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Katnapper

Katnapper

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Omg.... I still can't believe it. We are going to be gone for 2 days (mini vacation in Chicago, Six Flags, Museum of Science & Industry), tomorrow and Wednesday. Actually I am supposed to get up in less than 3 hours to get ready to go! Ughhh...!!!!!

Anyways.... I was feeding, misting, etc. getting bugs all taken care of to hopefully be OK for 2 days. I was misting my net cages with ooths inside waiting to hatch... I've got 2 "columns" of them stacked 4 high; and I dutifully misted down to the bottom ones. The ones on the bottom are the C. humeralis ooths I'm incubating, but didn't have much faith in... as I didn't think any of my girls mated when I had a couple of guys (short lived and deadly relationships!). But just as I was about to put the next cage back on top of one of the bottom ones.... I saw something real quick.... looked like a newborn nymph! I got the cage up, looked... and lo and behold, there was 1 little C. humeralis nymph that just hatched in there!!!! The ooth had several black things on it... looked like 2 or 3 nymphs got stuck trying to get out. I'm soooooo hoping it hatches more... and here I am going away for 2 days! I didn't really think the ooths would hatch, so I haven't really been misting them as regularly as I should have been. I'm afraid I might have caused them to dry out now! :( Well.... I misted thoroughly and will just hope for the best, I guess. But I had to tell you my great news! :D

See you all Thursday... won't be back till then. :)

 
Good to hear, though this may not be all good :eek:

I have witnessed parthenogenesis on a few occasions with this species and it usually ends in tears. The hatch rate is typically very low and the nymphs are week.

lets hope this is not the case here.....

 
I have had that Rob, very sad when you actually think there will be more :(

Oh but have a great time Becky!!!! We'll hear more when you get back :)

 
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Well, I don't think the newborn mantis' will be able to get on the rides cause they won't make the 'this tall' requirement to ride, but they should be there when you get back :) Enjoy, the two days, then the new guys.

Fruitflies in with the ooths.

 
Rob Byatt said:
Good to hear, though this may not be all good :eek: I have witnessed parthenogenesis on a few occasions with this species and it usually ends in tears. The hatch rate is typically very low and the nymphs are week.

lets hope this is not the case here.....
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Darn! I had no idear they could be parthenogenic. I would have loved to whitness this myself. Hopefully this is not the case, and at least one of the males got the job done. Good luck Becky, and enjoy your trip!

 
Rob Byatt said:
Good to hear, though this may not be all good :eek: I have witnessed parthenogenesis on a few occasions with this species and it usually ends in tears. The hatch rate is typically very low and the nymphs are week.

lets hope this is not the case here.....
Click to expand...
Hmmm.... thank you very much for the input, Rob. I didn't know this species ever reproduced parthenogenically either. Each of the 4 adult females I had were "exposed" and caged with males for several days before the males were eventually eaten. But although I had witnessed mounting, I did not actually see physical connection. Two of the females ended up dying, and the other 2 laid ooths. I have 7 ooths currently from the two females, that I am now misting generously.

Out of four nymphs that eventually emerged from this ooth, three are living. One got caught underneath the paper towel substrate, and I think I smashed/drowned him when I saturated the paper towel before leaving for Chicago. I did not notice him until I returned. Tonight upon taking pics of the nymphs and ooths, I also discovered one of 5 of the nymphs who appear to have gotten "stuck" exiting the ooth, is still alive. I've misted the ooth in hopes he may be able to emerge the rest of the way, but I'm not hopeful. Will post further background and pics soon, along with any updates.

One of the live C. humeralis nymphs (L1 - Three days after hatching)

July09_100_Katnapper.jpg


Close-up of previous pic (he/she has water droplets all over from being misted)

July09_100cr_Katnapper.jpg


Same nymph

July09_102_Katnapper.jpg


 
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Well... so far, so good. ;) The three nymphs are still alive and seem to be doing fine! ^_^ They are very tiny, almost as small as the D. melanogaster they are eating. I have to really look and search amongst the fruit flies every time to find each of them in the 12x12 net cage which is their home! :p

Here are a couple more pics of one of the nymphs.

July09_101_Katnapper.jpg


July09_104_Katnapper.jpg


The other day I was amazed to find the nymph who was still alive, but partially stuck in the ooth for several days, unbelievably made it the rest of the way out! :eek: But he was obviously crippled where his back legs had been stuck. And though still alive when the pic was taken, he had no hope of surviving. You can see the dried exuvia still attached to the back legs.

July09_149_Katnapper.jpg


Here was the ooth before he managed to free himself. I almost hated looking at it, as I could see he was still alive and struggling. I'm guessing the frequent mistings finally helped soften the exuvia and allowed him to exit. I wish I would have misted frequently before the hatching! :(

July09_112_Katnapper.jpg


Close-up

July09_112cr_Katnapper.jpg


It remains to be seen if this low hatch rate was a case of the ooth being too dry (as I had little faith in their fertility, and did not mist as frequently as I should have), or an unusual, but apparently not totally unknown, case of parthenogenesis of this species.

 
I have 6 other ooths, laid by two females. Some appear deformed, and some appear fairly normal. The one remaining living female just laid another ooth 2 days ago. It appears normal in shape like some of the others; and I hope this means she just may be the only one of the four to successfully mate and produce fertile ooths.

Here are pics of each of the other ooths (all but the most recent one mentioned). I still don't have much faith in the deformed looking ones. A couple of the ooths have what almost appears to be holes with the head of a nymph just starting to peek through. I'm hoping these weren't too dry and prevented hatching already.

This one is another one that was laid in the same net cage as the one which hatched the few nymphs. You can see the fruit flies are checking it out.

July09_114_Katnapper.jpg


Here is a close-up of the fruit fly (flying D. melanogaster)

July09_114cr_Katnapper.jpg


July09_122_Katnapper.jpg


July09_128_Katnapper.jpg


I think this one and the next pic are of the same ooth at different angles.

July09_139_Katnapper.jpg


July09_137_Katnapper.jpg


Fairly deformed

July09_132_Katnapper.jpg


Pretty badly deformed, I think.

July09_124_Katnapper.jpg


 
I have an adult female, who any day now, will lay an ooth. I have no male in which to mate her with. Should I keep the ooths in case of parthenogenesis?

 
revmdn said:
I have an adult female, who any day now, will lay an ooth. I have no male in which to mate her with. Should I keep the ooths in case of parthenogenesis?
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It probally would not hurt to hold on to it for a few months. Just don't get your hopes up to high.

 

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