# Wild Ooths Infested?



## CosbyArt (Nov 22, 2014)

Originally I was excited after many hours of searching the last few weeks, I discovered two good wild mantis ooth's today. They both appear to be Stagmomantis carolina, Carolina Mantis.

Sadly one of them has a small hole to the outer protective shell in one area. As the ooth is only 1 inch long, I used my USB microscope to examine the damage to the ooth. Turns out it has several organisms living inside the damaged area, all so small to be unseen by the naked human eye, something I was not expecting to find. It appears the rest of the ooth is fine and uninfected.

Seems like there is a small round black "bug" (perhaps a type of beetle), several tiny fast white "bugs", and a two noticeable orange in color larger "bugs" -- in the hole in the ooth. Seems the orange ones might be Phytoseiulus persimilis - but I have no clue.

As my USB microscope takes both photos and video, I did both to see if anyone can tell me anything about them, if they will cause a problem to hatching nymphs (or infect my other mantis or habitats), or how to kill the organisms and leaving the mantis eggs unharmed? Or perhaps, if it is nothing to worry about as they are normally never seen and may exist on all ooths? I ask as I want to ensure I don't infect my pets with mites or anything else.

Here is my video it starts by showing the white "bugs" and the black one as well - at 2:40 in the video onwards are the orange "bugs".

UPDATE 01-05-15: The ooth I talked about and shown in the photos/video above has hatched about 70 Carolina nymphs! It was in a freezing/wintering diapuase for about 3 weeks, then I incubated it 44 days until it hatched.



The image below are several photos from my USB microscope "zooming" in to show the true size of the orange "bugs". As the ooth itself is only 1 inch long, and the "bugs" are in individual egg sections.


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## mantiseater (Nov 22, 2014)

those are some kind of mite I think


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## Sticky (Nov 23, 2014)

The white ones look alittle like springtails, I think. Dont keep the ooth. I would freeze it.


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## CosbyArt (Nov 23, 2014)

Thank you both for looking and offering your opinions. Glad to see I was right to worry about the ooth and separate it.



mantiseater said:


> those are some kind of mite I think


What I was hoping not to hear, but thought myself. To bad, but at least the other ooth is unaffected (after a good examination to verify).  



Sticky said:


> The white ones look alittle like springtails, I think. Dont keep the ooth. I would freeze it.


I wouldn't be keeping the infected ooth. I figure if I reattach it where I found it at least the remaining eggs will have a chance to hatch this spring.


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## dmina (Nov 23, 2014)

That was amazing... gave me the hebee-geebee's.. but really cool how those little critters in there, are so busy... I have no idea what they are...

I just suggest isolating it...I know susanna was wild caught.. but you know she is healthy... you really need to be careful what you bring into your area now that she is laying ooths.. just to be safe... that is just my opinion.


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## CosbyArt (Nov 23, 2014)

dmina said:


> That was amazing... gave me the hebee-geebee's.. but really cool how those little critters in there, are so busy... I have no idea what they are...
> 
> I just suggest isolating it...I know susanna was wild caught.. but you know she is healthy... you really need to be careful what you bring into your area now that she is laying ooths.. just to be safe... that is just my opinion.


Yeah I was shocked at what all was going on inside the damaged area of the ooth. It is in it's own container and has not been around anything else, and tomorrow will be reattached outside so the remaining eggs (which appear to be fine) can hatch next year.


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## Rick (Nov 23, 2014)

Look like mites. I'm willing to bet they are present on all wild collected ooths.


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## CosbyArt (Nov 23, 2014)

Rick said:


> Look like mites. I'm willing to bet they are present on all wild collected ooths.


One of the many possibilities I was curious that might be true. In your opinion should I keep and hatch the ooth separate or return it outside? Or is there a method to kill the tiny mites? As they are so small even the find end of a Xacto razor blade is too large to use.


