new guy

[fumantis]

Hi everyone

I am VERY new to hatching and raising mantids.

I bought an unknown type of mantis egg case from a local (N. California)garden store (actually there were two cases) and it said to hang from a tree outside at least a foot from the ground and they would just hatch in a few weeks. It's almost fall and the temperatures here are lowering. I remembered that my mom had a couple egg cases that didnt hatch last year around this time of year. Thus, I kept the cases in a small aquarium with plant clippings for humidity and a lamp on them for heat. Its been about 5 weeks and the cases have gained no mass (I've been weighing them carefully every few days on a sensitiive balance). Being of a scientific mind, i dissected one (I can feel mantis people cringing right now). I found what looked like dried brown mantids about 1-2mm long in the egg case. No moisture, no sqirmy larvae, just dry bodies.

SO... were they dead and dried? If so, might they have been dead before i got them or did my lamp cause this? Any comments or suggestions for next time? Much appreciated!

--fumantis

 

[DMJ]

Your lamp most likely cooked them inside the ooth. Welcome to the forum! :twisted:

 

[Jesse]

Either they got cooked or they(more likely) were old ooths that were kept in cold storage too long by whoever you got them from...if you got them from somewhere like a garden center. Ooths are usually only good if you buy them from a garden center, if you buy them before May.

 

[fumantis]

thanks guys, I had thought i might have cooked them but the thermometer in the aquarium was always at about 87-88, so i think jessie might be right, they may have been frozen/stored too long. I'll remember that next May, though. Otherwise, i can get "in season" egg cases from breeders, yah?

thanks again

--fumantis

 

[Ian]

Welcome to the forum fumantis

Cheers,

Ian

 

[Rick]

Welcome