# Theopropus elegans



## sufistic (Dec 15, 2009)

Family: Hymenopodidae

Sub-Family: Hymenopodinae

Genus: _Theopropus_

Species: _Theopropus elegans_ (Westwood, 1832)

Distribution: Myanmar, Malay Peninsula, Sumatra, Java, Borneo

First wild-caught female laid an ooth on the 13th of December 2009. She wasn't mated in captivity but there's a huge chance that the ooth is fertile judging from how it looks externally. Based on this &lt;a href="http://harabiro.com/hyoumonn%20rannnnou%20no%20kou.html" target="_blank"&gt;site&lt;/a&gt; by the Japanese, it does look fertile. All we can do is wait and see. Wish us luck!

&lt;img src="http://i161.photobucket.com/albums/t227/sufistic/Theopropus%20elegans%20IGM%20175/P1040715.jpg" border="0" class="linked-image" /&gt;

&lt;img src="http://i161.photobucket.com/albums/t227/sufistic/Theopropus%20elegans%20IGM%20175/P1040717.jpg" border="0" class="linked-image" /&gt;

Second wild-caught female laid an ooth today (15th December), 9 days after confirmed copulation on the 6th of December 2009 by a wild-caught male (now dead).

&lt;img src="http://i161.photobucket.com/albums/t227/sufistic/Theopropus%20elegans%20IGM%20175/P1040719.jpg" border="0" class="linked-image" /&gt;

&lt;img src="http://i161.photobucket.com/albums/t227/sufistic/Theopropus%20elegans%20IGM%20175/P1040725.jpg" border="0" class="linked-image" /&gt;


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## mantisfart2 (Dec 15, 2009)

Hope it hatches, it would be great to see these in culture again, good luck.


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## sufistic (Dec 15, 2009)

mantisfart2 said:


> Hope it hatches, it would be great to see these in culture again, good luck.


Thanks bro, I'll send some nymphs over to you for culturing in UK if they hatch.


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## beckyl92 (Dec 15, 2009)

i want somee


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## [email protected] (Dec 15, 2009)

Good luck with them, seems like you soon will have a tun of ooths!


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## beckyl92 (Dec 15, 2009)

is it me or do they look like they're wearing bright red lip stick?

:lol:


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## [email protected] (Dec 15, 2009)

sufistic said:


>


She had to look nice for her big day on the web  !


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## sufistic (Dec 15, 2009)

BeckyL said:


> i want somee


Sure thing Becky. Just keep on wishing us luck.



Chase said:


> Good luck with them, seems like you soon will have a tun of ooths!


Many thanks. They will most probably hatch after a month so we better get our FF cultures ready. Sucks that they're not readily available here.



BeckyL said:


> is it me or do they look like they're wearing bright red lip stick? :lol:


Yeah they sure look like they're wearing lipstick!



Chase said:


> She had to look nice for her big day on the web  !


LOL.


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## Rick (Dec 15, 2009)

Congrats.


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## ABbuggin (Dec 15, 2009)

Nice! Hope they hatch handsomely for you.


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## revmdn (Dec 15, 2009)

Good luck, hope you get lots nymphs. Keep us updated.


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## sufistic (Dec 15, 2009)

Rick said:


> Congrats.





ABbuggin said:


> Nice! Hope they hatch handsomely for you.





revmdn said:


> Good luck, hope you get lots nymphs. Keep us updated.


Thanks guys. Will keep you posted.


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## Katnapper (Dec 15, 2009)

As with your other rarer species, again I suggest not sending offspring out until you have a successfully large culture going with a couple of generations. And then, sending ooths is preferrable, as they are more likely to survive shipping out of country than live nymphs or adults.

Very best of luck with them!!!


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## yen_saw (Dec 16, 2009)

Nice looking ooth Shaik.

I have a rather low hatching rate last time, only about 15-20 nymphs hatched out from one ooth certainly hope you have a higher hatch rate. All the best with it.


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## sufistic (Dec 16, 2009)

Katnapper said:


> As with your other rarer species, again I suggest not sending offspring out until you have a successfully large culture going with a couple of generations. And then, sending ooths is preferrable, as they are more likely to survive shipping out of country than live nymphs or adults.Very best of luck with them!!!


Again, you're right Becky. Your suggestion is sound. Unless some members wanna get some of the ooths I currently have which may be infertile but I'd rather not let them take the risk.



yen_saw said:


> Nice looking ooth Shaik. I have a rather low hatching rate last time, only about 15-20 nymphs hatched out from one ooth certainly hope you have a higher hatch rate. All the best with it.


