# Leaving a pair of P.wahlbergii together



## PseudoDave

Hi all. Earlier today I placed my female pw in with the male. The female has walked around a little and is now resting on the side of the tank, the male has not taken his eyes off of her but has stayed absolutely motionless for 3 hours now. Should this carry on into the night, do you think I should leave them together until something happens or remove her?

Thanks all

Dave


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## PseudoDave

No matter. He made his approach right as i was about to go and take the female back out. He was doing much abdomen swaying and displaying, as he placed his arm on her she turned around and 'flicked' him off, she then made a retreat herself whilst the male remained in the same spot. I'll try again in a few days or a week or so.

Regards

Dave


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## Ian

lol, lucky you, I put mine together on friday night, came back to just 1 very fat female...

cheers,

Ian


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## PseudoDave

Hi Ian,

Yeah it happened recently to my friends pair as well, so it was a nerving experience putting them together, hehe. I'll get piccies next time and hopefully something better will happen.

Regards,

Dave

Edit: Ian, did you take the female back out after a certain amount of time or just leave them together?


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## Ian

Hi Dave,

I put them in together, left them in for about an hour, and there was no signs of interest at all. I left them, gave the female a cric, and when I went back up, the male was half gone, lol.

Cheers,

Ian


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## PseudoDave

Greedy women...I was planning on trying them again tomorrow (tuesday), but am considering leaving them another week. Will decide when it comes to it. Wish all three of us luck (me because my heart often misses beats when the female looks at him)

Dave


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## DMJ

So far I've been having a crappy time mating this species lol I'm gonna try my 2nd attempt at mating my pair today and hopefully everything goes well. I will update you with whatever happenes.


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## PseudoDave

Hi, yeah please do let us know mate. Do you all think it might be too early to try mine again? should i wait another week?

Dave


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## PseudoDave

Here are a couple of pics. Stunning mantids.

Male







Female


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## Ian

nice dave. Here a few of pics of mine, the male and the female...
















cheers,

Ian


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## PseudoDave

Very nice pics.

My pair are back together. This time the male has spent about 15 minutes waving his arms slowly at the female who is just giving him a motionless stare, he then started to move at an angle slightly away from her, waving his abdomen and flaring his wings, got a feeling it might be defensive rather than courtship so im ready to get her away again if necessary.

Dave


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## PseudoDave

Quick update,

He started approaching her again, swaying his abdomen and displaying his wings. He approached and she turned and looked directly at him, at that point he flew over her and landed on her back at a slight angle, she is now simply facing forward and he has straightened himself out on her back. No sign of actual copulation yet, but im happy so far. I'm taking a couple of pics but they wont be good at all because i have to open the cage door to get a clear picture and to be honest i dont care, I want them breeding this time, pictures later  Wish him luck...

Dave

Edit: She's starting to seem a little jumpy... Getting slightly nervous again :roll:


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## Ian

great dave, we dont even have the luxury of a live web cam  

Cheers,

Ian


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## PseudoDave

:lol: 

Everytime she moves he taps her wings and abdomen petals rapidly but gently with his middle legs, his abdomen is pulsing alot. Interesting stuff so far  How are yours doing?


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## PseudoDave

Like i say, sorry about the quality but i'm not risking disturbing them just for a photo of better quality


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## Ian

dave, with my sphods, I found a gentle blow would increase the abdominal movement, and cause then to actually mate. My male as been eaten,a s I said. Dayam female, I hope my furture wife will never do that to me , hehe  

Cheers,

Ian


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## DMJ

I didnt get a chance to try cause I been really sick lately but hopefully I can give it a go today or tomorrow. Im gonna feed the female to fatten her up some then place the male in and hopefully they do it lol. I'll let you know how it goes.


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## DMJ

Ok...So I put my male in with my female about 20 minutes ago and nothing yet. He's not even looking at her yet so hopefully he will get to it soon. Will update soon.

UPDATE: I seperated them after an hour or so but will try again later on this week cause Im very sick at the moment.


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## PseudoDave

Hi all,

He still hasn't mated yet, i've twice seen his abdomen move down as if he were going to connect, the female hasnt shown aggression to him since all the comotion yesterday, so im just waiting for what I hope should be the inevitable. However, one thing to please me this morning was waking up to one of my parasphendale ooth's hatching for us, there are about 16 so far, me happy


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## Ian

great dave!!


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## PseudoDave

Well, my two just mated... for about 30 seconds... Hmmm. I watched him as he connected up, there was a piece of on his rear, would that have caused a prob? (dropped off now). Also, the female attacked a fly at the moment just before he stopped mating, would that have been a more likely culprit? Perhaps it scared him? He's still mounted on her, does anyone know if it is likely he may have 'messed this one up'? Or is there still every chance for a mating?

