# spiny leaf insect eggs



## bk201 (May 4, 2008)

will my spiny leaf insects have begun to lay eggs and im wondering what methods people use to incubate them and what temperature and humidity they keep them at , any info will be appreciated


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## Sdaji (May 4, 2008)

Sand if I'm feeling diligent or frass if I'm not, room temperature (snake room - warmish), very slightly humid.


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## Riley (May 4, 2008)

i was looking after a few leaf insects (hatchys and adults) for a friend. He keeps the eggs in a chinese container (same ones you get for crickets) in the house. One container has sand in it. About 15 - 20 of the eggs have succesfully hatched so far.


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## bk201 (May 4, 2008)

Sdaji said:


> Sand if I'm feeling diligent or frass if I'm not, room temperature (snake room - warmish), very slightly humid.


i dont keep reptiles lol so whats snake room warmish?


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## Sdaji (May 4, 2008)

Between about 15 and 30 degrees, mostly around 25. Much faster incubation during the warmer months. You could incubate them at about 25-28 if you were less patient than I am


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## hornet (May 4, 2008)

They do best at room temp, from what i have heard they dont do as well at a constant temp. Keep on sand, coco peat or spagnum moss, wetting the substrate once per week. Do not keep it constantly moist, they need to dry out between watering. I have in excess of 3000 eggs, while they are boring at the moment i'm not looking forward to having to feed a lot of phasmids lol


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## Noongato (May 4, 2008)

Wow im surprised how many people also have SLInsects. I started a thread ages ago about them, i thought i was unique, o well. They are the coolest and ugliest things. I bought them a few eucalyptus trees and other plants and put them all together in a pot and it in my reptile cupboard, as my BHP is too small to go in there at the moment. Looks great. Bugs are cool.


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## bk201 (May 4, 2008)

thanks , i think il go with the 25-28c, patience was something i never have had lol


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## bk201 (May 4, 2008)

hornet said:


> I have in excess of 3000 eggs, while they are boring at the moment i'm not looking forward to having to feed a lot of phasmids lol


 lol wouldnt feeding be the easy part since they just eat eucalyptus leaves , i think the worrying part would be housing them all


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## hornet (May 4, 2008)

bk201 said:


> lol wouldnt feeding be the easy part since they just eat eucalyptus leaves , i think the worrying part would be housing them all



yea easy but still gonna be a pain, changing food daily, with adults i could get away with changing every few days. Biggest prob as you said will be housing, hopefully i'll move em off pretty quick


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## -Peter (May 4, 2008)

find an ant nest under a gum and leave them there in a basket with a note


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## noni (May 4, 2008)

we have 14 hatched insect and its a two person job to keep them under control while changing their leaves, good luck with 3000


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## Sdaji (May 4, 2008)

I've incubated them at constant temperature with good results. I'm pretty sure they were doing it with all the phasmids at the Melbourne museum too, likely they still are.

I used to feed them to the goannas, I don't know what I'll do with all the excess now!


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## hornet (May 4, 2008)

Sdaji said:


> I've incubated them at constant temperature with good results. I'm pretty sure they were doing it with all the phasmids at the Melbourne museum too, likely they still are.
> 
> I used to feed them to the goannas, I don't know what I'll do with all the excess now!



they still have good results but from what i have been told not as greater hatch rate as natural incubation. I have never tried it so just going by what i have been told.


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## bk201 (May 4, 2008)

sell them


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## hornet (May 4, 2008)

noni said:


> we have 14 hatched insect and its a two person job to keep them under control while changing their leaves, good luck with 3000



i have a couple of bird avaries i think i will be using so i can just walk in and out.


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## Noongato (May 4, 2008)

Yes, sell, i will buy......


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## Sdaji (May 4, 2008)

hornet said:


> they still have good results but from what i have been told not as greater hatch rate as natural incubation. I have never tried it so just going by what i have been told.



When you're hatching 50-200 every day, you wouldn't get too concerned if the hatch rate dropped slightly  Killing a few less babies isn't too distressing


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## bk201 (May 4, 2008)

i would also buy


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## bk201 (May 4, 2008)

if u decide to sell any pm me species and price


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## J3ss_ (May 4, 2008)

we used to breed them at my last work.. we incubated heaps and sprayed them with water and gave them lots of attention.. and none hatched! we had hundreds of them stored away in jars and they hatched!
moral of the story, you probably dont need to do much at all incubation wise (i live in cairns though so it is already fairly warm and humid). 
They all started hatching at the same time to.. around september or so when it starting warming up after winter


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