# Spring comes early in Texas



## yen_saw (Feb 16, 2009)

So the weather been warming up here lately and we have mid 70s in the afternoon sometimes. But i was not ready for what could have happen on one weekend. These are just some that hatched.












The first to swarm me on Saturday morning was a record hatch for Creobroter pictipennis (80 nymphs from one ooth!) Here is just the lid






The Creobroter gemmatus (Thai) come next






Acromantis japonica (Thanks Luke!)






The next hour was Pseudocreobrota wahlbergii, one of the longest ooth at about 3.5 inches long. The newly hatched nymphs were still in lighter color.






Counted about 70 PW nymphs hour later






This one doesn't surprise me as it has been hatching 5-10 nymphs every morning for the past 10 days. The wild collected Stagmomantis carolina ootheca, a common sight every morning.






Besides hatching, this Hierodula patellifera i was planning to bring it to the museum layng ootheca in the container.


----------



## yen_saw (Feb 16, 2009)

The next day i was greeted with more hatchling.

Hestiasula brunneriana






Budwing mantis






Grass mantis






Tiny hatchling











And a surprise Yersiniops sophronica hatch! The parents were wild caught in Tucson and mated in captivity too. I left a batch of oothecae in room temperature and another batch overwinter. Now the ootheca which stay outdoor for a month has started to hatch after nearly 5 months, so maybe this species do need a cool period as the one kept indoor has no sign of hatching yet.






this thing looks exacly like the parents except it is only the size of pinhaed!! now i wonder if they can handle the smallest frtuif lies. the hatchling also mimicking the newborn grasshopper






Cute little thing






Not every hatch bring cheers.... yeah the parasitic wasps


----------



## yen_saw (Feb 16, 2009)

More hatches... by this time it is no longer fun and i am counting my fruit flies cultures  

Asian giant mantis






Newly hatched Pseudocreobotra ocellata






Another few creobroter, Miomantis sp, and Hestiasula brunneriana also hatched to make thing worst i need more flies. Thanks for Dustin for the two D. hydei cultures!

With oothecae hatching left and right i have decided to start collecting ooth from a large net cage where i left about dozen pairs of C. gemmtus before nymphs hatcing out in the cage, this is what i found.....






This is what happen when i don't have time to collect the ooth for a long time  






and you know it is long due when.....






It may look like a nightmare but still a great sight watching all the ooth hatching


----------



## revmdn (Feb 16, 2009)

Wow!


----------



## robelgado (Feb 16, 2009)

Wow that is incredible.

I hope you have enough fruitfly cultures!

I always make 4-5 new cultures 2-3 weeks before hatching.


----------



## Pelle (Feb 16, 2009)

Damn Congrats!


----------



## Katnapper (Feb 16, 2009)

yen_saw said:


> More hatches... by this time it is no longer fun and i am counting my fruit flies cultures  It may looks like a nightmare but still a great sight watching all the ooth hatch.


  :huh: :lol: Oh my goodness, Yen!!  Congrats (I think  :lol: ) on all the hatches! That old saying, "When it rains, it pours" comes to mind, hehe. I know how long it takes me to feed the ones I have.... I don't know how you do it. Seems like there wouldn't be enough time in the day!


----------



## hibiscusmile (Feb 16, 2009)

:lol: gonna have to put sign out front, free babies....PLEASE!


----------



## Gurd (Feb 16, 2009)

The old wives tale 'it never rains it pours' comes to mind mate

Congrats and I hope you have a good supply of FF's


----------



## Kruszakus (Feb 16, 2009)

How humid are conditions for C. pictipennis ooths? I try to keep them at 80%, but my hatching rate is hella poor.


----------



## Frack (Feb 16, 2009)

Very cool, gratz on all the new additions! I hope you have enough ff it looks like you need a ton lol. What do you do when they lay ootheca over each other? I had one do this recently and Im not to sure if I can safely seperate them or not.


----------



## Rick (Feb 16, 2009)

Have fun Yen! Do you keep the boxers together?


----------



## Kaddock (Feb 16, 2009)

awesome yen! the nymphs you sold me are still looking amazing! looks like you have a lot of work on your hands with the new batch!!!! :lol:


----------



## Emile.Wilson (Feb 16, 2009)

Wow!


----------



## pohchunyee (Feb 16, 2009)

Sound like you are having a few thousand mouth to feed!! OMG


----------



## Dinora (Feb 17, 2009)

OMGoodness!!!  

Well, let me know when I can come over and start window shopping!  

Thank you again for my pair of girls I got from you Saturday, one already laid an ooth last night!!!

Thank you, thank you, thank you!!!


