04/06/2026
This is Rusty, one of our beloved spiny leaf insects. Rusty unfortunately lost one of her legs in a bad moult a while back. Luckily, spinies are incredibly resilient creatures and have the ability to regrow their legs slowly with every moult if they haven't yet reached adulthood -- her leg is now almost fully grown back (although it definitely looks different from her other legs)!! We are so proud of her🥲. Can you tell which of her legs was the one that she lost originally?
Rusty also has a striking reddish colour. While spinies are typically brownish, they can have a whole range of colours (including green, cream or lichen-patterned), depending on their environment and food plants! Scroll to see how different and brightly coloured she looks compared to one of her other spiny friends.