I have a adult female california mantis. She has not mated, and I do not plan on mating her, so I have not been expecting her to lay a fertile ootheca. But I have been expecting her to lay an infertile one. She has been an adult for more than 3 1/2 months. She is enormously fat, even eating just one bluebottle per day. I have heard about mantises having their eggs stuck inside them and dying and I don't want this to happen. Is there something I can do to prompt ootheca laying? Or should I just not worry?
Eggbound?
- Thread starter jfmantis
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Thanks people. The cage is about 2.2 gallons. Is this big enough, or do you mean something around 20-30 gallons? About the sticks, she has 4 sticks going from the ground to the corners at various agles. I also attached a long stick to the ceiling. I don't have any plants, but I plan to put some in over the weekend. Should I use fake or real plants, or does it not matter? Also, I've heard that increasing humidity can help, so I've been misting more often.
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Ok, so I went out and fixed her up with something better. Her cage is now 3.5 gallons, more than a gallon bigger than the previous one. It has a large twisty log on one side, that she could hang from to make an ootheca. It also has four or five floor to ceiling sticks, and two leafy sticks. It was hard to get her in, but she settled in fast.
Really that should help what kind of daylight does she get? You know a lot of things lay according to the daylight they get. At least birds do.This is probably off the wall, but I am just guessing maybe it will make a difference, a farmer will hook up a really bright lighting system (cannot remember the name now that i need it) that will come on for only a few seconds during the night at certain intervals, so that the chickens eyes will dialate and thus make them think the days are longer to get them to lay and lay more.
macro junkie
Dead Leaf Mantis
Well, still no ootheca. I guess she is just eggbound. Is it possible that some female mantises just never lay an ootheca? Because she doesn't seem to be suffering. She has no weird dark markings, she is active, and she has been an adult for more than 4 months.
Here is a picture of the new cage:
Here is a picture of the new cage:
She has a bright 25 watt halogen lamp next to her. I move it around like it is the sun. When I wake up, it turn it on and put it on the east side of the cage. Then, slowly, throughout the morning I moving it slowly closer to the cage. In the afternoon, I put it on the other side of the cage, and slowly move it farther away. And then, usually at about 9:00 I turn it off. I don't know if it will help, but thanks anyways.
Mantida
Well-known member
OGIGA
Dead Leaf Mantis
I had quite a lot of California mantises that I think were egg-bound. They just get extremely fat and don't lay an ootheca when expected. Then, they just slowly stop moving and die. 
Yeah, I think that is what will happen. But what age do they die at? She is currently almost 7 months old. I don't think there are any mantids outside anymore. She also seems to be slowing down, she just doesn't go for those bluebottles like she used to.I had quite a lot of California mantises that I think were egg-bound. They just get extremely fat and don't lay an ootheca when expected. Then, they just slowly stop moving and die.
Mantida
Well-known member
Mantids usually slow down before they die. My male slowed down four months ago and is still going.
I had this happen to two of my female orchid mantids. One female laid an ooth back in July. It hatched successfully. She never laid another. She just kept getting bigger and bigger and eventually died about a month ago.
I have another female orchid that mated back in September. She has never laid her first ooth. She is starting to become lethargic like my other female did before she died.
For both mantids, I ended up purchasing the "caterpiller" mesh cages and provided them with quite a few fake plants, and sticks. The temperature in my house is a constant 75' and I kept the humididty about 70%.
I have several other species of mantids that have bred and hatched just fine. Asian Giants, African Budwings, and Chinese. I thought I was doing everthing right with the orchids seeing as how my first ooth hatched just fine.
I have another female orchid that mated back in September. She has never laid her first ooth. She is starting to become lethargic like my other female did before she died.
For both mantids, I ended up purchasing the "caterpiller" mesh cages and provided them with quite a few fake plants, and sticks. The temperature in my house is a constant 75' and I kept the humididty about 70%.
I have several other species of mantids that have bred and hatched just fine. Asian Giants, African Budwings, and Chinese. I thought I was doing everthing right with the orchids seeing as how my first ooth hatched just fine.
She is definitely getting slower. I've also improved her cage: She fell down a couple of times so I added about two times more dirt and another stick. She can still catch live prey and when I remodeled her cage she climbed around on my arm pretty actively.
Krissim Klaw
Well-known member
My last female Chinese Mantis, went by the name Redrum, never laid a single ooth and still managed to live a full healthy life. I kept expecting her to lay and she fattened up but never produced one. It didn't seem to bother her and she lived what I would consider a average to above average lifespan for a Chinese. She never seemed bothered by the extra weight till her last few weeks when her age finally began to show.
OGIGA
Dead Leaf Mantis
It was around 7 months for me too.Yeah, I think that is what will happen. But what age do they die at? She is currently almost 7 months old. I don't think there are any mantids outside anymore. She also seems to be slowing down, she just doesn't go for those bluebottles like she used to.
She is not eating any more. She didn't eat her bluebottles for two days. She just stayed in the same spot on her cage and ignored the flies. I took her out today and tried to hand feed her but she ignored the flies I offered her on the end of a stick. I finally gave up and put her on a leaf at the bottom of the cage. She hasn't even tried to crawl off. I'm afraid that she'll be dead tomorrow morning. One more thing that might be important is that ever since she molted into adult whenever she pooed it stuck to her butt until she pooed again. Now she has had a large piece of poo caked onto her for a week. Maybe it is blocking her system. It is the middle of December, so this is when mantids die, so this may just be a symptom of old age.
