In the Same Family... and Kept as Pets!

I googled walkingsticks and came to discover that they are in the same family at least as the praying mantids. Here is what else I found out...

Walking Sticks are insects. They have six legs and a chitin exoskeleton. They belong to the Order Orthoptera, which includes not only walking sticks, but also grasshoppers, katydids, crickets, praying mantids, and cockroaches. Walkingsticks belong to the Suborder Phasmatodea, Family Phasmatidea which includes both walkingsticks (which look like sticks) and leaf insects (which look like leaves). I will not deal with leaf insects here but they, too, are interesting insects.

There are several thousand speices of Walking Stick insects and many can be kept as pets. They are also called the Laboratory Stick Insect because they are easily kept in the laboratory, and in the home. They range in colour from a dark-brown (almost black) to bright green, with the younger stages usually being browner. Walking Sticks take several months (4-6) to grow from a first instar stage, which is about 1 cm long (1/2 inch), to an adult of about 10 cm (4 inches).

Many walking sticks, including the Indian Walking Stick, are parthenogenetic. The population consists almost exclusively of females. These females are able to lay fertile eggs (without mating or the presence of males) which develop into more females, etc. Their eggs are oval in shape, dark brown, 2-3 mm long, and have a lighter-coloured knob at one end. When they hatch, this knob comes off and the walking stick climbs out. The eggs hatch after 10-12 weeks at room temperature. After they hatch, the egg shell often remains attached. It will fall off after a few days so there is no need to remove it by hand. Hatchlings are about 1 cm long.

They grow by moulting (shedding of the cast skin. There are about five moults. Each moult allows the skin to increase in size. The moulting process involves them crawling out of their old skin and this can best be done using gravity to help them out. They need somewhere that they can hang from while they moult. The absence of a stick or lid that they can hang from will severely hamper their ability to moult successfully. My guess is that while the walking stick was hanging from the recylce bin it just may have been moulting there. An unsuccessful moult will kill them.

When they reach adulthood the moulting stops and it remains the same size for several months (the adult lifetime). During adulthood the primary task is laying eggs. One female can lay several hundred eggs in her lifetime of several months. So... little did we know about walking sticks all together. But now, this means they are probably all over the place. We will have to keep our eyes out for them more often and maybe next year try and catch one and keep it as a pet. I also read that they are great pets and easy upkeep too. We could keep one in a jar and feed it letuce leaves!! Unreal huh?