Female ghost mantid is laying othca

[Tonypace2009]

Well 6 days since last in fertile ooth been feeding female heavy  misted added heat  and will leave my male in with her tonight. My male is worse shape than I thought after examination he only has toes or his claws on two legs one front and one back. He really can't climb hardly any thing he keeps falling so I had to make a breeding box out of a large USPS priority box screened in two sides added some fake leaves and vines for him to hide in. But not really sure he will be able to get the job done. He can lock onto a branch  he just can't climb it. At this point I am just going to let nature take its course  hopefully by some miracle he can get the job done. I don't really see a point in separating them any more I really don't think he is going to last another week .It's really sad watching him trying to fullfil his duties in the shape he's in. So she will kill him or he will succeed or he will succeed and she will kill him rather way he has to be a mantid.

I seem to have bad luck with ghost males.

 

[DeShawn]

I have like 10 males that I don't need.  Let me know if you need a few.

 

[Tonypace2009]

I have like 10 males that I don't need.  Let me know if you need a few.

Thanks for helping me out. I need my female to atleast produce one fertile ooth and I will be a happy camper.

 

[jindarose]

TEACHER NEEDS ADVICE:  Today in the classroom, we introduced an adult male ghost and a  mature female (had already laid an ootheca a week ago) to one another.

He approached and hopped on her back (much to the 6th graders astonishment!), she tried to get him off, but he held on.  An hour later she started laying another ootheca (unfertile, obviously) and he is parked on her back - I'm not sure what to do about the situation. 

Will she be very hungry right after laying an egg ? Would she be likely to eat him? 

He is firmly attached to her back and I am not sure I could remove him safely with her busy laying an egg right now, (I don't want to disturb her process).  I suppose I could watch carefully, and try to remove him from the cage as soon as she is done laying the egg case?

• Note:  this means me taking the cage with me to my other classes, and try to intervene as soon as she is finished laying the infertile ootheca. (but I really don't want that kind of distraction in my 7th grade math classes today...mantis sex would just be TOO much for pubescent 13yr olds to manage)
  

Should I just put a bunch of flies in the cage and hope they are easier prey for her than attacking him? 

Thanks for any advice!

 

 

[Tonypace2009]

I removed my male before my female laid her ooth. She was reaching around to grab the male and I only had the one male so I had to separate them. I am just learning myself first time breeding mantids. This is what Kermit had to say about introducing them.

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

His male jumped off on his own but there was a second female involved. Being that you are most likely on a time limit that you can monitor them.

If you have them in a decent size enclosure where if the male can get away from the female throw a few feeders in and check on them at the end of the day. He might just jump off or at least you can separate them later. My female goes into relax mode after laying her ooths. She is definitely hungry the day after laying ooth. If you elect to leave them together make sure she has food.

 

[jindarose]

UPDATE on Teacher needs advice:

I dumped a dozen BB flies into the cage before leaving for class - I've just come back for lunch and found he is still hanging on, she is finishing up her egg case (making the antenna-looking thing) and she is currently eating a fly!

What have we learned?

• females seem to lay egg cases about every week or so
  
• yes, she is hungry after she lays an egg
  
• Males are very patient, even in the face of frustration - observation:  this is not true for all organisms
  

So:  I think he has a chance, if he can figure out how to get off her back...

 

[Kermit]

Keep feeding her as that is what makes up the material the oothecas are made of and will lower the temptation for her to go after the male. If you've witnessed the "connection" you can use a kabaab skewer and he should step right up otherwise leave him on her back and keep adding blue bottles. Yes about every week she will make another ooth if she has filled her abdomen. If she eats less the ooth will just be shorter! When in doubt... Add BB flies. Tony... You got it now... Close to pro! Ghost Rider!

 

[Tonypace2009]

Update

My female has finally been mated actually witnessed them connected for about 2 hours on 03/06/2016 and today 03/09/2016 she has laid her first fertile ooth this afternoon.

Thanks to DeShawn for sending me some males you really helped me out and thank you Kermit for your advice it worked like a charm once I got a male up to the job. Also thank you jseng for your help.

What I have learned female ghost can lay first ooth 6 weeks  after mature.

Make sure you have several males and a good idea to have a couple of females too.

Feed female very well  I feed mine for 4 days after her last in fertile ooth she was fairly plump by this time.

Keep female steady supply of food while she cohabitates with males.

