Robyn Edie/Stuff
Invercargill City Council living types officer Jessey Beattie-Mackey examine a few of the locusts being reproduced as food for tuataras.
Aviary birds and tuataras at Invercargill’s Queens Park need not fear their food supply will go out.
The Invercargill City Council has an unique on-site breeding program to make sure a healthy menu of locusts is dished up to the tuataras, mealworms and black beetles to the birds.
Living types officer Jessey Beattie-Mackey said having such a bug breeding program made sure the tuatara and birds were fed food of the exact same dietary worth as they had in their natural environments.
“It’s really important to us that we replicate as similar habitat as possible for these animals while they are in our care, that includes the food they eat.”
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The breeding program is run in a little room behind the aviary where Beattie-Mackey said the locusts were fed blades of fresh lawn, apple, carrot, and bran.
“All they need is food and warmth.The lights are on in the habitat 24 hours a day because otherwise they go dormant.
Robyn Edie/Stuff
The locusts have egg trays to crawl over.
“In two enclosures, there are egg trays and sticks for the locusts to crawl over, and an icecream container in each, filled with dirt, for the locusts to lay their eggs in.”
She said tuatara consumed about 120 grams of food each year.
“Each locust is about 1.5g so at the most, they only need two locusts one to two times a week, and nothing over winter as they brumate at that time.”
Robyn Edie/Stuff
A close-up view of a locust.
In the exact same room, numerous thousand mealworms and beetles are being reproduced in 2 big bins filled with wood shavings.
“When their time comes they will be fed to the birds in the aviary, alongside bird feed and a fruit mix.”
Beattie-Mackey said it made good sense for the parks group to breed their own bugs for the animals to consume, instead of source them from others throughout the motu.
The self-sufficient food source has actually been highlighted by the council as part of Insect Week which began on Tuesday and goes through to Monday, June 26.
