Invasion of the oothecas! They're everywhere!!!!!!

[joossa]

Hi everyone!

I haven't had a "free" day in a long time. I have class at my university Mon-Fri and I work on weekends, so I never get a chance to go outside and notice the little things.

So today I took the entire day off and I spent most of the day in my front yard and back yard trimming the trees and picking up leaves. So I'm cleaning my room's window from outside, and BANG i spot it; an ooth!!!!!! It was attatched to the outside wall of my house (in my front yard). It blended in so well with the wall that I almost didn't spot it!

So I deducted that if there is one ooth on the wall, there must be more. And after taking a closer look, WOW!!! I spot more and more ooths attatched to the front wall of my house!!!! There must be at least 20 all together!! Some look like they have hatched though.

I was able to match most of the ooths with the ooths my I. Oratoria has been laying, so I determined that most of them are probably I. Oratoria ooths (these mantids are very common where I live).

Now the big question: Should I collect some, all, or none of the ooths that are outside. Keep in mind that is is the first time I have ever attempted raising mantids and ooths. I collected my female from the wild about 2 months ago and so far she has layed 2 ooths. I feel pertty comfortable with what knowledge I have gained on how to raise I.O. ooths, but I do not want to get overwhelmed. Also, would collecting ooths from the wild present a problem with conservation? I do not want to do more damage than harm to the species.

So, what do you guys think I should do?

Thanks!!

-Joel

 

[MantisDude15]

i say u collect them, and sell them on here. make some cash, and they will get good homes.

 

[Rick]

I 'd take one or two max and hatch it and raise those. If you try to do anymore than that you will be over whelmed. Little nymphs can a pain to raise.

 

[MantisDude15]

i meant sell the ootheca before it hatches

 

[yen_saw]

Also, would collecting ooths from the wild present a problem with conservation? I do not want to do more damage than harm to the species.

Over-collecting oothecae or mantis in a certain area will only reduce the numbers in your area. You wil find less number of mantis in your front or back yard next year if you took out them all out. The conservation problem wouldn't be as devastating as deforestation which could wipe out multiple species that depending on each other in a food chain. So you can expect more insects like grass hoppers and caterpillars in your area if you took them all out this year. BUt I. Oratoria is not uncommon in your area so you don't have to worry about wiping them all out. We over-collected Brunneria Borealis last year and found only very few of them this year on the exact same spot. Some mantis species are pretty localize so it takes time for them to rebuild back to good numbers. I would suggest that you keep some of the oothecae, overwinter, hatch the ooth, and release them in your yards again next spring.