Thanks Bro. I do hope that they hatch well. Would love to get this culture going again. I read a PDF by a local university here and their wild-caught female laid an ooth which hatched around 120 nymphs! They seemed to just let the ooth be, no misting or anything else. Some people are just lucky.

Another female laid a long ooth today but it looks kinda funny. I'm guessing it's because I forgot to remove a cricket from its enclosure. Luckily she laid on the lid because if she laid anywhere else the ooth would've probably been destroyed by the cricket.


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## ismart (Dec 16, 2009)

Wow! All your females are working hard! I hope you get great hatch rates!


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## sufistic (Dec 16, 2009)

ismart said:


> Wow! All your females are working hard! I hope you get great hatch rates!


Thanks Paul. I'm expecting 1 more female to lay soon. 3 females molted into adults in captivity so there's no chance of their ooths becoming fertile. I'm gonna release them into the nature reserve here since this species is endemic here. They'll have a better chance of finding a mate in the wild because no one has any males they could sell me.


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## yen_saw (Dec 16, 2009)

sufistic said:


> Thanks Paul. I'm expecting 1 more female to lay soon. 3 females molted into adults in captivity so there's no chance of their ooths becoming fertile. I'm gonna release them into the nature reserve here since this species is endemic here. They'll have a better chance of finding a mate in the wild because no one has any males they could sell me.


Shaik, if possible try to feed them flies instead, and don't leave ccricket wondering around the cage if the mantis is not interested in feeding. You could try to lure flies with prawn shell, squid, basically smelly seafood, the flies can smell it from miles, but don't do it from your condo  

Females can live a long time, you can raise a male to adult from hatchling in as little as 2 months so maybe there is a chance if your ooth hatch soon. Ooth could take about 40 days to hatch.


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## sufistic (Dec 16, 2009)

yen_saw said:


> Shaik, if possible try to feed them flies instead, and don't leave ccricket wondering around the cage if the mantis is not interested in feeding. You could try to lure flies with prawn shell, squid, basically smelly seafood, the flies can smell it from miles, but don't do it from your condo  Females can live a long time, you can raise a male to adult from hatchling in as little as 2 months so maybe there is a chance if your ooth hatch soon. Ooth could take about 40 days to hatch.


Great suggestion Yen. I'm trying to trap some flies as we speak. Gotta do it from my apartment balcony though so that neighbours don't complain lol. I will usually gut-load my crickets first before feeding them to my mantids.


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## sufistic (Dec 27, 2009)

Just got back from Malaysia and managed to get 3 males and more females! They immediately got down to it when we reached home.


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## revmdn (Dec 27, 2009)

The size dif is crazy.


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## Pelle (Dec 28, 2009)

Haha, funny video :lol:


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## Rick (Dec 28, 2009)

Good job.


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## ismart (Dec 28, 2009)

Great video!


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## sufistic (Dec 28, 2009)

revmdn said:


> The size dif is crazy.


Yeah, the males are awfully cute.



Pelle said:


> Haha, funny video :lol:


Yeah lol. Before I gave the female a cricket, she went crazy and hit the male when he was mounting her. Glad the male didn't freak out and give up.



Rick said:


> Good job.





ismart said:


> Great video!


Thanks. Right now I have 4 mated females, 3 unmated females and 2 males left. One of the females ate a male when I went to sleep, even when she was very fat and full. I have around 7 more adult females and 7 more female nymphs which I need to let go.


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## Katnapper (Dec 28, 2009)

Loved the video, Shaik!!  Thanks for letting us see.


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## sufistic (Dec 29, 2009)

Katnapper said:


> Loved the video, Shaik!!  Thanks for letting us see.


Thanks Becky. We'll be swimming in _T. elegans_ oothecae soon. I need to let some of them go.


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## sufistic (Jan 4, 2010)

Oothecae our wild-caught females laid:






Those circled in red were laid by females not mated in captivity. The rest were all laid by mated females. So far I've sold/traded 2 oothecae. I've 5 mated females and yet to mate 7 more.


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## massaman (Jan 4, 2010)

I think I will wait till someone raises these in the U.S before buying them dont think I got the patience for shipping from another country to the U.S but ot depends I guess just need to find someone who has these and are successful in raising them!


