Pseudocreobotra ocellata breeding diary

i hope u don't mind me doing a diary on here..from now til i breed them in about 3 weeks or so..il need some help from u guys to determine when they need to breed..but will come to that in a bit il post some pics of the last few weeks and up to now.The mantis i have in this thread i bought from ian.it had an accident in the post and the male lost its legg..ian offered me a full refund so there no problem,,it shed in to a male few days ago and now it has 4 legs oh tho its not as strong or long as the rest but hes using it..any way heres some pics from the last few weeks.

To view it full size just click on the pic

Here u see my female..this was taken last week..its a sub adult..not ready to shed yet..im feeding them on house flys.the flys are fed on bread dunked in honey..is that ok.i was told that it was fine to feed flys bread soaked in honey?if not il change the feed..

now the male - pics taken a few weeks ago

Awesome pics, especially of the housefly.

I think the open forum diary is a cool idea, if we could make a politically correct place for it, not sure if the "photos" section is right.

I would love to do something like this for Mantids I have little experience with but others would.

People always love to give their 2 cents too.

acerbity said:

Awesome pics, especially of the housefly. I think the open forum diary is a cool idea, if we could make a politically correct place for it, not sure if the "photos" section is right.

I would love to do something like this for Mantids I have little experience with but others would.

People always love to give their 2 cents too.

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i pmed rick..i was unsure to put it in breeding forum or this..il leave it up to him..if he feels its better of in the breeding section then thats cool.. i have lots of pics..this is going to take me some time to upload them all..il try and get some more done tonight and the rest tomorow..

Macro junkie, are you sure this is P. wahlbergii when you order them? It looks more like P. ocellata to me. your subadult appear to be small and the spike on the abdomen is not as long and sharp at the end. If you have a shot at the pronotum (shield) it will give a better pic.

yen_saw said:

Macro junkie, are you sure this is P. wahlbergii when you order them? It looks more like P. ocellata to me. your subadult appear to be small and the spike on the abdomen is not as long and sharp at the end. If you have a shot at the pronotum (shield) it will give a better pic.

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well not even ian knows really..there sold as that name but hes not really sure..and i only ben doing this few months so im not a pro..u dont think there wahlbergi then?

Eventhough they are not adult, you can tell the differences. If the shield extended well beyond eye point, it is P. wahlbergii. Don't think yours are, a pic on the shield will help.

i just looked..your right..its not..so what is the difference?any variations in the 2 apart from the shield?

http://usamantis.com/PWvsPO.html

yen_saw said:

http://usamantis.com/PWvsPO.html

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nice link! thanks buddie - im going to have a read..b back later.

Pseudocreobotra ocellata,im getting an ooth of ian on monday of that..so this is what i have allready..and the only difference is the other one grows bigger and has a bigger sheild.im learning fast.i wonder if any one in the uk sells Pseudocreobotra wahlbergi? oh can u get rick to change the name of the thread.. :lol: hmm il ask graham tomorow..im sure hes got them.

i need some help from u pros - the male sheaded about week ago.the female shed last night..when should i introduce them..this will be my 1st time ever doing this..so il need your assistance.

edit - i just had a read of ricks thread http://mantidforum.net/forums/index.php?showtopic=7112 ..it says about 2 weeks..so 2 weeks from now the fmela will be be 2 weeks sheaded and the male wil be 3.this sound about right to u?

Yup. That sounds about right, though the longer you wait for the male, the better and more inclined he'll be to mate.

I've mated P. ocellata twice. Though I don't have a whole bunch of experience, here's some things I noticed.

The females are extremely aggressive and attack almost anything that comes their way, so if you want your male to survive, feed her A LOT before you introduce him. A lot as in until she drops partially eaten food or rejects it altogether. If she isn't interested in attacking prey, she won't be interested in attacking her mate either.

Since she was hanging out on her container's lid, I introduced him to her after she kept dropping her food by just turning the lid to where she was right side up and placing his lid right behind her's. I blew and poked her a bit, until she started a rocking motion. P. ocellata females don't move much, and in order to attract your male's attention (since he's skittish), you have to make her move by poking her excessively. Once your male sees her, he may stare at her for a while, but if he's ready, he will mount. The ones that aren't ready either run away or just keep staring for hours.

If he mounts, she may try her best to get him off her by using her hind leg to 'sweep' his legs off of her abdomen or wings. This is okay, and she will eventually succumb to him.

The first mating I did with my male, it took him 5 minutes to mount, but 8 hours to actually START mating. The actual mating took about 30 minutes to an hour. Once he's mounted, I would leave them next to a window. After the male is done, he WILL fly off. I learned this in my first mating... I keep mating couples on a plant next to my computer monitor so I can constantly check on them as I type. I heard his wings fluttering, and I looked over and he was gone from the female. However, since they were close to the window, he ended up there. So if you have any males that fly after dismounting a female, placing them next to a window will be your best bet to finding him. The female won't fly off after mating.

I don't recommend keeping them both in a cage or container, as the female may get hungry again and if the male dismounts, he may run around and into her arms.

My P. ocellata female laid an ooth for me the very next day. The older your female is, the more she is given to eat, and the maturity of the male who mated with her all affect how and when she lays her ooth.

I will end this mini-book here and wish you the best with breeding these...

mantida said:

I will end this mini-book here and wish you the best with breeding these...

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i really appreciate all he help your giving me.so the older the male the more chance of him wanting to mate..?the male sheaded 1 weeks befroe the female..so i leave it 3 weeks after the female shedding for the last time i should be ok..she shed yesterday.so that would make it 13th of december i need to introduce them..and il make sure i have a tal plant for them to breed on..thanks again for your help

macro junkie said:

i really appreciate all he help your giving me.so the older the male the more chance of him wanting to mate..?the male sheaded 1 weeks befroe the female..so i leave it 3 weeks after the female shedding for the last time i should be ok..she shed yesterday.so that would make it 13th of december i need to introduce them..and il make sure i have a tal plant for them to breed on..thanks again for your help

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A tall plant is only optional, as a little one is okay also. I used a small fake one:



Just as long as it has perching areas for them it should be alright.

well look at the thorax p whalbergii got an thorax wider then long p occelata have,s one longer then wide(or am i wrong now...?)

The female which shed 2 days ago.

as always click to view full size pics

the male



heres the female about 1 week before she shed

female