page_title: Extatosoma tiaratum
section_title: Cultivation
hierarchical_section_title: Extatosoma tiaratum / Cultivation
caption_attribution_description: Plate from The Monograph of the Genus Phasma. Species is probably the Australian Extatosoma tiaratum, the Giant Prickly Stick Insect. Species reference
context_page_description: Extatosoma tiaratum, commonly known as the spiny leaf insect, the giant prickly stick insect, Macleay's spectre, or the Australian walking stick, is a large species of stick insect endemic to Australia.
  The species has the Phasmid Study Group number PSG9.
context_section_description: This species is relatively common in captivity. It is used in laboratories, kept for projects in schools (as is Carausius morosus), and is a popular pet among breeders of exotic insects in North America and Europe. One breeder advises specifically "For a stick insect with body length 127mm, to keep 2 adult females, you need a cage at least 600mm high, 300mm deep and 300mm wide."
  Although the gestation period of their eggs is several months long, they are prolific breeders. A breeder notes that because of this insect's habit of flicking its eggs, one can "hear them clicking against the glass" of their terraria. Some breeders in the United Kingdom, concerned with the negative effects of inbreeding on the vitality of their stock, have introduced new genes from abroad.
  Females live to about 18 months old, males to only 6–8 months.
caption: Plate 8 from "The Monograph of the Genus Phasma" by George Robert Gray
exif: {}