I put two males in with female (the two oldest males) 

I warmed the mantids and misted them to trigger mating. One male found hiding spot to I guess to ambush female but the female wasn't moving anywhere. The second male headed straight for her he was on her back in less than 45 minutes and rode on her back until they connected at 2:30 PM   until about 4:21pm just short of two hours.

My female laid her ootheca 3 days later. Now to wait  about 8 weeks for nymph's to emerge.? 

 

[Sarah K]

Congrats Tony!

 

[Tonypace2009]

Congrats Tony!

Thank you

 Have you successfully paird yours yet?

 

[Sarah K]

I just received my mantids from DeShawn yesterday afternoon. Yesterday evening, I put  my male together with the new female and the new older male from DeShawn. I have not witnessed any mating yet, but I suppose they could have done it while I was asleep.  The remaining female I had previously just laid another infertile ooth on Tuesday, so she is not ready yet. I am trying to get her fattened up a bit before I introduce her to the cage with the males. The other male DeShawn sent is still too young. **Fingers Crossed** I will have some confirmed luck to report after this weekend!

 

[Kermit]

Congratulations to both of you... Fun to see!

 

[Tonypace2009]

I just received my mantids from DeShawn yesterday afternoon. Yesterday evening, I put  my male together with the new female and the new older male from DeShawn. I have not witnessed any mating yet, but I suppose they could have done it while I was asleep.  The remaining female I had previously just laid another infertile ooth on Tuesday, so she is not ready yet. I am trying to get her fattened up a bit before I introduce her to the cage with the males. The other male DeShawn sent is still too young. **Fingers Crossed** I will have some confirmed luck to report after this weekend!

I fed my female pretty heavy for 3 days by the fourth day she was really plump. Started warming enclosure and a slight misting female first thing and fed her 4th day and  introduced the males about 6:00am in the morning. Continued warming enclosure and misted  a couple times. One of the males was on her back at about 6:45 am and by 2:30pm they were coupled together . She wasn't happy he was on her back but she settled down after awhile. Iam also saving Young mature for remateing. Good luck.

 

[Tonypace2009]

Update my female ghost laid her second fertile ooth wensday afternoon. I will Remate my female Sunday with young male.

 

[Kermit]

So cool to see you turn this around, both Tony and Sarah... I've found 8 weeks till hatch to be fairly reliable. You should start thinking about what you will need to do to prepare for the hatch... Specifically fruit flies and the enclosure. 

I keep the newly hatched in a 32 oz for about 2 weeks, then move them to a larger, fruit fly escape proof container. I use one of those large sourdough pretzel plastic barrels with a dense amount of artificial plants so the nymphs can have lots of surface area. Feed small fruit flies in 32oz hen move up to the Heidi's after 2 weeks. The new hatchlings should be given about 2 days before you start the ff. But be sure to mist with fine spray every 2-3 days. Not too much or nymphs can drown if it pools on the bottom of the container. 

Order ff about 2weeks before the anticipated hatch.

Look forward to your updates!

 

[Tonypace2009]

Already working on a fruit fly plan. The enclosure  I was looking at are the 80 oz cups with cloth lid they seem the easiest to set up very little modifying. But I am looking at a couple different options also. The pretzel barrels look supper cool but they are pricey for the pretzels. (All I need is the containers) I have been thinking about getting some of the 12 by 12 by 12 pop up net cubes for when they get bigger. I can hang them from my ceiling .one thing at a time.

My bug fund is getting low  looks like I may have to sale one or two of my tarantulas to build it back up.

Will keep you updated and will keep my eyes out for the dark one?

 

[DeShawn]

Let me know when you need net cages.  I can sell them to you at cost (I get them wholesale) so long as you cover your shipping.

 

[Tonypace2009]

Let me know when you need net cages.  I can sell them to you at cost (I get them wholesale) so long as you cover your shipping.

Thanks. I saw them on your site the other week and started thinking they would be perfect for housing for housing the ghost once they get L3 to L4 and up. 

 

[DeShawn]

Yea, they are retail price on the website.  Just send me a PM and I will get you a better rate.  They really are great for raising nymphs together.

 

[Sarah K]

Hey Kermit,

I already have a batch of 32 ounce deli cups, which is where I am hoping to keep the ooths for hatching, as well as the newly hatched ghost nymphs. How many nymphs should we keep in each deli cup? And how long should I leave them in the deli cup in which they hatch, before trying to separate them into smaller batches?

Also, I keep regular fruit fly cultures going, so I am not worried about that either. So no fruit flies for 2 days, and a fine mist every 2 to 3 days? good to know! Thanks as always for letting us know exactly what we need! CONGRATS TONY!