This is a creepy crawly that only a mother could love. "Jungle Jim and his Bugs of the World," was a recent guest on my Comcast Cable Show, "Animals, Animals," which airs daily on channel A14, commercial over. He brought many, many spiders, scorpions, and giant cockroaches for show and tell. Time did not permit us to get to them all, but there was one small box that interested me because Jim told me earlier he had a gift. He brought me a pregnant, female Giant Prickly stick insect.

This homely creature originally came from Queensland, Australia. This thing is six inches long and will grow to eight inches, which is the average length for a female. She is covered with short spines, which are used to slam into any predator dumb enough to pick one up. It doesn't hurt people but it can scare the beegeebees out of you if you do not expect it. Her claws consist of two hooks with a suction cup between them. She can climb up any surface. I can't wait for this, but when she lays eggs she will flick them up to several feet away. I am told you can hear them bouncing off the sides of the aquarium. I may be forced to draw a crowd when this begins.

In the wild she these insects eat eucalyptus. The only comparable, readily available food found in this area is the leaf of the pyracantha bush. There is a huge pyracantha hedge on my 'end of the block' neighbor's fence. I asked his permission to remove a few branches a week. He agreed so on my evening walk I am armed with pruning clippers and a paper sack. I just can't wait for a nosy neighbor to ask me what I am doing.