# transmitting live from houston, tx



## killmoves (Jul 13, 2011)

Hello folks-

I haven't kept a mantis since I was a child, but I accidentally stumbled upon a couple of ooths for sale on amazon, and voila! Here i am!

I haven't even SEEN a mantis in Houston for years, so my question is: what's the best species for our climate? The ooths I have are Chinese mantids- will they even hatch here? I'm on pins and needles

Any info would be appreciated


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## Orin (Jul 13, 2011)

Texas is home to more mantis species than just about anywhere else in the country, including Brunneria and Stagmomantis. The ootheca should hatch if it's fertile and not too dry.


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## Peter Clausen (Jul 14, 2011)

Welcome, Killmoves! Those store-bought mantis eggcases usually do hatch unless it's the end of their sales-season where they usually offer up the duds that didn't hatch on time.


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## Ad-Kins (Jul 14, 2011)

Welcom to the forum!

I got my ooths from Amazon had didn't have a problem. So are you hatching them outside? I kept my Chinese ooths between 70-80. Honestly, I just kept them in the packet on top of my fridge until they hatched XD


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## Rick (Jul 14, 2011)

Welcome


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## yen_saw (Jul 14, 2011)

killmoves said:


> Hello folks-
> 
> I haven't kept a mantis since I was a child, but I accidentally stumbled upon a couple of ooths for sale on amazon, and voila! Here i am!
> 
> ...


 I am in Houston area too. You can find different species of mantis in the suburb, like Brookshire, Bay Area, Pasadena, Kingwood, Humble, Portal, etc, but also parks around Houston area.


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## [email protected] (Jul 14, 2011)

I am in Houston too! Let me know if you want to swap mantids


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## killmoves (Jul 14, 2011)

Peter Clausen said:


> Welcome, Killmoves! Those store-bought mantis eggcases usually do hatch unless it's the end of their sales-season where they usually offer up the duds that didn't hatch on time.


cool

they claim to gurantee that they'll hatch, so we'll see


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## killmoves (Jul 14, 2011)

Leeann said:


> I am in Houston too! Let me know if you want to swap mantids


i will most definitely do that! (if they hatch)


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## killmoves (Jul 14, 2011)

Ad-Kins said:


> Welcom to the forum!
> 
> I got my ooths from Amazon had didn't have a problem. So are you hatching them outside? I kept my Chinese ooths between 70-80. Honestly, I just kept them in the packet on top of my fridge until they hatched XD


i've got them indoors in one of those mesh butterfly habitats, near a window that gives them direct sunlight

i've been lurking in these forums like crazy for a couple of weeks now, and i'm trying to follow all of the advice

i put a moist paper towel at the bottom for moisture, but i'm not sure if i should spray the oothecae directly


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## killmoves (Jul 14, 2011)

i'm still trying to figure out how navigate and correctly reply on this board, so forgive my rookie noobness everybody


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## killmoves (Jul 23, 2011)

THEY'RE HERE!!

so now i need 200 cigars to pass out, and about 3000 fruit flies

to be honest, i was a little skeptical about whether or not they would hatch, but i woke up to a cage full of wee'uns just hopping around everywhere

i hope i can get enough food before they start eating each other- any suggestions? i'm all ears

anyway-

congratulations to me! i'm a daddy lol


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## angelofdeathzz (Jul 23, 2011)

They don't eat for a few days after they hatch, but do get some fruit flies SOON, you can put a old banana outside in a container with a few openings in it to trap some yourself.


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## wrenae (Jul 25, 2011)

killmoves said:


> THEY'RE HERE!!
> 
> so now i need 200 cigars to pass out, and about 3000 fruit flies
> 
> ...


Congratulations! Pretty exciting isn't it!


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## Noshan (Jul 25, 2011)

Welcome !


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## killmoves (Jul 28, 2011)

ok i know you've all been on pins and needles wondering, "how's killmoves making out with his new babies?" so i'm here to give you all a quick update

after the first ooth hatched, i had about 100 - 150 nymphs- i released about 40 here and there around my yard (probably a mistake, since they were so young)

the rest i kept in the mesh habitat. leeann came through in the clutch and sold me a raging culture of fruit flies (and she threw in three very cool african twig mantid nymphs, more on them later)

so i dump in a load of flies for my newborns, and they proceed to frantically run from them any time one came close. the next day i woke up to a lot of dead fruit flies, and more than a few dead nymphs, which i understand is normal for chinese.

all in all, it took about four days before they actually started eating the flies (a couple of them ate their siblings), and four days later about half of the ones i didn't release are dead, so there's about 40 (maybe more) nymphs left. after the first molt i'll start seperating them into their own containers, but for now, it's gotta be one big happy.

as for the african twigs? awesome. they eat EVERYTHING lol

i gave them about ten flies apiece yesterday, and this morning they were all down to zero. and if there's one thing i hate in my household, it's wasting food, so good job kiddies!

and that's all i've got for now. oh yeah, i'm still waiting for the 2nd ooth to hatch, so i'll be starting this all over again soon (hopefully)

i guess i'll just keep dropping updates in this post, cuz i know how much you all care


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## [email protected] (Jul 28, 2011)

Great update, glad you like the little guys I gave you!


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## killmoves (Aug 11, 2011)

still have about 20 left after the mass drop deadathon

some are on at least their 3rd molt

the bulk of them are still in the big mesh habitat, but i've started to seperate them into smaller containers in groups of two or three

when they get to about pinky-sized (MY pinky, and i have big hands) i'll start releasing some and keep two or three

i think i'm getting:

the hang of this

addicted

the three african twigs are all doing very well, have all molted once since i've had them, and have upgraded to crickets (store-bought) and flies (home-caught)

those dudes are awesome (thx again, leeann)

side note: i found a grass mantis in my back yard last week. i was shocked as heck since i never see mantids in houston. i caught him and put him in a container; let him go the next day (iono what i was thinking)

ok that's all i got


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## hibiscusmile (Aug 11, 2011)

hello and welcome, must of missed this post. sorry for being late!


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