Return of Stumpy

Stumpy has returned from her journey to the local museum. The bug expert did get to see her egg laying behaviour, and still is baffled as to why she is doing it. He thinks it may be the plants. He also thinks that the mealworms won't survive to pupate, and indeed when I got her back there were no mealworms left in her tank (see here for pictures).

She is still laying eggs however, so I remain somewhat hopeful. I've got a second small tank set up with a 1: 3 mixture of oats and sand and am transferring half of her eggs into that tank. Other mealworms (often used for feeding) are raised on oats, so I am hoping that a high concentration of possible food will help the process.

Iron clad Egg

I am also keeping a journal, recording the day and place of any new eggs I discover, when I feed her and what, when I place her in the sun, and the temperature of the tank. I'll also be recording when I spot the 1st mealworms, so I can see how long it takes for the eggs to hatch.

I still believe that temperature has something to do with it. Today I put her tank in the sun, and the thermometer read 125 degrees F! I am not sure how accurate this is, as I used my oven thermometer, and the metal may have heated more than the air temperature actually was, but I plan on getting a real thermometer tomorrow, so we'll see. I would not be surprised if it does get over 100 degrees F.