Hide and Seek:

Emma spotted this little fellow first and together we enjoyed being the seekers and he tried very hard to hide from us...

What do stick insects eat? By Emma-Jane and Mommy

Can you guess from the leaves in my Stick Insect Box? Can you see a stick insect?

Stick insects mainly eat Eucalyptus leaves but can eat bramble leaves, apple leaves, oak leaves, rhododendron leaves and rose leaves. Today we went on a Eucalyptic Treasure Hunt, searching for eucalyptus leaves for my new baby stick insects. We found two in our garden waiting to be planted: The Paper Bark Tree and our tiny little Eucalyptus Ptychocarpa. And then found six different types of trees in our park with gum nuts and eucalyptus shaped leaves. Are all gum trees Eucalyptus Trees and visa versa quote " Species of Australian Gum Tree Eucalyptus
The huge amount of different Eucalypt trees can roughly be divided into a few groups. Eucalypt trees are known to be Gum Trees. Not all eucalypts are gum trees however. This is only one group of them, albeit probably the largest. " unquote. We found our answer here: http://www.gondwananet.com/australian-gum-tree.html 

Here are our photographs of the trees we found in our treasure hunt today:

A Holy Eucalyptus

Why do stick insects curl up their tails like a scorpion? By Emma-Jane

  They curl up their tails because they are pretend to be scorpions and are hoping you will be so frightened of them that you will leave them alone.They are also very good at camouflaging themselves. Although the nymphs are bright now they are very hard  to see when they are in grass and branches. And when they grow up they will grow up they will be brown and leafy, just perfect for pretending to be a stick or dead leaf.

Can you find these camouflaged baby stick insects?

If it is not a scorpion, then what is it? A stick Insect By Emma-Jane

These are my newly hatched baby stick insects, sometimes called Spiney Leaf Insects, Macleary's Spectre or Giant Prickly Stick Insects.

Is this a scorpion? by Emma-Jane

No, a scorpion has 8 legs, two legs look like crab punchers...see http://www.southbank.qm.qld.gov.au/Find+out+about/Animals+of+Queensland/Other+Arachnids/Scorpions

A stinking good surprise!

We brought a bunch of Autumn leaves home today after our early morning adventures in the park and were looking up on the Internet how to preserve Autumn leaves with glycerin, when suddenly we spied a bug on one of the leaves...what is it?

(All photographs copyrighted and the property of Joy Murray, not to be used without permission)

(All photographs copyrighted and the property of Joy Murray, not to be used without permission)

"A stink bug," said Emma, warily keeping her distance. As the chief gentle catcher of all sorts of living creatures in our garden, she has had a stinky experience with this creature before - "Don't touch it she warns! Stinky stuff comes out from there if you annoy them."

(All photographs copyrighted and the property of Joy Murray, not to be used without permission) Could it be an adult Rice Stink Bug? And would it be in our park?  Help, identifying this creature  is not easy! Does anyone out there know what it's proper name is?

 And if you think finding this creature was our stinking good surprise then you are quite wrong and you are in for a good surprise yourself - for take a look at what was happening under this creature....amazing! How we whooped an hooted with surprise and joy, crowding around her with bursting bustling and shoving...I am so pleased that she was too busy laying her eggs to use her stinking defences as we peered and peered at her. She now has a giant container to live in the middle of our lounge room and Emma is desperately hoping that we will one day have baby stink bugs to add to our menagerie. 

(All photographs copyrighted and the property of Joy Murray, not to be used without permission) 
Yes, for real this bug is laying eggs!

(All photographs copyrighted and the property of Joy Murray, not to be used without permission)  
Perfect Eggs!

(All photographs copyrighted and the property of Joy Murray, not to be used without permission) 
Don't be deceived they may look big in the photograph but they are tiny.

(All photographs copyrighted and the property of Joy Murray, not to be used without permission) 
Minuscule really.

(All photographs copyrighted and the property of Joy Murray, not to be used without permission) 
White and each perfectly shaped.

 

(All photographs copyrighted and the property of Joy Murray, not to be used without permission)  
And yet so many for so small a mother!

(All photographs copyrighted and the property of Joy Murray, not to be used without permission)  
How did she fit them all inside? Poor woman!

(All photographs copyrighted and the property of Joy Murray, not to be used without permission) 
She is actually laying eggs!

(All photographs copyrighted and the property of Joy Murray, not to be used without permission)
Absolutely amazing!

(All photographs copyrighted and the property of Joy Murray, not to be used without permission)  
How we wished the eggs were transparent so we could see what was going on inside the eggs. (When we had silk worms we could see inside the cocoons.)

(All photographs copyrighted and the property of Joy Murray, not to be used without permission)  
What an awesome Creator we have - to have made an animal where each and every egg is the same perfect shape!

(All photographs copyrighted and the property of Joy Murray, not to be used without permission) 
Legs designed perfectly to fit around her eggs!

(All photographs copyrighted and the property of Joy Murray, not to be used without permission)  
Front and middle legs strong enough to hold her up.

(All photographs copyrighted and the property of Joy Murray, not to be used without permission) 
Feelers twitching just enough to let us know she is alive while standing perfectly still over her eggs.

(All photographs copyrighted and the property of Joy Murray, not to be used without permission)
I don't imagine that even Charlotte Mason could have found anything more interesting than this amazing little bug laying eggs! 

Let us know if you can help identify her properly...