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## dmina (Nov 23, 2014)

I don't know how dangerous those mites are? But I have found with this hobby ... Mites are a big part of it... I found them first with the fruit fly culture... got that under control... then found them in the cricket bins... and the other day... my mealworm set up has mites... I have figured it has not affected the mantis... so far??? I think it is because of the humidity... I do not understand the mealworm setup... That is mainly oats? and a couple slices of potato &amp; carrot... but they are now in there... so I think the mites win...


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## CosbyArt (Nov 23, 2014)

dmina said:


> I don't know how dangerous those mites are? But I have found with this hobby ... Mites are a big part of it... I found them first with the fruit fly culture... got that under control... then found them in the cricket bins... and the other day... my mealworm set up has mites... I have figured it has not affected the mantis... so far??? I think it is because of the humidity... I do not understand the mealworm setup... That is mainly oats? and a couple slices of potato &amp; carrot... but they are now in there... so I think the mites win...


Oddly enough it does seem to be a very common problem, or perhaps even one that many people don't even see or know they have. I mean I only found out about the ooth due to my USB microscope.

The worst mite infestation I've seen are images of a mantis that looked like it had bad acne, until zoomed in, then it was clear the face was covered with mites.

What little I have found regarding mites say to dry the substrate and keep the humidity low for a few days time, and it usually clears up. If a mantis is infested they will lose the mites when they molt, of course adult mantis don't molt so what then? So perhaps the mites on the ooth will die off on their own as they are no longer outside in the moist environment.

I see what you mean about the mites winning, it seems they do. Sorry to hear you have had so many issues with mites. As far as I know the only thing infected here is the one wild ooth that has them, but who honestly knows until they are mature and in vast numbers?


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## Rick (Nov 24, 2014)

CosbyArt said:


> One of the many possibilities I was curious that might be true. In your opinion should I keep and hatch the ooth separate or return it outside? Or is there a method to kill the tiny mites? As they are so small even the find end of a Xacto razor blade is too large to use.


There are small organisms living everywhere. I wouldn't hesitate to keep the ooths.


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## Domanating (Nov 24, 2014)

I wouldn't say "infected". If there are unprotected eggs, no animal in it's right mind would turn down such feast. The mites might not even be there for the eggs anyway. Maybe it's the interior of protective foam itself they are looking for, it's organic stuff anyway. The rest of the eggs should be unaffected.


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## CosbyArt (Nov 24, 2014)

Rick said:


> There are small organisms living everywhere. I wouldn't hesitate to keep the ooths.


Alright thanks for the response, I've still got the ooth, and will hatch it on it's own.  



Domanating said:


> I wouldn't say "infected". If there are unprotected eggs, no animal in it's right mind would turn down such feast. The mites might not even be there for the eggs anyway. Maybe it's the interior of protective foam itself they are looking for, it's organic stuff anyway. The rest of the eggs should be unaffected.


Indeed a free meal in a warm shelter inside the ooth, couldn't ask for much more this time of year outside. They seem to stay in the damaged area, and haven't affected the rest of the ooth. Interesting that it could be the ooth and not the eggs they were after.


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## Krissim Klaw (Dec 2, 2014)

dmina said:


> I don't know how dangerous those mites are? But I have found with this hobby ... Mites are a big part of it... I found them first with the fruit fly culture... got that under control... then found them in the cricket bins... and the other day... my mealworm set up has mites... I have figured it has not affected the mantis... so far??? I think it is because of the humidity... I do not understand the mealworm setup... That is mainly oats? and a couple slices of potato &amp; carrot... but they are now in there... so I think the mites win...


Not surprising at all considering such things as grain mites love grains like oats. The majority of mites are perfectly harmless as long as you don't have too large of a population boom.


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## CosbyArt (Jan 5, 2015)

The ooth I talked about and shown in the photos/video above has hatched about 70 Carolina nymphs! It was in a freezing/wintering diapuase for about 3 weeks, then I incubated it 44 days until it hatched.


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## dmina (Jan 5, 2015)

Wow... congrats! That is really cool...


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## CosbyArt (Jan 5, 2015)

dmina said:


> Wow... congrats! That is really cool...


Ha, thanks it surprised me too really.  In-between the damage to the ooth, the mites, and wasps - some baby nymphs still made it.


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