Female ghost mantid is laying othca

[Tonypace2009]

My female ghost mantid is about 5 weeks mature and as of Monday my male is 2 weeks mature.I put them together last night for a few hours but the female wasn't to receptive she climbed all over the enclosure with him on her back. I am sure they didn't couple up. This afternoon she is laying her first otheca and am pretty sure it is in fertile. So my question is when should I try to breed them? Should I wait a couple days or longer?

 

[jseng]

I would wait a week, making sure to feed the female a ton (adult male Ghosts don't really eat much, but you can try feeding him as well) before you try pairing them up again.

 

[Tonypace2009]

I would wait a week, making sure to feed the female a ton (adult male Ghosts don't really eat much, but you can try feeding him as well) before you try pairing them up again.

Thanks The female is no trouble to feed but the male has little interest in food even a fluterering moth stuck up to his mouth. I will try again in about a week.Moderators fell free to delete second post I tried to in edit. My mantids are not cooperating and neither is my web browser sorry for double post.

 

[Tonypace2009]

Well I reintroduced my male to my female ghost mantid and he got on her back and she started climbing all over the enclosure . Several times it seems as though she was trying to kick him off so after a couple hours I separated them. Is this normal behavior from the female? This is my only male ghost mantid I have not witnessed them conected. My question is should I keep separating them when the female shows this behavior or leave the male in enclosure and hope for the best. This is the the female that laid the  infertile otheca about February 2nd at least I am 98 percent sure its in fertile I never saw them connected and only left the room a couple of times for a few short minutes both times they were put together .  The male is over 3 weeks matured. And the female is about 6 weeks matured. Any feedback appreciated

 

[jseng]

Sounds like she's about to lay an (infertile) ooth. I would separate them until she does, then feed them both for a week or so, making sure she gets nice and plump again, and try to reintroduce them later on down the line.

 

[Tonypace2009]

Sounds like she's about to lay an (infertile) ooth. I would separate them until she does, then feed them both for a week or so, making sure she gets nice and plump again, and try to reintroduce them later on down the line.  

She isn't wasting anytime the other infertile ooth was about  10 days ago I guess timing is everything. They are already separated  the way she was acting last night I couldn't risk my only male.  I had another male that would have matured 1 week before the female  but never accomplished his molt  he fell at the start of his molt and couldn't hang right to molt. This male has no interest in food  he even refused a fluterering moth.I have been getting him to drink water but no food.he will accept water from a seringe is there any kind of liquid food they may take? Thanks for the help

 

[jseng]

Male ghosts don't eat very much in general, but if you want him to have some sustenance before trying to get him to perform again, you could try taking a prey item (I use blue bottles or Turkestan roaches), pull off its head and use tongs put the gooey end to his mouth. If he's at all hungry, he'll probably snatch it out of your tongs and begin munching. Alternatively, if that is too gruesome for you, you could mix some honey and/or bee pollen with some water and use a dropper to have him drink it. I actually do that with all my adult mantids anyway, and few can resist.

 

[jseng]

Another thing that I've found increases receptiveness to mating in both male and female mantids is heat, so I will usually place both mantids in an extra warm room or under heat lamps for about an hour before placing them together.

 

[Tonypace2009]

Another thing that I've found increases receptiveness to mating in both male and female mantids is heat, so I will usually place both mantids in an extra warm room or under heat lamps for about an hour before placing them together.

My female ghost is climbing all over the enclosure today most likely looking for a place to lay a  second in fertile ooth. I will warm them up ahead of time next time.  Thanks for the tip 

 

[Tonypace2009]

I tried introducing my male ghost day 7 after my female ghost laid her second in fertile ooth the male was ready  but the female took off runing with him trying to grab on. Apparently the male has lost the ends of his front two toes on his front legs and the ends of the toes on his raptor's. He keeps trying to climb all over his enclosure but just keeps falling. Does the female always take off runing when the male tries to climb on or is there a time when she will stop and let him on. Day 8 I tried giving the female a cricket while letting the male climb on didn't work she isn't hungry. Without being able to climb the male is to clumsy to climb on her fast enough. Is there some kind of sign to look for when the female is ready? I thought day 7 was perfect the female refused food and she is plump but when the male tried to climb on she was out of there. I warmed them up an hour before introducing them both times day 7 and 8. How many ooths does a female ghost lay on average? The female is climbing all over her enclosure now like she has in the past before she lays a ooth 8 days after the last. I don't know how much longer my poor male is going to make it.

