This section covers housing for stick insect praying mantis and of course leaf insects, there are hundreds of species that require different care and housing and there are some excellent care sheets out on the web

I would advise anyone before they embark on keeping any Insect to do their homework first, just to see if you can provide to all their needs .

Stick and Leaf Insects

When I was a lad (a few years ago now) the traditional way to keep stick insect was a standard sweet jar, and even today these with a few additions, can provide a simple and cheap form of housing,depending on species of course.

However they make an ideal starter environment for most species of Stick Insect,Leaf Insect and praying mantis, even though, some species will need to re housed before they out grow their home.

The advantages of this type of housing for young insects,are they maintain a good level of humidity, which is essential for a good moult, give good visibility and for the owner they provide a budget way of getting into this fascinating hobby.

When they out grow this type of housing a net cage can be a good choice providing lots of space and air circulation, however maintaining a good level of humidity can be tricky, so daily spraying is required.

Praying Mantis.

Their care is similar to stick insects, the main difference being they are hunters, this is where some people make a mistake with housing as they get the largest type of housing they think that the adult will require, put in a 1st-2^nd Instar mantis, this is bad for the young mantis as most mantis are ambush hunters,so you need to restrict the places where the prey can hide, this will push the prey in front of the young mantis therefore the hunt will be more successful.

So young mantis are best housed in a small type of enclosure, then grow the size of the enclosure along with your mantis, that way you will be more successful in keeping your mantis into adulthood.

The above information is only a very basic guide, as stated earlier there are many credible care sheets on the web if you require specific information about a specific species