Bugs and bug houses

Two of our boys found this beautiful 13cm stick insect on their pool fence at home. Mum did some research and found out it could eat blackberry leaves and then the boys brought her in to share with us. We had a lovely day watching it and then sent it back home with a book on stick insects of New Zealand for the family to study before they release it into the wild again.

Meanwhile our locust colony sadly died, our last pair failing to lay viable eggs. I suspect they were quite inbreed, though disease, or a change in diet (as I had to add chicken mash to suppliment the limited supplies of grass) may have affected them.

We've brought in some new locusts , who are settling into their brand new home, filled with fresh wheat grass for them to enjoy.

Our crickets also have a new home and we've spotted babies hatching out so it seems to be working.

I've also added a long over due link to our curriculum document on the bottom right of the blog as well. Well worth a read.

One of our children watching the link in an earlier post to Theo Jansen's neat walking creatures wants to make one. Now there's a challenge.

David