. .. I just figured out my terrarium has TWO snails (aka, 50 bazillion snails in the making. Oops. But I guess they've been in there all summer and have yet to cause a population explosion, so maybe it's the wrong conditions to hatch eggs? I dunno.)
Well my research says it can take anywhere from 4 months to 2 years for the eggs to hatch. Although most of those sites were discussing N Walking Sticks in the wild so I'm really hoping things lean to the lower end of the scale in captivity... @_@
I'm also hoping she did mate before I took her in, because then I'll likely get some males as well as females. If not, they'll just all be clones of their mother.
To be honest I'm a little worried about her tonight. She hasn't moved at all, even though I have all the lights off save for the monitors, and she's usually active long before this (although she did move a leg when I went to adjust one of the blackberry stems that had slipped, so she is still alive)
I think I was just off in my observations - I began to watch more closely and she tends to alternate in the evenings between periods of pretty intense activity (starting around dusk/early evening) and rest periods. By about 10:30/11:00pm ish she calls it a "night" and goes back to holding still. Last night for instance she mowed through at least a half dozen blackberry leaves before finally crawling off to another stick to rest.
She might be active again later, like after midnight, but I haven't tried staying up yet to check! ;)
That when Ofelia is gone, well at least I'd have her children to look after :) (even thought about naming one Charlotte, but then depending on how numerous they are and how similar they look I may just pass on names...)
I think it's a fair amount. One website I found mentioned that out of a clutch of 20 eggs their Stick laid, 18 of them hatched successfully.
Ofelia has laid 50 eggs so far which I've divided into 2 groups. One group I've put in a jar with some gently moistened paper towels in the cool-but-not-freezing part of the fridge (to try and simulate them being in snow buried leaf litter, like in the wild).
The other 25 are being kept on paper towels in a large wide-mouth vase with a ventilated cover. I gently mist them with distilled water daily.
If the jar eggs don't hatch in a month or two I may take some of the eggs from the fridge and see if returning to room temp after being "overwintered" stimulates them to hatch or not....
The eggs are quite pretty - like tiny little black oval beads with a white stripe down the side.
Comments 7
. .. I just figured out my terrarium has TWO snails (aka, 50 bazillion snails in the making. Oops. But I guess they've been in there all summer and have yet to cause a population explosion, so maybe it's the wrong conditions to hatch eggs? I dunno.)
Reply
I'm also hoping she did mate before I took her in, because then I'll likely get some males as well as females. If not, they'll just all be clones of their mother.
To be honest I'm a little worried about her tonight. She hasn't moved at all, even though I have all the lights off save for the monitors, and she's usually active long before this (although she did move a leg when I went to adjust one of the blackberry stems that had slipped, so she is still alive)
Reply
Reply
I think I was just off in my observations - I began to watch more closely and she tends to alternate in the evenings between periods of pretty intense activity (starting around dusk/early evening) and rest periods. By about 10:30/11:00pm ish she calls it a "night" and goes back to holding still. Last night for instance she mowed through at least a half dozen blackberry leaves before finally crawling off to another stick to rest.
She might be active again later, like after midnight, but I haven't tried staying up yet to check! ;)
Reply
(The comment has been removed)
That when Ofelia is gone, well at least I'd have her children to look after :)
(even thought about naming one Charlotte, but then depending on how numerous they are and how similar they look I may just pass on names...)
Reply
(The comment has been removed)
I think it's a fair amount. One website I found mentioned that out of a clutch of 20 eggs their Stick laid, 18 of them hatched successfully.
Ofelia has laid 50 eggs so far which I've divided into 2 groups. One group I've put in a jar with some gently moistened paper towels in the cool-but-not-freezing part of the fridge (to try and simulate them being in snow buried leaf litter, like in the wild).
The other 25 are being kept on paper towels in a large wide-mouth vase with a ventilated cover. I gently mist them with distilled water daily.
If the jar eggs don't hatch in a month or two I may take some of the eggs from the fridge and see if returning to room temp after being "overwintered" stimulates them to hatch or not....
The eggs are quite pretty - like tiny little black oval beads with a white stripe down the side.
Reply
Leave a comment