Anyone into stick bugs? [Two stripped walking stick]

[JoXie411]

You can also use fruit flies and pin heads... melanogaster are smaller than hydei for hatchlings purposes. Just make sure to try and keep fresh cut leave with them as a water source... they tend to drown otherwise

Yeah I was going to buy pin heads or one week olds I just hate crickets lol thanks

 

[Hashtag ChamLife]

Yeah I was going to buy pin heads or one week olds I just hate crickets lol thanks

Me too. I've phased them out myself... but mantids love them. And the crickets are stupid enough to jump right next to them. Some people use meal and super worms as well once bigger. You can basically use any small feeder. I am going to try some BSFL now that I think of it.... I'll report back with any results worth sharing.

I'm far from an expert... but if you have any other questions [or tips to share], I'm all ears! If nothing else I'd like to be able to point people here to avoid the nightmare of trying to find info on this topic.

 

[Hashtag ChamLife]

It's been a while and I had all but given up on my eggs. Doing my rounds today, checking my silk worm eggs, I noticed so "cocofiber" in my stick bug egg cup. Then it dawned on me... I don't have coco fiber, it's all sand. Hooooorrrayyyyy I have baby stick bugs!!!! Success!!!

 

[Hashtag ChamLife]

They must have just hatched out. This one still has the egg case on its leg!

 

[Kaizen]

Well, an update for science....

I've been able to house them without issues. Apparently, the males will take ANY female the find [hatchling to granny] and NEVER let go. They will continue to stay a mated/riding pair. [Till death do us part]

I've also been checking every morning to find eggs. Or at least what seem like eggs.

This is what I've found:
View attachment 247804

And the breakdown:

View attachment 247805
This is "frass" or poop. It's fairly brown/green as they eat plant matter.

View attachment 247807

These are the eggs. [Over exposed to show detail, they're black]

View attachment 247806

This was the first egg I found I thought it was frass. I squished it and out came the red goo. Interesting. That's how I figured out which were eggs! Process has begun!!!

Wait what? Two-stripes are Florida natives aren’t they?

 

[Hashtag ChamLife]

Wait what? Two-stripes are Florida natives aren’t they?

They are

 

[Kaizen]

They are

Hmm, wonder why full throttle won’t ship to Florida. I guess it’s a blanket policy.

 

[Hashtag ChamLife]

Hmm, wonder why full throttle won’t ship to Florida. I guess it’s a blanket policy.

Not sure. Not all stick/leaf/mantids are strictly illegal per se either. I'm just excited they actually hatched out. I'm actually shocked that they are so BIG out of such tiny eggs. Mantids are so tiny out of a similar size egg...

 

[Hashtag ChamLife]

Another hatched this afternoon. I've thrown a leaf or two in the hatch cup and went ahead and created a little habitat for the 3 I have now.

Pretty straight forward. A handful of soil, a sprig of hibiscus with some new growth and a sprig of ligistrum (that's not right I'll have to get the right name). I shredded a few leaves and made sure there was a mix of new growth and old. I also put a small piece of bug burger in there.

These guys/gals are small... but are actually amazingly large given the size of the eggs they came out of.



That's the egg case at the back legs.



In the center, back of the leaf is one of them. Also at the top of the hibiscus is another. I just put the 3rd one in there after showcasing it to my (uninterested) wife, but its hiding somewhere.

Edit: it is ligistrum, I was right!