# Selective Breeding?



## Devilpacker (May 18, 2005)

Their is a lot of talk about crossbreeding but what about Selective breeding, like by breeding the larger nymphs of say a a chinese Mantis could this increase the size of their off spring over time, if so by how much and how long till you see a difference?


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## Rick (May 18, 2005)

Not sure. Seems most of the same species are just the average size. Though I have seen a few individuals that were bigger than the rest. I guess you could breed those but I don't know if the offspring would come out larger or not.


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## Leah (May 19, 2005)

There are a lot of breeders that practice selective breeding, for whatever trait, the problem is that most dont follow through enough generations to really know for sure if there was a difference.

Some things are pretty easy to breed for, color, temperament, longevity etc.


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## yen_saw (May 19, 2005)

Hey Devilpacker, interesting!! believed selective breeding should produce a larger mantis on average but i haven't try that myself. I will try that soon, but it may take years before i know the answer


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## Jesse (May 19, 2005)

You may be able to selectively breed for color, but adult size is highly influenced by temperature and nutrition, especially for the temperate species.


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## Devilpacker (May 21, 2005)

i have five baby chinese mantis im going to try breeding the larger female and male to see if i get a result


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