Update on my stick insects (with pics)

They've grown from less than a centimetre to about seven centimetres! Well, Sticky Bun is about seven; Twiglet is five.




Sticky Bun is becoming a real nuisance when I try to clean out the enclosure! She's a speedy little thing!

They're so big compared to a couple of months ago!

Just wish Ivy had survived.

So interesting.
Never thought I'd feel sad about a 'bug' dying. How long do these guys live?

I love them

They only live about a year. Out of nine eggs, only three hatched, which took months. Little Ivy died when she was only a couple of weeks old. I was so upset! I'd put loads of effort into desperately trying to get them to hatch, as well as carefully tearing the edges of their leaves so that they could eat. Misting down the enclosure about five times per day, as the ventilation meant they kept drying out.

Poor little Ivy didn't live long at all.

They were the only 3 that hatched from about a dozen (I think) eggs!

She died during her first shed.

I've got to admit that, although I kept stick insects as a child (both the sort that you have Eleanor, and the ones that look like leaves), I never got sentimentally attached to them or gave them names. Some were given to me and some hatched from eggs that they laid, and some grew pretty big on their diet of privet leaves. I can't remember any dying once they survived being hatchlings - maybe I didn't keep them a year!

I think I was sent a bad batch. I'd almost given up on any of them hatching, when I woke up (on my brother's birthday!), looked at the enclosure and saw one tiny little sticky clinging to the side! Thought it was just an old piece of clothing thread at first!

The next day, Twiglet hatched out. Couple of weeks later, Ivy arrived! I'd been incubating the eggs under a lamp, drying them out completely, and then spraying them down with water to simulate rain. At least it worked for those three!

I get attached very easily. I'd love to get leaf insects, but it gets far too cold in my bedroom during the winter.

I can't honestly say that I remember the proportion of eggs that hatched; nature being the imprecise being it is I guess some would be bound for failure. And yes, they are minute when they hatch! I'm sure I must have discarded many eggs and hatchlings in my efforts to keep things clean (I can still remember the stench of them !)

Strangely, mine have little to no odour! I'll be hopefully donating any eggs to nearby pet supply stores, as it's no longer legal to release them into the wild.

They are really big! Poor Ivy I would have been upset too.

It's been so fun, watching them grow!

We have huge amounts of ivy in our garden, so I buried her in there.

Ref the stench - maybe it was because I fed mine on privet and not ivy.

Could be! Maybe I just have strange, odourless stickies!