Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Hi I have 3 Thailand Stick insect adults. They have laid lots of eggs and I really can't tell whether they are males or females.

I was wondering if these type of stick insects can lay infertile eggs if they are all female?

And if they are males and females then will all the eggs be fertile?

Thanks

Charlotte.

Species that are parthenogenic have females that lay eggs. Try http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&lr=&q=parthenogenic stick bug
Do you have any pictures? If they are not parthenogenic, then you may have a nice collection of dried feces there.

lol! They are definately the kind that need males and females to produce fertile eggs and they are definately eggs which i have collected! They are definately not parthenogenic, does that mean that the eggs I have are fertile?

Thanks

Charlotte.

If you know that you have males and females, and that they are from Thailand, what have you missed? You seem to have only gotten half of the story and forgot to ask about the egg part. I would think that they are fertilized if they are cared for and hatch. There has to be a time to see this growth happening before they actually hatch. Hatching is nothing more than waiting and watching anyway. No big loss.

Maybe go back to your stick source and ask for more information?

Well what i really meant to ask was, is it possible for female stick insects that arent parthenogenic to produce non-fertile eggs?

For example, if you kept one female in a cage by itself, would it lay eggs anyway or do they only lay eggs after mating?

Sorry for not being very clear!!

Thanks for your help, Ive searched all over the internet and just can't seem to find out!!

Charlotte

OK. Got it now.
At the very last skin shedding, your stick bug will be an adult. Full maturity is complete after 2 to 3 weeks, and the insect should begin breeding after filling back up with food. However, with all females, egg laying of infertile eggs will continue from the fourth week after the last skin shedding for their entire life. I still would like to see a picture!

ok sure I can send you pictures. Do you have msn messenger or an email address? I can email them to you.

In that case I think there probably all female but laying infertile eggs anyway

They all look the same to me!! There all really green and none of them have grown the little hump things on their heads yet.

Ive uploaded 3 pics of my 3 adult ones. This is the first one, let me know if u want to see the other 2 =)

hope this works....

The answer to your question:
If they mate, eggs will hatch out to be males and females, and should take less time to hatch.
If the female doesnt mate, she will lay eggs through parthenogenesis, and they will still hatch, but all nymphs will be female.

Hope this helps,
Andrew