INTRODUCTION

Here are the answers to the most common questions among beginners. We hope that these answers help you. If you have more questions send us an e-mail.

-Are the phasmids care complicated?
-Which is the best specie for beginners?
-What about general knowledge at breeding?
-Is dangerous manipulate the phasmids?
-Which are the most common food plants?
-How to know if a phasmid is an adult?
-What is the parthenogenesis?
-What should we do with the eggs?
-How long can live?

Are the phasmids care complicated?
We can find resistant species like Carausius morosus and other more delicate like Phyllium giganteum. The difficulty depends on the needs of each specie and his tolerance to the changes. There are other things that could influence like food quantity, population density, sociability, reproductive capacity, difficulty in the ecdisis process…
The most important thing is to know the best conditions for each specie and logically the best idea is to begin with species which needs easy conditions in order to obtain experience in the control of conditions without losses.

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Which is the best specie for beginners?
There are a lot of adequate species for beginners, like Carausius morosus, Medauroidea extradentata, Ramulus artemis, Neohirasea maerens, Lamponius guerini…

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What about general knowledge at breeding?
The most important are the environmental conditions (temperature, humidity, ventilation) and other things like the space adequate for each species.
The insects also need food and many species need substratum to bury the eggs.

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Is dangerous manipulate the phasmids?
The phasmids tend to be harmless insects that use the camouflage for not be viewed and not for attack. However many species usually have spines by the body and we must take care. An example of these species are Heteropteryx dilatata and Eurycantha calcarata, they can make wounds with their hind legs.
Also there are species like Oreophoetes peruana or Peruphasma schultei, that can generate organic acids, expel this when they feel threatened and can be irritate for the skin or the nose.
There are some species that have glands for expel substances with bad smell when they feel threatened like Neohirasea maerens, Sipyloidea sipylus or Eurycantha calcarata.
The advisable thing is to manipulate them so little as be possible and better with gloves.

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Which are the most common food plants?
The most common food plant is bramble (Rubus spp.), but there are a lot of food plants used depends of the specie. Some usual plants are:
-Rose (Rosa spp.)
-Strawberry (Fragaria spp.)
-Hypericum (Hypericum spp.)
-Privet (Ligustrum spp.)
-Oak (Quercus spp.)
-Eucalyptus (Eucalyptus spp.)
- Evy (Hedera hélix)

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How to know if a phasmid is an adult?
Phasmids does 5 or 6 ecdysis during his life since they born until they becomes an adult (imago) and will be sexually mature. The intermediate stages are called L1,L2,L3…

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What is the parthenogenesis?
There are two types of reproduction in phasmids, sexual and parthenogenetic, but not all of the species have these two types. In some species the male existence are not known.
In the sexual reproduction, in the copula between a male and a female, the male gives a spermatophore to the female and she utilize this for the eggs fecundation. This type of reproduction leads a change of genetic material and a bigger genetic variability and adaptive capacity in the descendence, so this is the best reproduction system.
Parthenogenesis is a type of asexual reproduction in which there is only ovules. In this case there is not a change of genetic material and the descendence will be a mother's clones. This system isn’t as good as the sexual reproduction, but in some cases it’s necessary for keep the specie.

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What should we do with the eggs?
The phasmids have various forms to put the eggs. Some species drop the eggs to the ground or launch them. Others deposit them into a hole or adhere them to any surface. Even there are species that bury them.
To diminish the probability of the apparition of fungi on the eggs, it would be a good idea to take out the eggs from the terrarium and incubate them in other container like a tupper. These containers should have a clean substrate able to maintain the humidity like the vermiculite. The closure has to be good but with some small holes for the ventilation and with a little height between the substrate and the roof to leave space to the nymphs.
The incubation can be done in an incubator or at room temperature if it’s the proper. Also the humidity is an important factor.
The time of hatching varies according to the species and the incubation conditions, some species born in a month while others take almost a year.

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How long can live?
The longevity of the phasmids varies according to the species. We can find species which, in good conditions, can live a year and others that can live more than two years.

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