How many mantises do I need?

[csheafer]

OK, so here is the deal.

I'm a home school dad preparing a year long unit study.

I have 5 children participating.

I am wanted to end up with 5 females (one each for each of them)

and 2 males.

I already of selected 2 oothecae in the wild we will be taking this spring.

I found a place where there are dozens.

How many mantises do I need to keep when they hatch to get that number?

I am thinking that 15 would be a good number and give them out once they are able to be sexed.

and release the rest. However, I do have a concern that we may lose one or more of them since

they can have trouble molting.

This can be problematic since a log book will be kept on each of them detailing everything from

when it was fed, what it ate, observations ect.

I know there are several breeders on here... what do you think?

Any insight would be most appreciated.

Thanks

Chris

 

[Orin]

It all depends on your ability to keep mantids, they can all die quite easily if you're unfamiliar. Research on rearing problems and needs will get you far towards your goal but then there is getting the feel of it.

 

[agent A]

depends on the species

if you obtain a few ooths of creobroter or phyllocrania it may be easier to get that number of sexable animals from the hatches

if the wild ooths r tenodera, only get 1 to avoid overwhelming yourself but be ready for high mortality

 

[hibiscusmile]

It would be hard to raise that many from one ooth. If you ended up with 3 females and 5 males you would stand a better chance of mating them.

 

[csheafer]

I have done a lot of research, and we have had a mantis we caught and hatched out the ootheca it made.

We did not however raise up the nymphs.

Since this is a home school project, they will be monitored closely.

Can anyone tell me what kind of mortality rate I should expect?

I know the first several molting s the mortality rate is higher but after they are

sexed what is your experience with the mortality rate after that?

Like I said, the important thing here is that each child ends up with a female mantis.

Perhaps I should figure on trying to get 2 each after sexing to help insure in case one or more end up

not making it.

The mortality rate is the most important information I could use from breeders to decide how to proceed.

Both pre sexing and after sexing

 

[hibiscusmile]

They tend to mismolt, I think the moisture content for Chinese is higher than most. Right now I have around 30, 2nd instar . After this next molt I will lose close to half I would think.

 

[csheafer]

Wow! That is high! How many did you start with?

 

[sally]

Are you hatching a Tenodera sinisis ooth? I hatched one in may. There were abt. 80 or so in the hatch. The nymphs got big fast. They ate more than I could ever imagine, lol. I released most of them and kept only a few. I had them in a big hex container so I could observe them doing what mantids do....Mostly eating. A lot. I lost some in the 1st instars ,but not as much as I thought I would. Point of all this is depending on where you live, if you hatch a Chinese ooth, that is ALOT of babies to feed unless you can release some, or let them cannibalize, or have lizards....

 

[hibiscusmile]

Probably about 150, but I did not count them.

 

[Orin]

Tenodera sinensis in my area hatch 200+ from most oothecae. The mortality rate is a function of your understanding of this species unique requirements and your ability to devote a high level of care since it requires close attention and exacting conditions for decent survival. Consider getting a Stagmomantis ootheca. Phyllovates would be easier but I'm not sure there are any left, they have great survival from hatching but hardly mate.

 

[hibiscusmile]

Right, seems to me when I first started with them, I spent more time on them. That's probably closer to what happens then we realize.

 

[csheafer]

Thanks for all the input, I really appreciate it.

Since we home school, and my kids are all teenagers, I think we can handle doing a large hatch.

We are thinking now that we need to keep a lot more then we were expecting but I really don't see it as a big issue.

We will be doing fruit fly cultures starting with the small ones then the larger ones.

This activity will also be a part of the lesson plan.

After that, we will be utilizing various bug traps that we will be making as part of the study.

That being said, we are thinking now of keeping 20 from each oothecae and hope for the best.

We are really excited about this study since there are so many different things we can learn.

We are planning on keeping a log on every single one on exactly what it eats, and every event from birth to death.

We will be introducing a variety of bugs to them to discover exactly what they prefer once they are adults

Possibly even trying to sell some as pets at the county fair

We will all be making a variety of bug traps and collection techniques.

We all love nature, bugs, snakes so this is not much of a stretch for us although the scale is a lot bigger

then anything we have ever done.

We have done a couple of spider studies, snake studies from catching them, mating them and hatching them out.

This project however is the most comprehensive and I think the most interesting we have ever tried to do

just because of the sheer size of it since we want each of the children to have their own females along with

the males for mating.

Got a lot of work to do yet... but we cant wait until spring!

 

[mmmmantd]

Good Luck. Sounds like a great project. Lucky Kids!!

 

[hibiscusmile]

YES, good luck and let us know if you need help.

 

[agent A]

i think u need a good mix of having enough to factor out mortality and having not so many u overwhelm yourself

also why take multiple wild ooths at this time of year to only keep 20 from each? all the others would be wastefully dying

u will need multiple fruitfly cultures at different ages and likely several large bins

tenodera hatchlings cant be crowded or confined

u need no more than 10 to a 5 gallon bin and gently mist twice a day with spring water to avoid dehydration and stress

keep at 65 degrees and wait 3 days to feed

ur better off trying with something like miomantis

miomantis, though small, are very hardy and have high hatch rates and low mortality

they are one of the easiest mantises out there