Hayley and Ella

Just to let you know, your sticky eggs should hatch any time between now and two months. The first of my batch hatched this morning.

Ha! And now she can't find her!

Found her just now.

She's huuuuuuge!

At least 5mm long!

Yeah, she's a tiny one. Even smaller than Stickybun, Twiglet and Ivy (R.I.P.) when they hatched. A really dark brown, as well.

And rather difficult to see!

Yes, it's going to be difficult to change her substrate!

I keep checking no sign yet!

I believe most (if not all) of yours were from a slightly later batch, so hopefully it'll be within the next couple of months. The one who hatched today was probably from the first batch of ova.

What do you call a "sticky egg"? Pics pls.

Ill keep an eye! i have them in a clear container on some white paper. Shoudl i water them?

tracyp wrote:What do you call a "sticky egg"? Pics pls.

Not much point putting pics up, they'd just look like little black dots!

They're the eggs laid by Eleanor's stick insects.

It wouldn't hurt to mist them slightly with a spray bottle, as this helps to replicate the rainfall in the wild, which softens the 'glue' on the nodule at the end of the egg so that the nymphs can push their way out. I find it works better if you spray them lightly, then wait for the tissue paper to dry out completely before spraying again.

Tracy: the eggs are called ova (plural) or ovum (singular). I'll see if I can take a picture later on, but they're incredibly difficult to pick up on camera when they've only just hatched. Although Buddy is quite a dark brown, so she might stand out a bit more than Stickybun, Twiglet and Ivy did when they were her size.

Two more hatched this morning. It looks like more are on their way to hatching, as well. I now have three tiny stick insects running around the temporary enclosure. In a couple of months, when they're big enough, they can join Stickybun and Twiglet in the big-stick enclosure!

One of the nymphs from this morning:




And yes, that is a honey pot. No, it is not the temporary enclosure. I'm not that cruel. It's the pot I use to transfer them from the ova box to the temporary enclosure.

And for comparison, here are the fully-grown stickies:

Cute!

Very cute!

And already being little pests. I'd forgotten how difficult hatchlings could be! Looks like these ones are going to take after their parents and refuse to eat for the first three days.

Oh I love stickies.

Me too! Another hatched out this morning, but I'm currently unable to transfer her to the nymph enclosure, as one of the other nymphs has settled herself directly underneath the zip fastening at the top. If I unzip it, she could lose a leg. Daft little thing! I'll have to wait until tonight, when she'll hopefully move.