Abbott Ecology

  September 15, 2019 My nymphs have molted! I found them on September 13th looking totally different. They’re black and about twice as big as they were before. Apparently when they’re between molting periods it’s called an “instar” so Sixx and Mars (I’ve been calling her Marzipan) are now at their second instar. They started fighting after this molt, so they are now in separate containers. The live sage that I put into their enclosure has been nibbled, while the mint seems like it’s still intact. The aloe is also relatively unchewed. I picked up some new plants at Home Depot today, and a new glass container. I’ll pull out some live plants with roots attached to see if my little black beauties will eat the plants. When choosing plants from the store I looked for leaves that had been nibbled, and I plan to thoroughly wash everything before putting it into an enclosure. Pesticides will kill my precious babies, so I need to make sure that everything is clean.  September 19, 2019 M...

August 30, 2019 A moment of silence for our fallen bugs… I found Suzie, Friend (Now named John), and one of the nymphs dead in their enclosures.  Taps: https://youtu.be/WChTqYlDjtI   Hopefully Suzie and John are fresh enough to pin. They can't escape. I'll love them forever. Update: I tried pinning them, but transferring dead bugs is a lot more delicate than previously anticipated and I accidentally *boing*ed the pin and their legs exploded everywhere. August 31, 2019 Well… the last nymph is dead. This is super disappointing.   September 8, 2019 Two more nymphs hatched! I noticed that one of them hadn’t moved since hatching, and I discovered that her leg was stuck to the paper by her egg shell. I helped her off of the paper, but a small bit of paper stayed and it made it difficult for her to move around. She continually was stuck on damp surfaces until she decided she had enough of it and ripped her own leg off. How metal is that? Her name is (Nikki) Sixx. Yes it’s both a...