Can you 'cook' and Ooth?

[Teamonger]

I am so worried. I'm one week away from the 2 month mark incubating my two ooths. I just realized the heat in the bug room has been stuck on full for an unspecified amount of time. I like colder temperatures personally so as far as I was concerned the room was always just too warm and I had no idea how warm besides what I set the thermostat to.

So could this have killed my ooths? Their species are spiny flower and budwing and I believe the temp managed to get up to somewhere around 90 degrees or perhaps a bit more.

 

[Serle]

I would be concerned with the humidity , at least that could mitigate the heat if it was kept high.

 

[Teamonger]

Humidity has been between 45 and 70 as I work out the balancing act to keep it at that optimal 60. Its never been overly low as I've been keeping a ridiculously close eye on it.

I'm really hoping that between the humidity and both of these being African species they should be fine. I'll be crossing all my fingers and toes.

 

[CosbyArt]

@Teamonger As long as humidity has been good your ooths should be fine if they haven't been "cooking" for weeks; after all, they experience such temperatures in their natural habitat as both are from Africa. Of course mantids hatch during late spring/early summer so I imagine the temperatures in Africa are by then getting rather hot.

The biggest causes of dead ooths is from low humidity (such as long shipments, or improper husbandry), and artificial diapause that is extended too long (or with low humidity as well).

 

[Teamonger]

@CosbyArt Thank you for the reply, less worried now. I feel like an expectant parent but with no way to ensure the coming baby is ok. I need myself a mantis egg ultrasound

 

[CosbyArt]

@CosbyArt Thank you for the reply, less worried now. I feel like an expectant parent but with no way to ensure the coming baby is ok. I need myself a mantis egg ultrasound

Your welcome, and glad to hear it. I know the feeling, and sorry to say the wait is all that can be done.

Nah you don't want a ultrasound of them, after all it would ruin the surprise of what gender they are.

 

[Serle]

@Teamonger you are going to be one exuberant parent when your ooth hatches. It has been 3 weeks for me and I am more excited than some real expectant parents. After 6/8 weeks we start to question the fertility , heat , humidity and any thing else we can think of. Let me know soon as it hatches..... S

 

[Teamonger]

@Serle Exactly I have not been this nervous about anything before, besides maaaaybe exams back in Uni. I'm at the point I have to just force myself not to think about it or I convince myself somethings bad has happened. I will explode with glee once they hatch for sure!

 

[Teamonger]

My paranoia that my thermostat issues have cost me my mantises grows by the day. I just tore the whole heating wiring apart with my father and we found the problem. I have a space heater taking care of the room until I can get an electrician to fix it as it was unfortunately not the thermostat nor the base board heater but some other more complicated bit down in the boxes by the circuit breakers.

So its time for me to ask the next question. How long do you wait until you give up on an ooth? I know I have read a lot on this topic during my research but I seem to remember that 2 months is rather the top end of the spectrum unless you are attempting to hatch an undiapaused ooth from a species that usually over winters which can make it take up to 3? Is that correct? Has anyone had obscenely long hatching times? Should I cling to hope?

 

[CosbyArt]

@Teamonger Personally I leave my ooths be for an additional 30 days or more than I think needed, to ensure they are not late hatching ooths.

Looking through my mantid logs on my ooth sections below are the times I had.

The longest time from a nymph hatching from a ooth for me has been 337 days since the ooth was collected from the wild. That was a Brunner's Mantis (Brunneria borealis) ooth though, and nymphs are known to hatch up to 2 years after the ooth being laid - so that isn't a fair assessment.

For a Carolina mantis (Stagmomantis carolina) the longest hatch time was 87 days (no diapause), and Chinese mantis (Tenodera sinensis) was 98 days (no diapause) for me. Of course those are the longest hatch times, with the average hatch time is about half of those, and the fastest was 26 days (with a long diapause).

 

[Teamonger]

@CosbyArt
Thank you for the response. I'll keep them incubating for a month longer before giving up all hope then. In the mean time I think its time for me to start incubating my back up Chinese Ooth I was diapausing in the fridge. Wish me better luck with that one! Not as exciting (but just as adorable) as the other species but any mantises are better then none at this point  

 

[CosbyArt]

@CosbyArt
Thank you for the response. I'll keep them incubating for a month longer before giving up all hope then. In the mean time I think its time for me to start incubating my back up Chinese Ooth I was diapausing in the fridge. Wish me better luck with that one! Not as exciting (but just as adorable) as the other species but any mantises are better then none at this point  

Your welcome, and hopefully it is just a late hatch. Well better luck on your next ooth.  :clover:

The Chinese mantis (Tenodera sinensis) has become one of my favorites, such great personalities and tame exceptionally well (with most wild adult mantids hand tamed in the wild even from the start) - not to mention a naturalized species found about everywhere easy enough.

 

[Serle]

@CosbyArt
Thank you for the response. I'll keep them incubating for a month longer before giving up all hope then. In the mean time I think its time for me to start incubating my back up Chinese Ooth I was diapausing in the fridge. Wish me better luck with that one! Not as exciting (but just as adorable) as the other species but any mantises are better then none at this point  

Tea , it must be frustrating X 10 . When I received my ooth I had planned on 4 to 8 weeks . The early hatch was an anomaly I am sure. They were wild harvested therefore I was unsure of their age . With domesticated (bred} ooth the breeder would know the date of deposit I'm sure . My thoughts ... S 

 

[Teamonger]

@Serle So frustrating! But nothing I can do now but fix the problem, start again, and hold out some hope the two might still miraculously hatch. Congratz on the Christmas mantises, best Christmas present ever