I've had my Indian Flower mantis for quite some time now, she molted into an adult on the 11th of March and she's never been mated. Last night I saw her wandering around her enclosure, which is quite unusual for her since she's normally always perching upside on the ceiling. This morning I woke up and saw her sitting next to an ootheca that she had laid on one of the branches. However, as I said, she's never been mated. She's become very thin since this happened and she happily ate two crickets earlier today.
Since the eggs haven't been fertilized, can I just assume they'll never hatch? I've tried googling this and am getting mixed messages. Some sites say they can't even lay unfertilized oothecas and others are saying they can and that sometimes baby mantids will hatch from them.
I'm not really sure what to do in this situation. I've just left the ootheca alone for now, but are there any chances there may be some baby mantids eventually hatching or is it safe to just remove it once my mantis dies, which sadly I think is fairly soon now that she's laid eggs.
Since the eggs haven't been fertilized, can I just assume they'll never hatch? I've tried googling this and am getting mixed messages. Some sites say they can't even lay unfertilized oothecas and others are saying they can and that sometimes baby mantids will hatch from them.
I'm not really sure what to do in this situation. I've just left the ootheca alone for now, but are there any chances there may be some baby mantids eventually hatching or is it safe to just remove it once my mantis dies, which sadly I think is fairly soon now that she's laid eggs.