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## sufistic (Jan 4, 2010)

massaman said:


> I think I will wait till someone raises these in the U.S before buying them dont think I got the patience for shipping from another country to the U.S but ot depends I guess just need to find someone who has these and are successful in raising them!


I sent an ooth out to the UK on the 31st of December 2009. The package arrived on the 4th of January 2010.


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## MantidLord (Jan 5, 2010)

sufistic said:


> I sent an ooth out to the UK on the 31st of December 2009. The package arrived on the 4th of January 2010.


Ignore him. Awesome video btw. And best of luck.


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## khabirun (Jan 6, 2010)

MantidLord said:


> Ignore him. Awesome video btw. And best of luck.


Lol, ouch!


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## sufistic (Jan 12, 2010)

Finally got an IGM number for my _T. elegans_ stock (thanks Kai!). This stock and its progeny will be known as _Theopropus elegans_ IGM 175. View IGM list here.


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## yen_saw (Jan 13, 2010)

Thanks for the link Shaik. Is the IGM 174 the new Creobroter sp. you have just collected recently?


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## khabirun (Jan 13, 2010)

yen_saw said:


> Thanks for the link Shaik. Is the IGM 174 the new Creobroter sp. you have just collected recently?


Yeah Yen. I can see you're really interested in this particular species. Anyways, replying to your email with my brother, they're doing fine. Already laid 4 ooths for us, I myself can't wait to raise these beauties.


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## sufistic (Jan 13, 2010)

yen_saw said:


> Thanks for the link Shaik. Is the IGM 174 the new Creobroter sp. you have just collected recently?


Yeah bro, so is the _Acromantis sp._ IGM 181 which could be _A. gestri _according to Kai, but that's not confirmed yet. We already have the 2nd gen going for this one, will send you their ooths once we have some more.


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## yen_saw (Jan 13, 2010)

khabirun said:


> Yeah Yen. I can see you're really interested in this particular species. Anyways, replying to your email with my brother, they're doing fine. Already laid 4 ooths for us, I myself can't wait to raise these beauties.


 Thanks! it looks so different than the other Creobroter sp. best of luck with them if i have the chance to visit Singapore this summer this species will definitely kill lot of my camera memory. :lol: 


sufistic said:


> Yeah bro, so is the _Acromantis sp._ IGM 181 which could be _A. gestri _according to Kai, but that's not confirmed yet. We already have the 2nd gen going for this one, will send you their ooths once we have some more.


 Glad to know you get some info from kai on the species name. I am currently collecting dead specimen for Acromantis sp too would definitely love to get my hands on this one day. Thanks for the heads up.


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## sufistic (Jan 21, 2010)

After approx. 40 days, one of our ooths laid by a female unpaired in captivity actually hatched. Didn't expect anything to come out of it, so I sliced a small part of it for a look-see about a week ago and was surprised to see eyes! Although my slicing killed quite a bit of the eggs, 16 came out from a relatively short ooth.


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## sufistic (Jan 22, 2010)

More photos.


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## ZoeRipper (Jan 22, 2010)

They sure are cute!

They kinda remind me of baby orchids.

I think it's the head and eye structure, along with the orangey color.

Beautiful!

Congratulations!


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## mantisfart2 (Jan 22, 2010)

great news mate


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## gadunka888 (Jan 22, 2010)

wow congrats on breeding t. elegans!


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## [email protected] (Jan 22, 2010)

Good luck with them! B)


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## Pelle (Jan 22, 2010)

Cool


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## sufistic (Jan 22, 2010)

Thanks everyone. I'm still waiting for 8 more to hatch.


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## sufistic (Jan 30, 2010)

Most of them turned L2 after a week. Photos:


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## hibiscusmile (Jan 30, 2010)

Dancing in the rain, were dancing in the rain,.... lovely pics! Thanks for showing!


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## yen_saw (Jan 30, 2010)

Pretty!!  

Amazing that their eyes are so pointy at young stage but become round shape as adult.


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## sufistic (Jan 30, 2010)

hibiscusmile said:


> Dancing in the rain, were dancing in the rain,.... lovely pics! Thanks for showing!


LOL Becky, that song goes well with the photos.



yen_saw said:


> Pretty!!  Amazing that their eyes are so pointy at young stage but become round shape as adult.


Yeah Bro, I like to see how they develop at each stage until they get those googly eyes.


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## ZoeRipper (Jan 30, 2010)

Congratulations on ALL of your recent hatchings!

