Be a backyard
buddy
Be a stick insect buddy
Try to:
• have a variety of eucalyptus trees in your garden.
• keep pets away from any areas that you know have some stick
insects living there.
Avoid:
• using pesticides and chemicals in your garden because stick
insects are very sensitive to these.
• worrying about these cool insects because they’re completely
harmless and won’t cause any problems for you or your garden.
What amazing camouflage the
Children’s Stick Insect has!
Photo: David Midgley.
• picking these buddies up because they have very delicate wings and limbs which you
could accidentally damage.
Don't be surprised if:
• you come across these guys when you’re gardening, they’re so well camouflaged
that you often don’t see them until they’re almost on you!
• you see a stick insect as big as your forearm. The Goliath Stick insect can grow to a
whopping 25 cm.
• they rear their back towards you when you get too close. They’re not trying to sting
you, just letting you know that you’re a bit too close.
Find out more about your buddies
VISIT: www.backyardbuddies.net.au
www.facebook.com/backyardbuddies
CALL: 1 800 283 343 to purchase a Backyard Buddy toy. The proceeds go to
threatened species conservation programs.
READ: E
ach month you can receive an email about animals you’re likely to see in
your backyard with tips on how to make your backyard friendly for them.
It’s called B-mail & it’s free. All you have to do is sign up.
SIGN UP: http://backyardbuddies.net.au/register
Welcome stick insects
into your backyard
It’s not cowardly avoiding fights
Stick insects love:
When it comes to flight or fight instincts with the stick insect, it
would prefer to do neither! As a way to avoid confrontation all
together, the stick insect has evolved great techniques of hiding
and avoiding detection.
Eucalyptus leaves
– that they will spend all night munching on
Dancing
– like a stick swaying in the breeze
Solitude
– so they keep to themselves except when looking for a mate
Ants
– who think that they’re eggs are seeds and carry them into
their nests and protect them until they hatch
Australian stick insects come in all sorts of colours, shapes,
and sizes. All of these appearances have been developed to
make stick insects look like, or to help them blend into, leaves
or branches. Some species, like the Spiny Leaf Insect, have
reached an expert level in the art of disguise.
Spiny Leaf Insect is a cool looking
stick insect. Photo: Martin Lagerwey.
Stick insects also do most of their eating and mating at night time, when there are
fewer unfriendly eyes looking for them.
When they move around, the stick insect has developed a walk that looks very funny
to us, but actually helps fool other animals into thinking they’re just a swaying leaf.
Looking after stick insects in your
backyard is easy
But they don't like:
Insecticides
– which poison them when they eat the chemicals on leaves
Birds and bats
– who like to gobble up stick insects when they see them
Getting stuck
– in the ants nest where they hatch. You’ll never see a stick
insect move as fast as when it’s leaving the nest
Talk about a low-maintenance buddy! Stick insects are so easy to look after, lots of
people like to keep them as pets, particularly teachers for their classrooms.
Stick insects like to have a daily supply of fresh eucalyptus leaves but they’re not
fussy eaters, so they’ll eat on any old gum leaf. They also quite like eating acacia,
rose, and blackberry leaves. You don’t have to worry about these buddies eating too
much, as they will move about from tree to tree and your plant will be able to keep
growing without any problems.
Looking after your local stick insects will benefit not just the stick insects and you, but
your whole neighbourhood. That’s why the Foundation for National Parks & Wildlife
started Backyard Buddies.
What is a backyard buddy?
Backyard buddies are the native animals that share our built-up areas, our beaches
and waterways, our backyards and our parks. The stick insect is a backyard buddy.
Backyard buddies are also the local people who value the living things around them,
like stick insects, and are willing to protect and encourage them by doing a few simple
things around their own homes. So you can be a backyard buddy.
Be a backyard buddy
It’s easy. All you have to do is care... and take a few simple steps.
Step one is to find out what stick insects do and do not like.
I don’t need a man!
In the stick insect world, dad’s aren’t
always needed. Mum stick insect
can reproduce year-round and can
reproduce without fertilisation.
This means that she can deposit her
eggs and have them grow into normal,
healthy nymphs without ever needing to
find a dad!
Goliath Stick Insects are just gentle
giants. Photo: Arthur Chapman..
However, in order to keep up their
genetic diversity, and because unfertilised eggs will all
be female clones of mum, she will still need to mate with
males sometimes.
So don’t worry, Dad stick insect still plays an important
part in this buddy’s survival.