Food: The Western two-stripe eats rose, blackberry, oak, and other related plant leaves.
Life cycle: Adult females drop hundreds of small barrel-shaped ova which can hatch in as little as two months. The tiny males become adults in about 3 months with the females becoming adults 1-3 months later. Males couple with females as soon as possible and will stay there (unless forcibly removed) after the female dies. They go down with the ship.
Difficulties:
Nymphs are very small, delicate creatures but will have nearly
100% survival if fed thin leaves such as the multiflora (wild) rose. Ova
are hardy but are prone to desiccation if left dry for long periods of
time.
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