Where's my Walking Stick?
No, no I kid. Ofelia didn't get out of her terrarium.
And to be honest, she's not that hard to spot once you know what to look for (and also the terrarium isn't that big).
During the day she holds absolutely still in her "stick pose" (well, for the most part - except when she's laying an egg, then she starts to sway like a twig in the wind). She tends to hold both front legs straight over her head to look more stick-like.
Kinda like that - although here she looks like she's trying to do jumping jacks to me... :P
She actually looks more bug-like and less stick-like here.
Here's a close-up of her head. She's in her "stick pose" with her front legs and antennae extended forward. Her antennae are few thin and whispy - each one more or less looks like a single human hair.
It's at night that she really starts to move - climbing around and chowing down on leaves (although yesterday she completely demolished a leaf, down to the twig, right in the middle of the day, offering me a rare glance to see her mouth up close). At night she's most active if I keep the lights low - like just the light from the TV or computer screen.
I will be sad when she dies since I'm having a wonderful time observing her. I know that all the care in the world isn't going to keep her around forever. The cold won't kill her indoors but it's still highly unlikely she'll live past the end of October at the most (if that).
I just hope I can succeed in hatching some of the many, many, many eggs I've been collecting every morning from her (after an initial haul of 15 or so she tends to average 4-6 a day).
I'd love to see the itty bitty hatchlings!
And to be honest, she's not that hard to spot once you know what to look for (and also the terrarium isn't that big).
During the day she holds absolutely still in her "stick pose" (well, for the most part - except when she's laying an egg, then she starts to sway like a twig in the wind). She tends to hold both front legs straight over her head to look more stick-like.
Kinda like that - although here she looks like she's trying to do jumping jacks to me... :P
She actually looks more bug-like and less stick-like here.
Here's a close-up of her head. She's in her "stick pose" with her front legs and antennae extended forward. Her antennae are few thin and whispy - each one more or less looks like a single human hair.
It's at night that she really starts to move - climbing around and chowing down on leaves (although yesterday she completely demolished a leaf, down to the twig, right in the middle of the day, offering me a rare glance to see her mouth up close). At night she's most active if I keep the lights low - like just the light from the TV or computer screen.
I will be sad when she dies since I'm having a wonderful time observing her. I know that all the care in the world isn't going to keep her around forever. The cold won't kill her indoors but it's still highly unlikely she'll live past the end of October at the most (if that).
I just hope I can succeed in hatching some of the many, many, many eggs I've been collecting every morning from her (after an initial haul of 15 or so she tends to average 4-6 a day).
I'd love to see the itty bitty hatchlings!