# Separating Males & Females



## sufistic (Dec 5, 2009)

I've read up on this and it seems that there's a difference of opinion regarding whether or not the males will be desensitized to female pheromones if kept in the same room. Since I'm living in an apartment (most of us in Singapore do) and space is an issue, I'd like to know whether it's really necessary to separate the males and females. If it is, how far should they be separated?


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## massaman (Dec 5, 2009)

Oh keeping them in the same room is not a problem I keep all my males and females in the same room but in their own containers so yes its ok to keep them in the same room and just make sure there is no escapees though!


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## Katnapper (Dec 5, 2009)

Some say keeping them in the same room can desensitize the male to the female's pheromones; but I don't think it has been proven either way. If you're having bad luck with mating them after keeping them in the same room, it wouldn't hurt to try removing the males to a separate room for a couple of days and then trying again.


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## sufistic (Dec 5, 2009)

Katnapper said:


> Some say keeping them in the same room can desensitize the male to the female's pheromones; but I don't think it has been proven either way. If you're having bad luck with mating them after keeping them in the same room, it wouldn't hurt to try removing the males to a separate room for a couple of days and then trying again.


Thanks for the reply Becky. I'm not sure whether my male is desensitized or he's just isn't ready. The females would walk in front of him, he'd take a look and then proceed to either clean himself up or climb up the females and continue climbing up! He doesn't seem at all interested to mate.


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## Rick (Dec 5, 2009)

I've never seen it make any difference.


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## sufistic (Dec 5, 2009)

Rick said:


> I've never seen it make any difference.


Sure hope it doesn't cos I don't have much space and wifey's already being tolerant enough.


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## hibiscusmile (Dec 6, 2009)

I find that I totatly have to remove a lot of my species to get it to haappen, sorry I have stuttering fingers tonite. my smaller species, do well in the same room and cage, bigger ones just dont, that what happens here anyways.


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## sufistic (Dec 7, 2009)

hibiscusmile said:


> I find that I totatly have to remove a lot of my species to get it to haappen, sorry I have stuttering fingers tonite. my smaller species, do well in the same room and cage, bigger ones just dont, that what happens here anyways.


You may be right. Our T.elegans doesn't seem to have any issues but the bigger ones are not yet interested in mating.


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## ismart (Dec 7, 2009)

Even if a male becomes desensitized to a females pheromones in close proxcimity, visual cues should take over.


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## wero626 (Dec 10, 2009)

I think its okay to keep the mantid females and males sub adult or adults togother in the same room ive done that and had no roblems i Just dont think the male is ready to mate with them some male mantids jump on the female right away some are careless about the female and then you put it back in a week and the little guys hormones are going crazyy and his intenna's are pointing right at her and then they do there business so just give it time and the male will do his thing when he's good and ready maybe he wants to work out more waving back and forth lol..Good luck with that.


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## sufistic (Dec 10, 2009)

ismart said:


> Even if a male becomes desensitized to a females pheromones in close proxcimity, visual cues should take over.


That's true.



reptileman said:


> I think its okay to keep the mantid females and males sub adult or adults togother in the same room ive done that and had no roblems i Just dont think the male is ready to mate with them some male mantids jump on the female right away some are careless about the female and then you put it back in a week and the little guys hormones are going crazyy and his intenna's are pointing right at her and then they do there business so just give it time and the male will do his thing when he's good and ready maybe he wants to work out more waving back and forth lol..Good luck with that.


This is true too. I think it's more to do with whether or not they're ready. My Orchids just mated, and I didn't separate them into different rooms. In fact, I placed both the male and fat female into a large tank and just leave them be. A couple hours later they connected.


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## wero626 (Dec 10, 2009)

Yeah your defenitly on the right track keep us updated...


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## sufistic (Dec 10, 2009)

reptileman said:


> Yeah your defenitly on the right track keep us updated...


Rather than start a new thread, I might as well continue here.

A couple of mating pics of our wild-caught Orchids:






















Let's hope she lays an ooth or two.


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## Katnapper (Dec 10, 2009)

Very nice, Shaik!  Fingers crossed for you.


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## sufistic (Dec 10, 2009)

Katnapper said:


> Very nice, Shaik!  Fingers crossed for you.


Thanks Becky!


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## sufistic (Dec 12, 2009)

Second wild-caught female mated with my only wild-caught male after the male was rested for three days. To stay on topic, I did not separate the male into another room away from the females. I'm guessing they're just ready.


