After having a nymph yesterday that got stuck during hatching, I figured humidity must be an issue. Below is a photo of the nymph trying to finish hatching. Also is a photo of my incubating area and containers.
I do have a humidifier that I try and keep going as much as I can and in the room it hovers around 40% humidity with it running (according to my two hydrometers). The incubation containers I mist and have paper towels in the bottom to prevent any water drops.
The container lids I have used the typical mesh and on top of that I put coffee filters to help better regulate humidity and temperature levels. So the humidity level in the incubating containers should be higher - as I've seen 55% humidity is ideal.
The containers are sitting on a electric heating pad that keeps the ooths in the containers in-between 80 to 85 degrees Fahrenheit (as I read the Stagmomantis carolina ooths prefer 86 degrees).
Lately I have been soaking sponges with water and putting them on top of the paper towel to increase humidity. It seems though it isn't helping.
So far I've had several scout hatches of the top ooth, and I've got 5 nymphs in their own cups from it that are doing fine.
I've successfully hatched two other ooths that I found wild without any hatching problems using the same methods. The only difference I know of is these ooths come from my wild caught mantis Susanna. They did not go through diapause and the first two mantises hatched about 86 days into incubation.
So can anyone tell me if humidity is an issue with the latest ooths? Something else? Perhaps the ooths got too dry before incubating them?
I'm at a loss as to what could be wrong - perhaps it was just a malformed nymph and the rest will hatch soon.
The scratches that appear in the photo below are on the clear window on the container --
I do have a humidifier that I try and keep going as much as I can and in the room it hovers around 40% humidity with it running (according to my two hydrometers). The incubation containers I mist and have paper towels in the bottom to prevent any water drops.
The container lids I have used the typical mesh and on top of that I put coffee filters to help better regulate humidity and temperature levels. So the humidity level in the incubating containers should be higher - as I've seen 55% humidity is ideal.
The containers are sitting on a electric heating pad that keeps the ooths in the containers in-between 80 to 85 degrees Fahrenheit (as I read the Stagmomantis carolina ooths prefer 86 degrees).
Lately I have been soaking sponges with water and putting them on top of the paper towel to increase humidity. It seems though it isn't helping.
So far I've had several scout hatches of the top ooth, and I've got 5 nymphs in their own cups from it that are doing fine.
I've successfully hatched two other ooths that I found wild without any hatching problems using the same methods. The only difference I know of is these ooths come from my wild caught mantis Susanna. They did not go through diapause and the first two mantises hatched about 86 days into incubation.
So can anyone tell me if humidity is an issue with the latest ooths? Something else? Perhaps the ooths got too dry before incubating them?
I'm at a loss as to what could be wrong - perhaps it was just a malformed nymph and the rest will hatch soon.
The scratches that appear in the photo below are on the clear window on the container --
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