Peruphasma

[Muleyyy]

i have about 20 ova of these on the way, any tips on incubating them?

i can see that there are many ways to do it, is there any specific on i should be looking at for this sp. ?

what about temperature and frequencey of misting? should i put them in compost/coconut fiber or vermiculate? or are they too prone to mould?

[robsorchids]

this species comes from humid forests so the ova isnt particularly prone to mould, so these can be incubated on moist peat without problems.

mist whenever the ova looks dry, (that is when it turns the light colour)


i have found these to be very easy to hatch, normal room temp is fine

these dont take to long to hatch from fresh ova, about 5 months seems the average

remember this species is a sprayer so dont get them near the eyes!

bye
rob

[Muleyyy]

yup, i saw them at bugfest in yeovil and was told that they were sprayers

ah 5 months thats good, it'll give me plenty of time to figure out what i'm going to do with them, 20 seems like alot, do you get many duds?

[HulaHoop]

20 seems like alot, do you get many duds?

I don't know from personal experience but the bloke I got mine from bought 90 ova when they were new in culture in 2005, to allow for ova not hatching out and what not.
But every one hatched lol.
So these have a very high hatch rate it seems :)

[robsorchids]

yes thats correct, its proved to be a very prolific and easy species

rob

[lele]

perfect timing! I just collected my first 50(!) from mine. I'll be posting swaps as soon as I collect more. I just switched their cage so will be doing that soon. I'm in US though.

[Muleyyy]

i recieved them today!

i've got them sitting on a few layers of moist kitchen roll (lightly misted)

is this ok?

also, what about light? should i keep the eggs away from the light/direct sunlight? in the dark? in the shade? where?

at the moment thier just sitting on a surface in my room, which is light, but recieves no direct sunlight and quite airy, but still at least 20C

[AlienMarky]

That sounds fine. Keep them out of direct sunlight to stop them drying out and you should get them to hatch :)

[Ian]

At last Sam, they arrived!

[Muleyyy]

yes! my ova woes are finally over and hopefully in a 3 months i'll have some nice peruphasma

[Muleyyy]

Well, apologies if this is a bit of post necromancy but finally the first peruphasma has emerged! great news!

i was beginning to think that they wouldnt hatch at all, i thought i could see some mould on them last week, and there was some white stuff on a few of them, i think it was limescale or kitchen roll, i've been frequently changing the kitchenroll to make sure its clean, but they seemed to stick to it a bit after it had gone damp and dried, but anyway i scraped the stuff off with my fingernail lol, so i hope i havnt harmed them!

but anyway i'm now the proud owner of one L1 (or is that L0?) peruphasma nymph! yay!!

it hasnt eaten anything yet and infact yesterday it escaped during the night, i had to put some fine mesh over the lid of the plastic container i'm keeping it in (temporary housing)

[Ian]

Good stuff Sam, now all we need is some photos!

[Muleyyy]

yup! a second one hatched this morning, i'll get some pix when they've settled down a bit, thier a bit highly strung! very long antennae though, and unbelievable how they manage to fit in that tiny egg!

[robsorchids]

i wish my nymphs wouldnt keep appearing!

i kept to much ova back, overun with the things at the moment this really is a pesky species when allowed to be so whatch out;)

indeed it is true ova of this species will hatch from 2 months as this lot of ova started at around that age.

jus thought id add my thoughts on this species as its not hard to become overun within a generation (not to put a downer on it though:o)

rob

[Muleyyy]

yeah i heard they can be randy buggers, i'll be sure to keep a lid on the population, i've had problems with being overrun by phasmids before, they still havnt eaten yet and its been a couple of days! i hope they like the privet i got them

[Dave]

Have yee been over run yet (are they doing ok?):D

[Muleyyy]

yeah thier fine, i feed them privet and a bit of lilac (while i can still get it)

i had one late arrival that came out with its antennae all squiggly, and the egg stuck to its foot even though they sit on moist cotton wool.... i use cotton wool for my ova now as it holds moisture for longer than kitchen roll

i still have a few ova that never hatched, i'm guessing they wernt fertile or something happened to them... nevermind, i'm happy with the number i have, i sold on a few so i have 5 left... i want to make sure i dont have to get a massive tank for them... i'll run out of space with my 5 individually contained mantids

[Dave]

Yeah it's the mantids that take up all the space, because of the seperate housing:rolleyes: