# How long do I wait to mate?



## MantisGirl13 (Jul 19, 2018)

I have a male ghost that is almost three weeks old as adult, and a female that is almost a week as adult. how long do I wait to mate them?

- MantisGirl13


----------



## Predatorhousepet (Jul 19, 2018)

Wait until the female is at least two weeks old. Male ghosts don't live very long, about 6 to 8 weeks as an adult and female ghosts will lay a lot of ooths during their lifetime so getting her "stocked up" before he passes will help keep yields up for a while. It is generally recommended to remate after every third ooth but you can remate after every ooth instead if you choose.


----------



## Synapze (Jul 19, 2018)

Predatorhousepet said:


> Male ghosts don't live very long, about 6 to 8 weeks as an adult"


Do female Ghosts live substantially longer than the males?


----------



## Mantis Lady (Jul 19, 2018)

Sad that males don't life long.  they are bad eaters too. The 2 adults males i have are not big eaters. I had to prepare their roaches today (remove head and intestines before they ate them. Maybe that is causing their shorter life spans?

Males can mate after a week and females after 2 weeks? Try mating over a week I shoud say. Good luck?


----------



## Predatorhousepet (Jul 19, 2018)

Synapze said:


> Do female Ghosts live substantially longer than the males?


Yes, female ghosts can live as long as 5 to 8 months as an adult. 

The ghost caresheet here says that ghosts are sexually mature as early as two weeks but the writer waits until 3 weeks before introducing them to breed just to be sure. The main reason to wait is to avoid cannibalization of the male before he is able to actually fertilize the female. Males will try to mate even before they are sexually mature.

I had one male that was already mating with the females literally hours after his wings were dry. I allowed him to mate with them for nearly 2 weeks straight even though he was shooting blanks. However, right when he was supposed to finally sexually mature one of the females tried to eat him. I saved him but he sustained some damage &amp; had to be retired because he no longer had the coordination to complete copulation. He lived out his normal lifespan but since none of the resulting ooths were fertile I ended up buying another male to pick up where he left off.

_*Moral of the story: it is better to wait until you are sure the male is mature so he is not risking his life unnecessarily when trying to mate.*_


----------



## Predatorhousepet (Jul 19, 2018)

Little Mantis said:


> Sad that males don't life long.  they are bad eaters too. The 2 adults males i have are not big eaters. I had to prepare their roaches today (remove head and intestines before they ate them. Maybe that is causing their shorter life spans?


Yep, male ghosts barely eat anything. The one I have now has only eaten two bluebottle flies in the last 2 weeks but he still acts healthy and will enthusiastically mate with the females when I put them together. This is normal. Forcing a male to eat if he doesn't want to would only stress him out. Lifespan varies of course based on lots of different factors and can be extended some under ideal conditions but ultimately, just like any other living creature, general lifespan is something that is coded in DNA and cannot be changed drastically.



Little Mantis said:


> Males﻿ can mate after a week and females after 2 weeks? ﻿Try mating over a week I shoud say. Good luck?


According to the caresheet and for mantids in general it usually takes at lesst 2 weeks for both males and females to sexually mature. Some species it is longer but for ghosts you should wait at least 2 weeks into adulthood for both males and females before mating. @MantisGirl13 needs to wait at least one more week before attempting to mate her ghosts.


----------



## MantisGirl13 (Jul 20, 2018)

Ok, thanks so much! I was told that makes would only live 3-4 weeks as adult, and that had me worried because he is nearly 3 weeks now! Thanks for answering my question.

- MantisGirl13


----------



## Predatorhousepet (Jul 20, 2018)

He should live about another month give or take a week. My first male ghost lived 8 weeks into his adulthood despite being handicapped. That female mauled him good too, he was missing an entire leg, half a raptorial, most of his antennae (this led to balance issues) and his wing was broken &amp; permanently bent at a 45°angle. A healthy well taken care of male should make it to at least 6 weeks if not longer.

Supposedly, keeping males at the warmer end of their recommended temperature range speeds things up so he wouldn't live as long but may produce more spermatophore and have more hatchlings while the cooler end slows things down and he might live longer but ooth yields might not be as good. This is just a lot of speculation I was told by a breeder based on his observations so don't count on it working 100% as stated but it would be interesting to try to find out if this hypothesis is valid.


----------



## MantisGirl13 (Jul 21, 2018)

Ok, so basically I need a 50-50 temperature balance?

- MantisGirl13


----------



## Predatorhousepet (Jul 21, 2018)

Probably want to shoot for right in the center of their recommended temperature range &amp; stay there, not go back &amp; forth between warm &amp; cool.


----------



## MantisGirl13 (Jul 22, 2018)

Ok. I will try, but because I am camping a lot, it is hard to keep them at a constant temp.

- MantisGirl13


----------



## MantisGirl13 (Jul 28, 2018)

I am planning to try mating them today.

- MantisGirl13


----------



## Predatorhousepet (Jul 28, 2018)

Good luck.


----------



## MantisGirl13 (Jul 28, 2018)

Thanks! Do you have any tips? I have never done this before.

- MantisGirl13


----------



## MantisGirl13 (Jul 29, 2018)

SUCCESS!!!!! I successfully mated my ghosts. The male jumped on almost immediately, connected an hour later, had several short connections for an hour or two, and then stayed connected for a good 2 hours until the male then jumped off and ran to the other side of the enclosure.

- MantisGirl13


----------



## Mantis Lady (Jul 29, 2018)

Gratz on the mating  I will try to mate Diego, with Hunter and Yoda and Ashoka after my vacation, then they have enough time to get ready


----------



## MantisGirl13 (Jul 30, 2018)

Good luck with that too!

- MantisGirl13


----------



## Mantis Lady (Jul 30, 2018)

Thank you. If they don't get the sickness I can use the luck to get ooths from  the 2 couples.


----------



## River Dane (Jul 30, 2018)

Congratulations on the breeding @MantisGirl13! Glad to hear he mounted alright, and survived the whole encounter. Keep us updated on the new mom!


----------



## MantisGirl13 (Jul 31, 2018)

I will! I am so excited to see an ootheca!

- MantisGirl13


----------



## MantisGirl13 (Aug 3, 2018)

I looked into my ghost gal's cage and she was very skinny! I poked around a bit, and I found a 1.5 inch ootheca!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  

- MantisGirl13


----------



## MantisGirl13 (Sep 3, 2018)

She has laid 4 ooths so far, and I looked into the deli cup holding the first one, and I am the proud grandmother of 7+ new nymphs!!!!!!!!

- MantisGirl13


----------



## Mantis Lady (Sep 3, 2018)

Gratz on the hatch. Hope they are all healthy


----------



## Prayingmantisqueen (Sep 3, 2018)

So happy for you! 

I wish when mine lays one I can start to incubate it but I need to wait til spring so I can release some.


----------



## MantisGirl13 (Sep 4, 2018)

Thank you! They are beautiful, cute, funny, and look like little ants! 

- MantisGirl13


----------



## MantisGirl13 (Sep 4, 2018)

I have one question though, Only 10 nymphs hatched out of that  large ooth, and it looks like there are still more dark eggs in it. Should I expect another hatch?

- MantisGirl13


----------



## Mantis Lady (Sep 4, 2018)

Maybe there will be coming more. I don't know how it works really. How are you 10 nymphs doing? Show us some pics


----------



## Prayingmantisqueen (Sep 4, 2018)

Wait a while... Probably more will hatch..


----------



## MantisGirl13 (Sep 4, 2018)

Four of the ten died. Three hatched wrong, and died coming out of the ooth, and one died just now because it wouldn't take fruit flies like its siblings.

- MantisGirl13


----------



## Mantis Lady (Sep 5, 2018)

sad that 4 of them died.


----------



## MantisGirl13 (Sep 5, 2018)

Yes, well, death is a fact of life, sadly. I was expecting for there to be a weak nymph anyway.

- MantisGirl13


----------



## Mantis Lady (Sep 6, 2018)

Hopefully the others will grow up and get their wings.


----------



## MantisGirl13 (Sep 6, 2018)

Hopefully! Also, I discovered that the one I thought had died is still alive, but is hardly moving.

- MantisGirl13


----------



## Prayingmantisqueen (Sep 7, 2018)

MantisGirl13 said:


> Hopefully! Also, I discovered that the one I thought had died is still alive, but is hardly moving.
> 
> - MantisGirl13


Is it still alive now or did it finally die?


----------



## MantisGirl13 (Sep 7, 2018)

It died, sadly.

- MantisGirl13


----------



## Prayingmantisqueen (Sep 8, 2018)

MantisGirl13 said:


> It died, sadly.
> 
> - MantisGirl13


Too bad let us know if any more hatch!


----------



## MantisGirl13 (Sep 9, 2018)

I will let you know!!!

- MantisGirl13


----------

