Altitude discussion!

[Colorcham427]

So I have strongly believed that very high altitudes are a crucial life supporting factor for all species. Born in, evolved in, etc. It's a pretty serious difference. I questioned myself whether this sort of difference in oxygen levels play a major role in development in mantids...

I am very ignorant in this topic.

Chris P. Told me that altitude plays a huge role with birds and several species die very fast when imported... He never got back to me on species though... He also told me there are entomologists that he personally knows who have been studying this in relation with mantids and told me it is a very real thing. He hasn't replied with any source of info that I could gain some insight on. He is in Malaysia now so I can't talk to him now and this topic is very fascinating so I thought I would bring it ip on here and let him chime in when he returns.

The psdeuacanthops (spelling is prob. Wrong) is doing great with me. She is a WC specimen. I am keeping her in the low 70's as I am waiting for a few males and couple more females. (I really wan you all to get the pleasure to keep these little gems!)

Reason I brought her into this is because she is from a very high altitude area, yet I have experienced nothing but beauty and great sharpness and he is very alert which indicates a healthy WC mantis. (as most of you know WC mantids tend to be overly aggressive!)

Chris P is an amazing asset to this community world wide, and has taught me so many things that he saved me a lot of reading time!

What Chris P told me truly intrigued me when he said that these mantids don't survive in our location, NY/NJ area. But Chris, how did you keep your hooded mantids prior to keeping them in an altitude tent? You still haven't given me any info...

What really interests me is the science of egg development and if there is a difference if I receive an ootheca early or late in development! This gives me thoughts about Parsons chameleons and why their eggs are rarely hatching in the U.S. This sp of chameleon is high in the mountains where it gets pretty cold for any cold blooded animal!

I am going to do more research later tomorrow when I have the time. In the mean time, maybe some of you could add some input into this discussion?

I apologize if my paragraphs are mixed up. Typing on this little iPod touch sucks and is very time consuming lol I can't wait for the new iPhone with a holographic real size key board! Haha peace to all, continue herping!

 

[gripen]

if i remember correctly there was a lot of grief keeping the first import of idolos. apparently it was because they were from high altitude and conditions could not be maintained.

 

[Termite48]

For my two cents worth; I am not an entomologist, although I took a course at the University level that was basic Entolmology (my minor was Chemistry), I do not think unless one does extensive reading in this area of barometric effects on insect husbandry, there will be anything evident. We all know that as the temperature increases, the density of the air decreases. Therefore the altitude and the relationship to oxygen levels is mute unless one is dealing with the same R/H. I think that any insect can be made to adapt, given enough help to cope with the new conditions. For example if we are raising Violins from India and we are trying to breed them in the high desert of Arizona, there may be an immediate impact on the wild caught specimen. Once the specimen is able to cope with the new location and has offspring, depending one the mate's genetics, the new generation is going to be better suited to living a normal life in the new environment. There are some insects and some animals in general, even in micro-biology, that are so fastidious that they cannot live a normal life cycle without the presence of certain trace minerals. So, my answer to the concern is that there are always ideals of conditions for each species.

One can find that it may be that the water quality has a lot to do with things. That is why it is important to not give the mantids anything but the closest to rainwater as possible. That is not meaning that acid rain is good, but after there has been adequate rainfall and any impurities in the air have been cleaned up my the precipitation, the resultant rainfall is close to that of distilled water. This is great for the insects of all genera.

The altitude of an insect can very even within it's native country of origin. In the Himalayas there are very high elevations an at the coast of India there are obviously places that are at sea level. That is not to say that there cannot be Violins living in elevations that are much higher than sea level. Barometric conditions may affect all aspects of the life cycle from the ooth quality to the number of oothecae a female can lay in her lifetime, to the number of fertile oothecae that can be laid in between fertilization.

Until experiments are made with various controls as guidelines, there can be no certainty to the premise that we cannot raise certain Insects in this country. If those experiments have been done in the years since I have been living in the library, so it may be that we can conclude that certain species are not adaptable to this country. There again this country is so varied. Who can say that the deserts in the West and South are not a world different from the Rocky Mountains or the Central Plains. We need to share more and log more of what we do before we can draw much in the way of conclusions about Mantid raising.

 

[Rick]

Hey Rich, how about some paragraphs to make that easier to read?

I would suspect mantids could adapt to varying altitudes.