Howdy
My first ooth didn't go well. I didn't know they needed misting, and they just hung under the ooth and dried up. I didn't have them in an enclosure either though, that would maintain humidity, so crispy critters.
Next ooth they did well, with the exception of canabalistic massacree.
As you've probably already read, they will eat each other after a while, if not seperated. I didn't see mine doing it for several instars, but when I hatched another ooth a couple weeks later, the older one's started killing them, not so much for food, but to probably conserve their food. Welcome to the jungle
A hundred gallons is alot of area.
If your mantis' don't seem to be feeding well you may want to confine them to a smaller area, where they can find their food much easier. Alot of mantis' are ambushers, and don't wander far, so if the food doesn't come to them then they may miss out on meals.
I have read where reducing the size of the enclosure has made a big difference in how well the mantis' eat, and act.
Get your feeders ready before hatching too many ooths.
Fruitflies and pinhead crickets.
Alot of reptile people, as well as mantis and arachnid folk, like to culture roaches as an alternative to stinky crickets.
The roaches aren't as noisy, and they don't stink like crickets, if kept right.
Some roaches climb glass, and some varieties don't, so pick your poison accordingly, or you'll have a mess of roaches sitting in your favorite chair and hogging the tv remote, dam remote hoggin roaches
Some prey will burrow under a substrate, if you keep a substrate in the enclosure, and your mantis' may not be able to get to them to eat, so keep that in mind.
I have it on good authority that posters of Elvis and John Wayne in the background of the enclosure make the mantis' feel more patriotic... and dated
The mantis' that I let out of the enclosures seem to go where the light is. When I turn the light in the dining room/kitchen out, and the light in the living room on, which is only seperated by a short wall, I find the mantis over by the light in the living room, there or up near the ceiling the next morning.
Enjoy
