Brunners mortality

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Chivalry

Chivalry

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I have a pretty high mortality rate on my B. borealis hatchlings (>50%)... what is it like typically?

They are in an 80 oz deli cup (between 8 and a dozen depending on who's hatching and who's surviving) with about a 3" square cut out of the side with screening, top is the normal hole-punched screen with shelf/carpet liner glued over it. They are getting D. mels once a day and misted once a day. I don't often see them eat, but I read somewhere that they are "shy" eaters, and I -have- seen them eat on occasion, and there is stool at the bottom, so at least some of them are eating fine. Survival has been much better since I ventilated the cup but I'm still losing more than I'd like and no molts to L2 yet.

Also, how long can I keep them together?

 
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No water.You can keep them together until L4.

 
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Nikkko said:
No water.You can keep them together until L4.
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Do you mean they don't need water ??? I spry them every day .....and they seems to be fine ... my are L4 now ... and I started with 12 .. now down to 8.... they are not as freindly as I think ... they do eat eachother.....
 
I have had maybe 8 percent mortality rate. They are such pigs too! I always see them eating they are very voracious. Mine have also been molting at a nice pace. One not though they love high heat and ventilation. Other than that they seem pretty easy.

 
SilentDeviL said:
Do you mean they don't need water ??? I spry them every day .....and they seems to be fine ... my are L4 now ... and I started with 12 .. now down to 8.... they are not as freindly as I think ... they do eat eachother.....
Click to expand...
I used to spray mine.But I found they are doing way better without any water.When adult you can spray once a day,they like to drink sometimes.

Yes they look quiet and friendly but they are fierce predators,able to catch large preys,A really nice and amazing species.

 
gripen said:
I have had maybe 8 percent mortality rate. They are such pigs too! I always see them eating they are very voracious. Mine have also been molting at a nice pace. One not though they love high heat and ventilation. Other than that they seem pretty easy.

Really I keep my at room temperture ... 23-25 C they seem fine..
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Nikkko said:
I used to spray mine.But I found they are doing way better without any water.When adult you can spray once a day,they like to drink sometimes.

Yes they look quiet and friendly but they are fierce predators,able to catch large preys,A really nice and amazing species.
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Cool thanks Nico I'll try to only spary them once a week hope they don't died lol .......
 
I hate to disagree with everyone but I've raised several generations from nymph to adult and this has been my experience...

If you don't have good ventilation you will see more die off. It's good you added the vent.

You never stated how many you started with in that 80 oz cup. Overcrowding can easily be an issue with this species. They need a lot of space. I don't imagine anything over 10 L1 being comfortable in a cup that size.

There is no need to add heat above mid 70's. I have never added heat to mine.

I suggest you mist them every day. I mist mine in the morning and again at night. If not they tend to mismolt unless your room is very humid.

I also keep plenty of FFs in there. I've never seen them not eating so that's odd. Don't know what would cause that.

Just so you know, they are very cannibalistic. I've seen cannibalism at L1 already. You'll see even more if you have various instars together. There is no way to prevent it so understand you are taking a chance keeping them together. I've found they generally do OK if kept in pairs until around L3-L4 but for some reason any more end up eaten. Like right now, I have two L3s together in an 80 oz cup. There used to be 4 in there.

If you post a photo of your cup we could get a better idea of what you could change to increase your success.

 
Wow, there's a lot of conflicting information. I can't find anything resembling a care sheet, either. Can we start a Brunners consolidated, maybe?

It's maintained between 6 and 8 in the 80 oz, population wise. They seem to be getting to a couple of weeks old and then dying off. When I first started them I put them in separate 32 oz cups but they kept dying off (at least I could keep track of which ones were dying that way, though). Is a 32 oz ok for a single one, for an instar or two? I'll need to ventilate those as well. I have the impression that the ventilation is pretty important, but I found that with my ghosts too. I wonder if I could make some sort of homemade screen cube for them, something like 6" on a side. Or maybe a small hex with both sides cut out and screened. What is everyone else keeping their nymphs in?

I saw one eating last night... but it looks like she's dead this morning. Something wrong with the fruit flies, maybe...?

I will take pics of my current setup later, but I'm pretty depressed this morning. Lost my favorite mantis (D. lobata) a few days ago to some sort of infection, the babies are dying, and this morning woke up to one of my idolo females eating my male.... which is pretty heartbreaking because for a noob I feel like I've had great success with them, and they're subadult, and we've come all this way... to lose one like that. *sigh*

 
One of my Brunners is different than any I've seen before. Check her out...

http://mantidforum.net/forums/index.php?showtopic=25986

You could keep 4 or 5 in a 32 oz cup so long as you add some loose excelsior or something else they can climb on.

I don't think there is enough interest to warrant a Brunners consolidated. The conflicting techniques stated here would make it pretty pointless anyway. All I can do is tell you I sold many ooths this past generation and the generation before. I have 4 nymphs of my own right now and they are doing fine. I have 2 L1s in a 16 oz cup with a cloth lid (no extra ventilation) and 2 L3s in an 80 oz with a vent on each side.

Sorry to hear of your run of bad luck. That's a lot to deal with in the short time. Hope things turn around for you.

 

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