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Basic Stick Insect Care
Firstly you want a cage that is tall and with plenty of ventilation. Pop up mesh cages or Repti-breezes are excellent Stick insect enclosures. You can buy these cheaply on eBay, Amazon or new from your reptile retailer.
For young hatchling nymphs you can use tall faunariums or kritter keepers as these will keep the humidity up better for the delicate and prone to dehydrating nymphs.
Humidity - A spray bottle is an essential piece of kit when it comes to Stick insect care in order to mist your stick insect enclosures. How much and often you have to mist will depend on the species. For instance, species like Phyllium leaf insects need it very humid to replicate a South Asian forest environment. Others like indians and Macleays' Spectre don't require as much.
The size of your enclosure must be amply sized in height to allow for moulting and prevent overcrowding. The 30" high by 16" deep and wide are brilliant for groups of stick insects.
Food plants - The plant will depend on what species you are feeding. Most species feed readily on Bramble, Oak, Privet, Rose, Hawthorn and Eucalyptus. You simply cut of a sprig of your food plant and place in a water jug and block up an area around the stem and rim of the stem with kitchen roll or wrap around the base with foil to prevent small nymphs finding the water and drowning.
Never get your food plants from garden centres or near farmer fields or anywhere you suspect pesticides to be used. Pesticides will make your stick insects very sick and eventually result in death.
Substrate - You can opt for a naturalistic cage bottom like cocofibre or have a go at a bioactive setup. However, stick insects poop alot and they will require at least weekly cleanouts. Adult females will also drop eggs onto the cage floor which you will need to pick out from the poop and substrate, for these reasons I would use good old kitchen roll. Its cheap and you can usually pick out the eggs from the white paper towel easily. Simply build up a few layers of it on your cage floor and it will catch all the frass and eggs whilst providing extra humidity in the cage when damp.
If there is any mould on your cage floor caused by moisture and poop, its definitely time for a clean out. Stick insects like Praying mantis get sick from mould spores and can/will lead to death.
Give your freshly cut sprigs a good shake outside to dislodge any wild inhabitants. Once home you should give your foliage a good wash in the bath tub with a shower head or outside hose to wash off any pollutants and any remaining wild bugs.
To keep your sprigs fresh you need to place the ends in water like you would flowers in a vase. You can use anything from a tumbler, tall tub or a drinks bottle with no cap or the cap carved through. In the photo Ive used an old jar and rammed the sprig in there tight.
Baby stick insects are not the brightest so make sure you plug up any access to water with kitchen towel or wrap up the base of the stems where they peep out of the jar/glass with tin foil or cling film.
Temperature - Most species of stick insect do fine at room temperature. However there are some who require a warmer climate. You can achieve this by having a heat mat running at the side of the enclosure or by an overhead incandescent bulb. Just be careful when using heat bulbs with nylon or soft mesh enclosures due to the risk of the mesh melting or catching fire. Most exotics keepers will have vivariums housing other reptiles or invertebrates running throughout the day which will increase most ambient room temperatures to a suitable degrees for some stick insects. If in doubt use a thermometer to check. Most vivariums have a hot spot above the hot end of their enclosures which can make a nice warm little spot to put stick insects.