How Long Should I Wait?

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MantisTrainer

MantisTrainer

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Sep 4, 2023
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Hi everyone, in October of last year I collected a wild Mantis religiosa ootheca and kept it in the refrigerator for a while. I put it in warmer conditions (about room temperature) on April 15, 2024. I've been waiting almost 3 months for it to hatch and I'm wondering if it won't. I know that some species just take longer to hatch, and the general rule with incubating oothecae is to not give up on them. Should I keep waiting or has it been too long? Any help is greatly appreciated.
 
MantisTrainer said:
Hi everyone, in October of last year I collected a wild Mantis religiosa ootheca and kept it in the refrigerator for a while. I put it in warmer conditions (about room temperature) on April 15, 2024. I've been waiting almost 3 months for it to hatch and I'm wondering if it won't. I know that some species just take longer to hatch, and the general rule with incubating oothecae is to not give up on them. Should I keep waiting or has it been too long? Any help is greatly appreciated.
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Hmm I haven't kept that species before but generally it should have hatched by now. I would wait a max maybe 3 more weeks but after that it probably won't hatch unfortunately.
Most wild mantis ooths hatch in spring. So maybe it was a dude ooth or old or something happened to it to cause it not to hatch.
 
OK, Thanks. I worried that it wouldn't hatch because I saw a little bit of mold growth on the bottom of it while it was in the refrigerator. I didn't think it was enough to cause significant damage though, but I know mold is usually a bad sign for mantids.
 
I've herd that dissecting an ootheca and looking at the condition on the eggs can help to identify what went wrong. However, I don't have dissecting tools with me, is there anything else I could use to open it up and see the eggs? I think I'll wait a few more weeks just in case but I would like to find out what might have went wrong.
 

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