# Nymph Mortality Rates



## Malnra (Dec 28, 2007)

While I am not concerned since there were over 100 of them and figure the strong will survive, I was curious about mortality rates in nymphs ?

Is 50% by first molt surprising ? (i am not at the 50% mark)

Out of say 100 ... can you expect to have 10 .. 15 .. 20 adults ? I dont plan to baby them with handfeeding like Hibi does.  

[Nothing came up on search for nymph mortality rates]


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## Mantida (Dec 28, 2007)

Geoff_K said:


> While I am not concerned since there were over 100 of them and figure the strong will survive, I was curious about mortality rates in nymphs ?Is 50% by first molt surprising ? (i am not at the 50% mark)
> 
> Out of say 100 ... can you expect to have 10 .. 15 .. 20 adults ? I dont plan to baby them with handfeeding like Hibi does.
> 
> [Nothing came up on search for nymph mortality rates]


What species are we talking about here?

Some mantids, like P. ocellata and O. planiceps, will have 95% survival rates, others, like Chinese, can be something like 10%.

Edit: I see your description of the topic, sorry I missed that.  

Africans you will probably have a 60-75% survival rate.

But, there will be some mismolts. If you don't plan on handfeeding, I think you'll end up with 20-40 adults from 100 african nymphs, give or take a few.


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## acerbity (Dec 28, 2007)

Geoff_K said:


> While I am not concerned since there were over 100 of them and figure the strong will survive, I was curious about mortality rates in nymphs ?Is 50% by first molt surprising ? (i am not at the 50% mark)
> 
> Out of say 100 ... can you expect to have 10 .. 15 .. 20 adults ? I dont plan to baby them with handfeeding like Hibi does.
> 
> [Nothing came up on search for nymph mortality rates]


I'm sure there's a million factors that come into play here, species, mother's health / diet, temps it was kept in, size of habitat, condition of ooth, early diet, etc.

Chinese hatchlings were pretty hardy for me, I think much more than half of what I kept survived through the first few molts, after that I think it's dependent on nurture as opposed to nature.

I had 12 Orchid nymphs and 100% have made it to L2.

After that it could be a game of statistics, where one nymph is constantly stressed out or not getting food in time.


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## Rick (Dec 29, 2007)

Depends on many factors. But I think in general you would be lucky to end up with 20 adults.


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## macro junkie (Dec 29, 2007)

acerbity said:


> I had 12 Orchid nymphs and 100% have made it to L2.


dont u mean they made it to L3 cause when they hatch there allready L2,they where L1 when they where a magot..very confusing this is.


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## Rick (Dec 29, 2007)

macro junkie said:


> dont u mean they made it to L3 cause when they hatch there allready L2,they where L1 when they where a magot..very confusing this is.


When they come out of the ooth they're L1. Getting mantids to L2 is not hard.


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## macro junkie (Dec 29, 2007)

i was stating that he said 100% have made it to L2. i think he means 100% made it to L3 cause how would u know how mnay make it fomr L1-L2 as u dont know how many is in the egg?thats L1 right?the maggot?sorry im getting a bit confused.


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## Birdfly (Dec 29, 2007)

macro junkie said:


> i was stating that he said 100% have made it to L2. i think he means 100% made it to L3 cause how would u know how mnay make it fomr L1-L2 as u dont know how many is in the egg?thats L1 right?the maggot?sorry im getting a bit confused.


1st instar is the free roaming nymph freshly emerged from the hatching cowl (what you are calling the maggot stage)

The cowl is a protective membrane that helps the young nymph emerge quickley and without damage, it has little fleshy backward pointing barbs that help it forward when it wriggles and is usually suspended from two silk drag lines that keep it away from others and its surroundings so it can expand its body, legs etc for them to harden properly. The mantis will break out of this cowl and become a first instar nymph, next moult it will become second instar and so on.


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## Malnra (Dec 29, 2007)

Thank you all .....


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## macro junkie (Dec 29, 2007)

ok i get it now..so newly hatched nymphs are L1..thanks for clearing that up.


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## hibiscusmile (Dec 29, 2007)

I haven't lost any of this species, maybe one, very tickled with them!


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