# Small ooths



## bugzilla (Jul 2, 2008)

I disturbed my ghost female while she was laying. This caused her to stop laying when the ooth was less than 1/4 the size of her first 3.

The next day she laid another small ooth about 1/2 normal size.

Are these likely to be infertile?


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## mantidsandgeckos (Jul 2, 2008)

Why did you disturb the ghost?? :huh: :huh:


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## macro junkie (Jul 2, 2008)

yes if there both fertile they wil hatch.There wil be eggs in both ooths i woulnt think it would matter.  hows your orhids..?my female shed to adult yesterday.

ps i mated my female at day 14..7 weeks down the line the ooth hasnt hatched..GUTTED!next time il leave it 3-4 weeks.i was told not to mate them so fast but i didnt listen..that wil teach me!


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## bugzilla (Jul 3, 2008)

friendofgeckos said:


> Why did you disturb the ghost?? :huh: :huh:


I had the wise idea of photographing her while she was laying and the flash upset her. I didn't tentionally poke her or anything  



macro junkie said:


> yes if there both fertile they wil hatch.There wil be eggs in both ooths i woulnt think it would matter.  hows your orhids..?my female shed to adult yesterday.ps i mated my female at day 14..7 weeks down the line the ooth hasnt hatched..GUTTED!next time il leave it 3-4 weeks.i was told not to mate them so fast but i didnt listen..that wil teach me!


Still no sign or an Orchid ooth yet but the 3 are doing really well. The first female I mated is in a big net cage and I've put a load of BB flies in there. I keep the flies fed with honey and banana and spray daily. She's getting REALLY fat like this. The male is still on the other female; over a week now but he's feeding well so I thought I'd let him to it.

I mated the Ghost on week 3 and again after the first ooth. The pair were put together in a big tank and left to it. They were fine together for about a week then they mated. He stayed on her for a few days and she ate one of his raptorial arms. He died a day later  so now I've only got the one female left plus 2 of the 3 large ooths and the 2 small ones. I sold one on so I could afford my Gongy nymphs


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## OGIGA (Jul 3, 2008)

I think it'll hatch fine. It comes out the right way in the first place.


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## bugzilla (Jul 4, 2008)

She laid again yesterday, 1/2 size and looks like she's going to today too :blink: . I'm overrun with ickle ooths


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## macro junkie (Jul 4, 2008)

why give them banana&gt;?


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## bugzilla (Jul 4, 2008)

Variety, extra nutrients for the mantis and it smells nice  . Plus it's more solid so lasts the flies a bit longer


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## bugzilla (Jul 4, 2008)

She's laid another one today :huh: . How many eggs are likely to be in each? Hopefully I'll get another male soon to stock her up with sperm, will this increase the size of the ooths again?


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## mrblue (Jul 4, 2008)

i dont think amount of sperm plays a big role in the size of the ootheca. i say this because i have a p.paradoxa female who has just laid her 7th fertile ootheca (8th overall) and it is probably her longest yet. i imagine the hatch rate will be low compared to the rest of hers, but still, it looks pretty big, and i only mated her once, 7 oothecas ago. so i am sure size of ootheca has to do with other things, though i dont know what they are (i would assume amount of food she has had access to, and the nutritional content of said food, and other factors. maybe amount of time between eachlay plays some role).


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## bugzilla (Jul 5, 2008)

Time between laying is definately an issue I'd guess. She's laying every few days. She gets fed on Bluebottle flies that have been fed honey plus the odd bit of banana and gets through quite a few; up to about 5 on a good day.


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## MANTIS DUDE (Jul 5, 2008)

They will both hatch. Show us the photo you took!


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## bugzilla (Jul 6, 2008)

MANTIS DUDE said:


> They will both hatch. Show us the photo you took!


Here you go, not the best photos but you can tell whats happening at least


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## Giosan (Jul 6, 2008)

I just had a 1cm P.paradoxa ooth hatch, it hatched 3 nymphs!


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## bugzilla (Jul 6, 2008)

Should get at least 12 nymphs then


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## pedro92 (Jul 6, 2008)

Is she eating alot of food?


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## bugzilla (Jul 7, 2008)

Chameleonare said:


> Is she eating alot of food?


Yeah, she's eating really well. I tend to put a load of flies in at a time so they can eat as they want to. With this female I put 5-6 BBs in every day. Sometimes one or two will be left from the day before so I don't feed her until the next day and she refuses food before laying.


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