(too lazy/tired to post on each of the threads, lol)


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## sufistic (Jan 30, 2010)

ZoeRipper said:


> Congratulations on ALL of your recent hatchings!(too lazy/tired to post on each of the threads, lol)


Thanks a million Zoe!


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## hibiscusmile (Jan 30, 2010)

How u know I was singing to you! haha, I never get tired of watching them drink! so endearing when they bend down, wonder if God made them to do this as form of praise? Looks good either way!


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## sufistic (Jan 30, 2010)

hibiscusmile said:


> How u know I was singing to you! haha, I never get tired of watching them drink! so endearing when they bend down, wonder if God made them to do this as form of praise? Looks good either way!


Yeah Becky, I never get tired of watching them eat and drink too. Also I'm very much inclined to your thought that they're praising God! Of course they're just bending down to reach for the water but hey no one's to say that they're not praising God while doing so right? Haha.


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## Katnapper (Jan 30, 2010)

I love their coloring at this stage... very lovely!!


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## sufistic (Jan 30, 2010)

Katnapper said:


> I love their coloring at this stage... very lovely!!


Yeah, sometimes I have difficulties trying to spot them among the excelsior due to their excellent color.


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## sufistic (Feb 11, 2010)

Some updates. I've had hatches from 2 more oothecae but the hatch rate is pretty bad. I've not been misting the oothecae as much as I should and this really affects the overall hatch rate. I do have enough to carry on with another generation and am still waiting for a couple more oothecae to hatch out.

L3 nymph:











L4 nymph (eyes are beginning to turn round):


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## hibiscusmile (Feb 11, 2010)

They are really good pics, do u have kids? if so I hope u take pics as many of them, haha, I think thats why all animals bend to drink, as praise for their food like u said!! I hope u have many babies! Oh any tips on how to take care of these ooths?!


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## sufistic (Feb 12, 2010)

hibiscusmile said:


> They are really good pics, do u have kids? if so I hope u take pics as many of them, haha, I think thats why all animals bend to drink, as praise for their food like u said!! I hope u have many babies! Oh any tips on how to take care of these ooths?!


Thanks Becky! Yeah I have two babies, I take more photos of my mantids than my children lol. Conditions of taking care of _T. elegans_ ooth is similar to Orchids. You're an expert at Orchids so there shouldn't be any problems. Although, I think _T. elegans_ ooths require a little more care in terms of humidity and temps.


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## hibiscusmile (Feb 12, 2010)

OH! better hurry and take pics of them, they gonna be mad when they get older... here's dad, and heres all his kids, as great big trunk falls to the floor and piles of pics roll out, OH and heres us, Oh never mind, that's just our elbow holding up a mantis! :lol:


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## sufistic (Feb 12, 2010)

hibiscusmile said:


> OH! better hurry and take pics of them, they gonna be mad when they get older... here's dad, and heres all his kids, as great big trunk falls to the floor and piles of pics roll out, OH and heres us, Oh never mind, that's just our elbow holding up a mantis! :lol:


HAHAHAHA. That is too funny!


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## sufistic (Mar 8, 2010)

Breeding continues, most of the nymphs have matured while we still have 3 adult females from the previous generation. The new males have started to mate with the old females.


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## hibiscusmile (Mar 9, 2010)

I didn't realize they were that diff in sizes for the sexes!


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## sufistic (Mar 9, 2010)

Yeah Becky, they're very closely related to Orchids too but I think they're a wee bit tougher to breed than Orchids.


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## hibiscusmile (Mar 9, 2010)

Oh great



Its all I can do to raise Orchids!


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## sbugir (Mar 9, 2010)

They seemed to have matured very quickly. Very Cool.


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## sufistic (Mar 10, 2010)

My mantids mature very fast here, most probably due to the high temps.


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## Katnapper (Mar 10, 2010)

Love the mating pic!



And really glad you're having great luck with lots of your species!


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## hibiscusmile (Mar 10, 2010)

Good thing high temps don't make people age, I'ls be dead


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## sufistic (Mar 10, 2010)

Katnapper said:


> Love the mating pic!
> 
> 
> 
> And really glad you're having great luck with lots of your species!


Thanks Becky! Although I did have some nymph losses and some _T. elegans_ ooths failed to hatch, I'm grateful I still have a good number to continue breeding whatever I have.



hibiscusmile said:


> Good thing high temps don't make people age, I'ls be dead


LOL.


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