Idolomantis Ootheca - Holes? normal?

[lectricblueyes]

Hey all! I received an Ooth from my good friend whom you all probably know, DonL. I absolutely know that Don would **NEVER** send me an Ooth that's already hatched and if it does not hatch, he ALWAYS replaces ooths which goes ABOVE and BEYOND what most would do as far as a "guarantee". Just wanted to get that out of the way. This thread is purely for my own curiosity

The ooth has holes in it. Small holes. The whole ooth is a very light color, almost white/cream colored. The holes appear slighly darker though this could simply be due to the lack of light in the holes.

The question is, do holes typically indicate that an ooth has hatched?

I don't see the little silky string. The ooth has a good "weight" feel to it and it does look very clean/fresh. Coming from the wild, which this one has... it's hard to know for sure. I've personally have actually seen ooths hatch that already had "holes" in them. Though they were smaller holes.

Here is a picture:

(Note: The orange tint is NOT the color of the ooth, but is caused by the lighting in the room)

 

[Rick]

Looks hatched to me but your pic isn't very good. Those little strings dont' last every long so that is not a good indicator. Is this the ooth you spent a lot of money on?

 

[lectricblueyes]

Looks hatched to me but your pic isn't very good. Those little strings dont' last every long so that is not a good indicator. Is this the ooth you spent a lot of money on?

Yes, bad picture. Yes, expensive Ooth. Holes in this species ooth is a hatched? Better photo to come tonight. Have you worked with these before Rick?

 

[Rick]

Yes, bad picture. Yes, expensive Ooth. Holes in this species ooth is a hatched? Better photo to come tonight. Have you worked with these before Rick?

Nope. However on others the holes can mean it has hatched. Either way I wouldn't accept that.

 

[agent A]

The holes might be from parasitic wasps or just a way for the nymphs to escape when they hatch.

 

[PhilinYuma]

I'd wondered about parasitic wasps, too, Dave. If that's what the holes are, and there aren'y many more in there, you might still get a good hatch. I've never hatched this ooth, so I dont know whether the nymphs come out threough the "zipper" as they do in S. limbata or from one end, as they do in an Asian or Chinese ooth. There has to be someone here with experience who can tell you.

 

[MingMing]

I got YOUR ooths like 2-3 weeks ago and the ones that were meant to be the musonia surinamas were in fact the peruvian mantis... and the ooth looked like it hatched... just like that, with small tiny holes that seemed to be broken fron the inside to out. But well, even though it looked like that, 20 peruvianas came out. And I guess it depends on the size of the ooth, both the pseudovates peruviana and the sphodromantis lineola came out from the sides, not from the "zipper" line.

 

[Katnapper]

I have never had an Idolo ooth, so have absolutely no experience with them. But I do know that holes like that do not always indicate evidence of an ooth already having hatched. Some ooths have "holes" like that normally in the process of being made. Also, is the view in the pic even of the "zipper" side? It's not a very good pic, but it appears to be a view of the underside (flat or concave side on which it was laid), rather than the side where the nymphs would normally emerge. Is this correct? If so, those shouldn't be holes from nymphs hatching. At most, they might be wasp holes. As I said, I really don't know. But I would rather wager these are normal pockets in the ooth that occurred naturally when constructed by the female.

Check out this Parasphendale agrionina ooth. This pic was taken shortly after it was laid. It was indeed fertile and has recently hatched. But it had a big hole in the bottom side of it, and another little one in the zipper area. Obviously, it wasn't because it had already hatched, nor did it make a difference. I'm not saying your ooth has not hatched... I'm saying it's entirely possible it hasn't.

Curiously, I will add that I received some Ephestiasula pictipes ooths several months ago from Don that didn't hatch. And they did have similar holes in them. When I'd asked a couple of other forum members about the holes, they advised it was entirely possible the ooths hadn't hatched yet. But of course they could not be sure.

 

[Rick]

Holes in ooths are common but a line of holes down the center like that generally isn't.

 

[Christian]

Looks hatched to me, but a better pic is desireable. Parasites usually emerge through the side of the ooth, not through the hatching zone as nymphs do.

 

[PhilinYuma]

I got YOUR ooths like 2-3 weeks ago and the ones that were meant to be the musonia surinamas were in fact the peruvian mantis... and the ooth looked like it hatched... just like that, with small tiny holes that seemed to be broken fron the inside to out. But well, even though it looked like that, 20 peruvianas came out. And I guess it depends on the size of the ooth, both the pseudovates peruviana and the sphodromantis lineola came out from the sides, not from the "zipper" line.

I'm easily confused, Ming Ming! Does the YOUR refer to "Lectric? I thought that you got yrs from a different source, but I guess that they could have travelled north and then south again!

And PLEASE tell us how your nymphs are getting on and how you are feeding them (new thread?). I have been lighting a candle for them every night in front of the shrine, but I am running out of candles!

 

[lectricblueyes]

Okay, so I only have the iPhone camera available at my disposal. Can't find the charger for normal camera. Anyway.... hope this helps you guys... help me lol

Of all the sides, the side with holes appears most likely to be the "zipper" side of the ooth. Also, pohchunyee bought an Idol Ooth as well and his hatched. He said my ooth looks exactly like his AFTER his hatched. Here are the pictures of mine:

Side 1:

Side 2:

Side 3:

Side 4:

Side 5:

Side 6:

Holes 1:

Holes 2:

Holes 3:

Holes 4:

 

[PhilinYuma]

Post #12? Everyone likes you Dave and no one wants to come out and tell you the sad truth directly. My duoble sawbuck says that you have an empty ooth.

 

[hibiscusmile]

Here is pic of hatched ooths, the idol do come from center.

 

[hibiscusmile]

I would of replied sooner, but it took all day to get to the end of the posts!

 

[hibiscusmile]

Kat the third ooth in your pic is hatched, and wasp holes are generally round and u will have no doubt that, that is what it is, as Christian said, they are not interested in holes already there, and generally they would know a fresh ooth compared to a already old hatched ooth, they live off the eggs inside, so they would be soon extinct if they were not programed to lay in fresh unhatched ooths.

 

[hibiscusmile]

Ok, just finished reading the post Lectric, and Everyone must remember these are W C caught ooths, wild caught for those unfamilar with the jargon here. So some will hatch and some will not, also we do not know how much the picker (whoever is collecting them) know about hatched looking ooths, as to this I have sent Don a pic of the ooth so he can tell how to know what is hatched and what is not.

 

[hibiscusmile]

The reason I said the picker may not know, is just because someone collects something to make money on, does not mean they have raised them or have that kind of experience with the item.

 

[hibiscusmile]

ok, one more thing, I just noticed I was now a Ghost mantis,,,,, i was just a dead leaf,.... makes me wonder where this is leading me