# stick insect- hatching



## XxLauraxX (Apr 17, 2012)

I have never kept stick insect before but wanted some achrioptera fallax as i think they are gorgeous and im hoping to breed them in the future. I just got 15 achrioptera fallax stick insect eggs and i have set up my own incubator.

got a plastic tub and cut a whole in the lid and taped mesh securely to it and lined it with kitchen roll which i spray every day to keep it damp. I got 3 smaller plastic tubs and filled them half full with aquarium sand, placed the eggs on top the sand and covered them with moss.

As i am new to this could you please tell me if this is ok? I have a spare heat mat that i got for my corn snake so im not sure whether to use it or not to keep them warm as my room is quite cold. Also should i spray the eggs with water weekly or just keep the kitchen roll damp?

Here are a few pictures...


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## burmese97 (Nov 13, 2011)

cool:2thumb:


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## stevemet (Dec 29, 2011)

I have not kept that particular species but I think you are doing the right thing. I tend just to put my eggs on kitchen roll that I then keep damp. The main worry is mould and it may be worth checking the eggs regularly if they are out of sight under the moss. Usually any mould can be wiped off the egg, although this depends on the size of the egg. I keep mine in a warm cupboard, but of course the heat dries them out more quickly, although with your set up warming the outer container should create a humid atmosphere provided you can keep the towels damp.


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## Draco (Nov 23, 2005)

my eggs go in cricket tubs (have load from getting Rio's meal worms), with chinchila sand and spray 1-2 times a week.

Had no problems with mold so far.

good luck


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## Harbinger (Dec 20, 2008)

You need to remove the moss, they are buried.
Moss keeps the humidity up and nymphs with the ova stuck on a limb can brush it off with moss. So only use a couple of scraps, i dont know how big those tubs are but a big flat surface with a few scrapes of moss will be better to give them room to pump their bodies up, other than that its fine.

And BTW, 15 eggs isnt very good with breeding with the majority of species. I would go with 30 as a minimum, especially with A.fallax you want as many as possible as they are tricky to raise.


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## XxLauraxX (Apr 17, 2012)

hehe i was wondering if i got a bit carried away with the moss! thanks i will remove some! and ah.. well i was only going to get more but im worried if they all hatch that im not going to have the space and room to house them as the females can grow up to 26cm so they need quite big enclosures. I only really want a male and female pair!! so i dont know what to do :hmm:


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## marke (Apr 21, 2012)

The main worry is mould and it may be worth checking the eggs regularly if they are out of sight under the moss.


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## Ben.M (Mar 2, 2008)

Personally I think they're quite easy to hatch because as long as you incubate them correctly the risk or mould on the eggs is very low.

This is the way I hatch them. I use a jar lid with approx 15cm diameter, filed with about 1cm of silver sand and the eggs sprinkled on top. This then goes into another container with a good amount of tissue on the bottom which is always kept damp. Please note that this will go mouldy and will need changed from time to time. Make sure there is good ventilation and they should hatch. No need to spray the eggs or the sand. This is essentially the HH-incubation method, it's explained HERE a lot better.


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## XxLauraxX (Apr 17, 2012)

i have sort of followed the hh method but ive just added a heat mat underneath as my room gets very cold but the paper towel dries out quite quickly so i just spray well soak the paper towel 1-2 x a day and give the eggs and moss 1 spray every day. Do u think thats ok?


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## Ben.M (Mar 2, 2008)

XxLauraxX said:


> i have sort of followed the hh method but ive just added a heat mat underneath as my room gets very cold but the paper towel dries out quite quickly so i just spray well soak the paper towel 1-2 x a day and give the eggs and moss 1 spray every day. Do u think thats ok?


The heat mat will cause the paper towel to dry out much faster than usual. Just add more paper towel and it should stay damp for a bit longer. As Dessi said, the moss really isn't necessary, all it will do is cause issues for emerging nymphs.

Btw, just make sure the heat mat doesn't get too hot, some can hit pretty high temps.


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