Incubation Success...

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Thanks for all the updates on the ooth hatchings, it's very informative and the pictures are great. I feel like I'm watching it "live".

I have a question regarding the Creo hatches. What on average make it to L2? 50%, 75% etc.

Thanks again.

 
If you want more to make it to L-2 in my experience, it means developing a good way to separate the many nymphs into smaller groups. This gives them more space for each one. The less they are in very close proximity to each other and the more food they have, the less there is cannibalism and injuries. The secret is finding a good way for you to open up their incubation container and not have them scatter like the leaves of autumn all over your house. You can invent something that will contain them. I found that rounding up loose mantids is a pain and needs to be done in such a way as to not smush them. I use a feather that I had from my Natice American crafts. There are other things, but it needs to be gentle so they have a chance to be scooted into the desired container without injuring the mantid. For the new enclosure, I use excelsior at the younger instars so that they have nice perches available in a small space.

 
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Good info. I remember Mike mentioning the same thing regarding over crowding the nymphs. He noticed that some died when there was too many in a small container.

I also read that one person bought one of those parts organizers and actually had a separate compartment for each nymph.

Thanks for the info.

Rich S said:
If you want more to make it to L-2 in my epxerience, it means developing a good way to separate the many nymphs into smaller groups. This gives them more space for each one. The less they are in very close proximity to each other and the more food they have, the less there is cannibalism and injuries. The secret is finding a good way for you to open up their incubation container and not have them scatter like the leaves of autumn all over your house. You can invent something that will contain them. I found that rounding up loose mantids is a pain and needs to be done in such a way as to not smush them. I use a feather that I had from my Natice American crafts. There are other things, but it needs to be gentle so they have a chance to be scooted into the desired container without injuring the mantid. For the new enclosure, I use excelsior at the younger instars so that they have nice perches available in a small space.
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When I deal with a container full of nymphs, I try to have my husband and daughter around to round up any stragglers. When we are finished transferring nymphs, we check eachother's bodies.

 
Spouses can come in handy. :shifty: I like that my husband doesn't mess around with the nymphs as he just wants to get it over with. My daughter can make a nymph transfer take a bit longer. :rolleyes:

 
Rich S said:
If you want more to make it to L-2 in my experience, it means developing a good way to separate the many nymphs into smaller groups. This gives them more space for each one. The less they are in very close proximity to each other and the more food they have, the less there is cannibalism and injuries. The secret is finding a good way for you to open up their incubation container and not have them scatter like the leaves of autumn all over your house. You can invent something that will contain them. I found that rounding up loose mantids is a pain and needs to be done in such a way as to not smush them. I use a feather that I had from my Natice American crafts. There are other things, but it needs to be gentle so they have a chance to be scooted into the desired container without injuring the mantid. For the new enclosure, I use excelsior at the younger instars so that they have nice perches available in a small space.
Click to expand...
+1

Ever since I began implementing the nymph separation upon hatching, I've had little to no deaths. I noticed I lost quite a number of ghosts due to overcrowding with my first couple ooths. Another mistake I made was over misting their enclosures.

Now I have more nymphs than I know what to do with, especially Creos. I'm sure India is crowded with them.

 
This is where agent A chimes in with "too many Creos? I'll take em", haha.

Interesting point about over misting. I never thought that would be bad as long there wasn't mold growing. I've been misting like crazy because I'm always worried that it's not enough. I guess too much of a good thing is bad.

So maybe like 10 per 32oz deli cup is good?

mantid_mike said:
+1

Ever since I began implementing the nymph separation upon hatching, I've had little to no deaths. I noticed I lost quite a number of ghosts due to overcrowding with my first couple ooths. Another mistake I made was over misting their enclosures.

Now I have more nymphs than I know what to do with, especially Creos. I'm sure India is crowded with them.
Click to expand...
 
garin33 said:
This is where agent A chimes in with "too many Creos? I'll take em", haha.

Interesting point about over misting. I never thought that would be bad as long there wasn't mold growing. I've been misting like crazy because I'm always worried that it's not enough. I guess too much of a good thing is bad.

So maybe like 10 per 32oz deli cup is good?
Click to expand...
Lol I swear I was thinking the same thing about Agent A when I was posting that.

Anyway...10 per 32oz container sounds about right. What type of mantid nymphs do you have right now?

 
I have one creo ooth that hatched a couple of weeks ago. I had about 50 nymphs but now I have about 35. I lost 15 because of something so dumb that I hate to mention it but I will anyway, haha.

