Uno settled "upstairs"

Uno is consistently enjoying the probably warmer, more humid climes "upstairs" at the top of the foliage in his enclosure. This is where the Zoo said the juveniles tend to hang out. It does make for trickier sighting of the little beastie, though. This morning I took the whole plant out, finally to find him cleverly mimicing a leaf by suspending himself under a leaf, lying parallel to the midrib vein. Can you see him today?

And horror of horrors, I found quite an established web in the far top back corner of the enclosure! We were warned that spiders will attack and kill these sensitive creatures! In fact, another school blogger said that that very thing had happened to them.

I was surprised how saddened I was moved to feel when other schools were reporting deaths this last week.
On a happier note, one school has had its fourth hatchling arrive. We really must get the incubator going for our eggs. I am even contemplating putting the whole "show" into a classroom where there is more natural light. The UV will aid the plant, as well as the eggs. This will be the move next week.

Some schools have still not had any hatchings yet. The Zoo reminds us to be patient and wait for up to another two months!

Here's one of our devoted students and I proudly pointing out little Uno who was perched on the door of the enclosure, a few days ago. Believe it or not, his body is about three centimetres long now.

New plant, but no new siblings

Uno is still Numero Uno going solo. Recent advice from the Zoo suggested the eggs need some sunlight/UV to aid their development/hatching potential. So on Monday, they spent the day on a car dashboard in the carpark at work. It felt slightly wrong putting them out there on their own with no surveillance, but the temperature and humidity were ideal, not to mention the lovely UV bath they were getting.

Tuesday was rain and overcast, so the eggs didn't venture out. Today, Wednesday, was cool and cloudy, and the eggs had a sojourne on the window ledge in my classroom above the heater.

As for Uno - he's up and about these days. We had a frantic day on Monday looking for him after we successfully transferred him onto another Pittosporum plant (variegated leaves this time). He seemed to hover around the mid height of the plant, doing his little sway dance after being transferred. Apparently that is typical Phasmid behaviour as they try to imitate a moving leaf! Can't fool us, Uno. Well, actually you did for about a day. I though it'd be easier to spot Uno in the variegated foliage, which is also less dense than the previous plant. But alas, not.

Today, Uno was found "hiding" right on the top of the perspex door. Looking... looking... on the plant, and then there he was right before our eyes. We'll have to be careful when opening the door in future - don't want to put our fat fingers on him by accident. We even got excited when we spotted Uno's poo stuck to the door in the condensation! All part of honing our observation skills!

Whilst Uno was posing so boldly on the door, we took the opportunity to measure him and do a photo shoot. The quality of photo is average, but at least it's recording the milestones!

Sadly, one of the hatchlings at another school died on the weekend. It sounded as though he was not moving much, and then not at all. They had a second one hatch and now look after that one.

News flash - we were in the local Ocean Grove "The Voice" newspaper last week. It showed our students excitedly looking after the eggs.

Warming up again

Uno and his little egg mates are now cosily ensconced in a pink wool blanket, extra heat pad up against the back wall, and the microscope "lab lamp" radiating heat up into the enclosure. Good to note that the heat mat was not anywhere near feeling like it was going to melt the plastic adhesive backing. And I've hooked the blanket up a bit so the lamp will not set it on fire!

These extra measures have dragged the temperature over the 20 degree mark again, a critical minimum.

The humidity has been fine all along (bordering on 100% - that's rain isn't??) The fog was building in the enclosure today as the temperature climbed.

Even though we couldn't actually see Uno clearly today, due to foggy conditions, we were happy that the temperature was getting into the acceptable range again. Hope the little guys will resond positively to this round of climate change and continue to hatch!

Phew!

PS A couple of the other schools, who are part of this pilot project, have announced the arrival of their first hatchlings in the last day or two. A lot are worried about the cold, and the Zoo said this is no good! Hopefully we're getting on top of this problem at Bellarine now.

Winter chill sets in at Bellarine

Thursday and Friday last week my trusty LHISI student caretakers alerted me to the fact that the overnight temperatures in the enclosure dropped as low as 16 degrees. Too cold! I presumed (wrongly as it turns out), that the heat mat had broken. Other stakeholders in this program had said this had happened to them. Yesterday Siggy came home with a second heat mat for us. I am thinking of attaching it to the perspex sheet that sits on top of the enclosure. If need be, we can change the position of the heat source this way by moving the perspex sheet to the side/back or top of the enclosure. It's just a matter of trying it out.

Can you see Uno? His/her handsome leg and antennae are visible just behind the leaves at the front of the photo. Uno is growing before our eyes - noticeably longer in the abdomen since hatching. We are too scared to poke around too closely with a ruler, but I reckon the insect is about half a centimetre longer since hatching on Wednesday!

No siblings for Uno this weekend. The Zoo's group of eggs laid at a similar time have continued to hatch. We do not have the perfect climate control that they have though.

I met Mary this morning, from another local school, who also has a colony to hatch. They have had quite varied and colder conditions than us, and not as humid. And none hatched yet. So I think this emphasises the importance of a stable position with not too much door opening and poking around. Also, we are lucky that our enclosure can stay at school and I pop up to do weekend checks/waters. Rather than carting it around to someone's house to look after on the weekend.

Act Wild - video link

Yesterday, the LHISI blog/ning written by the Melbourne Zoo shared that they had their first hatchling (which was out of the same batch of eggs as we had). I had missed that notice, so was especially surprised with our little guy presenting himself this morning. Anyhow, when I was on the Melbourne Zoo blog/ning, I noticed a new video they had posted. It is a snapshot of the LHISI story, aired by Act Wild.

As well as the video on the Act Wild link, there are tabs with "Fact File" information and a few photos of the different lifecycle stages of the LHISI.
Enjoy!

Uno hatched!

Our first hatchling arrived this morning! As I was in the staff room, 3 excited Year 9 students ran to share the news. I named the young nymph Uno, number 1, and we rated him "excellent". He was a lovely bright lime green colour, 2 cm long and no bent body parts. Incredible that this "big guy" emerged from an egg the size and shape of a tic-tac!

We left the young nymph inside his hatching container all morning, where he was clearly visible to all the students who came to look. Then during lunch time, we transferred Uno to the bush, which was carefully checked for any spiders or other creatures who may munch on the new little soft-bodied Lord Howe Island Stick Insect.

He wasn't moving much, but had no trouble transferring to the Pittosporum tree. I was trying to gently scoop him up on the end of a clean paint brush, when he seemed interested in simply walking onto the leaves. Too easy. Uno obligingly stayed perched on a lower leaf close to the front of the enclosure for all to observe: drinking some fresh water sprayed onto the leaves, and taking a few tentative steps.

So now we hope that Uno likes his enclosure and stays healthy, and maybe soon he will have a sibling to keep him company. We'll be sure to be looking in the morning!