First ooth hatch!

[Primal]

My chinese mantis ooth finally hatched! My first experience hatching an ooth so it was pretty exciting to wake up and walk in the room and see the movement in the tank haha

Anywho, was wondering if anyone knew of a source of small feeder insects for these guys in colorado? I suppose i could order em online but i wanna try and feed em before they cannibalize too much ? i hadnt ordered any yet because tbh i didnt think they would ever hatch lol

 

[Mystymantis]

Congrats on the hatch! You don't have to worry about them cannibalizing just yet since they just hatched. Normally at this early stage they mostly eat just tiny prey like fruit flies. When they get to the 2nd and more likely 3rd instars is when they start to cannibalize. Although it can happen when they are first instars, I have seen it happen in my Chinese mantis nymphs but it is more rare. Good luck with your little ones! 

 

[TheShadyMantid]

Congratulations!  Certainly an awesome feeling =)

As Mysty said, you don't have to worry about cannibalizing yet.  You can get away with keeping them together until after their first molt, but if you do this you will want to keep a CONSTANT supply of fruit flies or other feeders in with them.  You can literally watch them get more and more curious of their moving siblings as the hours go by, and as they get hungrier.  So even with a constant supply of food, you will likely lose at least a few to cannibalizing, especially with the number of nymphs that it appears you have, it just happens. 

Those guys are going to need a lot of food, so I would recommend ordering some fruit flies today since it could take 2 - 3 days for them to get to you.  You don't want to end up in a pinch and have to pay $40 to overnight some fruit flies =\

Otherwise your local PetCo or other pet store might carry a fruit fly culture.  Best way to find out is just to call all the local places and ask them, as they don't always advertise the flies.

Cheers!

 

[Mantis Lady]

gratz on the hatch!

 

[River Dane]

Congratulations on the hatch! Chinese mantises are a great species, and the nymphs are pretty tough. I’ve heard they can take on hydei, even at L1. I’m gonna try to feed mine melanogasters either later today or tomorrow. Good luck with your new babies!

 

[Primal]

Thanks for the support and the information guys! I called around 5o a few petco's and petsmart and unfortunately my local ones only carry flies online buuuuuut i was able to find an exotic reptile store  that said theyll have more in stock on friday so hopefully these guys dont get too hungry in the next 3 days lol 

Probably gonna go get some plexiglass from the hardware store and put in a few dividers so that if they get too wild on each other ill at least be left with 4 or 5 different survivors of the hunger games ?