Got my hands on a pregnant female. She laid eggs. Died.
I kept eggs, found them in the trash ("Why keep them if they probably won't hatch?" because they had been hanging around the house for weeks). Felt bad, dug them out and poured them into a specimen vial and was going to soak them in alcohol and give them to a girl at school... when... I lost them.
Found them later, and they were hatching! All white, thought they were dead.
Weeks later and they're sclerotizing? I can see eyespots, the mandibles are brown. No movement. Now they're molting and after a few days, they're moving around.
I have soaked them in water once (the bottom of the bedding for moisture) which didn't work out well because some were floating. They all seem to be hatching at different rates. Some have been hatched for over 2-4 weeks now and are moving around and others are just barely hatching out and white. If I don't find what to feed them soon, I will have to hope they will eat one another lol Was thinking about putting them with soil from outside... maybe microorganisms they could catch or get wingless/flightless fruitflies?
1) what do I feed the suckers and how often?
2) what kind of enclosure do they need to be in? (They're currently in a metal doggy dish with cypress mulch and a piece of bread - ever heard of how bread keeps the brown sugar from hardening? lol)
3) anything else or any information on them would be stellar!
I'm excited and they're cute. Sorry for such a quick translation of things, but I didn't want to get too goo-goo gah-gah over them; wanted quick facts and information.
I kept eggs, found them in the trash ("Why keep them if they probably won't hatch?" because they had been hanging around the house for weeks). Felt bad, dug them out and poured them into a specimen vial and was going to soak them in alcohol and give them to a girl at school... when... I lost them.
Found them later, and they were hatching! All white, thought they were dead.
Weeks later and they're sclerotizing? I can see eyespots, the mandibles are brown. No movement. Now they're molting and after a few days, they're moving around.
I have soaked them in water once (the bottom of the bedding for moisture) which didn't work out well because some were floating. They all seem to be hatching at different rates. Some have been hatched for over 2-4 weeks now and are moving around and others are just barely hatching out and white. If I don't find what to feed them soon, I will have to hope they will eat one another lol Was thinking about putting them with soil from outside... maybe microorganisms they could catch or get wingless/flightless fruitflies?
1) what do I feed the suckers and how often?
2) what kind of enclosure do they need to be in? (They're currently in a metal doggy dish with cypress mulch and a piece of bread - ever heard of how bread keeps the brown sugar from hardening? lol)
3) anything else or any information on them would be stellar!
I'm excited and they're cute. Sorry for such a quick translation of things, but I didn't want to get too goo-goo gah-gah over them; wanted quick facts and information.