# P. ocellata breeding



## bugzilla (Apr 2, 2008)

The male arrived on breeding loan yesterday so I've tried the pair together today. He's watched her intently for a few hours but made no move towards her. She is 4 weeks adult but I'm not sure how old he is (at least a week).

I put them in a 18x18x12in wide tank with a few twigs. They've both eaten in here.







Should I seperate them at this point since there's no sign of action or leave them together (seems risky)

I'm new to breeding mantis so any advice is welcome.

Thanks

Huw


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## macro junkie (Apr 2, 2008)

seprate them..if u think that the male has been adult for only 1 week then hes not ready..You could try at week 2 but week 3 is safer.i think i rember using my male when he was 19 days old.


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## bugzilla (Apr 2, 2008)

Scratch the original questions. The female literally walked up to the male and danced for him. What fella could resist  

On he gets






Not too sure what to do






Getting there






ATM hes trying to find where it goes while she stands patiently for him

HAPPY DAYS


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## mrblue (Apr 2, 2008)

scratch what i said in the PM just now, only just saw this thread. he has been adult for about a month, i forget exactly how long but it doesnt really matter, i know he is old enough to be sexually mature but not too old to mate, young enough to be in good health and all that. glad to see he is on his way to getting the job done, fingers crossed!


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## macro junkie (Apr 2, 2008)

congrats,,try and make sure u see them connect for at least 15mins...your know for sure its fertile then..mine where connected for about 11 hours.


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## bugzilla (Apr 2, 2008)

They finally connected at 18:00 and still connected as of 23:00. I've had to put thm in a large tank and hope for the best. What a STALL  ION


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## macro junkie (Apr 2, 2008)

bugzilla said:


> They finally connected at 18:00 and still connected as of 23:00. I've had to put thm in a large tank and hope for the best. What a STALL  ION


if u feed the female really really well she wont eat him,.try and keep him..your want to mate them again after she lays 2 or 3 ooths.


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## bugzilla (Apr 2, 2008)

macro junkie said:


> if u feed the female really really well she wont eat him,.try and keep him..your want to mate them again after she lays 2 or 3 ooths.


That's what I'm hoping for, trouble is I'm working nights so it's totally out of my control atm. Even my better half gave up and went to bed.

She has been really well fed for the past week or 2, leaves about 1/4 of each meal for me to clean up. She wasn't hungry first thing but ate as I introduced them.

I'll be getting home by about 7:30 depending on whether someone dials 999 (please don't  ) and am hoping he'll still be OK, then I'll seperate them and give them both a good feed as a reward.

Huw


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## mrblue (Apr 2, 2008)

glad to hear the old fellow performed! once he's done he will make sure to get right of dodge sharpish so he should be fine. you'll probably find him on the other side of the container looking pretty skittish.


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## bugzilla (Apr 3, 2008)

mrblue said:


> glad to hear the old fellow performed! once he's done he will make sure to get right of dodge sharpish so he should be fine. you'll probably find him on the other side of the container looking pretty skittish.


Found him safe and sound this morning, I think he looks more smug than skittish; show off  






How long will it take for the female to produce an ooth and also how long between ooths?

Thanks

A very tired Huw


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## mrblue (Apr 3, 2008)

boy done good. you say she has been audlt for a few weeks and has been very well fed so i would say expect an ootheca in no more than a few days. my female mated on sunday night/monday morning a few weeks ago, layed on the wednesday, and has laid an ootheca every wednesday/thursday. ive had this happen with p.wahlbergii before, where they lay on the same day every week.

ps - if you do a search on this forum for "wahlbergii ootheca" or something along those lines, theres an interesting thread about the length of ootheca, and i think it says something about the longer a female waits to lay an ootheca, the more likely it is that it will be larger? something like that anyway. worth a read. i know its ocellata and not wahlbergii but still.


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## bugzilla (Apr 5, 2008)

I had a peek on the way to work earlier and my girl was in the process of laying a massive ooth (to me at least :lol: )  

I'm figuring she won't et it but is it better to remove it to another container on the piece of stick she laid on?


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## macro junkie (Apr 5, 2008)

bugzilla said:


> I had a peek on the way to work earlier and my girl was in the process of laying a massive ooth (to me at least :lol: )  I'm figuring she won't et it but is it better to remove it to another container on the piece of stick she laid on?


best of to remove the ooth..u dont want it hatching in her cage,.she will eat them all :lol: good luck with them..i failed with mine..1st ooth hatched 2 nymphs the rest was unfertile.and i mated her a few times.


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## mrblue (Apr 5, 2008)

bugzilla said:


> I had a peek on the way to work earlier and my girl was in the process of laying a massive ooth (to me at least :lol: )  I'm figuring she won't et it but is it better to remove it to another container on the piece of stick she laid on?


nice! best to remove it as theres the chance she will lay her next one right on top of this one (ive seen it happen) or partially ontop, both of which would not be ideal. my female laid today too but she is pretty old, this is one of her later ones and is tiny!


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## bugzilla (Apr 5, 2008)

I've removed it tonight and will put it in a pint beaker next to the female with some damp kitchen towel on the bottom


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## darkspeed (Apr 6, 2008)

Congratulations!!!!


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## bugzilla (Apr 12, 2008)

It's a dark day today. My female has died  and I have no idea what went wrong.

She laid the one ooth and carried on eating normally (didn't eat the day after laying). About 3 days ago I noticed she was holding one of her back legs out at a funny angle but otherwise she looked OK and was continueing to take bluebottle flies. Then, yesterday afternoon she folded her legs and died, there was a brown liquid leaking from her back end.

Was she egg bound, an infection from the injured leg or something else?

Gutted

Huw


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## mrblue (Apr 12, 2008)

thats a shame. hard to tell what could've gone wrong. at least you (hopefully the ootheca is fertile) got a new generation out of her!


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