# African Grass Mantis



## HoldThePickle (May 24, 2007)

Okay, I just bought an african grass mantis ootheca from Yen about a week or so ago and it's now hatching. Man! Those are some small nymphs. Anyway, I can't find any information about these guys online. I was wondering if they are parthenogenic like the B. borealis grass mantids, or if they require sexual reproduction. Any other info would be appreciated! Thanks.


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## yen_saw (May 24, 2007)

Hi, this species (Oxythepsis Dumonti) is not parthenogenic. An adult female will need to mate with matured male to produce viable ootheca. This species is pretty hardy and "low maintenance" species. You can lightly mist the hatchling a day after hatching and no more misting is required after you start to feed them fruit flies on the 2nd day. They are very aggressive towards each other so plenty of food is required or the number reduce greatly. The hatchling are not skittish and have no problem handling small fruit flies (D. Melanogaster). Keep them warm at 85-90F. I haven't had a chance to put togehter a caresheet for this species but hopefully i can add this species in my website eventually, plenty of backlog i need to clear though before getting to this one


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