The highlight of this past month has been the birth of about 30 little things in my room. It all started out with 4 adult stick bugs a few months ago. A kindergarten teacher gave them to me as pets. They were easy to take care of – ventilated terrarium, rose leaves, and spray them with water daily. I knew I couldn’t fail at this. After learning all there is to know about caring for stick bugs, 3 months passed and nature took its course. It was a sad day when my last stick bug died. I found myself attached to those little guys!
My sad day was short lived, however. The same day, a baby stick bug was born! I couldn’t believe my eyes when I saw the half-inch bug crawling out from under a leaf. I felt like a proud mama! I knew my adult stick bugs laid eggs, but none hatched for a long time so I never knew when or if I would be expecting babies to hatch.
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| baby stick bug next to a penny |
My sisters named the baby stick bug, Twiggy. Clever, I know. A couple days later, two more baby stick bugs hatched. A few more hatched every day for a couple weeks straight. I was so excited of these new lives and discoveries that I couldn’t find it in myself to get rid of the rest of the eggs that were still un-hatched. (Stick bugs lay about 100 eggs in their adult life. I had 4 adults…the math makes my point) At that point I had about 30 baby stick bugs, which is probably way too many in the first place. I felt so sad because I had to do some population control, but it felt like I was giving them an abortion by throwing out all those eggs! I finally did what I had to do and in the end am content with being a proud mother of 30 baby stick bugs.
Some may think they are weird or perhaps that I am weird, but that’s fine with me. These little guys have showed me a lot, believe it or not. They have taught me some responsibility and brought me joy. They have shown me how even "little things" such as tiny stick bugs need appreciation and care in order to lead successful lives.
