Here's to "Mommy of 2" if you're still out there:  We now have about 15 walking sticks (after only have 2 left), and just yesterday one of my oldsters died.  I was reaching in  to remove his/her body from our cage (which is a small--5-7 gallons?-- glass fish tank) and I noticed an egg dangling from the back end.  "Oh yeah!" I practically shouted to myself silently, "Don't toss the dead ones too soon...there may be babies there!" 

Keep firmly in mind--I'm NOT a walking stick expert.  We've been caring for these great creatures for about three years now, and so what I say is simply based on my own experiences.  I DON'T clean our walking stick cage.  It started off as an accident of being busy...and then morphed into an attitude of "Well, it seems to be working out this way, so..."  From what I've read, it seems to be that walking sticks take a while to hatch, so combining this knowledge with my realization that a dead parent walking stick can still have live eggs attached to it...I'm inclined to keep NOT cleaning their habitat (other than for removing stale lettuce, eventually removing dead bodies, etc.).  My son's preschool teacher also told me that she read that frequently spritzing the wood chips (or other cage base) with water helps along the "new life" process. 

Mommy of 2--send an update.  Did you get new life in your walking stick cage? 

note:  we use organic lettuce...in an attempt to avoid poisoning our friendly creatures with pesticides.  I always think, "the smaller the creature, the more sensitive."  May not be true, but it works for me.  :)

                    The Exquisite Beauty of Imperfection...