NEWS 115
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Infobox für Eltern
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Infobox for Parents
Dear Parents,
The maintenance of a terrarium is not for small children.
Your child should be at least 12 years old so that he or she
can look after the livestock properly. It is essential to read
a good handbook on terrarium care with your child before
acquiring a terrarium. Terrarium animals cannot be kept
correctly by guesswork alone, you must learn how to treat
them correctly as anything else would be cruelty to
animals.
Setting up the terrarium
There are a lot of different species of stick and leaf insects.
Some are rather small, others rather large. A terrarium with
a bottom area of 30 x 30 cm and 50 cm in height will be
suitable for the maintenance of most species, though the
container should be bigger for the very large species. These
creatures really aren't miracles of movement.
The terrarium should have large, but closable, air vents so
that the humidity can be adjusted to optimal for both desert
and rainforest species, as required. Room temperature
(around 20-22 °C) will usually suffice if the terrarium is
illuminated during the day. The heat loss from the lighting
should provide a temperature of 26-28° C inside the
terrarium. At night the temperature can drop to room
temperature.
The most important piece of equipment is a vase containing
fresh food plants. The food plants will serve both as food and
as something to climb. It is wise to have a cover for the vase
with holes for the plant stems, so that the insects can't fall in
and drown.
The bottom can be covered with sand, a sand-soil mixture,
or just kitchen roll.
Regular maintenance
The plants should always be replaced when eaten or
withered, with the vase simultaneously being washed
thoroughly and the bottom cleaned.
Special notes
Many phasmids are poisonous and release an irritant poison
when they feel threatened. Hence they shouldn't be
handled unnecessarily The poison irritates the mucus
membranes. Some species can also bite or prick painfully
with their spines. But overall these are harmless creatures if
they are treated gently.
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