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Xenomantis

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Most of my mantids have been caught from the wild, and I haven't had much luck with European ooths so far (if you remember Gluttony's really weird ooth she layed, two nymphs hatched from it while all the other mantids' ooths turned out to be infertile).

I'm now trying out a Chinese Ooth. I have it in a ventilated butterfly tent (those collapsible cloth and mesh containers) attatched to a branch I've put in there. I've also put in a small piece of paper towel to help hold moisture (Don't worry, I'm watching for mold, but I can't afford the typical anti-fungal moisture retaining stuff right now). I'm planning on keeping the ooth there until it hatches out and then choosing a few mantids to keep while releasing the rest into my garden (We have moths, grasshoppers, and aphids galore!). I still have my terrariums along with substrate, that I can use.

If you have any advice, I'd be more than willing to hear it! I'm still a bit of an ametuer and have probably made some critical mistake. :(

Thanks ahead for any advice!

 
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Yeah, the butterfly cube is a good idea. Don't worry about mold caused by a wet paper towel. What is your ambient humidity? Unless it's a very large paper towel or yr humidity is very high (in which case you don't need the paper anyway) it won't elevate the humidity in the cube for more than a couple of hours -- a cage has much better ventillation than a pot! My humidity is very low (below 20% during the day), so I use a small deli pot filled with shagnum moss or wood chips and then filled with water to just below the upper level of the moss, so that the nymphs won't drown in it. I also spray as well. It's also a good idea to have something for the nymphs to perch on (though a lot of them will head for the roof of the cube); excelsior is good, but I learned the use of raffia from Yen.

If you're into high humidity, try and have it up to what you want before the nymphs hatch rather than misting profusely when the nymphs start to hatch. I commonly see a 5F+ drop in temperature when I mist a pot due not to the temperature of the water but evaporation, and although insects are ectothermic, it seems unnecessarily stressful for the poor babies! (Though a baby sela in the arctic is dropped straight from the womb onto the ice. Ouch!)

The Most Important thing that you can be doing now is raising lots of fruit flies (mels)! 200 nymphs require 400-600 mels a day in my opinion, and part of the "natural" die off of first instar nymphs from such large ooths is, I suspect, from starvation.

When the ooth hatches, give yourself a treat. Turn off the tv, sit with the cube in your lap, and just enjoy mantis watching. Check on how their behavior differs from later instars; check on how many you actually see eating a ff; check to see if you can find even one nymph eating another. Try counting them in several different languages (the results will all be different!). Give them all names and see how many you can recognize the next day. The possibilities are almost endless. Have fun, and good luck! :D

 
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Good choice in cage. I wouldn't worry about mold. Is it outdoors? If so I would just mist inside the cage every day depending on how dry it is out.

 
Thanks for the advice guys! :D

It's fairly low humidity here, but I've been told that the ooth can handle it. I'm keeping my misting to a minimum, and trying my best to not actually spray the Ooth itself. In other words, I'm focusing on ambient humidity.

I've decided not to put it outside because of the danger of frost, various birds, curious squirrels, and my own rambunctious dog. An ooth attactched by pin or string to a bush has manged to survive, but I'm not sure one in an obvious butterfly cage would. ^_^ ;

 
Xenomantis said:
Thanks for the advice guys! :D It's fairly low humidity here, but I've been told that the ooth can handle it. I'm keeping my misting to a minimum, and trying my best to not actually spray the Ooth itself. In other words, I'm focusing on ambient humidity.

I've decided not to put it outside because of the danger of frost, various birds, curious squirrels, and my own rambunctious dog. An ooth attactched by pin or string to a bush has manged to survive, but I'm not sure one in an obvious butterfly cage would. ^_^ ;
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Not sure about you but I would be fine with it outdoors in such a cage.

 
PhilinYuma said:
When the ooth hatches, give yourself a treat. Turn off the tv, sit with the cube in your lap, and just enjoy mantis watching. Check on how their behavior differs from later instars; check on how many you actually see eating a ff; check to see if you can find even one nymph eating another. Try counting them in several different languages (the results will all be different!). Give them all names and see how many you can recognize the next day. The possibilities are almost endless. Have fun, and good luck! :D
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I like this... a lot, lol! :)

 
I do too. ^_^

I hope it hatches out soon...

On another note, one of the ooths I put outside is gone. No sign of it anywhere, so I'm guessing a bird or squirrel got it. The others are looking okay.

Any guesses on hatching time?

 
From what I know, it was regridgerated a week to two weeks just before I bought it. I'm not sure when it was laid, though. Do Chinese mantid ooths need a depause period, like Europeans?

 
Xenomantis said:
From what I know, it was regridgerated a week to two weeks just before I bought it. I'm not sure when it was laid, though. Do Chinese mantid ooths need a depause period, like Europeans?
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No they don't. If one is laid and just left at room temps it hatches in 6-8 weeks or less. In your case since you have no idea on its history it could be any time.

 
UPDATE!!!

I had given up and figured I'd try again next year. I mostly left the ooth alone, assuming it was dead. Just last night I looked at it, wondering if I should just hang it out in the garden and forget about it. Then, this morning, I happened to glance at it.

OMG!!! TONS OF MANTIS BABIES!!!

The nymphs haven't started cannibalizing yet and I'm heading out to get some more FFFs. I'll put up some pictures asap!

 

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