Orphan hatchling
Sad story for box 21...
June 17 (presumed day of hatching), all eggs were cold but pipping (i.e., eggshell punctured from the inside).
June 18: 3 eggs hatched.
June 19: all babies are alive; we set up the trap for parents but no one showed up.
June 20: babies are still alive and warm, yes! And we quickly trapped mom but still no sign of dad around. Maybe mom is a single mom.
June 21: 2 babies are dead, 2 are dying and one is fighting and begging for food... they're all cold. We decide to try to rescue the 3 surviving ones despite their challenging young age. I warm them up in my hand. I can feel them slowly moving. Once warm, I place them in a bag in my warm car (I don't use the AC... I know I'm crazy!) and my student and I start insect hunting. We're like kids playing in the grass trying to catch grasshoppers and spiders. The fighting baby welcomes a grasshopper and begs even more loudly. After a big juicy spider (still going down its throat on the first pic), it finally calms down and rests. One baby died quickly. We had to force food into the last one but after 2hrs, it was also dead. We put even more energy into our last little one. My student took it with her. She uses an abandoned nest on a heating pad and feeds him regularly.
June 22: Our little one is still alive but seems dehydrated. New strategies in place to bring some water in its diet.
June 23: Ashley named it Bernie and its diet is being diversified. It seems to be doing pretty well...
June 25: Bernie died at 7:54am for no obvious reason... we tried...