Cheers

Dave


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## PseudoDave

Hi peeps.

Well, just before i went to bed last night I witnessed him mating her again, this time it lasted a few minutes, then he stopped again. I woke up this morning and the pair have seperated, he's still fine (there have been lots of flies for the girl to eat so she wouldnt have had room for him,  ) so i've taken her back to her tank now. So now i'm left wondering, did they/didn't they try again? I could wait until next week and let them try again anyway, but here's hoping all went well during the night.

Dave


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## DMJ

Congrats! hope it was successful as mine havent been too great lately. I havent had the chance of leaving them together for too long of a time period cause I'm sick and I dont have the patience to leave them in together and watch them at the moment. I noticed that my male runs from my female but hopefully he will do it next week if I feel better. Will update once I try.

UPDATE: Well I tried for a few minutes for the heck of it while I feel up to it and nothing yet. He walked right past her from behind and not even a look lol. Something must be wrong with him but I'll keep trying damn mantis breeding!!!


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## PseudoDave

Hi everyone,

Well, the happy couple will be meeting eachother again this tuesday in an effort to ensure they mated before she lays any ootheca. I keep getting conflicting advice on breeding this species. I know that with many species, particularly the larger ones, it's generally good practice to have the female actually eating something for when the male makes his approach, this is also what many people suggested for this pair. However, i'm also getting told by people now that I should not have food in with them when they are introduced as it can 'distract them from mating', anyone else think that? Would be interesting to know.

Thanks

Dave


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## Ian

Well good luck with mating them. But I would have though it will be best to fee dthe female as much as she will eat first, and then leave nothing in with them, when you are ready to mate them. Because, yes, it will cause a distraction, although, this is only what I have heard...

I also have a spare female, if anyone wants it.

Cheers,

Ian


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## PseudoDave

Hi Ian,

Yeah I'm planning on changing their 'meeting grounds' anyway. It will now be a net enclosure, large. It's a scaled down version of my cages for things like P.aeruginosa etc, should do the job as it serves well for them.


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## yen_saw

Finally withness PW mating!!! Leaving plenty of food around the cage did not work for me, feed them as much as possible for two days work well


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## PseudoDave

Cheers Yen,good stuff mate.

Well, tomorrow is second big day. Both have been feeding well, and currently im anticipating a happy reunion  

Will let you all know.

Dave


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## yen_saw

Thanks Dave, i didn't witness the first mating although i found some "tear-drop" size white stuff on the bottom of the cage the next day. So i tried another female PW which has been fed with lots of flies and moths yesterday and this time he made his move in last than 20 minutes.












i felt like peeping tom


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## Oneida

Those are some of the coolest mantid ive seen yet,


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## Ian

great pix yen, I suppose you could discribe those images as mantid porn, LOL. At least you got them mating, well done.

Cheers,

Ian


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## PseudoDave

Hi Yen, great stuff! Mine have been delayed, the big day is now tomorrow (thursday), so i'll grab some pics if i can.

How long did they/have they been copulating for Yen?

Oneida, they're gorgeous, always have been one of my favourites.

Best to all of you,

Dave


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## yen_saw

Hey Dave, I left them together for the whole night. But they were connected for at least two hours before i put them into the room. Now i just hope she produces an ooth.


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## yen_saw

one of the mated ?!?! female PW lay an ooth this morning!!! It is HUGE! almost 2.5 inch and looks like she has still some distances to go.











Yeah Ian, mantis porn on the pics earlier, that's why the blurry pic :lol: 

Dave, all the best to your PW "reunion" today... hope they missed each other and get it straight right away


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## Ian

great Yen, if only I could see my female doing that  lol

Lets hope you get lots of lil nymphs soon.

Cheers,

Ian


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## PseudoDave

Well done Yen! Brilliant stuff, any tips?  

Dave


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## yen_saw

Howdy Dave!! No secret pal, feed them lots of flies and moths and crix two days before mating. I read a book somewhere stated they usually mate during sunset so try to mate them at night.

Wish you all the best Dave.... good luck!! :wink:  It will be a great reunion when they are ready.


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## DMJ

Well I finally did it!!! I woke up to find my pair connected but they've been doing IT for a while now. Wow good job Yen hope its fertile!!!


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## PseudoDave

Excellent news DMJ, mine are 'coupled' again, just waiting for the all important mating and i'll be happy as larry  

Dave


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## yen_saw

Well done DMJ, was worried that you may give it up  

My mated PW female lay her first ooth yesterday, only two days after the withness mating. Now it is a race between the two ooth and see which one will hatch first :wink:

So both your PW connected PseudoDave?


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## PseudoDave

Hi all...

Checked on them this morning and they were still together but not mating yet, when I got home from work, again, he was off of her, at the other side of the tank. This time there was nothing to distract them so i'm not sure what may have happened in the course of today, only time will tell for me now i guess.

