Cannibalism in the aggressive species

[garin33]

Hi All,

I was wondering what experience others had with raising the more cannabalistic species like S. Limbata, T. Sinensis and S. Lineola. I have ooths from each and was wondering what stage you have separated them at. (L2, L3, etc.) The last time I raised Sinensis, it seem like even though I had them in a large container with lots of flies, that some still ate each other at only L2. I was talking to yen and he mentioned that Limbata is very cannibalistic so I was thinking that I would need to separate them very early but not sure what stage.

Thanks for any input.

 

[Termite48]

Garin: A general guideline to the separation of newly hatched nymphs from an ooth that hatches a large number of nymphs: Do so as soon as you can do it. There is a reason why so many nymphs are produced. Many die on the way to adult, so why not make it harder for them to die by separation. If you do it in phases it is easier. For example after the hatch just divide the brood manageable groups, then after a couple of molts, you can reduce the size of the group and increase the space and the perching sites. Eventually, once they are sexed, you will want to separate the males from the females and even the females from each other is they are prone to cannibalism as are Wallies at that stage. I hope this helps. You will be rewarded by more nymphs reaching adulthood compared to communal rearing allows.

 

[garin33]

Thanks Rich for the suggestions. I often read that it's ok to keep together until L3 but wanted to hear others actual experiences with that.

Does anyone have any suggestions as far as an easy way to separate them and yet it not be a nightmare to feed and mist? ie: a special container. Silentdevil mentioned that he uses one of those craftmate organizers and I did order one but it seems sort of small. Only about 1 inch by 2 inch compartments so going by the 2x rule it seems like the largest nymph could only be 1/2" and it would quickly outgrow that container, especially the larger species. Has anybody made any cool enclosures to separate nymphs?

I was thinking that maybe I could make something out of Acrylic with a bunch of dividers.

I wonder how Rebecca does it with her thousands of nymphs? It seems like it would be a nightmare to have hundreds of deli cups.

 

[MantidLord]

A lot of people keep nymphs together (especially T. sinensis) until they reach a manageable number, which usually happens in a couple of instars. Then they separate. But it's up to you and how much time you can spend caring for x amount of groups. I relatively lower species hatch rates (like M. religiosa), I do like Rich said and separate them into smaller groups. For the hundreds that come out of T. sinensis, I keep them together and dump excess ffs in their until I get a good number.

 

[Termite48]

Garin: I think the way you treat the issue is dependant on what are your goals. If you want to get the most surviving to adult you take one approach. I have conversed with SilentDevil about this as he has many nymphs at one time. His goal is to get to a manageable number to continue the production of oothecae. If you need thirty nymphs reaching the later stages, and you hatch count is 100 to start with, there surely is nothing wrong with a "survival of the fittest" approach" till you achieve the numbers you are looking for. If you goal is to sell nymphs at L-2 and you have a good market, why sacrifice any? This calls for a different strategy.

 

[garin33]

Thanks for the input guys.

Let's say that you have a ooth that hatches out 50 and you want all 50 to survive in order to give 2 each to a class of kids of 25.

So you would separate the 50 in separate containers. I was just wondering if anyone uses or has made something that makes it easier to maintain the 50 containers.

I was thinking along the lines of a large rectangle container that had a bunch of dividers. That way you could take off the lid and mist a bunch at once and then drop the fruit flys into each compartment. However, the problem would probably be that while you are dropping in the ff's that the flys would come out as well as the mantises. The mantids are usually on the top or sides, so maybe a door on the bottom that you can mist and add fruit flys? Anyway, maybe there is just no easier way than having 50 deli cups and taking off each lid and misting and adding fruit flys to each one. Just thought I would ask. The people on this forum seem to come up with some incredibly creative ideas that I thought maybe someone had a special secret that they would share.

Thanks.

 

[Malakyoma]

Thanks Rich for the suggestions. I often read that it's ok to keep together until L3 but wanted to hear others actual experiences with that.

Does anyone have any suggestions as far as an easy way to separate them and yet it not be a nightmare to feed and mist? ie: a special container. Silentdevil mentioned that he uses one of those craftmate organizers and I did order one but it seems sort of small. Only about 1 inch by 2 inch compartments so going by the 2x rule it seems like the largest nymph could only be 1/2" and it would quickly outgrow that container, especially the larger species. Has anybody made any cool enclosures to separate nymphs?

I was thinking that maybe I could make something out of Acrylic with a bunch of dividers.

I wonder how Rebecca does it with her thousands of nymphs? It seems like it would be a nightmare to have hundreds of deli cups.

I actually use jello shot cups to seperate individuals. My little boxers are in them now. small hole cut in both the lid and side covered with screen for venting, damp paper towel bottom, and some excelsior for perching.