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Post by Jenny on Feb 20, 2014 9:56:07 GMT
We had our very first baby Macleay's Spectre nymph hatch out during the course of last night, so here is a video of our baby and another video to show what this tiny baby might grow into.
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Post by Wood~Ant on Feb 22, 2014 8:26:07 GMT
It is like a kind of baby watch now waiting for the next nymph to hatch. The maternity ward is a plastic pot containing the eggs which are kept in our hot water tank cupboard. No more births yet, but I am like an expectant father and keeping the pot several times a day.
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Post by Wood~Ant on Feb 28, 2014 8:40:37 GMT
I checked the egg pot as usual yesterday morning, and nothing had hatched; but then we went out shopping for a few hours and when I checked it again in the afternoon charging around the container was another baby. This second Macleay's was a bit bigger than the first, so no we have 2 in the stick insect tank. As the eggs cost me £5, and nymphs of this species sell at £3-50 pence each, I hope to get several more from the remaining eggs if they all hatch out okay.
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Post by Wood~Ant on Feb 28, 2014 12:20:23 GMT
Baby number 3 hatched today.
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Post by Wood~Ant on Mar 3, 2014 11:24:03 GMT
Jen collected some more bramble this morning and decided to clean out the stick tank. When she asked me how many Macs there should be I told her there were 3, but Jen could only see 2. That is because number 3 was going on walkabout across our kitchen worktop. Now all are back home and have new food to tuck into.
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Post by Wood~Ant on Mar 10, 2014 15:28:34 GMT
Things are really going well with 2 more baby Macleays hatching out over the past 24 hours, which now brings the total up to 5.
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armyant
Callow Ant
Posts: 56
Likes: 6
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Post by armyant on Mar 10, 2014 15:39:28 GMT
How many more do you hope to have of these from the eggs you have left?
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Post by Wood~Ant on Mar 11, 2014 9:11:42 GMT
How many more do you hope to have of these from the eggs you have left? There are 11 viable eggs left and another 2 which seem to have a white fungus on them, so perhaps maybe another 10 or 11 which would give me 15 or 16 in total. This a very good care sheet for this species of stick insect.
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Post by Jenny on Mar 12, 2014 16:23:10 GMT
I have just taken some photos of one of our baby sticks posing, so here are 2 of the best shots.
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Post by Wood~Ant on Mar 19, 2014 12:31:41 GMT
The eggs always seem to hatch out around 11AM and when we go out shopping. Same thing happened yesterday as number 7 was found charging around the egg container. We now have the magnificent 7 of these baby stick insects, with 5 Thai Beauties and 4 Sunny Stick Insects. So far not one of the Borneo eggs have hatched, but we still have 11 more Macleay's Spectre eggs, so we expect more of these to hatch soon.
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Post by Black Ant on Mar 19, 2014 14:12:23 GMT
Congrats on the breeding programme Wood
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Post by Wood~Ant on Mar 26, 2014 14:21:27 GMT
Baby number 8 has just hatched out and is a bit smaller than the previous 7, which makes me think it might be a male or perhaps just a bit weaker. He or she was finding it hard to push its way out of the egg shell, so with a bit of careful help from me his/her legs were gently coaxed from the egg.
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Post by Wood~Ant on Apr 2, 2014 15:01:25 GMT
Some of these babies have grown so big we have moved the whole lot into a bigger tank. The new tank is almost 3 times larger, and contains 4 Sunny Stick Insect nymphs, 5 Thai Beauties and 8 Macleay's Spectre nymphs. Five of the latter species are looking more like miniature adults now, and the other species have grown considerably after moulting their skins a couple of times.
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Post by Wood~Ant on Apr 22, 2014 8:25:49 GMT
Jen was cleaning out the stick insect tank and replacing the bramble yesterday. As always she counts the number of stick insects as they are put back. Only 6 Macs were found alive and the other 2 had vanished, and as we haven't had any escape we can only assume that 2 have died and their bodies were thrown out among the rotting leaves of the bramble.
It is sad to lose 2 of these lovely insects, but even if we only manage to raise 6 to adulthood they will provide us with lots more eggs; and the six that are left are making really beautiful creatures as they take on a more adult leafy look.
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Post by Wood~Ant on May 12, 2014 17:41:59 GMT
This girl has just shed her skin and is growing fast.
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