----------



## bassist (Feb 17, 2009)

Wow congrats Yen I may be ordering from you soon again LOL.


----------



## yen_saw (Feb 17, 2009)

Thanks all. Now each species is in their own net cage with plenty of flying fruit flies (D. melanogaster). Luckily i have enough of the fruit fly cultures and couple more D. hydei cultures from Dustin help feeding mantids that graduated into larger fruit flies, and free up extra DM for the hatchling.



Katnapper said:


> Oh my goodness, Yen!! Congrats (I think ) on all the hatches! That old saying, "When it rains, it pours" comes to mind, hehe. I know how long it takes me to feed the ones I have.... I don't know how you do it. Seems like there wouldn't be enough time in the day!


With all these little escapees it will take me forever to separate them individually  i put them together with plenty of fff that cover larger area in the net cage. They will still eat each other that's better than having to stay inside the bugroom literaly 24 hrs separating them and catching the runaways!



Gurd said:


> The old wives tale 'it never rains it pours' comes to mind mate Congrats and I hope you have a good supply of FF's


Yeah instead of raining dogs and cats (and donkeys and monkeys  ), it was raining mantids, mantids, and more mantids!!!



Kruszakus said:


> How humid are conditions for C. pictipennis ooths? I try to keep them at 80%, but my hatching rate is hella poor.


It depends on what you mean by poor hatching  80 nymphs hatch out rate is uncommon. Normally i get about 25-50 from each ootheca of this species. So no worry if you get less than 80. I notice humidity doesn't really affect hatching rate for this species. I have them in 50-60% well ventilated area in my bug room while those i sent to museum where kept in constant high humidity, and both hatched out fine although the one in the museum yield slightly less number. So if your C. pictipennis ooth is hatching less than 10 it could be from other reasons.



Frack said:


> Very cool, gratz on all the new additions! I hope you have enough ff it looks like you need a ton lol. What do you do when they lay ootheca over each other? I had one do this recently and Im not to sure if I can safely seperate them or not.


Hey Dustin yeah your grass mantis ootheca also joinned the hatching "parade"!

On the multiple oothecae sticking together, i just apply lateral force and the top ootheca will slide off without problem. Avoid pulling it off from one end it might break halfway, especially for long and thin type of ootheca.



Rick said:


> Have fun Yen! Do you keep the boxers together?


I keep them together, with plenty of food/space this species do much better than hierodula species together. Cannibalism level can be as low as the Arizona unicorn mantis.



Kaddock said:


> awesome yen! the nymphs you sold me are still looking amazing! looks like you have a lot of work on your hands with the new batch!!!!


Glad they are doing alright for you!! let me know if i can "unload" some more your way  



Dinora said:


> OMGoodness!!! Well, let me know when I can come over and start window shopping!
> 
> Thank you again for my pair of girls I got from you Saturday, one already laid an ooth last night!!!
> 
> Thank you, thank you, thank you!!!


Glad the mantis are doing well i think she likes her new home and wanted to give you a late valentine's gift with that ooth  

No window shopping!!! pick it up if you like  



bassist said:


> Wow congrats Yen I may be ordering from you soon again LOL.


Hey there! Yes i remember now thanks for reminding  i still holding on your previous order.


----------



## Dinora (Feb 17, 2009)

yen_saw said:


> No window shopping!!! pick it up if you like


SCHWEET!!! Just let me know when you are ready!!! :lol:


----------



## kamakiri (Feb 17, 2009)

Cripes! You have a LOT going on there!

I guess you don't have a 0% escapee policy in your household!


----------



## Kruszakus (Feb 17, 2009)

Then I don't know what's wrong - I keep some ooths around 60%, some around 80% - the best batch was about 12-14 nymphs...

Maybe I have a weak female or something, I don't know.


----------



## cloud jaguar (Feb 17, 2009)

Wow, those are sure some cute nymphs! ...and I thought that I had a lot of mouths to feed!!!!


----------



## robelgado (Feb 17, 2009)

Lol, I tried to hold on to most of my chinese mantids, but they are too many mouth's to feed.

try 300-400 mantids, and then two more ootheca that hatch 200 ea.


----------



## yen_saw (Feb 19, 2009)

kamakiri said:


> Cripes! You have a LOT going on there!I guess you don't have a 0% escapee policy in your household!


  well once a while a mantis try to escape, but that is nothing compares to the amount of flies let loose unavoidably. Not to the extend as in Chuck's fruit flies room (did anyone watch the show?) but getting there!



Kruszakus said:


> Then I don't know what's wrong - I keep some ooths around 60%, some around 80% - the best batch was about 12-14 nymphs...Maybe I have a weak female or something, I don't know.


Well your finding just answer your previous humidity questions and it matches what i thought too.



