I have been caring for 40 -50 prematurely hatched Fork tailed Katydid nymphs in a vivarium. They hatched January 20th when in Oregon they would be hatching around now,(I believe). With a lot of work they have thrived. I have too many surprising observations and questions to write here! One big surprise is their food preference. They prefer my fridge to my backyard. Any fruit, especially strawberries, blackberries and oranges More surprising is I can feed them dead ants every day, well any other bug that they don’t have to kill. (Though they get pretty fiesty if an ant isn’t quite dead.The bigger insects like a crane fly they will eat it from the inside. Living inside the bug for a few days. They almost seem to prefer protein. They all did go nuts for sage leaves.
They are not colorful yet. They are all either the bright green, to green-black to mostly solid black. The black stay together and the green ones stay together??? Some are living inside the leaf they were born inside. (I have a video of their mother laying their eggs in the epidermis of a Camilla leaf.) I put in a pine one as the leaf is deteriorating. They will also live inside twigs and more…. They are very elusive as if they’re still in the egg? I’ll stop but I wonder if anyone else has had experience with premature bugs and their habits because they are surprising me everyday.
Thk u!