Nymphs per jar?

[cdcrocks]

How many freshly hatched chinese nymphs should I put in one 32 oz mason jar? And is a small twig and a round piece of paper towel in the bottom enough of a "habitat" for them at this point? I know they need to molt, so will a twig be enough or should I add another rough surface, like some bark? And has anyone else ever raised nymphs in jam jars?

So many babies

 

[hibiscusmile]

What are u using for ventilation for lid? use a few sticks instead of one and the towel, they are going to die off really quick. Mist twice a day lightly, feed near end of second day.

 

[cdcrocks]

The lid is a clean cotton rag my dad says is called a shopcloth, which is pretty coarse with visible holes too small for anything to get through. He buys them and uses them to wash his car, though the ones I'm using are new and have been through the laundry. It's secured using a rubber band on some jars or the rim of the lid on others. There are no folds in it for them to get stuck in.

Are you saying to get rid of the paper towel completely, or just add more sticks? Should I put something else in the bottom?

 

[Aryia]

I always keep paper towel on the bottom of my cups to soak of some water from misting. I loose a lot of Chinese nymphs to cannibalism because just way too many hatch and I can't single cup them all. I replace my 32 oz cup lid with papertowel as well and it seems to work fine. I've been doing 20+ nymphs per cup but that is way too much. If you want a higher survival rate then I would say 10-15 nymphs per cup max and you would have to feed everyday or every second day to prevent cannibalism. Also I use excelsior (the ones for fruitfly cultures) for younger nymphs up to L3-L4. As you mist, it will compress though so make sure to only mist the side walls of the cup, by the time they are ready to be re-cupped the excelsior is pretty much flat on the lower bottom.

 

[cdcrocks]

I think I have less than 15 nymphs in each of my containers. It's good to know that paper towel works for the top, I felt bad cutting up so many of our rags. Is excelsior avaliable at the pet store, or is it something you order online? And how much do you put in each cup? That stuff seemed nice, and depending on how much it costs, I might try it.

 

[reptilia5]

I have been using 40 oz plastic peanut butter jars for my T.sinensis with paper towel bottoms. I cut out the plastic lid,place a piece of paper towel on top then screw the lid back down and the paper towel molds nicely to the top. The large jar size allows plenty of room for twigs and lots of space for ecdysis.Of course the paper towel top is very ventilated so daily misting is required.