Conehead grasshopper
Whilst in Bulgaria in September 2025, this grasshopper flew out near me at a petrol station where we were refueling.
I kept it on living grass in an enclosure in my office, where it seemed quite content, feeding on the grass and producing droppings regularly.
As the days got shorter, I placed three strip grow lights over the top of the enclosure and kept them switched on during the day.
On 27/10/2025 I noticed it showed signs of laying eggs. In the photos, there is what is probably a protective foam within which she may have laid eggs.
As she was taken from the wild in the autumn as an adult, there should be a reasonable chance that it would have been mated earlier.
Working on this assumption, I will create a suitable arrangement for the eggs in which to spend the winter. I'll give the oothica(?) a few days to harden off before transferring it to its winter accommodation. I am thinking of putting it in clean soil/compost in a terracotta pot and kept outdoors, but protected from frost and the worst of the weather. I will probably enclose the whole pot in fine netting to prevent earwigs and other pests from getting in.
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