We have a winner in Tropical Fish Forums'
January 2023 Pet of the Month Contest
January 2023 Pet of the Month Contest
We had 9 awesome pairs of pets entered in this month's POTM contest featuring Pet Pals. But only one could win...
And the winner is.......
Bluebubbles
Let's all congratulate them
Here's their pet Spiny Stick Insects
Alex and Stella are sisters who quite literally 'hang' out together. I got them as eggs early last year. Stella hatched about 4 months ago and Alex about 3. They are native to Australia and live high within the leafy foliage of our native eucalypts, across New South Wales, Queensland, Victoria and Tasmania.
They are very harmless herbivores and eat eucalyptus leaves. Their defence mechanisms include camouflage and falling to the ground; falling is faster than crawling (they can be quite dramatic). They also roll up their tail to make them look scary like a scorpion! These girlies will grow to about 18 cm long. The males get to only around 11 cm.
Once a female reaches adulthood, she will lay 1-2 eggs daily. These eggs take 6-9 months to hatch. If the female has mated with a male, the offspring will be a mix of their genetics. If the female hasn’t been with a male, all the offspring will be genetically identical to the mother. This is due to a process called parthenogenesis or cloning. In the wild, eggs are scattered throughout the forest floor with a flick of the mother's tail. This ensures that she won’t need to compete for resources. At the end of each egg, there is a small lump of sugar. This sugar encourages ants to take the eggs down into their nest to feed on the sugar and the nest provides the perfect conditions for the egg to develop. Once the egg hatches, the baby leaf insect makes its way out of the nest and into a tree. As the baby stick insect is covered in the ant's pheromones, it has no issues emerging from the nest unnoticed.
I reckon they're pretty cool creatures
. Great photo and very interesting story!
