Children sometimes keep insects as pets, but choosing the right ones can be difficult.

There are many reasons to encourage your child to keep a pet insect, but there are a few things to consider before you decide which species. (What is the motive? Where will it be kept, and who will look after it? Are there any risks involved? Etc.)

Your Motive for Keeping Insects as Pets

• The urban environment can distance children from the natural ‘facts of life’. Animals (including humans) are born, reproduce and then die. Insects normally have a very short life-cycle and this means that a child can observe these things as they happen to their pets. This can help children to cope better with birth and death.

• Taking responsibility for looking after the welfare of a pet might be another important consideration. Caring for another creature might encourage reliability – the beastie needs food, water and cleaning out, whatever mood you are in.

• Observing pet insects can lead on to ‘wanting to find out more’, and with a little parental help and encouragement this can help develop sophisticated research techniques and good study habits (use of the Internet and libraries, keeping a journal). But beware - this could end up with the house becoming a zoo!

Housing and Feeding Your Insects

If a sensible choice of species is made then the housing requirements can be very simple. Many pet insects require nothing more than a large glass jar or a small aquarium. Feeding can also be quite easy with stick insects, for example, only needing to be provided with fresh branches of privet. If the chosen pet is a predator (a praying mantis for example) then you might need to think a bit about the precise motive. Coming to terms with ‘nature red in tooth and claw’ might be perfectly acceptable, while developing a ‘blood-lust’ could be positively nasty. Feeding predators can also require breeding their food so the ‘housing’ consideration is made more complex.

Pet Legislation and Legalities

Many species of insect can be bought as pets, often very simply and cheaply over the Internet. Just because you can easily obtain a particular insect does not mean that it is legal to do so. There are two main reasons why it might be illegal; firstly the species might be endangered in the wild, and secondly escapes from captivity could lead to yet another invasive species establishing itself in the wild, causing environmental problems. (For examples of ways that escapees can do damage see the ‘Introduced Species’ paragraph in ‘Habitat Destruction’.)

Risks of Housing Insect Species

It is obviously unwise to allow a child to keep and insect with a poisonous sting or bite, but what about allergic reactions? (see: Mealworms). It is also possible that the chosen insect might be capable of carrying a human disease? (Few people would choose to keep Kissing Bugs - for this reason alone!)

So - if you want to give your child a pet insect then you need to think hard about your motives and the housing and feeding issues first, and then carry out detailed research into local laws and potential risks before rushing out, or online, to buy it.

Other articles by John Blatchford