How to Keep Katydids in Winter? Detailed Guide to Winter Katydid Care
The katydid is an ornamental and entertainment insect with a long history in China, but the katydid is an insect that loves warmth and fears cold. How do you keep a katydid in winter?
1. Basic Introduction to the Katydid
The katydid is an insect of the order Orthoptera, family Tettigoniidae. Its appearance closely resembles that of a locust, and it likes to eat melons, fruits, beans and so on. People keep and admire them in small bamboo cages.
The katydid also has many other names, such as kuokuo, youzi, gege and so on. It is widely distributed in China, in regions such as Hebei, Henan, Heilongjiang, Jilin, Shandong, Beijing, Tianjin and others.
The adult katydid has a jade-green body color, with a few being light brown. The antennae are well developed at 60mm, with 2 compound eyes and 3 simple eyes. The pronotum is broad, with a yellow margin along its lower edge. Each thoracic sternite bears 1 pair of conical spines, and the spines on the metathorax are the largest. The tarsal formula is 4-4-4; tarsomeres 1-3 have pads, and the pad of the first tarsomere of the hind leg is divided into 2 lobes.
2. How Do You Keep a Katydid in Winter?
1. Open an opening, remove the pulp and drill holes in a small oil gourd; once processed, it can be used to feed katydids.
The specific procedure is: use a small hacksaw blade to cut a square or pentagonal opening and lid in the upper part of the small oil gourd, dig out the seeds and pulp inside the small oil gourd, and then drill some small holes around the small oil gourd for ventilation.
2. When feeding in winter, you can alternate feeding with fresh vegetable leaves, fresh chili peppers and soybeans soaked in warm water.
3. Keeping katydids in winter requires keeping them warm, and since winter is dry, you should also replenish water for the katydid in time.
When replenishing water, you can use a towel washed in warm hot water, spread it out in warm sunlight, let the katydid slowly crawl on the warm damp towel for a while to moisten its feet, and then spray a fine mist of water on the katydid.