Nisquallia olympica eggs

During October 2009, I kept two female and two male Nisquallia olympica in a small terrarium. I arranged sand and rock chips from a location along the Obstruction Point road in the bottom, and supplied them with water in a small dish.

Within hours, I observed one female ovipositing and both females mating with both males. Mating appeared to last more than an hour—male and female abdomen tips pressed together. (See Reproduction > Mating). I observed both males and females eating leaves from an organic “Spring Mix” salad, and nibbling on catfood kibbles and bits of fresh apple.

After about a week I emptied all the sand and rock chips from the terrarium to look for eggs.

I found several egg cases. (cases measured) It’s possible that I could have scooped egg cases up with the sand in the field, and therefore obtained egg cases of a different species. But all three look like they have identical eggs. And one was obviously laid against the smooth, flat side of the terrarium (2). Another appears to have been laid in a spot with less sand, so several eggs are visible. The cases appear to have sand covering one end, but typical grasshopper egg-case foam visible on the other end (image 3).

I picked away the sand and foam from one egg, then removed the “shell.” The yellow egg popped out easily, but was damaged in the process (Images 5 and 6).