Do you remember the stick bugs my sister Rose bought me for my birthday back in October? Here they are again:
In mid-March, the female (the bigger one) started dropping eggs. I think there are now about 25 on paper towel on the bottom of the cage, which I am keeping moist by pouring water on it a couple of times per week. At first I was quite anxious, watching the eggs every day, until I read at the library that stick bug eggs can take anywhere from 6 months to 18 months to hatch, depending on the species.
Well, when we returned from Disneyland, there were 3 small babies in the cage. They grow fast, here is one of them at what is probably 1 week old:
According to my records, it was only 9 1/2 weeks for the hatching. So now I'm back to watching the cage anxiously again.
4 comments:
i remember when you received that very cool and original stick bug gift. what will you do with all the babies?
irena
Irena,
My sister has dibs on as many as she wants, and we may have a few friends interested also. I'll keep some for myself, for when my adult pair reach the end of their lifespan. If I end up with too many eggs, I understand that freezing them for 2 weeks will destroy them, and is recommended rather than just discarding them.
I just found a 4th baby this morning. So I'll need to be extra careful when replacing the blackberry branches now.
Lily
Happily, I found a 4th baby stick bug the following day. Sadly, the female stick bug died last week, leaving behind the male, her 4 babies and 25 eggs. So I am hoping that many more will hatch.
Lily
Wow, how cool, you must have a really cool sister :). I did not know you could buy walking stick bugs. How interesting.
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