Anyone hatched a recently laid S. Limbata Ooth yet?

Just had one molt to an L4 today! I just hope this little girl makes it, unlike her siblings that turned to L4 <_< .

Two of my five girls molted to L6 overnight...still don't look sub adult to me but they're almost two inches long. I had to leave early for work today...so I didn't look too much.

Are adult limbata females about 3" long?

kamakiri said:

Two of my five girls molted to L6 overnight...still don't look sub adult to me but they're almost two inches long. I had to leave early for work today...so I didn't look too much.Are adult limbata females about 3" long?

Click to expand...

Only in bad light! Much closer to 2" (at least in the wild)!

Some of my females were 3+ inches (measured)....others not so much (All were caught in my backyard)

As seen in this pic I took a little while ago:

Thanks guys, I guess I will find out if I am under feeding by the size of my girls! Interesting about the size difference...thanks for the pic!

One more turned L6 last night.

But my best guess is that L8 is adult?

Weirdest thing is that all the boys are still green. Varying shades at least... And some with the red dot.

Color Update:

1. camo peach/ dark brown

4. camo brown

1. black or very dark

1. camo grey

1. solid grey

1. cream colored one

15. green ones

Hey guys!

Well i've been gone the past couple of days, and because of this I lost many L3's to my L4's.

I thought I had enough Hydei in there but apparently not!

I've got 5 L4's, the rest L1's and L3's. I seriously need to segregate my L4's from the others, but currently I'm all out of space. Since im 100% broke, my mom said if I get an A on my math test tommorow she'll buy me some of the 32 oz. containers from mantisplace, lol.

Color wise I have about 1/2 green 1/2 tan with a few camo'd. I lost my only pink one to a mis-molt :angry:

Please take some pics of them and post em Arkanis and Kamakiri!

As requested...sorry to hear about your challenges...

pink female L5:



less white or white/camo:



green male L6



pink camo female L6



4th female molted to L6 - the 'mint' green one.

My first captive-laid ootheca from wild caught S. limbata just hatched yesterday. I brought the oothecae in from the outdoors about a month ago. In the morning I'd placed them near the heat lamp of a reptile cage and they began a few hours later. It appears that a wild collected M. religiosa ootheca also hatched at the same time in the same container, so I've got a bungled set of nymphs.

Beautiful range of colors, Kamakiri! Thanks for posting the photos.

Good luck, Peter, with your "bungled set of nymphs!" :lol:

Wow, Kamakiri - those are pretty pink alright! Nice. Ours which are pink have much brown camo on them.

~Arkanis

Peter> Sorry to hear about your 'mixed nuts'! I'm sure they're going to be fun to separate :lol:

Just glad this forum gets me off my butt and reminds me to post pictures once in a while...or I'd never get around to uploading to flickr! Still haven't done the pics from our last vacation :angry:

The one in the last picture is really more camo than she appears in that pic. The thorax and dark markings are better visible from above. Also should have taken a pic of the green one with red legs.

yeatzee> It's my feeling that limbata need to be separated and housed individually in the L3 or L4 range or you will probably suffer more losses. I communally housed a few males just to test this, and none survived past L4. Right now I have most of them in 24 oz. tubs. Males will probably stay in those and the females might move into the 32 oz. containers once they look like they're ready to molt again.

Well good news....I got a 100% on my math test so I've got 11 32oz. containers coming in I've got most of my L4's in one of my large adult cages due to lack of space currently, so i hope they come in decently fast.

The plan was to seperate them earlier but i used to many 32 oz. containers for the fruit fly cultures.

I've got alot of L4's curerntly, and man they seem alot smaller than your L5's.....is the change from L4-L5 a big size growth?

So farr I havent had any mis molts lately. I had one a little awhile ago (she lost use of both her back legs)...... ha, I found her holding 2 1/2 fruit flies in her claws She's a beast!

Congrats on the math test! The L6 females are about 1 1/2" to 1 3/4" or so, measuring when 'flattened' under intense light. Haven't measured the L5's, but I think the females are just over 1" and the L5 males a little under or about 1". Maybe they just look bigger in the pics?

And yeah, the mis-molts are a pain. I have one male who is a little twisted. Hunts okay, but if you look at him head-on...the front legs are pointed a little to the side, and the thorax is twisted relative to the abdomen. Should all be fixed this week.

Woot! Just got my first L5 today.... a nice healthy tan female. The fruit flies are too small for her though, so what do you feed your L5's?

Will post pics when I get a chance.

My update>

Females: 2 L7 and 3 L6

Males: 5 L7 and 7 L6

L7 does appear to be sub-adult judging by the relative size of the wing buds.

I have some L3s on order.

yeatzee said:

Woot! Just got my first L5 today.... a nice healthy tan female. The fruit flies are too small for her though, so what do you feed your L5's?Will post pics when I get a chance.

Click to expand...

Congrats! For a female L5, I think houseflies or 1/4" to 3/8" crickets would do...maybe small mealworms, since I know you hate crix.

Meanwhile, back to the title of this thread!

Two weeks ago, I searched the walls around my "secret limbata breeding ground" and found some ooths, two of which were unzipped from 2007 (any earlier and they would have been painted over, how's that for cryptic coloration?). I put them in a pot at room temperature, and the first one hatched two hours ago. I've learned my lesson with this species. I still have unhatched captive ooths from Peter and Arkanis, as well as a bunch from my original female, who is still looking hale and hearty and had the pleasure (?) of seeing her offspring from the only ooth of hers that I wintered outside under normal conditions. This is a beautiful "classic" mantis and I intend to continue keeping it for a few years, but in future, I shall overwinter the ooths outside.

I have grown more and more fawned (sp?) of this species also. I hope, too, to keep em for as long as possible.

Ha, to think how this all started with a lone female sub adult I found.... I fear it will progress to quite a hobby for me...one which rise to the top of my list, causing my poor wallet to be empty much more than usual.

Oh Well :lol:

Edit: A male just molted to L5.

I have also resorted to hand feeding my L5 female the fruit flies until more turn L5, and I can justify buying some pupae.