2009 I. oratoria incubation info

[kamakiri]

Didn't see much cannibalism from my first batch until L4 kept very well fed. Now at L5, I'm down to about 20 in two containers. I'll probably separate soon.

The second batch I lost a few on day 2 because I didn't feed. 13 hatched and I have 9 now. Since they were fed, I haven't lost any.

 

[MantidLord]

Didn't see much cannibalism from my first batch until L4 kept very well fed. Now at L5, I'm down to about 20 in two containers. I'll probably separate soon. The second batch I lost a few on day 2 because I didn't feed. 13 hatched and I have 9 now. Since they were fed, I haven't lost any.

Oh okay. I just experienced my first cannibalism for this batch this morning. There's food in there, but I guess because aphids aren't as active as fruit flies, they're not consumed as fast. But oh well, as long as my population does completely drop, I'm not too concerned.

 

[MantidLord]

Got my first L2 today. Out of 13, all but one are L1. Then my mom said she saw a mantis while watering her flowers. I went outside and found it (another L2), and then while I was talking to her at the doorway, I saw a green one run down the cement. So I caught that one, and it's an L2. So things are looking pretty good.

 

[Katnapper]

Got my first L2 today. Out of 13, all but one are L1. Then my mom said she saw a mantis while watering her flowers. I went outside and found it (another L2), and then while I was talking to her at the doorway, I saw a green one run down the cement. So I caught that one, and it's an L2. So things are looking pretty good.

Sounds like you've got it going on...

 

[MantidLord]

Sounds like you've got it going on...

Yep. I found five in my front yard, but I let them go so they can populate the garden that we just started. So it's nice that they were all ready on the flowers and stuff. I was going to release some of mine out there, but I guess there's no need. Had two L1 deaths, but another one molted to L2. So hopefully everything will stabilize.

 

[Katnapper]

I've got 4 ooths of T. sinensis that hatched recently... that are getting kicked out pretty soon to my yard and local area. I've got about 10 or so more ooths of the same, still to hatch... with several mother's still cranking them out, lol!

Sprinkle some here... sprinkle some there... dump a batch here... throw some over there... hehehe!! :lol:

I don't think I've ever seen an I. oratoria in the wild... I don't think they're native here. (but I could be wrong... haven't researched it!)

 

[MantidLord]

Hahaha! They're not native to anywhere in the United States, but they only occur naturally in the Western states. They're typically a desert species, hence the reason why you don't have to worry about humidity problems. I'm still waiting for my M. religiosa to hatch, but I'm losing hope. If my ooths don't hatch by the end of this month, I'm just gonna put them in some bushes and let nature take care of them.

But I'm not dumping as much nymphs in the wild because the hatch number is small, and I don't have alot anyway. <_<

Oh, and congratulations on your T. sinensis success. Man, your garden must be a mantis palace!

 

[kamakiri]

Update:

Amazingly, the second ooth started hatching again! At least one came out on 5/22 (others may have been eaten by the temporarily housed tenant), one more on the 24th and two more today. So that's 3 1/2 weeks of pause in the hatching...

I did check on the first ooth, and there is a single dead straggler hatched at an unknown date

 

[joossa]

I told you in the care sheet to not be surprised if you found additional nymphs days and days after hatching!

Oh yeah D. melanogaster is definitely the way to go at L1. It's good to hear about your success. Do you have any updates?

 

[kamakiri]

I told you in the care sheet to not be surprised if you found additional nymphs days and days after hatching! Oh yeah D. melanogaster is definitely the way to go at L1. It's good to hear about your success. Do you have any updates?

Yeah, I had more hatching from the 2nd, larger ooth over a MONTH later! I'll have to post the exact dates when I get home. So some from that ooth are L4 or 5 and the last one is still L1! It may be closer to two months!

For the first ooth, I only have what I think are subadults so far. Hope to have some adults soon.

One observation about this species is that they do seem very aggressive. All of mine need to be separated by L3 or 4. And I love how they chase down prey. These are one of my favorite so far.

 

[kamakiri]

Finally remembered to check the hatching records...

First hatching: 4/29/09

Last to hatch: 6/17/09 (recorded) the actual last one might be later. But that's still almost two months.

 

[kamakiri]

Finally have my first adult today. So that's just over 4 months. Surprised it has taken this long. It's a male and I have a couple of subadult females that should molt soon...

 

[kamakiri]

Got my first female adult yesterday morning...wish me luck on breeding them!

 

[Katnapper]

Got my first female adult yesterday morning...wish me luck on breeding them!

Great!!

Best of luck with the breeding!

 

[kamakiri]

Great!!

Best of luck with the breeding!

Thanks, Rebecca! Now I just have to fatten her up!

I do love how oratorias are generally *very* agressive, and chase down their prey. Shouldn't be that difficult to get her fat.

 

[kamakiri]

Well, she didn't get very fat...but I chanced it anyway. She did only eat half of an adult cricket just prior, so I figured she couldn't be *that* hungry. After staring at her for a couple of hours from 1" away, he's finally mounted and connected.

I guess it wasn't that much of a risk also considering that I have several subadults and another adult male even if he only has three walking legs.

 

[kamakiri]

Still no ooth from the first female. Had her re-mated last saturday 8/29 (with the male going out to Rick) Not sure why it is taking her so long considering that they are not large mantises.

One female mis-molted last week and I have a couple more subadult females along with 1 subadult and 3 adult males.

 

[MantidLord]

Wow, as of today I have three adult males, one adult female, three juvenile males and four juvenile females. I hope your breeding program goes okay. I've never experienced sexual cannibalism with this species until days after mating if I left the male in with the female. Your female should be cool, all mine all ways laid after a week or two. best of luck

 

[Ntsees]

Still no ooth from the first female. Had her re-mated last saturday 8/29 (with the male going out to Rick) Not sure why it is taking her so long considering that they are not large mantises.One female mis-molted last week and I have a couple more subadult females along with 1 subadult and 3 adult males.

How fat/gorged is the female currently? Although the time it takes to have an oothecae depends on the mantid itself, having her gorged helps out.

 

[kamakiri]

Wow, as of today I have three adult males, one adult female, three juvenile males and four juvenile females. I hope your breeding program goes okay. I've never experienced sexual cannibalism with this species until days after mating if I left the male in with the female. Your female should be cool, all mine all ways laid after a week or two. best of luck

Good to know that the males aren't in much danger. That's what concerns me is that she was mated over three weeks prior and her appetite wasn't that big. I guess that's why I had her re-mated. Thanks for the response, these are my first oratorias...so I had no idea what was considered normal.

How fat/gorged is the female currently? Although the time it takes to have an oothecae depends on the mantid itself, having her gorged helps out.

Not very fat right now, but fatter than last week. The other week she was only taking partial crickets and not putting on weight. I guess it may be that it was too early for her first mating or it just did not 'take'. At least now it looks like she is taking full adult/subadult crickets.