Hatching Phyllium

[Lil Stinkpot]

My Phyllium sp. are (Finally!!!) hatching! Man, I tell ya, they take their darn sweet time at it.


<img src=http://i212.photobucket.com/albums/cc221/tippitytwitchit/show%20and%20tell/011.jpg>

 

[glider14]

nice! ive always wanted to raise mantids, walking sticks of those leaf insects from eggs. they are so exotic!!

Alex

 

[swords]

Farout! I've done Mantids a few times before but wherever did you find stick insect eggs?

love it love it love it!

 

[Lil Stinkpot]

A well-known online auction site.

 

[swords]

Interesting! Do you use a rose plant or blackberry bush for them to eat?

 

[dashman]

Neat!

Do you have pics of the eggs before they hatched? Curious to see what they looked like.

 

[Lil Stinkpot]

I have more un-hatched eggs. they look like seeds!

Swords, I use both raspberry and rose, whatever is available at the moment. I prefer raspberry, but when that resource runs thin, I'll turn to roses. They really prefer the raspberry.

 

[swords]

I read that they "have" to have oak as nymphs but you don't find that to be true?

Did yours take 4-5 months to hatch? Do you have to keep the eggs humid all that time or can you just drop them in a planted terrarium and forget about them until they pop up one day?

Most importantly will they leave things like orchids and other terrarium plants alone?

 

[Lil Stinkpot]

These guys never saw an oak leaf, nor did their predecessors.

Yes, they took nearly 5 months, maybe longer. As the eggs were laid over a looong period of time, I think I'll have hatchlings pop up out of nowhere for quite a while. I haven't been too careful to keep the humidity up. I have them in a plastic "Kritter Keeper", and the eggs are on a piece of rock wool in a low tray full of water. The only humidity they ever get from me is from the rock wool that I stuck the plant cuttings into. I don't know what they will or won't bother, but I have a feeling the only plants we need to worry about are Nepenthes, Pinguicula, Dionaea and Drosera, when they are small, and only Nepenthes and the larger Drosera when they get bigger.

I have so many eggs, that if even half hatch, I will put some in the lowlander tank with food and see what happens.

 

[swords]

Cool info thanks for that bit about the Oak! Funny that some sites say "all nymphs will be lost without ready access to fresh oak." lol

Can a parade rose (the minis) or a raspberry plant be kept alive indefinitely indoors or do they have to be allowed a dormancy?

Do they eat a lot of leaves a day or could you just keep them in a tank with a live food plant (and other plants) or would they strip the whole food plant bare in a day or two?

 

[Lil Stinkpot]

It depends on the species. Whatever I have, it's labeled Phyllium sp., Likes raspberry, blackberry, likely any-berry, and rose. They might take oak, I haven't tried. I bet they'll love the soft oaks.

They look like they eat rather slow, then surprise you the next day. I keep cuttings in there, I wouldn't try a live plant. The roses over here in Ca only slow down for a bit, then get right back to growing. The only thing I can call dormancy is them recovering from being cut back drastically each fall. The any-berries do go dormant, but usually don't loose the leaves.

If you are in a place that the roses and berries DO go dormant, put plenty of leaves in the freezer, and keep a couple mini roses in the window as insurance. I haven't needed to try frozen, but others have, with success. I guess it's like feeding my snakes frozen mice.