# Dead leaf mantis



## yen_saw (Oct 27, 2007)

Trying to mate a pair of _D. lobata_. finger cross....


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## hibiscusmile (Oct 27, 2007)

Hummm, nice green one!


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## Andrew (Oct 27, 2007)

Good luck!


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## yen_saw (Oct 27, 2007)

They mated


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## Andrew (Oct 27, 2007)

Congrats.  Do you know how long they've been adult?


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## yen_saw (Oct 27, 2007)

4 weeks for the female and 7 weeks for the male. I need to make sure this female is really not interested in food anymore before letting them together. They have been in the cage for 2 days and nothing happen. Today, the male finally decided to climb on the female so i was hoping something good will happen.


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## MikhailsDinos (Oct 28, 2007)

Very nice Yen!


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## spawn (Oct 28, 2007)

How long do they typically live once reaching the final moult (male/female)?


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## yen_saw (Oct 28, 2007)

Based on my previous experience with this species, male live for about 3-4 months, but most of my male were eaten by female before dying of old age. Female will go on for a long time, easily 5-6 months. Only problem for me was female legs rot and broken after laying 2-3 ooth.


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## OGIGA (Oct 29, 2007)

Congratulations, Yen!


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## yen_saw (Oct 29, 2007)

MikhailsDinos said:


> Very nice Yen!





OGIGA said:


> Congratulations, Yen!


Thanks Mikhails &amp; Calvin. will use this male (last one) next week to mate with another "killer" female. Wish him luck cos this female finds everything that move tasty!!


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## andy hood (Oct 30, 2007)

congratulations on the mating yen !!


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## yen_saw (Nov 4, 2007)

Thanks Andy, the second adult female mated yesterday by the same male. Hopefully there will be some good fertile ooth produced by either of the mated female soon.


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## yen_saw (Nov 23, 2007)

After more than 3 weeks, the first female finally layed an ooth  now the long wait for it to hatch...hopefully


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## Mantida (Nov 23, 2007)

yen_saw said:


> After more than 3 weeks, the first female finally layed an ooth  now the long wait for it to hatch...hopefully


  Congratulations Yen!

Is this your 2nd or 3rd generation?


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## Andrew (Nov 23, 2007)

Awesome, congrats! Glad to see this species will start becoming more popular.


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## yen_saw (Nov 23, 2007)

mantida said:


> Congratulations Yen!Is this your 2nd or 3rd generation?


Thanks! This is my P stock (breeding stock). I kept this species two years ago. Female mated but produced infertile ooth and i couldn't continue this species. So i am giving them another go this time. They are F1 from wild caught specimen.



Andrew said:


> Awesome, congrats! Glad to see this species will start becoming more popular.


Thanks Andrew. I can only hope the ooth can hatch this time, finger cross.


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## MikhailsDinos (Nov 23, 2007)

This is very exciting Yen! Congratulations my friend!


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## spawn (Nov 23, 2007)

This has always been a favorite species of mine. For some reason it's the most artistically pleasing I think from a cryptic point of view. I hope you have better luck with this new stock Yen, and continue to get them going for years to come. A full three weeks after mating comes the ooth, hunh? How many ooths do you think she's good for?


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## yen_saw (Nov 25, 2007)

MikhailsDinos said:


> This is very exciting Yen! Congratulations my friend!


Thanks Mikhails!!



spawn said:


> This has always been a favorite species of mine. For some reason it's the most artistically pleasing I think from a cryptic point of view. I hope you have better luck with this new stock Yen, and continue to get them going for years to come. A full three weeks after mating comes the ooth, hunh? How many ooths do you think she's good for?


Yeah i hope so spawn. Female can produce 5-8 ooth.

My second female is laying ooth as i type right now.












30 minutes later






45 minutes late











boy i am too tire to follow so i will let her continue her deed quietly... maybe it is me disturbing her so she is taking her own sweet time.


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## Christian (Nov 25, 2007)

Hi.

