Stick Insect Breeding

Breeding Stick Insect is not a Herculean task only if you know correct method and preparations to breed. A female can produce eggs of about seven hundred times of her body weight between puberty and menopause. Potentially that comes around having 400 million children. If you keep stick insects properly they will breed without help. Do not handle baby stick insects as they are very fragile. Know more about stick insect breeding through the following account.

Stick Insect Breeding

A big number of species of stick insect which include the Indian or Laboratory stick insect are all parthenogenic. Parthenogenic means the species in which the females lay unfertilized eggs that hatch into females which also lay unfertilized eggs. Though, most of the species need females and males. The actual mating act of stick insect is an unexciting one. The male mounts the female, locks the abdomens and stays out for numerous hours. This mating procedure is free from rituals of courtship. Ample fresh food and housing at a suitable temperature will make a stick insect produce hundreds or over 1000 of eggs. Stick insects having tendency to bury eggs will need nesting areas. Provide them by putting tiny pots of earth/sand about 2 inches high.

Egg Laying by Stick Insect

All stick insects have the tendency to lay eggs. Some of them just drop them on the ground, some bury them in the ground and some attach them under tree bark or into crevices. If you are having the burying species like the Thorn Legged stick insect or Epidares nolimetangere, you need to ensure that the bottom of the cage carries a container of damp peat-free compost in it once the females are adult. The compost should be about 5 cm deep.

Egg Hatching by Stick Insects

The eggs of Stick insect can take from between two months and a year to hatch. The hatching duration depends on species. In general, the longest duration to hatch eggs is taken by the larger species; though not at all times. You can leave the eggs on the cage floor and allow the stick insects hatch as they want. It is useful in this case to keep some common Woodlice like Porcellio scaber in the cage. It assists in keeping the fungus down. The other way is to collect the eggs every time you sanitize the cage and keep them in separate containers until they hatch. In the latter case the eggs of the burying species demand to be tenderly reburied in depth of about 1cm. The rest will call for being kept on some absorbent material like sand. All eggs need to be kept in a warm place and occasional moisture spraying will help. A careful watch everyday should be kept for moulds and moldy ova or eggs removed, freshened and then kept in a separate container.

Different species of stick insects have different eggs. If you are an amateur, be careful while replacing the substrate. Indian Stick Insect is amongst the most common pets. Its eggs are too small to be identified easily. Looking out for a lid-like shape from which a nymph could emerge will help in recognizing the egg. When egg is laid, nymph may take up to a year to hatch. You can speed up the cycle by increasing the vivarium temperature. Time taken for hatching by nymph depends on species and housing temperature. If housing has good temperature and is adequately dry, eggs yield nicely. It varies depending on whether they are fertilized or parthenogenetic.

In the process of stick insect breeding, emerged nymphs from eggs should be immediately fed. Avoid overcrowding while breeding stick insects as it can damage limbs. Prepare separate homes as nymphs grow. You know, they will do the rest at their own. Just keep the above points in mind and breed stick insects the way they should be.