Indian stick insect
The Indian stick insect looks just like a thin green or brown twig with legs. It has little red patches at the top of its front legs. It is one of the most popular pet insects in the world, because it is calm and easy to look after.
How big is it?
How long is it?
How big is Indian stick insect compared to YOU?
Just maths in your browser. Nothing is saved or sent anywhere.
How fast is it?
Fun facts
Almost all of them are females, and they can lay eggs without a dad. Only about 1 in 1,000 is a male.
If it is scared, it plays dead. It goes stiff and holds its legs straight along its body.
It sways gently from side to side, like a twig moving in the wind.
Its eggs are tiny brown ovals, only 2 millimetres long, with a little lid on one end.
The babies come out of the egg through the lid, looking like thin dark threads.
Most asked questions about Indian stick insect
?Do Indian stick insects bite?
No. They are gentle and harmless, which is why they are popular pets.
?How big do Indian stick insects get?
Females grow to about 8 to 10 centimetres long.
?Can Indian stick insects have babies without a male?
Yes. The females lay eggs that hatch without any male at all.
For bug experts
- Scientific name
- Carausius morosus
- Group
- Stick and leaf insects
- Family
- Lonchodidae
- Classification
- Insecta > Phasmatodea > Lonchodidae
- Lives on
- Asia, Europe, Africa, North America
- Also known as
- Common stick insect, Laboratory stick insect
Where the facts come from
- Carausius morosus (Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0): what it looks like, where it lives, what it eats, sizes and fun facts, retold in simple words.
- Picture by Fußpunktmaler. CC BY-SA 4.0, Wikimedia Commons. The round sticker of this bug is cut from the same picture.
If we got something wrong, sorry, we are bug fans, not a science journal. Tell us at hello@bugwiki.app and we will fix it.
Lord Howe Island stick insect
Giant prickly stick insect
Common walkingstick
Two-striped walkingstick
Goliath stick insect
Black beauty stick insect
Pantropical jumping spider
House dust mite
Human flea
Kudzu bug
Ox warble fly
Eastern subterranean termite