# Ghost nymphs all died - what went wrong



## Guy'n'Jane (Jun 27, 2010)

Hi everyone

just seeing if this has happened to anyone else, had two ghost mantis ooths hatch on the same day, most of the nymphs looked fine (a few had there legs stuck together from hatching). So i moved them all into a 18*20*29 cm viv with plenty of ventilation. I made a series of climbing frames out of bbq skewers (which i used a hot glue gun on), the viv had coco terra as the substrate, i gave them a good misting and then left them. i came back the next day to find them all dead or dying (which is very distressing) those that were walking about still seemed to have no sense of direction and would flip over constantly. Alot of them seemed to be dying quite slowly. Now i really dont want this to happen again if i can help it. Does anyone have any suggetions as to what might have gone wrong. the only thing i can think is that the coco terra some how effected them (i have green shield, african, and dead leaf mantis all breeding and nymphs doing fine)or the glue from the glue gun? possibly even the skewer wood? any advice or experiance would be greatly appreciated

many thanks Guy and Jane.


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## d17oug18 (Jun 27, 2010)

as much information you gave, it really wasnt enough. The only thing you left out was heat, from what i have learnt about ghosts is they need alot of humidity and 80-90F heat. Maybe you left them at 60-70F heat and they froze to death =P I think we've all had this happen at least once. Massive losses are never fun, especially if you dont have a backup, or just paid for the ooths, but what can you do but learn and try again.


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## Guy'n'Jane (Jun 27, 2010)

d17oug18 said:


> as much information you gave, it really wasnt enough. The only thing you left out was heat, from what i have learnt about ghosts is they need alot of humidity and 80-90F heat. Maybe you left them at 60-70F heat and they froze to death =P I think we've all had this happen at least once. Massive losses are never fun, especially if you dont have a backup, or just paid for the ooths, but what can you do but learn and try again.


Hmm maybe heat i guess but they are at 78/84 f much the same as there parents, i suspect mayeb it might be a lack of humidity. got several more ooths just dont want to kill any more!


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## hibiscusmile (Jun 27, 2010)

Nope, wasnt the heat, if they hatched in that then it most prob wasnt that. Could of been any of the other things u mentioned. Did u have any of the ones that r doing fine in those same conditions? It is strange to loose ghost, very hardy babies. Did u use clean warm water to mist, did u maybe mist to much, I am thinking moving them before they got their street legs good and dry that maybe it was to much for them, but I really dont know. whatever u do, if doing again, put them in the hatching container and do not change them until a couple days go by, make sure u have enough room that they can stay there, and don't mist (MIST) them until about 8 to 10 hours go by.


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## Rick (Jun 27, 2010)

It is very odd to loose all of them that fast. My first thought was that they got too hot.


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## hibiscusmile (Jun 27, 2010)

Where were they hatched, near the parents in same room so heat would of been about the same?


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## davestreasurechest (Jun 27, 2010)

i think the problem was taht you moved them , when they hatch you should wait 12 hrs before misting then in feed them after 36hrs

they shouldnt be moved after hatching until at least 2 days i would say, sorry to hear about the loss


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## Guy'n'Jane (Jun 27, 2010)

hibiscusmile said:


> Where were they hatched, near the parents in same room so heat would of been about the same?


the heat would have been identical as we have two large cabinets both heated the same, i can see two mistakes i have made from the response's firstly i moved them within 2hrs of them hatching and secondly i sprayed them at the same time, not a mistake i will ever make again! thanks for the help it is greatly appreciated


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## hibiscusmile (Jun 27, 2010)

Yea I think that is it, cause they are a hardy bunch as a rule.


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