Breeding Set "Stick Insect", 3 pcs.

Observe fascinating, unusual insects as they breed

The Indian stick insect (Carausius morosus) is excellent for use in teaching and in school. Whether it's in primary or secondary school – Indian stick insects are perfect for observation and are very easy to deal with.

The Indian stick insect lives mainly in the scrub vegetation of the rainforests on the Indian subcontinent and in Southern India. However, it can also be found in China and Japan.

Are my stick insects dead?
That is one of the most frequently asked questions. The answer is usually no. Stick insects play dead if touched and also let themselves fall from great heights. Mostly they then get caught between twigs and leaves, where their camouflage protects them against predators. After a while, sometimes up to a couple of hours, they will move again. Stick insects are active at twilight and at night. Their food intake occurs at night.

Mimesis
Stick insects offer an excellent example of mimesis (mimicry). Usually you have to hunt for these unusual insects between the plants. Thanks to the structure and colour of their body, they can easily be confused with twigs or sticks in the surrounding area, which can make them seem almost invisible.

Characteristics
The Indian stick insect is a type of ghost insect and so is part of the Phasmatodea family. Both females and males are flightless, stick-shaped and elongated.

• Female: body colour green to brown, front legs in fully grown insect reddish in colour, grows up to 9 cm long
• Male: slightly more delicate, usually a dark brown colour, antennae longer than the front legs, grows up to 6 cm long

Development (metamorphosis)
Since only 0.1% to 0.2% of the hatched insects are male, the adult females also reproduce through apomictic parthenogenesis. This is a form of asexual reproduction. In this case, the offspring come from a single unfertilised egg (mitotic division, equatorial division). Adult stick insects (imago) live for about one year.

The fully grown stick insects usually lay their eggs at night on the ground. A stick insect lays up to 3 eggs per night and up to 1,200 eggs in its entire life. The eggs are approx. 1.5 mm long, oval in shape, and have a closure on one side that looks bit like a little cork or stopper. The eggs do not have to be fertilised.

Depending on the temperature, it takes 2 to 4 months until the little stick insects (nymphs) hatch out of the eggs. At 23 °C this takes about 80 days. At 16 °C to 18 °C, the duration is 14 to 20 weeks. The development from nymph to imago (baby to adult) takes 3 to 8 months. Stick insects shed their skin four to five times. The temperature while the insect is developing inside the egg determines whether it will be male or female. This offers an interesting idea for an educational project.

Ideal environmental conditions

• Temperature: 18 °C to 28 °C, ideally 24 °C
• Humidity: at least 70%

Diet
Stick insects feed exclusively on plants. The Indian stick insect eats:

• blackberry leaves
• raspberry leaves
• stinging nettles
• foliage from hazel, hornbeam and ivy

If you spray the leaves with atomised water, you can see how the insects take in fluid via the droplets. However, the liquid contained within the leaves is completely sufficient for the stick insect's diet.

Note
If you put a container with water inside the net or the terrarium, you must cover the surface of the water. Stick insects cannot swim, and the nymphs are particularly prone to drowning in containers of water.

Since stick insects are not native to this region, they must not be released into the wild, as stipulated under government legislation on the protection of species.

You can also use the Hagemann stick insect breeding set to support Education for Sustainable Development (ESD), helping to inspire children to engage with the topic of nature, climate and environmental protection. By studying these fascinating stick insects, children learn about the typical body structure of insects and develop an interest in the preservation and protection of native grasshopper species (including the bush cricket, bow-winged grasshopper, meadow grasshopper, oak bush-cricket, speckled bush cricket, dark bush cricket, house cricket, sickle-bearing bush cricket, marsh grasshopper, common grasshopper, blue-winged grasshopper, European field cricket, mole cricket, great green bush cricket, praying mantis) and their habitats.

Scope of delivery:

• Stick insect eggs and 1 young
• 1 breeding net (foldable)
• 1 guide with detailed instructions, worksheets and digital exercises