One of Australia's more interesting phasmid is the Spiny Leaf Insect ( Extatosoma tiaratum ), also called Macleay's Spectre Stick Insect. These large insects are part of the order Phasmatodea - leaf and stick insects. Spiny Leaf Insects are usually found living in Eucalyptus trees on Australia 's east coast. So they eat gum leaves in other words... they will also eat other plants such as wattle, black berry or roses apparently

Female Spiny Leaf Insects are not only larger than the males, but also live longer, surviving for around 18 months. They lay thousands of eggs during their adult life, flicking them onto the ground beneath the tree they are living in. The eggs have a knob, called a capitulum, which is attractive to ants. Ants carry the eggs back to their underground nests where they eat the knob and leave the rest of the egg lying in the nest, protected from other animals that might eat it. The young spiny's (or nymphs) hatch after one to three years underground and look and behave like red-headed black ants. They emerge from the ant nest and climb rapidly upwards, looking for soft green leaves In a tree, they molt into a green or brown, slow-moving leaf mimic. The females live for about 18 months, while the males are only short-lived, surviving for around 6-8 months.

Caring For Phasmids

They can be kept in any sort of container large enough for them to move around freely on their branches, such as a fish tank, plastic tub or wooden cabinet (below). Provided there is adequate ventilation for them! The gum leaves or branches can be put in a large glass jar filled with water to keep the leaves fresher for longer. These leaves should be changed as they start to dry out. A daily spray with fresh water tends to please them as well, you'll find they like to drink the water droplets. feed them gum leaves but it's best to mix a few different types of leaves in their enclosure as they prefer certain types to others. If you feed them leaves they don't like they will die, but on that note the types I have found they like are yellow gum, yellow box, grey boxes, some wattles, roses, blackberry, peppermints and some smooth barked Eucalyptus. The enclosure will need to be kept somewhere warm, at least room temp.

Make sure the enclosure doesn't have any small holes as the nymphs are really good at escaping!

Below Left: An enclosure. Middle: Jar used to hold branches. Below Right: Goliath Stick insect

Below: Children's Leaf Insect eggs, Spiny Leaf Insect eggs and Spiny droppings

Below: The container I keep my eggs in