The ooths look both infertile. The ooths of this species have to be smooth and "well-shaped". I breed this species for a couple of years now and never had any hatch out of ooths that looked like those on the photos. Please try another mating attempt, if you have males left. However, keep on incubating them, you should never give up an ooth. Maybe I am wrong in your case.

Regards,

Christian


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## yen_saw (Nov 25, 2007)

Thanks for letting me know CHristian. This is the ooth when it is done. It does appear to be similar "shape" as the previous one.






I still have the adult male, will mate them again. I have seen the D. lobata ooth from the museum which hatched out ok, it does look smoother and wider too as follow.


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## Rob Byatt (Nov 26, 2007)

Good luck with this species, you will find that you won't want to get rid of it once you have bred it sucessfully  



yen_saw said:


> They have been in the cage for 2 days and nothing happen. Today, the male finally decided to climb on the female so i was hoping something good will happen.


This is quite normal for this species. In 3 years of breeding _D. lobata_ I have only once witnessed a male mount a female instantly, normally they will follow her aroung the cage for a few days.

Remember to incubate the ootheca as you would with _Hymenopus coronatus_ and expect a large hatch in a shorter time than you expect


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## yen_saw (Nov 26, 2007)

Female of this species appear to guard on the ooth for a whle. I was thinking to measure the ooth and tried to take her away with another stick but she just doesn't want to leave. So i have to take the pic together with her guarding the ooth  I hope she will start to feed soon i am going to mate both female again as i trust Christian is correct in this case.


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## yen_saw (Nov 29, 2007)

"Reloading" both female for second round of mating


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## yen_saw (Jan 14, 2008)

Andrew, want to let you know your adult male is doing great!! hope he keeps his head and able to mate with both females. I have posted it on your blog too. finger crossed.


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## Morpheus uk (Jan 14, 2008)

Cant weight for the return of my babies and thier orchid friends Rob  

My ooth though not as large looked like that and hatched 70 nymphs :huh:


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## Andrew (Jan 14, 2008)

I'm relieved to see he's doing so well! Fingers crossed he gets the job done right. B)


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## yen_saw (Jan 15, 2008)

Morpheus uk said:


> Cant weight for the return of my babies and thier orchid friends Rob  My ooth though not as large looked like that and hatched 70 nymphs :huh:


Unfortunately larger ooth doesn't necessarily means fertile or good in my case, i am still incubating the first ooth hoping for the best.



Andrew said:


> I'm relieved to see he's doing so well! Fingers crossed he gets the job done right. B)


He was trying to connect yesterday, female is well fed so hopefully that will save his head. Will let you know how it goes. Thanks again.


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## hibiscusmile (Jan 15, 2008)

Yen, my ooths look just like yours, this is a species that make me :angry: ! Very hard to mate. I have lost more heads than u want to know, and yes they do not want to give up the ooth. Humpt! Time to buy more!, Ooths, not heads &lt;_&lt;


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## yen_saw (Jan 15, 2008)

Aww bummer Becky, did you leave your male with the female overnight? don't give up you never know.


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## yen_saw (Mar 4, 2008)

Glad i didn't give up the ooth, the subsequent ootheca from re-mated female finally hatched. Must be about 120-140 of them. Moving them to a larger cage is a real pain they "run" around like mad. A good way to contain them is to mist them with water, and while they stay still for 5 second drinking, remove the lid and shake them all into a larger cage. (Lesson learn, will leave the ooth in a larger cage in the future, didn't expect them to be this big at hatchling) As i am not going to breed for another generation, this will appear on the ad fairly soon.


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## Andrew (Mar 4, 2008)

Congratulations!! Shame you won't be raising another generation of them though. Fingers crossed people will have good success with the babies, you've got quite a few of them.


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## albedoa (Mar 5, 2008)

yen_saw said:


> Glad i didn't give up the ooth, the subsequent ootheca from re-mated female finally hatched.


You selling any of them?

Edit: Whoops, see your post in buy/trade.  PM sent.


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