# new guy



## fumantis (Sep 22, 2005)

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


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## DMJ (Sep 22, 2005)

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


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## Jesse (Sep 22, 2005)

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.


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## fumantis (Sep 23, 2005)

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


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## Ian (Sep 23, 2005)

Welcome to the forum fumantis  

Cheers,

Ian


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## Rick (Sep 23, 2005)

Welcome


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