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## sufistic (Dec 16, 2009)

Third and last female mated today. The only male I have is awesome, he connected immediately upon mounting the females now.


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## ismart (Dec 16, 2009)

Very nice!  That male is a stud! B)


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## sufistic (Dec 16, 2009)

ismart said:


> Very nice!  That male is a stud! B)


Yeah he sure is Paul. He was a sissy though when we first got him. He kept flying after seeing the females when we first tried to get them to mate.


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## ismart (Dec 16, 2009)

sufistic said:


> Yeah he sure is Paul. He was a sissy though when we first got him. He kept flying after seeing the females when we first tried to get them to mate.


He probally was just not ready yet. Being he was wild caught who knows how long he has been adult for? I'm glad he decieded to get busy with everyone.


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## sufistic (Dec 16, 2009)

ismart said:


> He probally was just not ready yet. Being he was wild caught who knows how long he has been adult for? I'm glad he decieded to get busy with everyone.


Yeah that's just it. I'm guessing when we caught him, he just turned adult. Right now it's like each time he sees a female, he'll immediately go to her and just jump straight on, drum a few times and connect. He's a stud fo sho.


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## yen_saw (Dec 16, 2009)

Good to see you have a horny male :lol: Your orchid pics make me very tempting for an orchid comeback  Unfortunately both of the female orchids collected in CH couldn't make it  All the best to your orchid and looking forward to see some ooth from all your mated females.  

Also, prepare lot of fruit flies before the ooth hatch, orchid baby don't do well with hunger.


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## sufistic (Dec 16, 2009)

yen_saw said:


> Good to see you have a horny male :lol: Your orchid pics make me very tempting for an orchid comeback  Unfortunately both of the female orchids collected in CH couldn't make it  All the best to your orchid and looking forward to see some ooth from all your mated females.  Also, prepare lot of fruit flies before the ooth hatch, orchid baby don't do well with hunger.


Yeah he's a horny one lol. Yen you really need to keep them again, and T.elegans! Just keep them around for easy access, Orchids will always be popular right? Some members are gracious to send me some FF cultures cos they know how difficult it is to get those here.


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## yen_saw (Dec 16, 2009)

sufistic said:


> Yeah he's a horny one lol. Yen you really need to keep them again, and T.elegans! Just keep them around for easy access, Orchids will always be popular right? Some members are gracious to send me some FF cultures cos they know how difficult it is to get those here.


 Well a have couple of ooth traded from my Japanese friend Kaz-san incubating right now i hope they hatched. They are originally from CH too. As for T. elegans, yeah they are cool, i sent out some new generation here, i remember Francisco from Cali (you know him?) get some from me but unfortunately it couldn't work out. Besides the ff culture you have now, you could also check with Singapopre U, one of the top class university they should have biology lab culturing flightless fruit fly too, another option you could think of if you ever ran out of ff, but you also know where you can get them


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## sufistic (Dec 16, 2009)

yen_saw said:


> Well a have couple of ooth traded from my Japanese friend Kaz-san incubating right now i hope they hatched. They are originally from CH too. As for T. elegans, yeah they are cool, i sent out some new generation here, i remember Francisco from Cali (you know him?) get some from me but unfortunately it couldn't work out. Besides the ff culture you have now, you could also check with Singapopre U, one of the top class university they should have biology lab culturing flightless fruit fly too, another option you could think of if you ever ran out of ff, but you also know where you can get them


That's awesome Yen. Can't wait for you to start Orchids again. I don't know Francisco, did he have problems with breeding them?

That's a fantastic suggestion about the university here! Never thought of that. If I'm having a shortage of cultures, I know my Shifu will send me some haha. Thanks Yen.


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## yen_saw (Dec 16, 2009)

sufistic said:


> ...... I don't know Francisco, did he have problems with breeding them?....


 yeah probably stop at rearing stage but I was sick last summer before my trip to Asia where i got rid of all my mantis and didn't follow up with mantis for a while, long story bro.....


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## sufistic (Dec 16, 2009)

yen_saw said:


> yeah probably stop at rearing stage but I was sick last summer before my trip to Asia where i got rid of all my mantis and didn't follow up with mantis for a while, long story bro.....


Oh sorry to hear that bro. I do hope that you can start breeding Orchids and T.elegans again though.


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