Wow! Unbelievable!

[ladygigi]

When the batch of 15 Instars hatched the other day, I figured it was probably the end, as it brought my surviving count up to 50, but alas, I was wrong!

Another dozen hatched yesterday! I am just amazed at the number of babies that are coming out of that little ooth! It's just unbelievable! I now have 62 nymphs and see no indication that they are done yet! LOL

My living room is overrun with cups! :lol: LOL In fact, I had to clear off a shelf around the corner in the hallway to accommodate some of them and I'm not done separating them all yet. I haven't decided if I'm going to separate this last batch of them out or not. . . I'm kind of out of room for a place to put them. However, I do have another shelf that I can put up. So I am undecided at this point. Here's a pic of just my living room, not counting the shelf around the corner in the hallway. My babies span from L1's all the way up to L3's. In fact I have one that looks like it's molted to L4.

 

[agent A]

Is it really necessary to house L1 nymphs individually like that? Feeding must be a hassle

 

[sally]

Many, many mouths to feed lol.

 

[ladygigi]

Is it really necessary to house L1 nymphs individually like that? Feeding must be a hassle

With Iris Oratoria nymphs, they love to cannibalize, so if they aren't individually housed, you stand a good chance of them eating each other. At least so I've been told, thus the individual housing. As far as feeding goes, I've kinda gotten a routine down, so it really isn't all that bad. ^_^

 

[ladygigi]

Many, many mouths to feed lol.

Yes, it is! LOL :clown:

 

[psyconiko]

I kept my Iris all together till L4 no prob.

 

[OctoberRainne]

I think guys are just more prone to laziness lol I make individual cups as well but still leave a handful together,if not you lose 2/3 or half I've found,once you hatch multiple species back to back this becomes harder to maintain though,still doesn't hurt to atleast set aside a good 20-50 of a hatch individually if you are able to,if not then its over feed large groups and hope for the best

 

[angelofdeathzz]

I think guys are just more prone to laziness lol I make individual cups as well but still leave a handful together,if not you lose 2/3 or half I've found,once you hatch multiple species back to back this becomes harder to maintain though,still doesn't hurt to atleast set aside a good 20-50 of a hatch individually if you are able to,if not then its over feed large groups and hope for the best

I hate to admit it but you may be right? We mean well but...

 

[hibiscusmile]

U go girl!

 

[Precarious]

You are fine to keep young nymphs of any species communally. Given enough space, perches and food even notoriously cannibalistic nymphs do fine together. A good rule of thumb is no more than 30 in an 80 oz cup - slightly more with very small species. Anything more than that I suggest a 12"x12" net cage. Right now I've got about 300 R.valida in one. It's very important to include something to create separate perches. My favorite is fake vines (cloth leaves, wire core stem). They really add a ton of surface area and hiding spots. More surface area also means better retention of humidity which is especially important to your nymphs.

Personally I would go crazy maintaining that many individual cups and I'm a very dedicated keeper.

 

[Paradoxica]

I think guys are just more prone to laziness lol

I hate to admit it but you may be right? We mean well but...

As Bill Gates once said,

“I choose a lazy person to do a hard job. Because a lazy person will find an easy way to do it."