I separated the 50 into a few different containers. I was feeding and misting in the morning and I was late for work and I left one of those containers out in direct sunlight next to a window. That day ended up being 80 and the container got toasted. I came home and almost all of them in that one container were dead. Fortunately, I could not find my harakiri knife so I'm still able to post.

The female has laid 3 ooths and the ooths were laid about 2 weeks apart. It's been about 5 weeks since the last ooth so I'm wondering why she hasn't laid another. Is there something that I can do to help with that? Sing a song or something? Of course, I am feeding and misting, etc. I need some suggestions Dr. Mike. You are the Creo breeding king.

I'm waiting on a couple of S. Lineola ooths. I know those guys are a lot more cannilbalistic so I'll probably have to separate them individually by L3?

 
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garin33 said:
The female has laid 3 ooths and the ooths were laid about 2 weeks apart. It's been about 5 weeks since the last ooth so I'm wondering why she hasn't laid another. Is there something that I can do to help with that? Sing a song or something? Of course, I am feeding and misting, etc. I need some suggestions Dr. Mike. You are the Creo breeding king.
Click to expand...
hey! u shoulda seen all the creo gems i produced 2 years ago! :lol:

sometimes as females get older they lay less frequently. i would give her new perches and offer a better food variety but NO crix!!

 
garin33 said:
I have one creo ooth that hatched a couple of weeks ago. I had about 50 nymphs but now I have about 35. I lost 15 because of something so dumb that I hate to mention it but I will anyway, haha.

I separated the 50 into a few different containers. I was feeding and misting in the morning and I was late for work and I left one of those containers out in direct sunlight next to a window. That day ended up being 80 and the container got toasted. I came home and almost all of them in that one container were dead. Fortunately, I could not find my harakiri knife so I'm still able to post.

The female has laid 3 ooths and the ooths were laid about 2 weeks apart. It's been about 5 weeks since the last ooth so I'm wondering why she hasn't laid another. Is there something that I can do to help with that? Sing a song or something? Of course, I am feeding and misting, etc. I need some suggestions Dr. Mike. You are the Creo breeding king.

I'm waiting on a couple of S. Lineola ooths. I know those guys are a lot more cannilbalistic so I'll probably have to separate them individually by L3?
Click to expand...
If I really was the Creo breeding king, I'd have the answer to that lol, but I don't. My female creo just laid her 10th ooth about 3 days ago. I don't overfeed her though. Some days I give her 1 or 2 flies, and other days I give her as much as she can eat, which is usually close to 10 BB. I mist her every other day and she's doing fine. You can try doing what Agent A suggested and place her in a new environment. Also, you might want to raise the temps as well. I just moved to a new place and this house significantly cooler than the last. I noticed that all my mantids seem a bit lethargic now.

 
agent A said:
hey! u shoulda seen all the creo gems i produced 2 years ago! :lol:

sometimes as females get older they lay less frequently. i would give her new perches and offer a better food variety but NO crix!!
Click to expand...
Sorry, Agent A is the Creo King!

mantid_mike said:
If I really was the Creo breeding king, I'd have the answer to that lol, but I don't. My female creo just laid her 10th ooth about 3 days ago. I don't overfeed her though. Some days I give her 1 or 2 flies, and other days I give her as much as she can eat, which is usually close to 10 BB. I mist her every other day and she's doing fine. You can try doing what Agent A suggested and place her in a new environment. Also, you might want to raise the temps as well. I just moved to a new place and this house significantly cooler than the last. I noticed that all my mantids seem a bit lethargic now.
Click to expand...
Thanks for the advice guys. It's interesting because just 2 days ago I upped the heat and was able to feed her some moths and flies and this morning she finally laid another ooth! I'm not sure if it was just coincidental and she was just due or it was the heat and food. However, I do think that all the stuff you mentioned about food variety, temps, new perches can make a big difference. It's a lot cooler now and like Mike mentioned, I definitely have noticed that the ooths are hatching slower, activity is much less, etc compared to the summer. Patrick mentioned the same thing to me regarding his ooths and he lives in same area as Mike and I. So I'm going to try to keep things at a more constant heat and closer to 80.

Have any of you guys used flexwatt heat tape? I was thinking that would use less energy and you could line your shelves with the stuff for pretty cheap and that way you could keep all your containers heated.

Oh, I probably should post this on a new thread but since Agent A mentioned it...I have an older T. Sinensis and she laid a really funky ooth yesterday. Basically, most of the eggs are exposed and sitting on the bottom of cage. Somehow the spongy stuff did not come out properly. I know Mike mentioned he had a Creo ooth where a couple of the eggs were exposed. Did those ever hatch? Do these "exposed" eggs ever hatch or most likely they are not good?

Thanks again.

 

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