Australia's Science Forum

I need some advice from all the invertebrate experts out there please....

We got 5 lovely Goliath stick insect nymphs last term, & converted an old glass aquarium into their new home, but with winter on the way it's getting damn cold, & the lab gets pretty chilly overnight.

Does anyone use a heat pad or lamp to keep stick insects warm over winter?

Thanks

We had some here last year. We never bothered heating them and they survived just fine. In fact they produced so many eggs we had to dispose of some eggs. We also had some of them hatch at the end of the year as well. We are in a very cold part of Hobart (right under the mountain) and the labs/classrooms have no heating overnight or on weekends.

I would say they will be fine

I was wondering the same thing.. the teacher here is going to put a large beach towel to cover the back and sides of our habitats at night..
but then if you think of the insects in the wild, no one gives them a heat pad..

but then if you think of the insects in the wild, no one gives them a heat pad..

Very true....but apparently if you keep a nice constant temp their growth is a little faster.....another Adelaide labbie, Danielle, shared a good idea....put a small thermostat-controlled aquarium heater in a jar of water in the enclosure & set it to maintain temp in the mid 20s...it also helps keep it humid.

I'm off to rummage through our old aquarium gear to see if we still have one

We have an old beach towel draped over the inclosure, but ours is made from fly mesh, (all sides and top). We are in Sydney so does not get as cold as in your land.
Lada

I'm Baaaack! Bet you didn't even know I was gone did you??!!

I've just finished my one-term teaching internship & am finally.... one of the OTHERS. (anyone watch Lost?!!!) BUT I'm still lab teching & emergency teaching until a job (that I want!) comes up. I'm gonna be sooooooooooooooooooooo super dooper nice to my labbies!! And I've obviously really missed these emoticons!!!

Anyway, NOw I'm back I've some cherubs annoying me to get back some Stick insects. We can't afford to purchase them so I was hoping that someone might be able to post me some eggs? My last batch only hatched males... so now we have ZERO & apparently the person replacing me handballed it on...

Soooo, let me know kind, generous labbies who I've really missed while I was away TEACHING science with a labbie bossing me about instead of the other way around! !! Will send much karma!!!

Kel

I SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO Love these emoticons!!!

Ring the Australian Museum. After answering a few questions they sent some insect eggs out to me.

A lovely Labtech from this site sent me the first lot of eggs from which we hatched a Titan, Goliath and spiny stick insects. These however never laid any eggs. I rang The Australian Museum and they sent me eggs.From these eggs we have had children's stick insects hatch but no other species.I have been buying some live juveniles from Insectpets, but they are nor inexpensive. I have purchased Wueflings, Goliath, Hurrican larry and, just last week, a pair of juvenile Spiny leaf. The wueflings are now huge. Our Titan died and i am trying to obtain another one, or a pair.
Think about it - these are part of science resources and if it costs $40 a pair then it isn't really so expensive is it.

Look after the eggs from the Australian Museum as they can take up to 3 years to hatch. e have had four different kinds hatch, and at the moment we have 13 living insects and counting. We just had one hatch the other day (we have had the eggs for 1 yr) I keep the eggs in a takeaway container sitting on the insect enclosure. Both are in an area where they get direct sunlight sometime throughout the day.

WE HAVE EGGS!
our very first eggs laid by our own insects! yaya!
AND one of those eggs hatched last night into a really tiny baby goliath
One of the goliaths moulted last night - and out came a fairy princess..
well not really - it is female and so looks really different to before the moult..
and it even has a hint of pink on its tail!
Celebration time
{wish there was a smiley with a tiara or crown!}

I totally get your enthusiasm Sunray! I'm nuts about my stickies....& super happy as 4 of our 5 have matured in the last week, so we have 2 males & 2 females all decked out in their new green & gold, with stripes, spots & gorgeous markings!
The've started to mate as well, so hopefully next year we'll have babies like you

Congrats!!!
We have the spiny leaf insects and they are MULTIPLYING. Since we had aircons installed in labs, insects do not know which season it is and they had been hatching all through winter.
We had to build another encloserr for them.
I have stripped all low branches of eucalypt around school. They are hungry little beasties
Lada

congratulations all round!! Great photos, too!! Very happy for you all!!

What are those insects eating? I have been told only eucalyptus gum leaves - what do they like?

I think they eat almost any native leaves. I used to feed them only eucalyptus leaves but ran out, so started on a bush which is used here as a hedge. Plenty of it!!
They like hibiscus as well.
Lada

DO all of you who have stick insects use anything on the bottom of the cage? Like the cocnut fibre blocks?
I have just spent an afternoon slowing sieving through the fibre to find eggs - and it is a PAIN!
if I had a bare base of the cage I would be able to see the eggs immediately
What is best to do?
I told my Goliaths to make theri eggs coloured so they don't look like their droppings, but for some reason they just will not co-operate!

who ever thought you would spend a few hours trolling through insect droppings and get paid for it?

No, my stickies dont listen either.
I have old leaves covering the base, and since we feed insects with eucalypt, droppingd do not smell, I hardly ever clean out cage. By time I get around to it, eggs are hatching so I leave it undisturbed. I have ALL generations in together, babies to old men.When the base become too deep, I take out half and dispose.
Lada