The history of the origin of the insect, features of the behavior of an arthropod in the wild, types of stick insects, tips for keeping at home, buying. With each revolution of the planet Earth around its axis, all new latitudes, new opportunities and new, previously unknown various living creatures open up to its inhabitants. Who can not only be seen on the pages of books and encyclopedias, on the vastness of the world wide web and even on TV screens.
But if someone is not interested in who lives in the wild, then the fact that a very unusual and peculiar pet can settle in the house of your friend or acquaintance cannot leave anyone indifferent.
Recently, people have been striving to ensure that they have something special, pretentious and, most importantly, not like everyone else. And if a few years ago these unique possessions were manifested by the purchase of new models of mobile phones, expensive cars or a pair of shoes from world famous designers, today a person is trying to emphasize his individuality and spontaneity with the help of exotic pets.
Coming to visit someone, no one experiences a terrible delight at the sight of a rare breed dog or a blue-blooded kitten, in the modern era there is already a tarantula, a snake or even a hippopotamus - animals that are kept as human best friends. And the more expensive and unusual the animal, the better, cooler and more status.
But there are also such specimens in our nature that are not expensive, but no one knew about them before. So, for example, the stick beetle. This unearthly, it seems even an alien living creature, bewitches with one of its appearance. Among all the inhabitants of our planet, it is probably impossible to find someone like him.
People of these insects are increasingly bringing and settling in their home, they deserve such popularity and demand not only for their originality and originality of their appearance, but also for their calm and unpretentious disposition and amazing behavior.
If you have a dilemma and you cannot make a choice in favor of this or that pet, and insects are one of the candidates for your friends, be sure to pay attention to the stick insect. After getting to know him better, perhaps you will understand that this is exactly the one you have been looking for for so long.
The origin of the stick insect and native habitats
The stick insect (Latin Phyllium giganteum) is an amazing insect, entomologists have been researching for many decades in a row, getting new facts about them and discovering new species. According to some sources, the beginning of research on this original bug dates back to 1902, and the last entry is dated 2013. Although it is impossible to reliably confirm this information, after all, Karl Linnaeus, in his first scientific classification of animals, mentioned these creations of nature, which means that these insects inhabited our planet a long time ago, we just did not know anything about them. What is the reason for such a long study of the arthropod, no one knows, whether there is little data about it, or are people of science working slowly, or are these peculiar creatures so mysterious?
Such a heightened interest in its persona the stick insect arouses among scientists not only by its original outer shell, but by the parameters of its body, because according to the opinion and research of many erudites, it is the stick insect that is the largest insect in the world. Entomologists found the longest stick insect in the jungle in the state of Sabah, which is located in Malaysia, the body size of this giant was over 52 cm.
A little later, in 1989, another champion among long stick insects was found on the island of Kalimantan, his body, not taking into account the length of the limbs, grew to 36 cm. Nobody knows where this giant was kept for many years. Only in 2008, this unique specimen was transferred to the collection of the Museum of Natural History, which is located in the capital of Great Britain. After such universal fame and fame, the scientist Philip Bragg described the stick insect as a completely new species of insect.
A stick insect, a leaf fly, a horror story, or a mega stick insect is all the names of the same representative of the insect class and the ghost squad. Their name comes from the ancient Greek language, which translated into Russian means "ghost", "phantom" or "ghost". The natural prevalence of these fabulous insects is wide enough, it seems possible to find them in open nature in India, South America, Australia and even in Europe. Although some literary sources claim that the homeland of these bugs is the United States, they just gradually emigrated to all the other countries and continents.
These insects can feel very comfortable and cozy, both in the tropics and subtropics, and in ordinary deciduous forests and among shrub thickets, the main thing for them is how to disguise themselves from their natural enemies and pests. And they already know how to hide, like no one else.
Their unusual name "stick insects" - these beetles got due to their appearance, which really resembles an ordinary branch of a tree or bush, if you don't look very closely, then in such a stick, not everyone will be able to make out a living creature.
It is also said that people used to consider stick insects to be rather dangerous representatives of the animal kingdom and were very afraid of meeting them. These fears and concerns have nothing to do with the fact that these cute arthropods can cause some harm to human health, bite or sprinkle with poison, the whole point is that they were really considered supernatural beings, such as demons or evil ghosts that came to their territory from the very, that is, the underworld.
Indeed, people in ancient times were not very educated and did not have the opportunity to read on the Internet about this or that strange creature that met on their way. Imagine only that a person wanders through the forest and, seeing a beautiful leaf or an unusual-shaped branch, decides to take it in his hands, and for no reason, for no reason, it comes to life and begins to move. Or he simply sees a twig with eyes flying and waving its wings, you must admit - not a very familiar sight.
When a person had already gotten to know this magical creature a little, then he himself ceased to be afraid, but he still tried to avoid meeting with the stick insect, because later a legend began to circulate among the people that after such a not very pleasant collision in the family of this person it was necessary something unpleasant is about to happen.
Peculiarities of stick insect behavior in open nature
For the reason that these, one might say, space beetles are not entirely studied inhabitants of planet Earth, there is not so much information about how they while away their days in an open environment. Absolutely all stick insects by nature have one unusual property - they are just champions in camouflage, so no living creature knows how to hide from predators, as they do - this is a kind of art. After all, bugs can go unnoticed, conveniently located in the most conspicuous place, namely on the surface of the sheet, or firmly clinging to some branch.
This is accompanied by a characteristic appearance, well, and the possession of a special type of adaptive properties, which is called "wax flexibility" or in a scientific way - catalepsy. When an animal plunges into a cataleptic state, then it is able to bend its body and limbs into the most unusual and unnatural position. Having taken this position, the stick insect can remain in it for several hours, while not experiencing absolutely any negative sensations.
