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Stick Insect Information

Stick Insects

Stick InsectBugsafari began as a specialist supplier of Indian stick insect eggs and has grown to become probably the largest provider of these insect eggs in the world. Stick insects remain a key part of our business but we now offer much, much more.

We sell various stick insect kits as well stick insect eggs and live stick insects in our online shop. You may also be interested in our phasmid facts page (below); it's full of fascinating facts about stick insects. 

If you have bought any stick insects you'll now be hooked on them! If you have yet to place your order you soon will be hooked! Either way you will want to know more about them. There are dozens of web sites on the net dedicated to stick insects. Here are a few good ones to get you started:

 

- 1) The Phasmid Studies Group is THE site for anyone with an interest in stick insects.

 

- 2) The Amateur Entomologists' Society is the UK's leading organisation for people interested in insects. They've also got some really useful information about stick insects on their site.

 

 - 3) The RSPCA has produced this useful page about stick insects.

 

- 4) This Wikipedia page is really detailed, giving lots of information about the 'Phasmatodea' order of insects.

- 5) This National Geographic page provides some very useful stick insect information.

 Phasmid Facts

Ghost Story
Stick Insects are all members of a group of insects known as the "Phasmids". 'Phasma' is a Latin word meaning ghost!

Well established
Indian Stick Insects were first brought to Europe by a French scientist in 1901.

Clever camouflage
Some stick insects have something in common with chameleons; they can change their colour to suit their surroundings.

Outnumbered
Only about one in one thousand Indian Stick Insects is male!

Rock on
Many Indian Stick Insects rock from side to side. Although they look like they are dancing they are really just trying to look more like branches swaying in the breeze.

 
Wild West
In some warm western areas of the British Isles (the Scilly Isles, Devon, Cornwall and parts of Ireland) stick insect can now be found living in the wild.

DO NOT RELEASE YOURS OUTSIDE: IT IS AGAINST THE LAW AND THEY WILL PROBABLY DIE.

Redundant Males
Indian Stick Insects are parthenogenetic. That means the females don't need to mate to be able to lay fertile eggs that will hatch.

Dead Good
Sometimes when disturbed stick insects will 'play dead' for a few minutes. A good way of tricking predators.

2500 and counting
More than 2500 species of stick insects are known to science but there are plenty more still waiting to be described for the first time.

Super sticky
Stick Insects have suckers and claws on their feet, allowing them to walk up vertical walls and even upside down.

Scary scorpion stance
Baby stick insects, known as nymphs, sometimes curl their tails over their backs to fool predators into thinking they are small scorpions. But don't be fooled yourself; they are harmless.


 

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