# nymph survival



## Sphynx016 (Jan 17, 2016)

I was wondering is it possible to keep all the nymphs alive to adulthood?What do i do when the nymphs hatch?Any personal experiences on succesfully rearing the nymphs?which species have the highest survival rates ? also is it possible to store non temperate oothecas?

Thank you


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## Ranitomeya (Jan 18, 2016)

It's possible, but fairly unlikely since you're bound to encounter weak nymphs, disease, and mismolts. The larger number of offspring a species produces, the lower survival rates you can expect for their offspring. You should expect that organisms will tend to produce offspring that have the highest chance of survival given their optimal conditions, so survival rates are entirely dependent on your ability to provide them with optimal rearing conditions in captivity.

You can't store oothecae that are not meant to diapause. Even temperate species can produce oothecae that are meant to hatch without diapause. Oothecae not meant for diapause cannot be stored since non-dipausing eggs simply aren't made to handle the conditions of diapause.


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## Sphynx016 (Jan 18, 2016)

Thanks for the info really appreciate it ,but will the nymphs have as much trouble with disease if its a dry species?


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## Ranitomeya (Jan 18, 2016)

Dry species have a tendency to be more prone to diseases if kept in the wrong environment than a species accustomed to wet conditions where microbes flourish.
If a species is less likely to encounter a pathogen naturally in the wild, they are usually more likely to succumb to such a pathogen when they encounter it.


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## Sphynx016 (Jan 18, 2016)

thank you are very helpful,mines are a dry species and i keep them prettty dry but spray them onsec a day lightly for moltingand they are partially on a heat mat and have an infrared light.i know its not necessary but i want them to be adults but i dont want to speed up their lifespans y too uch i just want them big


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## Ranitomeya (Jan 19, 2016)

If they drink, you're fine to spray them. But if they're a species from a very dry region and do not drink the water you spray them with, I would highly recommend against spraying them.


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## Gizmo (Jan 28, 2016)

I had an ootheca hatch about two months ago and out of possibly 80-90 there are only 3 left alive. We have been doing everything we've read that we are supposed to and still that happened.

I am wondering if I'm just not very good at raising nymphs or if that high of a mortality rate is normal. Granted a few were victims of a molt gone bad, but some just died and we can't figure out if that would have happened regardless or if we did something wrong.

I should add: We do not know what type of mantids we got with the ootheca we just hatched. They are in Oregon and the only physical trait we can see is that their butts are curved upward unlike a European or Chinese mantis. Not sure if that is normal for nymphs though.




Ranitomeya said:


> If they drink, you're fine to spray them. But if they're a species from a very dry region and do not drink the water you spray them with, I would highly recommend against spraying them.


I never, ever saw my European mantis drink water. I'd make a small pool in my hand, I misted her area regularly, I even put a little lid of water in her area and never once saw her drink anything. I surmised that because I fed her PetCo crickets she was getting more than enough water from them. Is that the case?


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## PlayingMantis (Feb 3, 2016)

I've had terrible luck with wild-caught mantises. I had about 200 Chinese nymphs and two months later had 3 nymphs, just like you. I've heard of other people with massive die offs while raising Chinese mantises. I'm not sure what species you have, but from my experience, Carolinas are easier to raise than Chinese/Europeans.

Normally, with captive bred mantises, I can get 90% of nymphs reach L2. I generally lose some more as they get older, but the overall survival rate is pretty decent.


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## Gizmo (Feb 14, 2016)

Thanks for your reply, makes us feel a bit better. We think they are Chinese. The three we have (it appears to be a male and two females) are doing great. The bigger of them all came though another molt the other day (that is a tense, tense time) so we are pretty confident they'll make it.

Are you saying that if we can mate them in captivity, their offspring have a better chance?

Thanks again.


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