This huge Katydid species (Siliquofera Grandis) is one of the largest and most impressive insect species in the world yet are easy to keep. Unlike many others these do not make much noise at all which makes them great pets. They are fascinating to watch and handle and have some really interesting behaviours.
Watch the videos with the sound turned up - some have information about their care. But really they're pretty easy to look after we just like to get it perfect you don't need huge elaborate set ups like ours.
One thing we really love about them is that they can learn to be tame, they start of as jumpy little things but gradually they learn you're no threat and can be hand fed!
We have recently started keeping young ones of these in the same cage as young heteropteryx dilatata and so far so good. We're not saying that's definitely fine as it's a recent thing.
We suggest you choose Royal Mail tracked 24 on check out, and make sure you are in to receive them on Wednesday. We post on Tuesday mornings. They will each be in their own small pot, within a larger postal box.
We need to check the weather is okay at both ends of the journey, otherwise we will delay posting until the week after - we'll let you know if that happens.
With a box of 6 very young ones there is only 1/32 a chance they will ALL be the same sex. We can't sex them when they are really young and both sexes are lovely anyway. If the number of hatchlings is low that week we might replace some with slightly older ones. We will assume you're fine with that unless you tell us in advance.
They grow up pretty quickly 3-4 months but then live a long time as adults - how great is that!
Keep them warm (22-26) and quite humid (70-85%) and don't over crowd them
Bramble and oak and cut organic apples make up most of their diet for us with added fish flakes on the apple
sometimes we add an extra one for free to the box of 6 in case of mishaps on the journey - we'll assume that's fine unless told otherwise
The following text includes Amazon affiliate links to some products we use in rearing these beautiful insects.
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Heating Setup: we use these Inkbird thermostats and heat mats such as these attached to the outside of the glass enclosure. We insulate the outside of the cages with this foam roll and even put it over the heating mats but do that at your own risk - it's not advised! We also use these foam strips to modify cages and seal larger gaps around the doors of the cages but find the strips don't last indefinitely.
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We'd raise as many as 10 in this cage or more in this or a much larger colony in this lovely cage. In the past we've built cages using sheets like these.
