# Idolomantis mating success UK!



## ellroy

I decided to leave the adult Idolomantis pair together permenantly today and after a few hours the male had mounted the female but he was facing the wrong way.







After about 30 mins he was able to turn round and is still connected a couple of hours later.






I have seen definite copulation occuring so am hoping that I now have a fertile female! I will leave them together for possible repeat matings just to be sure.

Alan


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## 13ollox

Hey thats great news !!! congratulations !!! you must be very proud of yourself ( i would be ) ! you must be the only guy on the forum to do this yet ! hope your lil guy survives so a possible remate can occur ! :wink:

Neil


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## Ian

WOOOOOOOOOOOOOO Alan! Nice work man! Lets hope this will be one of the very few cases of captive bred breeding of this species! Oh...and, where did yoy get the nymphs from?!


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## Rick

Seems most species of males jump on backwards intitially. I assume it's so the female can't grab them by the head.


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## ellroy

He's still on her back this morning although not copulating, and he still has a head! I will be keeping an eye on them for further copulation.

Cheers

Alan


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## francisco

Hello ALn,

Great Job, I hope I can follow your steps soon,wish me luck.

thanks

FT


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## Lukony

Can you blame him for just sitting around on her back? A free ride and he gets to mate all he wants. Probably figures it is worth the chance of losing his head lol.


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## Jwonni

Gratz mate, i bet your excited now its gonna kill ya waiting for ya babies


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## julian camilo

thats great news, well done. i have never understood the males being backwards on the females back, ive never had it happen to me and cant see why they do it, even by mistake (it seems much easier to just jump on rather than jump and turn in midair and land the wrong way round, if you get what i mean). i guess what someone said about protecting the head seems reasonable. im curious.

anyway, well done!


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## jonpat83

I think it would be better for them risking their head to keep the other end intact, after all they can mate without their head but the other end, well, OUCH!


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## julian camilo

actually thats true. thats the only reason i could think of, now that doesnt even seem that reasonable! i continue to wonder... :wink:


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## Obie

Wow nice work!!


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## Rib

Thats fantastic work! Though it might be an idea to remove the male if not for his sake, for hers. Mantids do alot of strange things when they get "stressed".


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## ellroy

Yes, I was just thinking that. He is still on her back over 24 hours later and they are still copulating on and off....I don't want him to shag her to death!

If he doesn't get off soon I'll seperate them so she can have a break....I imagine she is well and truly fertilised now but will give him another shot in a couple of days once shes had a break and a good feed.

Alan


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## ellroy

How ironic.......

The female laid her first ooth this morning, very big and healthy looking.

Mid morning.....I heard a thud and looked up to see my male had dropped dead! He seemed healthy and active with no signs of ill health. Tragic but at least he got a chance to pass on his genes!

Hopefully it won't be the last ooth either,

Alan


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## julian camilo

congratulations!  but also commiserations on the male, but like you said, he's done his job well. good luck!


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## bruty2fruity

> How ironic.......The female laid her first ooth this morning, very big and healthy looking.
> 
> Mid morning.....I heard a thud and looked up to see my male had dropped dead! He seemed healthy and active with no signs of ill health. Tragic but at least he got a chance to pass on his genes!
> 
> Hopefully it won't be the last ooth either,
> 
> Alan


shagged himself to death, now thats a way to go


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## ellroy

Second ootheca laid yesterday


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## julian camilo

have you taken any pictures?


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## ellroy

Have taken a few Julian (mating and laying) but the quality is not great. It's hard to get good shots without disturbing them.

I'd like to get some good ones when I have time.

Alan


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## julian camilo

yeh i can imagine youd want to stay out of their way as much as possible. regardless of quality you should put them up here, i know i would deffinitely appreciate them even at low quality, especially laying ones, im always intrigued by that, in all species.


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## ellroy

Heres one of her laying......







perhaps I'll get some better ones if she lay's another ooth.

Alan


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## julian camilo

wow thats great, thanks!


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## Ian

Way to go Alan!


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## Jwonni

is she laying it onto netting? or is that a solid side?

how many young do you get from each ooth? and how long do you have to wait to hear the pitter patter of tiny feet?


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## ellroy

Yes she's laying onto the mesh so I'm having to cut holes in the cage to put them in the incubator.

No idea how long they'll take or how many.....this is pretty new ground and info is sketchy at best.....we'll see soon hopefully!

Alan


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## yen_saw

Great job Alan! We will have so much to learn from you on this species so please keep us update with the status The last I heard from Stephan was his ooth took 7 weeks to hatch. I hope to have the chance on keeping this species again one day. All the best!!


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## ellroy

Ootheca 3 laid this morning






Think I might have to sell this one before I get swamped with little Idolo's!

No idea how many she'll lay but the pics I've seen of them hatching looks like quite a few nymphs hatch out,

Alan


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## wuwu

you are the luckiest mantid breeder on earth!


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## 13ollox

you know what they say .... " you get what you deserve "


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## ellroy

Thanks


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## ellroy

ootheca 4 laid yesterday.....ooth looks nice and healthy and she's still going strong!

Alan


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## Justin

Excellent! Keep us updated Alan, I bet you can't wait till ooth 1 hatches!


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## vincecater

Cool, well done


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## macro junkie

any updates..did the nympths hatch ok..if so how many did u get?


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