Arkanis said:


> Wow, those are sure some cute nymphs! ...and I thought that I had a lot of mouths to feed!!!!





robelgado said:


> Lol, I tried to hold on to most of my chinese mantids, but they are too many mouth's to feed.try 300-400 mantids, and then two more ootheca that hatch 200 ea.


Using flying fruit flies help to feed all that many mouths.


----------



## Katnapper (Feb 19, 2009)

yen_saw said:


> well once a while a mantis try to escape, but that is nothing compares to the amount of flies let loose unavoidably. Not to the extend as in Chuck's fruit flies room (did anyone watch the show?) but getting there!


Unfortunately reminds me of my bug room too. B) A few weeks back my husband went in there and told me in no uncertain terms that I needed to put fruit fly-proof coverings over the ventilation registers. He stood there and waited, and then watched to make sure I did it right then!  :lol:


----------



## Dinora (Feb 19, 2009)

Katnapper said:


> Unfortunately reminds me of my bug room too. B) A few weeks back my husband went in there and told me in no uncertain terms that I needed to put fruit fly-proof coverings over the ventilation registers. He stood there and waited, and then watched to make sure I did it right then!  :lol:


LOL damned hubbies! Always something!


----------



## The_Asa (Feb 20, 2009)

Wow! Congrats Yen! You didn't expect them all to hatch out at the same time?


----------



## Anleoflippy (Feb 20, 2009)

You got 2 many babies... :lol:


----------



## yen_saw (Feb 25, 2009)

Katnapper said:


> Unfortunately reminds me of my bug room too. A few weeks back my husband went in there and told me in no uncertain terms that I needed to put fruit fly-proof coverings over the ventilation registers. He stood there and waited, and then watched to make sure I did it right then!





Dinora said:


> LOL damned hubbies! Always something!


Yeah why do we all have spouse like that  



-Asa said:


> Wow! Congrats Yen! You didn't expect them all to hatch out at the same time?





Anzilleoflippy said:


> You got 2 many babies...


Yeah and the worst is it doesn't stop there as weather gets warmer. we see 80s the first time here in Southern Texas this week.......

Another creobroter gemmatus







Can you tell me how many are there...  






and i am getting good at predicting when they are hatching now after all....  











moment later






while shooting it another one on the opposite side starting to hatch










boxer queueing up  hey whose shed is that  






Where is the food?  






More Yersiniops hatched.... sorry blurry shot






I have another shield mantis ootheca hacthed too getting tired taking the pics


----------



## bassist (Feb 25, 2009)

yen_saw said:


> Can you tell me how many are there...


164 give or take

Yes I counted them Lol.


----------



## Katnapper (Feb 25, 2009)

I love those Boxers all lined up!  Very nice pics.


----------



## Dinora (Feb 26, 2009)

bassist said:


> 164 give or takeYes I counted them Lol.


Thank you! I had to resist the urge to count them all, too!


----------



## yen_saw (Feb 27, 2009)

bassist said:


> 164 give or takeYes I counted them Lol.


WOW thanks  

Now can you help me with this one?  Just hatched today... i wonder why hot glue is not killing those ooth  just kidding i love Creobroter sp.  








Katnapper said:


> I love those Boxers all lined up!  Very nice pics.


yup they love to queue up  

Just a few more species that show up recently.... promise this is the last time posting  

American stick mantis











Indian stick mantis (S. bicornis)


----------



## bassist (Feb 27, 2009)

86 in the top one from what I can see at that angle.

Second one about 84 in the bottom container from what I can see.

Also if you ever have extra brunners ooths be sure to tell me Yen.


----------



## Katnapper (Feb 28, 2009)

bassist said:


> Also if you ever have extra brunners ooths be sure to tell me Yen.


Hey Bassist, Rick had some a few months back. Might not now, but he does have a population of them naturally in his area.

I still love those S. bicornis!!!


----------



## yen_saw (Feb 28, 2009)

bassist said:


> 86 in the top one from what I can see at that angle.Second one about 84 in the bottom container from what I can see.
> 
> Also if you ever have extra brunners ooths be sure to tell me Yen.


Cool you have good eyes time to go out there and find some wild mantis :lol: I have more hatched again moment ago i am not asking for count this time  

Rik still has one B. borealis ooth left if i remember his PM correctly. I kept the BB ooth out cold for 2 months and took another 45-50 days to hatch. Right now i have 1 or 2 nymphs hatching out everyday.


----------



## Dinora (Mar 3, 2009)

yen_saw said:


> Indian stick mantis (S. bicornis)


AWWWE!!!

That's so CUTE!!! :wub: 

I want one!!!


----------