Dave


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## DMJ

Im pretty damn sure they were connected. Her abdomen was a lil to the side so I wonder what that was about so I guess we'll have to see when she lays an ooth.


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## PseudoDave

Well, i'm gonna be giving them another go either tonight or tomorrow night, the female is eating at the mo and the male is in his defense mode against a little fly...each to their own i guess. I just took a photo that I liked the look of for some reason, so thought i'd post it. Anyway, good luck to all of you with your breeding attempts.

Dave


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## Ian

really nice pic dave, all we need mow is pix of the future nymphs  

Cheers,

Ian


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## PseudoDave

One can only hope Ian


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## yen_saw

Nice clear and sharp pic Dave!!! all the best to the coming "event".


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## DMJ

Well my female laid a nice fertile ooth 2 days ago!


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## PseudoDave

Excellent news mate, here's hoping for lots of babies. Tomorrow i'm gonna be (yet again) putting my two back together for one last meeting, i'll be taking pics as well so i'll make a bit of an update tomorrow night or saturday morning with some piccies of hopefully good things.

Dave


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## DMJ

My female laid her second ooth 3 days ago! haha hope they both hatch soon!


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## PseudoDave

Ok guys and gals, got some news. I'll start from the last introduction, just a few days ago, the two were put together again. After a nervous approach by the male, he stopped approaching, and nothing happened or moved for a few hours after. However, the female started moving slowly past the male, at which point, the male attacked the female, very aggressively. I thought this was pretty strange but it seems to have been explained now... Unfortunately when I got home from work today i've discovered my male laying on his back with very little movement happening, it's sad to see him go but he'll be missed. Now, i'll throw a wee bit of good news in, once I was looking at my poor male, I decided to check on the female and make sure it wasnt something environmental, to find her laying an ooth, wahoooo (praying for fertility), but now, one more 'hint' of bad news. She's laying the ooth right now, on the 'grid-lid' of the Geo/Critter keeper she's in. Once the ooth is hard it'll be impossible to move, so i'm thinking i'll place a fine mesh screen like i use in my hatching containers over the lid so that any potential nymphs do not escape and then I'll just have to have this large geo as their hatching chamber, anyone see any problems with that? They'll be kept nice and warm obviously, but i'm more worried about too much drying out. Anyway, i'll leave you with a pic of the new mum (*fingers and all appendages crossed*), best wishes to all of you.

Dave






EDIT: She's now finished and the ooth is just over an inch long.


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## yen_saw

Congrate Dave!! Let us know when it hatches.

Do you have any wood stick or branches included in the cage? My PW usually lay the ootheca on the stick provided. When I ran out of stick i used chopstick and when ever the female climb on the stick i know she's gonna lay ootheca on it.

Well, finger crossed it is fertiled. I will put a pic up when the PW ooth hatched.


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## PseudoDave

Thanks for replying Yen. There are lots of twigs and branches in the cage, in a kind of circle, leaving the centre as 'open space'. She normally spends most of her time on the big centre branch, yet she moved upto her lid to lay, ah well, she's at least given me some hope that there's some youngsters due soon


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## yen_saw

Just an update. Approximatelyafter 40 days of incubation. Both PW ooth (one laid on 19th May and another on 21st) hatched. One hatched out about 55 nymphs and another only 8 nymphs. Here are some pics


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## PseudoDave

Great news yen, fingers crossed that i can get similar success. Have you named them all? hehe

Dave


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## DMJ

Congrats Yen! I accidentally got one of my ooths thrown out but I still have 2 but wont hatch for a while.


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## DMJ

1 Hatched today about 50 nymphs came out!


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## Samzo

Congrats DMJ


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## summerland

Nice Pic! Congrats to both of you yen and dmj~!


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## yen_saw

Thanks!!

Another update.

The third ooth laid by the only survived PW female hatched today!!! Looks like about 50-60 nymphs.






The PW from first ooth has molted into L2 by now. Here are couple of my breeding stock at L2.











Dave... Congrate to you too!!

PseudoDave, i ran out of name for them, can you suggest some :wink:


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## PseudoDave

Cheers Yen,

I'm thinking nymph1, nymphetta1, nymph2, nymphetta2 etc etc... should make life easier having names like that for them ey?  

Pseudo ooth hasn't hatched yet (wasnt expecting it to, just yet anyway), but another of my S.baccettii ooths hatched for me yesterday, lots died off very quickly, but luckily there's still a nice healthy bunch all in their containers and seem to be fine. I wanted to get a few of your nymphs for my breeding stock yen but money situation is a bit cranky at the moment, but almost certainly from the next 'litter', i reserve nymph1, nymphett1 and nymphbob  

Dave


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## summerland

wow those truly are most beautiful... so exotic! i am amazed.


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