 

[Tonypace2009]

My female ghost mantid laid her 3rd infertile oothecae 30 minutes ago exactly 9 days after the last. If my female is unreceptive to the male because she is already producing her eggs then how early should I introduce the male before she starts producing her next eggs? Should I try to introduce my male 3 or 4 days after she lays her ooth instead of 7 days? Why is she laying so often? She is a aggressive eater I feed her twice a day . She finally turned down food day 7 (from previous ooth) the tempature in my room averages 74 degrees and I do not have controlle over house thermostat so lowering tempature is not an option. From my understanding you shouldn't introduce the male until the female turns down food is this right? Has anyone else experienced this situation with ghost mantids?

 

[Kermit]

I agree increase the temperature, have pre feed and have unlimited food supply in the enclosure, then add misting them both. That usually will do the trick... If prefeed and unlimited food in enclosure I have had no instances of cannibalism... Of course it's always possible. But you have to weigh the effort and energy expended to watch them as my experience is that it tends to take up to 24 hrs for the hook up and many times it happens in the first hours of the morning.... I let the food supply dwindle once and a male got munched. Another time I let food supply dwindle for a day and one female munched the other female (no male present)... Try adding misting and heat... Tends to start the process.

 

[Tonypace2009]

I agree increase the temperature, have pre feed and have unlimited food supply in the enclosure, then add misting them both. That usually will do the trick... If prefeed and unlimited food in enclosure I have had no instances of cannibalism... Of course it's always possible. But you have to weigh the effort and energy expended to watch them as my experience is that it tends to take up to 24 hrs for the hook up and many times it happens in the first hours of the morning.... I let the food supply dwindle once and a male got munched. Another time I let food supply dwindle for a day and one female munched the other female (no male present)... Try adding misting and heat... Tends to start the process.

I will try misting also .My biggest problem is the male can't seem to climb since he is missing his front right toe . He is trying to climb but keeps falling and she stays more toward the top of the enclosure. So as of now about all I can do is place him on her back and hope she gives him a few seconds to latch on. If she wasn't runing around full speed trying to scrape him off of her  I am pretty sure he could manage. I guess my plan is to feed her real heavy for 3 days then feed her and try putting the male on her while she is eating.I will have several feeders ready and keep feeding her. If she goes after him I will remove him and try again day 5. 

I also had a talk with her about the bird and the bees. But she just looked at me looking for a bee to eat.?

 

[Kermit]

Ha-ha! Yeah I am anxious too and tend to put the male on the female's back. It's safer than letting him try the sneak attack... Lol. If she's well fed she shouldn't work too hard to get him off. I just did this about a month ago with my ghosts and he ride around for 2 days on her back and the she laid her ooth with him on her back.... Not sure they connected. He got off on his own then managed to get on the second female and was there for 2 days.... Then back to the first female again... That's when I let the unlimited food supply down a bit... He tried to go back to #2 again and she ate him.... I was waiting for my flies to hatch and #1 female munched #2... I ended up with 6 ooths in total between the 2 females. I know at least a couple should be fertilized. Eta on hatch should be mid March... Experimenting with just breeding the largest black ghosts of the last hatch. Looks like Darth Vader!!! 

Keep me posted on your efforts.

Heat and misting should trigger them to go into heat.

Good luck

Erik

 

[Tonypace2009]

Ha-ha! Yeah I am anxious too and tend to put the male on the female's back. It's safer than letting him try the sneak attack... Lol. If she's well fed she shouldn't work too hard to get him off. I just did this about a month ago with my ghosts and he ride around for 2 days on her back and the she laid her ooth with him on her back.... Not sure they connected. He got off on his own then managed to get on the second female and was there for 2 days.... Then back to the first female again... That's when I let the unlimited food supply down a bit... He tried to go back to #2 again and she ate him.... I was waiting for my flies to hatch and #1 female munched #2... I ended up with 6 ooths in total between the 2 females. I know at least a couple should be fertilized. Eta on hatch should be mid March... Experimenting with just breeding the largest black ghosts of the last hatch. Looks like Darth Vader!!! 

Keep me posted on your efforts.

Heat and misting should trigger them to go into heat.

Good luck

Erik

My female was Green and turned light tan her last molt. I guess it's tuff being a male mantid.My guy is so banged up there is no way he could climb fast enough to sneak up on the female he doesn't seem to realize he lost the tip of his front leg he keeps trying to use it and keeps falling. Heat and misting. Thanks hopefully this puts her in the mood. Are there pictures of the black ghost mantid?

 

[Kermit]

Super Black "Vader" Project... Top males and females selected!

View attachment 6998

 

[Tonypace2009]

Super Black "Vader" Project... Top males and females selected!

View attachment 6998

View attachment 6999

View attachment 7000

That is cool .The female is really black all over.☺

 

[Kermit]

Ghosts are one of the best!

 

[Tonypace2009]

Ghosts are one of the best!

I know this is why I have to succeed at getting ootheca full of them.