c. humeralis male on female's back while she's laying ooth

[wuwu]

so i attempted to mate my pair the other day. i put them together inside a 2.5 tank with a heat lamp, as suggested by another breeder. the female was superfat and the male was well-fed. unfortunately, i never witnessed them mating. i didn't even see the male try to mount. so today, i took them out and put the male right behind her and what do you know, he hopped on and tried to mate. however, i never saw them connect. it seems like she wasn't letting him.

i check on them in a few hours and i see her laying an ooth with him still on. i thought that was neat. hopefully they mated, but i just wasn't there to see it.

 

[OGIGA]

Oh man, I sure hope so. Nice that you got all the pictures. Good luck!

 

[wuwu]

wow, the strangest thing happened! about a hour after she laid that ooth, she starts laying another! i've never read or heard of this happening. it's another good sized ooth too, not a small one. man, this female c. humeralis is some sort of freak.

here's her laying an ooth and the ooth on the top is the on she laid a hour ago!

 

[Rick]

That first ooth is deformed. Sorry to tell ya but I am afraid they did not mate.

 

[OGIGA]

Just wondering, what indicates that they didn't mate? Deformed ootheca?

 

[Rick]

Just wondering, what indicates that they didn't mate? Deformed ootheca?

The deformed ooth doesn't mean they didn't mate. I just bet my left arm they didn't. For one, these stay connected for several hours and they are not the easiest to mate to begin with. She was due to lay eggs so wouldn't allow him to mate anyways.

 

[yen_saw]

John your adult female wide arm has deformed wing. For some reason, male doesn't like to mate with adult female with deform wing for me, it happened to my nigerian flower, spiny flower, and devil flower mantis before, and the fact that this species is difficult to mate make it worse. I had tried a gruesome method by crushing the head of male to initiate mating, it works sometimes, providing the female is cooperate. I am afraid the ooth from your wide arm female is not looking good.

 

[wuwu]

it's not the male that's the problem though, it's the female. the male tries to connect with her but she doesn't seem to be receptive.

 

[Rick]

it's not the male that's the problem though, it's the female. the male tries to connect with her but she doesn't seem to be receptive.

I had same problem. Keep trying and hopefully you can get a mating so the rest of the ooths will be fertile.

 

[wuwu]

noone has mentioned anything about her laying two ooths within a hour. so i assume this is pretty common!? :shock:

 

[Rick]

noone has mentioned anything about her laying two ooths within a hour. so i assume this is pretty common!? :shock:

No but I have had it happen before with other mantids. That first ooth wouldn't hatch even if they had mated.

 

[wuwu]

since that female already laid 2 ooths, i figured she wouldn't want to mate so i took the male off of her. he really didn't want to get off, i had to literally pry his forearms off. so i decided to pair him up w/ my other female. i stuck them in the same tank as before and left them alone. this morning, i see him on her back but again, not connected. i told him i was going to smash his head, like yen suggested, and he started mating immediately! i actually witnessed him connecting with the female.

when i got home from work today, he was still on her but they weren't connected anymore. when i checked back in a few hours, he was mating again. i don't know how many more times he's going to mate with her. anyways, now that i've succesffuly mated c. humeralis, i feel like i can mate any mantids now!

 

[OGIGA]

You told him that you'd smash his head and it worked? Awesome! :lol:

 

[Rick]

Good job! Do both of your females have messed up wings?

 

[wuwu]

Good job! Do both of your females have messed up wings?

yup, i've been having a string of bad luck with female mantids and messed up wings. haven't had a male with messed up wings, only females.

 

[OGIGA]

Do wings still get messed up even if you have them mate right-side-up rather than upsidedown?

 

[Rick]

Do wings still get messed up even if you have them mate right-side-up rather than upsidedown?

Mating has nothing to do with the wings. The wings normally get messed up during the final molt.

 

[OGIGA]

Very interesting. Sounds like something natural selection should have taken care of.