Invertebrates

Profile: Giant Prickly Stick Insect (Extatosoma tiaratum)

Origin

The Giant Prickly Stick Insect (Extatosoma tiaratum) is also known as Macleay’s Spectre Stick, Spiny Leaf Insect or Macleays Phasmid. This species is one among the over 2,500 stick insects whose behavior resembles that of leaves and twigs, thus the name. Giant prickly insect is native to Australia and New Guinea regions.

The insect, which features a large body, can make a very nice addition to your collection. Be advised though that although the insect does not sting and are known to be generally harmless, they should be handled with great care as they are fairly prickly.

Profile and characteristics
A typical adult male Giant Prickly stick insect measures approximately 11 cm in length, looks small and thin in shape and features three ocelli. The males, unlike their female counterparts lack thorny growths on their body except some spikes found on their heads. The abdomen is very smooth, unlike the females. Equally, they feature long wings, making them good flyers, especially when it comes to running away from the enemy or when searching for females.

On the other hand, a typical female adult Extatosoma tiaratum grows to 20cm (8 inches) long. Their entire body is covered with spikes that appear like thorns which assists them for camouflage and defense. The entire body and legs of the females equally feature numerous integumental expansions and spines. There is also a bunch of spines found at the hypognathous head, in the conical occiput. Unlike the males, the wings of a typical female E. tiaratum are small hence they cannot fly.

When both the male and female E. tiaratum are threatened, they characteristically stand on their front and mid legs and point the abdomen either up or sideways and assume a scorpion like posture. They also tend to fold their hind legs, so that they can be able to defend themselves incase something comes into contact with their exposed abdomen. Still on point of defending themselves, the adult males are known to release a self-protective odor, although it will not be unpleasant to humans because it smells kind of like toffee or peanut butter.

The giant prickly stick insect is also known to assume a curved pose, with the abdomen curling over their back, when they hang inverted amongst shrubbery. Typical of stick insects, the E. tiaratum also sway side to side or back and forth when they are troubled and also when they have to blend with the foliage as they rustle in wind.

The coloration of E. tiaratum varies depending on individuals and also the humidity, food and temperature of their surrounding environment. There are some that will appear dun, brown, green, mottled brown as others may feature a cream color, reddish, yellowish or even plain white color in the entire body. Averagely, this large, beautiful stick insect weighs approximately 25 grams.

Breeding
The typical reproduction of E. tiaratum is through sexual reproduction, be advised though that this species is parthonogenic, thus an unfertilized female can lay and hatch eggs, which takes up to nine months to hatch, although the offspring will be all female. A fertilized egg on the other hand takes anything between four to eight months to hatch. Whether the female has mated or not, they flick the eggs from their tail’s end.

The eggs look like small seeds, which are supposed to be collected and kept in optimal temperatures of at least below 25°C lest hatching won’t take place. The hatchlings, unlike the adults, will appear to be very active and speedy as they make their way to the trees, although this tends to slow down as they grow and move to subsequent moults. It is also in this same transition period from one moult to another that the females start obtaining their unique spiky appearance.

For your stick insect to grow, it has to shed skin five or six times. This it does by hanging upturned from a stem where the insects crawls off the old skin after it splits from behind the head. When the new skin is exposed to air, it hardens. Do not be surprised to find some insects eating their old skin. Basically, new hatchlings imitate ants with a characteristic black body and an orange head and white collar. An average life span of these insects is approximately 0.9 years.

Diet
The giant prickly stick insects are strict vegetarians thus it is recommended that you feed them with bramble, hawthorn, bayberry, photinia, oak, rose, raspberry, red or yellow salmon berry, pyrocantha and eucalyptus. Eucalyptus is particularly advised because this is their main and natural food in captivity, especially in their indigenous Australia.
Hatchlings love young tender rose leaves. While feeding the young ones, slice short lengths and put in container of water then put a cork of cotton wool at the top of the container to stop the young ones from drowning.

Rearing

E. tiaratum is very common in captivity and today it is a popular pet among breeders probably because it is easy to maintain them. Typically, they prefer temperatures of approximately 75 degrees F, which is basically close to normal room temperatures.

Equally, you can keep these insects in readily available housings such as plastic or glass jars or fish tanks ensuring that you maintain humidity thus you should spay them two times daily to keep an optimum level. The jar should be kept away from direct sunlight. To adapt the jars, you cut off their bases and place them over the food plant.

The container should not be too big or small for the insect. Assuming that your insect’s body length is 127mm, you can keep two adult females in a cage that measures approximately 300mm depth and width, and 600mm height.

Conclusion
The E.tiaratum is a great addition to the collection of any hobbyist as the insects require less maintenance in regards to housing and bearing in mind that the diet is readily available. Needless to mention, the insects are very harmless, just needs to be carefully handled and fed properly

Tags: animal profiles, exotic pets, Extatosoma tiaratum, Giant Prickly Stick Insect, insects, Invertebrates, stick insect