Walking Stick Hatching Kit
Diapheromera femorata
Caring for your Diapheromera femorata eggs
Diapheromera femorata are the only species of walking stick that are legal to keep in Canada, as they are already well established in the southern parts of Alberta, Ontario and Manitoba,
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The stick bug eggs should be kept in a shallow container with a secure lid to stop hatchlings wandering free when hatched. We drill small holes around the upper perimeter of the container to provide ventilation to the eggs, however some people have found that ventilation holes are not needed if the container is opened daily. Ensure to only drill small holes, as the walking stick nymphs are tiny – and you want to ensure they don’t escape.
Although they can be hatched on damp vermiculite or even paper towel at room temperature - we hatch ours on an ABG mix with live springtails to help control mold during the incubation process. Mold is deadly to the eggs. It is important to realize that not all eggs will survive, this is why the female stick insects lay so many eggs. This increases the chances of producing surviving young.
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Keep the hatching chamber at room temperature and out of direct sunlight.
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To improve the chance of producing healthy walking stick nymphs, the substrate should be very lightly sprayed with water as necessary to keep it from drying out. However, if there is any sign of mold, the eggs should carefully be removed, the container should be washed with soapy water, rinsed well, dried and the substrate should be replaced before returning the eggs to the container.
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If using our Emeth Zoo Hatching Chamber with live springtails - mold is rarely a problem - and the substrate tends to hold humidity very well. Lightly mist the substrate if it appears to be drying out (the colour will begin to lighten as it dries.)
In our experience, the eggs hatch between three and six months after beginning incubation. There have been recorded instances of the nymphs hatching in as short as a month – or in extreme cases it can take over a year. In our experience, nymphs emerge gradually over a period of weeks or even months – often one or two nymphs emerging at a time.
Care of Diapheromera femorata nymphs
Once the young insects (nymphs) have emerged from their eggs they should be transferred to their enclosure as soon as possible. Nymphs should not be handled with your bare hands. It is much safer to transfer/handle the nymphs with a clean, dry paintbrush until they are mature. Allow the nymph to climb on to the paintbrush - and then use it to transfer the nymph where you would like it to go.
Leaves should be provided as soon as they hatch as they will begin feeding immediately, however care should be made to ensure that tiny insects do not wander into and drown in the container holding the leaves. Some people place paper towel around the mouth of the container holding the leaves. We use small plastic containers with lids - and cut a small "X" in the top of the container. This allows us to slide the stems of the food items into the "X" - leaving no access to the water for the nymphs to drown in.
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In our experience, Diapheromera femorata prefer to eat the leaves of raspberry or blackberry plants – especially as nymphs. Avoid the small, bright green "new" leaves - and instead, feed the larger, dark green mature leaves. As they grow, they are known to accept the leaves of rose, hawthorn, hazelnut and oak (particularly red oak.) We freeze bins of raspberry leaves in the fall and feed these through the winter months.
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Phasmid nymphs can be kept in small plastic enclosures with their food plant, however they need enough space for moulting to hang on the food plant about three body lengths from the bottom of the enclosure. As the insect grows, they will require a larger enclosure.