Male stick insect takes off all his clothes!

Here is one of the males next to the skin he has just shed. I caught him before he ate it which is what they do next. He is growing bigger all the time on his journey to adulthood. When he gets too big, his skin splits down the back and he wriggles out of it. The skin is perfect, even down to the hooks on his toes and the breathing holes(spiracles) on his sides. The 'strings' are where it split. A bit like shoelaces. After this picture he ran away like the wind across the table and I finally caught him while climbing the pepperpot!