteum reproduce parthogenically so keep an eye out for eggs in the muck  

the ones I have looked after seem to do really well on evergreen oak as well as brambles, rose is also an option, though if all three are put in oak is the only one that gets touched!

great creatures these, very easy to look after and don't ever do anything startling............unless you are scared of leaves


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## randyardvark

i think peoplr try to care for theese to much kept theat 25 deg C spayed them every 3 days ish , changed their bramble when ever it became bry and left them to it, stuck mesh on each end of their cuboard to give decent airflow and that was is, beautiful creatures but i found the males where short lived and very good at flying!


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## Ian

> i think peoplr try to care for theese to much kept theat 25 deg C spayed them every 3 days ish , changed their bramble when ever it became bry and left them to it, stuck mesh on each end of their cuboard to give decent airflow and that was is, beautiful creatures but i found the males where short lived and very good at flying!


Dear me Dan, your spelling is awful  

I totally agree, I always thought they were hard to look after, and did care for them way to much. However they will do just fine if kept similarly to other species...I think they would be more popular if people knew this.


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