Hi Ian, Mountain Katydids can be very difficult to breed – up until a few months ago, they’d only be bred in captivity once or twice in Australia. The difficulty seems to be in getting the eggs to hatch. We have a few at Melbourne Museum that are soon to moult into adults and this is one of the few times they’re reached that stage.
You don’t say where the primary school is. It will be much easier to rear them in the classroom if the school is within the natural range of Mountain Katydids, as the environmental conditions will be already suitable. In this case it would also be possible to release them onto plants in the garden, which is much less labour intensive than keeping them in the classroom. If you do still want to keep them in the classroom, contact us when you have them for more husbandry information.
Please keep in mind too that it’s illegal to collect them from within National Parks.