Ghost Mantis Laying Tiny Ooths

ghostpkmn · Feb 10, 2022

One of my ghost mantises has been laying very small ooths, but she just keeps getting bigger and bigger rather than deflating after laying them like my other mantis does. She’s doing fine right now, but I was wondering if not laying big enough ooths would cause any kind of health issues for her. Can the unlaid ooth material build up and cause a blockage or something? Any information or advice about this would be very helpful

TheWolven · Feb 11, 2022

That does sound odd. Being oothbound isn't all that common though either. Is she fertile?

ghostpkmn · Feb 11, 2022

She’s infertile! That doesn’t stop my other mantis from laying big ooths all the time, but this one has laid one normal-ish sized one (still smaller than any of my other mantises ooths) and 5 or 6 smaller ones. Usually they’re a bit bigger than the one pictured, but this is her smallest one so far, and you can see how big she is right after laying it as well! Sorry for the quality, her jar is a bit cloudy

ghostpkmn · Feb 11, 2022

Update: she’s been kind of in the process of laying for a couple hours at this point. A very, very tiny amount has come out and she’s been sitting there looking as though she’s trying to lay more this whole time, but nothing else has come out of her. Usually she lays her tiny little ooths pretty quickly and moves on, but this is the first time she’s kept at it for so long

TheWolven · Feb 12, 2022

That is actually kind of concerning. It almost sounds like ooth material is just slowly building inside and making it harder and harder to expel. I don't actually have experience with this so hopefully someone more experiences comes along and helps.