# My egyptian mantis has unexpectedly laid an Oothecae....!!!



## scrattyrat

um,

wasnt expecting this to happen! didnt even know it was a female to be honest. This is my 1st mantis and today i came home to discover it has made an Oothecae (looks looks like a cocoon).

i have no idea what to do here.. The mantis was fairly near adulthood when i bought it (it had one molt and it had its wings) and has had no contact with any other mantids in the few months i have owned it. Is it possible it mated months ago before i got it? Do they produce these even when they havent mated? Ive been searching through the forum for info but havent found much info yet. Will keep looking though.

The Ooth is on a vented area of the enclosure... do i need to cover this up to prevent baby manitds escaping? how soon may this happen?

Any help will be appreciated!

Many thanks!

John


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## Asa

Sorry dude, you aren't going to get any mantids from that ooth unless you mated her yourself. They mate when they reach adulthood. The female does lay infertile oothecae without being mated. The only thing to do with that is to throw out the ooth.


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## scrattyrat

ah, ok cool. Thanks for the info man.

John


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## Hypoponera

Do not throw that ootheca out just yet. Some species are able to reproduce by way of parthanogenesis. No males needed! What species do you have?


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## Rick

> Do not throw that ootheca out just yet. Some species are able to reproduce by way of parthanogenesis. No males needed! What species do you have?


Not what he has and I think that is only one species that does that.


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## Asa

> Do not throw that ootheca out just yet. Some species are able to reproduce by way of parthanogenesis. No males needed! What species do you have?


He has Egyptian.


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## Hypoponera

Does he by chance have _Miomantis paykullii_? That is an Egyptian mantid that seems to be able to use parthanogenesis when s.exual reproduction isn't possible. This was written about in a paper by Adair. Parthanogenesis may be more wide spread then once though. _Iris oratoria_ and _Mantis religiosa_ also seem to show this ability to some extent. But these species also have the ability to reproduce s.exually, unlike _Brunneria borealis_.


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## scrattyrat

As far as i know it is an Egyptian Mantis. This is what i was told in the shop though they didnt seem to be experts by any means.


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## OGIGA

Post up the infertile ooths up in the classifieds. Maybe somebody wants them. :wink:


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## Asa

Maybe for collection purposes.


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## scrattyrat

Is there any way to properly identify what species she is? i have attached some photos.

assuming she may have propogated without mating, and the ooth may be viable, should i move it into another tank, keep it in different conditions etc? any info appreciated.

Thanks


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## hibiscusmile

If nothing else, Keep it for a collection of the Ooths you have hatched or tried too. Some people like Yen Saw posts them on a board, and if you see his post on the quess species, he was sorry he threw away some of his first ooths. Just a thought! :wink:


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## Hypoponera

If possible, carefully remove the ooth. Mount it to a stick or the top of a second tank. Mist the ooth daily and keep an eye on it. Hatch out time will be in the 4-6 week time frame. An unfertilized ooth will usually produce only a few nymphs. These will usually hatch out one every couple days. Thus, hatchout could be spread over 2 weeks! And all will develop into only females.

Also, where are you located? Where can I find a shop that carries exotic mantids?


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## scrattyrat

Cool i will do that. thanks. I am based in England, theres quite a few reptile centres that order in Mantids if you ask.


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## Rick

Not gonna hatch.


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## scrattyrat

Can anyone confirm the species from the photographs above? or is there another topic someone could suggest that i should podt them in for the purpose of identification?

John


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## ismart

Looks like a european mantis to me (mantis religiosa) does it have eye spots on its front claws?


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## Asa

Yes the chances are...stupendously low.


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## scrattyrat

OK fair enough..

i just wanted to know what to do as there are conflicting responses here...

and if there is even a 'small chance' i needed to know what to do with it in terms of moving it etc because as you can see in the pics, it is on a vent and i could do without nymphs crawling all over my front room on the off chance there is some in there lol

:-D


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## chrisboy101

can african mantids hatch fertile eggs without mating?


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## Ben.M

No :roll:


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## Rob Byatt

There are obviously going to be diffferent opinions here, but there IS a small chance that the ootheca will hatch.

Myself and a few other long standing breeders have seen it first hand with _Miomantis_ sp. and _Sphodromantis viridis_.

So don't throw it away yet !


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## paradoxa

it would be cool if idolos could produce a sexually


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## Ben.M

> There are obviously going to be diffferent opinions here, but there IS a small chance that the ootheca will hatch.Myself and a few other long standing breeders have seen it first hand with _Miomantis_ sp. and _Sphodromantis viridis_.
> 
> So don't throw it away yet !


Better keep my viridis's ooth's then, the first 2 are in fertile, but if anything happens in a later ooth then i'll say


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## scrattyrat

yes it has eye spots on th front claws, and from research i have done it would appear to be mantis religiosa - european mantis


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## Asa

Yay


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