The bug's exit from such a state depends only on its central nervous system, even in cases of trauma to the paw or abdomen, the arthropod will remain motionless. In the event that the danger caught the stick insect by surprise, and he failed to take his safe and inconspicuous position, then this cunning man can easily fall to the ground, pretending to be dead, while, indeed, not showing any signs of life.
These representatives of an interesting detachment of ghosts lead a strictly nocturnal lifestyle, by their nature they are very neat and prudent, therefore they try to dwell among the leaves of trees, shoots and branches throughout the daylight hours. And with the onset of dusk, they already begin to gather in search of food. As a feed, they choose food only of plant origin for themselves.
Stick insects are oviparous species. At the end of the long mating process, females lay eggs, which are not very small, about 7-9 mm, on one side they have a hole (micropyle), where the seminal fluid of a stick insect enters, and on the other, a kind of lid (operculum), opening which, the larvae are born. In appearance, ghost eggs are often confused with plant seeds or other insect droppings.
For the successful birth of babies, environmental conditions are very important, the leading role among which is played by air humidity, it should not be less than 65-75%, under inappropriate environmental conditions, these bugs can die at different stages of development. On average, the development of larvae and eggs continues for three months of each phase, the same period is the duration of the life cycle of an adult (adult stage).
In general, there are two ways of reproduction of stick insects in nature - this is sexual reproduction and parthenogenesis, among them the second predominates, for the reason that there are quite a few male stick insects, because as a result of the development of the embryo in an unfertilized egg, exclusively female individuals are born.
Insect varieties
In nature, there are a fairly large number of a wide variety of stick insects, some of them are presented to your attention.
- Cordillera stick insect. From Mother Nature, this representative of his kind got a very spectacular and extraordinary appearance. The color of this specimen consists of several colors: the main tone is black, with a slight silvery sheen, somewhat reminiscent of the color of resin, you can also notice a kind of velvety and golden color of the small "pubescence" against the main background. The eyes are golden in color and, as if tinted with lipstick, a bright red mouth. In its structure, it has two pairs of wings - upper and lower. The first ones are decorated by nature in white and black tones, and the lower ones are rich red colors. On the muzzle of the beetle, yellow-black antennae stand out well. Due to its outstanding appearance, in many sources you can find the Cordillera stick insect called the black beauty.
- Indian stick insect. Based on its name, it is already possible to draw absolutely accurate conclusions about the homeland of this creature. This species differs from its relatives in a relatively small body length, but at the same time they are quite thick and well-fed. The body length of the Indian beetle is on average from 7 to 9, 5 cm, there is information that females are slightly larger than males. The color varies from dark brown to gray-green tones. The entire body of this insect is decorated with dark spots.
- Spiny stick insect. He is a native of Vietnam, he first arrived in Russia only in 1999. This species is one of the few that continue its small genus only through sexual reproduction. The insect got its original name due to the fact that its body along the edges is decorated with certain thorns.
- Giant stick insect. This amazing creature inhabits various trees and shrubs of distant Australia. Among all relatives, it is famous for the dimensions of its body, in length it can grow from 15 to 20 cm. Sexual dimorphism in this species is represented not only by body size, but also by color. Females have brownish-greenish tones with a small white spot on the anterior pair of wings, while males, in turn, are brown and have only a few greenish dots on the chest.
- American striped stick insect. This indigenous wingless inhabitant of the United States, whose body is painted in charcoal black, against its background are vertically placed several pink-yellow stripes. Keeping such a pet at home is possible only for people with an unburdened allergic history, for the reason that the structure of this beetle has protective glands on the front of the chest, which can "shoot" a secret when the insect senses a certain level of danger.
- Giant Caribbean stick insect. This inhabitant of the islands of the Caribbean Sea also has a number of features. Firstly, these are its rather large dimensions, the length of its body is on average 10-15 cm, but this is not the main thing. Unlike all other ghost species, it is the males of the Caribbean stick insect that can fly very well. But nature has not endowed females with either the art of flight or real wings. These arthropods are painted in green-brown shades, their wings are almost transparent with only a slightly pinkish tint, the elytra are brown, painted with white lines.
Keeping a stick insect at home
If you have a strong desire to have a small live companion in your house, but do not have time to walk with him, play and pay a lot of attention to him, get yourself an exotic stick insect. He, of course, will never bring you slippers, and will not purr by his side, but his eccentricity will always delight your eyes.
The main guarantee of a successful and comfortable stay of such an insect in your home is the right housing for it. As a personal home for a bug, insectariums are usually purchased in pet stores, it would seem, it couldn't be easier - went, bought, and that's the end of it. But there is one caveat: on average, one stick insect needs an insectarium volume of 2-3 liters, even if you have one stick insect in a jar in your apartment, do not rush to buy a house for him, counting only on him. After all, we must not forget that these arthropods can reproduce alone.
It is equally important to maintain a constant optimal temperature in the range of 25-27 degrees and air humidity in the range of 65-80%. It is best to use a thermal cord as a heating device, only it is recommended to attach it so that your pet cannot climb on it and get burned.
It will be good to decorate your home insectarium with various branches and snags, this will help your bug quickly get used to new conditions, and also feel at home. Feeding this amazing pet is not a problem at all. In order to feed your tenant in the warm season, you can bring tree branches with young leaves or just grass to his house. In winter, try offering the stick insect a few leaves of houseplants, just make sure they are not poisonous.
Acquisition of a stick insect
Among modern people, there are now a large number of insect lovers, as domestic "animals", including stick insects, so it is not at all difficult to buy this cute creature, and besides, it is not expensive. The average cost of one individual of such an exotic is from 200 to 1000 rubles.
Learn more about the Annamian and New Guinean spiked stick insect in this video:
