How long do I wait to mate?

[MantisGirl13]

I have a male ghost that is almost three weeks old as adult, and a female that is almost a week as adult. how long do I wait to mate them?

- MantisGirl13

 

[Predatorhousepet]

Wait until the female is at least two weeks old. Male ghosts don't live very long, about 6 to 8 weeks as an adult and female ghosts will lay a lot of ooths during their lifetime so getting her "stocked up" before he passes will help keep yields up for a while. It is generally recommended to remate after every third ooth but you can remate after every ooth instead if you choose.

 

[Synapze]

Male ghosts don't live very long, about 6 to 8 weeks as an adult"

Do female Ghosts live substantially longer than the males?

 

[Mantis Lady]

Sad that males don't life long. they are bad eaters too. The 2 adults males i have are not big eaters. I had to prepare their roaches today (remove head and intestines before they ate them. Maybe that is causing their shorter life spans?

Males can mate after a week and females after 2 weeks? Try mating over a week I shoud say. Good luck?

 

[Predatorhousepet]

Do female Ghosts live substantially longer than the males?

Yes, female ghosts can live as long as 5 to 8 months as an adult. 

The ghost caresheet here says that ghosts are sexually mature as early as two weeks but the writer waits until 3 weeks before introducing them to breed just to be sure. The main reason to wait is to avoid cannibalization of the male before he is able to actually fertilize the female. Males will try to mate even before they are sexually mature.

I had one male that was already mating with the females literally hours after his wings were dry. I allowed him to mate with them for nearly 2 weeks straight even though he was shooting blanks. However, right when he was supposed to finally sexually mature one of the females tried to eat him. I saved him but he sustained some damage & had to be retired because he no longer had the coordination to complete copulation. He lived out his normal lifespan but since none of the resulting ooths were fertile I ended up buying another male to pick up where he left off.

Moral of the story: it is better to wait until you are sure the male is mature so he is not risking his life unnecessarily when trying to mate.

 

[Predatorhousepet]

Sad that males don't life long. they are bad eaters too. The 2 adults males i have are not big eaters. I had to prepare their roaches today (remove head and intestines before they ate them. Maybe that is causing their shorter life spans?

Yep, male ghosts barely eat anything. The one I have now has only eaten two bluebottle flies in the last 2 weeks but he still acts healthy and will enthusiastically mate with the females when I put them together. This is normal. Forcing a male to eat if he doesn't want to would only stress him out. Lifespan varies of course based on lots of different factors and can be extended some under ideal conditions but ultimately, just like any other living creature, general lifespan is something that is coded in DNA and cannot be changed drastically.

Males can mate after a week and females after 2 weeks? Try mating over a week I shoud say. Good luck?

According to the caresheet and for mantids in general it usually takes at lesst 2 weeks for both males and females to sexually mature. Some species it is longer but for ghosts you should wait at least 2 weeks into adulthood for both males and females before mating. @MantisGirl13 needs to wait at least one more week before attempting to mate her ghosts.

 

[MantisGirl13]

Ok, thanks so much! I was told that makes would only live 3-4 weeks as adult, and that had me worried because he is nearly 3 weeks now! Thanks for answering my question.

- MantisGirl13

 

[Predatorhousepet]

He should live about another month give or take a week. My first male ghost lived 8 weeks into his adulthood despite being handicapped. That female mauled him good too, he was missing an entire leg, half a raptorial, most of his antennae (this led to balance issues) and his wing was broken & permanently bent at a 45°angle. A healthy well taken care of male should make it to at least 6 weeks if not longer.

Supposedly, keeping males at the warmer end of their recommended temperature range speeds things up so he wouldn't live as long but may produce more spermatophore and have more hatchlings while the cooler end slows things down and he might live longer but ooth yields might not be as good. This is just a lot of speculation I was told by a breeder based on his observations so don't count on it working 100% as stated but it would be interesting to try to find out if this hypothesis is valid.

 

[MantisGirl13]

Ok, so basically I need a 50-50 temperature balance?

- MantisGirl13

 

[Predatorhousepet]

Probably want to shoot for right in the center of their recommended temperature range & stay there, not go back & forth between warm & cool.

 

[MantisGirl13]

Ok. I will try, but because I am camping a lot, it is hard to keep them at a constant temp.

- MantisGirl13

 

[MantisGirl13]

I am planning to try mating them today.

- MantisGirl13

 

[Predatorhousepet]

Good luck. 

 

[MantisGirl13]

Thanks! Do you have any tips? I have never done this before.

- MantisGirl13

 

[MantisGirl13]

SUCCESS!!!!! I successfully mated my ghosts. The male jumped on almost immediately, connected an hour later, had several short connections for an hour or two, and then stayed connected for a good 2 hours until the male then jumped off and ran to the other side of the enclosure.

- MantisGirl13

 

[Mantis Lady]

Gratz on the mating I will try to mate Diego, with Hunter and Yoda and Ashoka after my vacation, then they have enough time to get ready

 

[MantisGirl13]

Good luck with that too!

- MantisGirl13

 

[Mantis Lady]

Thank you. If they don't get the sickness I can use the luck to get ooths from  the 2 couples.

 

[River Dane]

Congratulations on the breeding @MantisGirl13! Glad to hear he mounted alright, and survived the whole encounter. Keep us updated on the new mom!