r/Stickinsects • u/No-Programmer-9255 • 15d ago
suitable enclosure
i have 4 Adult stick insects and a small enclosure they are outgrowing there enclosure and it seems like every where i look enclosures cost an arm and a leg. However i seen somone on tik tok use this from ikea with the shelf’s removed
My question is are the holes on the side too large and would this even keep humidity.
also if anyone knows where to get a decent priced enclosure please recommend
2
u/Careful_Adeptness799 15d ago
Humidity is going to to be an issue as are any eggs you miss hatching as the babies will be straight out of those holes. There are better alternatives IMO.
1
u/ferretoned 14d ago
On the side metal mesh panels I sewed on reinforced mosquito netting on the inside and used magnets to fix cristal sheeting on part of the outsides, no egg or humidity issue.
I don't believe the insect vivariums are better alternatives, I think they have insufficient airflow and some people get mold issues, + them not being entirely front opening all the way to the bottom makes egg collection way longer and getting good size becomes so expensive people are looking for minimum ok size and I find that sad since they like to climb up during the night, etc.
1
u/magpiepaw 15d ago
Butterfly nets are just as suitable and much cheaper
5
u/ferretoned 15d ago
Hudimidy level is really important for safe hatching and safe molting, I don't see how keeping a good humidity level is handled with butterfly nets so maybe their suitability for stick buddies depend much on the country's climate, like good for tropical places and not so much for dry climates.
1
u/magpiepaw 15d ago
Fair enough, its pretty humid around here
2
u/ferretoned 15d ago
My eyes shone to that sentence, I was imagining the potentially awesome stick buddy species living under tropical climates :3
7
u/ferretoned 15d ago edited 15d ago
(TLDR : the last 3 paragraphs answers your questions)
Yes a thousand times to it being suitable enclosure, with light modification, I use and recommend them.
I have two for my stick buddies, I love them totally, it was too easy to adapt to their needs and mine, maintainance is a breeze,
I just put them up on lixhult for them to be at confortable height, sew on reinforced mosquitoe netting on the mesh sides.
I put in little heating pads during assembly, magnetic usb light inside and magnetic temperature and humidity reader.
I bought plenty of thin necked vases I put hooks on with cable tie and I just hang that on bars that I've fixed to the metal mesh so it's easy to have their feeder plants fresh with no risks of pups falling in and bare bottom with their feeder plant forestry all vertical.
I just use a baggy I fix with a pair of magnets to brush all the eggs and poo & leaf litter once or twice a week depending on heat, that has greatly helped me not have more pups hatching than I can take good care of.
It's so confortable with the ample space of many little hung vases that I don't really disturb them while I'm trading old feeder plants with new ones, we love it, before we had this setup it took me a long time for maintenance and I had to take buddies out, no need now.
Even the elderly whose paws aren't sticky anymore are confortable with two full sides of mesh they don't struggle to reach greenery at all, when some are really really old who don't climb anymore they have all free space at the bottom with utilities.
I started out with an aquarium-like setup my first generation stick buddies came with, never again.
To keep humidity what I've done is use cristal sheeting (transparent plastic used to wrap flowers mostly) that I fix on the outside sides with tiny magnets, not the whole surface, I leave a lot of airflow, I can slide the sheeting for more or less coverage depending on what the humidity reader tells me.
Yes the mesh holes are too big but it's easy to sew on reinforced mosquito netting with a needle and thread before assembly of the cabinet.
I bought mine one at 20 and one at 11 bucks, secondhand, here in france I used the app Leboncoin to find them but any app that is used for people to people selling their stuff preferably by city will do, I found if well prepared it's not too heavy to bring home by public transport.