Help! So tiny!

[meaganelise9]

I had to work 12 hours today. While I was gone, I had an ooth hatch, so I'm kind of in freak-out mode. These things are soo small. They're like eyelashes with legs. I guess that's what's freaking me out. I can barely keep track of them. I keep thinking one will jump away, and I'll never see it again (if they haven't already). So I'm having trouble feeding them so far.. I tried using my smallest fruit flies, but even those are too big and the nymphs are afraid of them. I have been keeping springtails in preparation, but I'm having a hard time figuring out how to get the tiny little springtails into the cups. It's hard to handle something significantly smaller than a fruit fly. Should I just put the charcoal in the bottom of the cup? Ack.. This is tough. I knew Theopompa would be a challenge, and I want to put forth the effort, because if they don't die, that'd be awesome..

Anyway, any helpful tips are much appreciated. I haven't had anything this small before. (TWSS hurhur!)

 

[jcal]

Try putting a leaf on top of the springtails. After awhile they will start crawling on the leaf. Then just put the left the enclosure.

 

[meaganelise9]

I keep trying that and they always run away from it. Should I leave it in there for a long time? They sure die easily if you touch them..

 

[jcal]

Leave it for a while. They will crawl on the underside and stay. They quickly move to the nymphs!

 

[twolfe]

Congratulations on your ooth hatching!

I'm not familiar with this species, but if they are like most other species, they don't need to eat for a while.

 

[meaganelise9]

Thanks, guys! Good stuff.

 

[frogparty]

Flood your culture and pour the water / bugs in for your nymphs

Or wet a leaf and cover it with yeast. The springtails stick around much longer that way

 

[meaganelise9]

Thanks very much. On a side note.. I happened to come across a photo of another Theopompa ooth. It looks nothing like mine... Anyone have a good link for ooth ID-ing? There's one site I'm thinking of that I can't remember now.

Hrrmmm!

 

[ShieldMantid1997]

Eye lashes with legs sounds more like thesprotia graminis to me. Do you have a picture of the ooth and nymphs?

 

[angelofdeathzz]

All good answers, but keep in mind new born's don't usually eat for a day or 2 after hatching, and nymphs can get stuck and drowned in a single drop of water.

 

[gripen]

did you get these from frey? did your ooths look like thishttp://mantidforum.net/forums/index.php?showtopic=23544

 

[meaganelise9]

Yes, and it does kinda look like that.. I'll take pics, but my camera might not be up to the challenge of such small subjects.

 

[gripen]

oh freys antics, do they ever get old!

 

[meaganelise9]

Heheh yeah, typical.. I can't really be shocked. Might as well, raise these alleged Oxyothespis I guess!

 

[gripen]

yeah, if you can get some food in them lol!

 

[meaganelise9]

ha yeah..

 

[happy1892]

I keep a leaf in a springtail culture for about 4 days. That is when the leaf is rotten. That is when there are many springtails.

 

[bobericc]

Take pics if you can

if you have potting soil you could layer the bottom of the enclosure and add some water in hopes of fungus gnats which are about half the size of mels. Keeping it moist and warm will speed it with a couple days of dryness after your first watering.

Goodluck

 

[lunarstorm]

"Eyelashes with legs." Well said, I like that.

Good luck with the springtails, I hope you do opt to share some pics. I have a tough time imagining a nymph so small that it runs from a d. mel. I've seen nymphs run from hydei but I've not seen it with d. mels yet (I haven't raised L1s or a species that requires springtails yet.)