Death at Chez Gerry's!

Death at Chez Gerry's!

I just don't understand it, I checked the Cicadas today, I had five total live specimens, including the Tibicen lyricen var. engelhardti female that I collected back on July 4th. I inspected the terrarium today and found that all the specimens are dead!! Even the new Tibicen canicularis and Tibicen lyricen male that I collected on the 16th at Fairview cemetery in Westford and the new Tibicen lyricen that I got on the 15th in the evening at Pine Crest Cemetery. All of them dead, dead, dead, dead, dead!

Man, that really bums me out. I'm trying to document the different morphologies in Tibicen cicadas but I can't use dead specimens, their colors have a tendancy to change in death. I'm really sad about the var. engelhardti cicada as well as it has lived the longest in captivity 14 days. I don't know if you have ever tried to keep specimens alive in captivity before but it is quite difficult.

It's been really really hot lately, especially today but I always make sure the cicadas have a fresh source of food, usually a branch from our lilac bush in our yard that sits in a mason jar full of water. They were happily feeding on it the night before but today, they are all dead. I don't understand why heat should be a factor though, Cicadas love the heat, after all, they are also known as "Heat Bugs" for heaven's sake. Maybe it has something to do with poor air flow or something? It's as if they have all been poisoned.

Now I'll have to start from scratch, I really can't get much data from dead specimens.