1st attempt - mating enclosure advice.

[Synapze]

I'm ready to make my first mating attempt and could use advice on the breeding enclosure. I have only 1 male and 4 female Creobroters, so you can see why I am asking for opinions... poor guy.

Dimensions approximately 25" h x 13" w. with vines and fake plants.

Question : Have I provided enough cover to give the male a good chance to hide when business has concluded, or should I just resign myself to the fact that I'll need to watch the entire transaction?

 

[MantisGirl13]

You should have given him enough cover, but I'd watch anyway, just to be sure. Good luck!

- MantisGirl13

 

[Mantis Lady]

Good luck on the breeding and no lost heads

 

[hysteresis]

Super cool. I'll be watching to see how this turns out. 

 

[Mystymantis]

I would suggest watching them just in case, at least at first or until they are connected if possible. Good luck.

 

[Jaywo]

I would try putting food in there so the female eats that instead of the male. Or make sure all the females are fed very well.

 

[Sean_N]

Looks good, but will probably help if you chech up on them periodically. 

We were successful in mating our carolinas last fall (Sep-Nov). Made sure that both were well fed, then put the male in her cage. As soon as he spotted her, he immediately wasted no time, but always mounted backwards then turned around (a safety thing?)

Left them alone overnight, but was lucky enough to have witnessed the dismounts in the morning. I noticed that he always went for cover down into the plants. They mated on three separate occasions, with each time being about 12 hours on average. I only had to break them up once because we were going out of town that day

She laid a total of 9 ooths, starting with a huge one, then they got smaller. We left all the ooths in the cage, and they started hatching in early Jan. The nymphs came out in small (1-3) groups, and not the big bunch like I see on pics and videos.

 

[Synapze]

@Sean_N I observed for an entire evening, but finally just left the guy to fend for himself. He was hidden safely in the leaves the next morning, but very skittish. Tried to him again with another female the other day, but he had showed no interest at all.

I ended up trimming the vines and foliage near the top of the enclosure because they were just too hard to work around since all the action was taking place near the top. 

I have some beautiful green carolinas maturing now that I intend to mate. Hope I have the same success you did. 

 

[Sean_N]

@Synapze I would love to to have green carolinas for a change. We’ve had brown carolinas (wild-caught) for a couple of years as pets, and this is the first time we have bred a pair.

Were your green carolinas from a green mantis? I read that nymphs can develop the color of their surroundings. One of the nymphs molted to L2 in the green artificial plant, and has a lot of green coloration to it ( head, limbs). I moved it to an all green colored environment (small deli cup) in hopes that it will mature green.

Let us know how the mating progresses

 

[Synapze]

@Sean_N I purchased the ooth that produced the green nymphs, so I don't know the color of the mother.

When it comes to color, I think it's luck of the draw sometimes, but I do believe color can be influenced by surrounding. I'm no expert, but I've experienced a drastic color change with a wild caught Chinese once. It went from this brilliant green... 

... to a drab brown within 2 weeks under approximately the same humidity and temperature conditions. Certainly color had to have played a part. I dunno.

I've pulled 2 more ooths out of the fridge that I'm sure are viable, and 6 that were laid by a wild caught Carolina. She started laying the same day I captured her, so I don't know if they are viable.... I doubt it since they are pretty scarce in my area. I hope I get gots of green nymphs from the batch. I've become rather fond of Carolina females. 

 

[Sean_N]

@Synapze I think Carolinas are really nice mantids, especially the females, who are cool-tempered and don’t fly

I’ll keep my and hope for a green adult

Were the nymphs that turned out green similar in color to this L1?

 

[Synapze]

@Sean_N  Similar, but a little more of a pastel pale green. I hope that doesn't change.  They are growing so fast! I want to do some color experiments at some point, not that there haven't been enough conducted already. Just for my own amusement.   I'll finish my Creobroter experiments first. I'm increasing my sample size to 40 nymphs, so I'll have my hands full for a while. 

 

[Sean_N]

@Synapze Cool! Keep is posted