# Still trying H. grandis



## Peloquin (Aug 29, 2005)

The female moulted out about 6-7 weeks ago and the male was on 6th Aug.

She is dead fat with food, he is on a bit of a diet.

Temp it around 78-82.

The male shows some interest sometimes but not very often.

He has twice jumped on her. The first time resulted in the pics in the "Foreplay" thread and the second time resulted in them coupling up for around 10 seconds.

Would this be long enough to fertalize her or do they need longer?

Every other species I've mated seemed to be together for ages but I havn't bred mantids for years so may have just forgotten.

The female is showing no aggression to the male so I'm thinking he hasn't actually mated her and she is giving him a chance. Doe this theory sound ok?

Anything I can do to help them along? All tips will be very gratefully recieved.

I've tried everything but a Barry White L.P. and soft lighting. :lol: 

I'm putting the male on the floor, leaving him for 5 mins then putting the female in front of him. If she shows no signs of moving after 5 mins I give her a gentle blow which sets her off slowly. This is when he starts to follow sometimes.

Am I missing something stupid ?

Cheers folks.


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## Rick (Aug 29, 2005)

Ten seconds is not enough. That species stays together for awhile. I never had any problems mating them. How about not putting them on the floor but instead on a higher surface like a houseplant or something? Could be your male.


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## Ian (Aug 30, 2005)

Mating can last up to 24 hrs.

Cheers,

Ian


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## PseudoDave (Aug 30, 2005)

My P.wahlbegii's mated for around five minutes only and i was worried that this wasnt long enough, other people had spoken of hours or even days. I tried them again after but the female would have none of it and in the end neither would the male. Two ooths hatched, the second one being more viable than the first, though I doubt that had anything to do with the mating and more to do with my incubation practices. Basically, I highly recommend trying to get them mated again, but if either of them dont seem interested try and think positive  

On another note, your 'blowing method'. I only use this myself once the male is positioned on the females back but hasnt tried to copulate. A gentle blow underneath the abdomen seemed to trigger my P.w male to move his abdomen around in search of the female.

Anyway, good with with the breeding...

Dave


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## Peloquin (Aug 30, 2005)

Cheers folks, I'll be trying again either tonight or tomorrow so I'll let yu know how it goes.


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## Jwonni (Aug 30, 2005)

hahaha

i saw those pictures perhaps you could buy him an educational video

anyway good luck mate i'm sure he'll work it out


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## ibanez_freak (Oct 16, 2005)

adding on to this so not to waste space.

I can't mate my H.Membrencea. The male shows absolutely no signs of interest. He walks over her as if she is a stick and then walks away. The female luckily for me seems to be very patient and hasn't struck at the male but this is starting to annoy me. The male has been adult for a good while and the female about 3-4 weeks. This is my first time breeding so kinda stuck. How long should I leave them out for because one always walks away from the other.

I'm trying my best to keep the male alive because he's kinda my brothers pet :lol: .

Any answers would be great.

Cheers, Cameron.


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## Sheldon Johnson (Oct 16, 2005)

Unlucky withthat male :/

To be honest i wouldnt trust 10 minutes of mating, let alone 10 seconds so keep trying as much as possible.

I mated one of my grandis pairs yesterday, took me about 30 seconds to get them coupled and linked for the night  (he survived too; HORAY!)


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## Orin (Oct 17, 2005)

Two suggestions:

1. Put them in a tall, large screen cage for a day or two. I have a lizard cage that's 2.5' x 2.5' by 6' that works great for most species.

2. Get a new male. Some males are wimpy.


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