Iris oratoria ooth care?

[PrayingMantisPets]

What humidity and temperature should i incubate the ootheca.

 

[agent A]

i think diapause at 40F and incubatr at 80F with low humidity but im not positive

 

[MandellaMandy123]

That sounds about right. I. oratoria is a pretty hardy species, but those would be standard temps.

Humidity is not super necessary, just an occasional very light mist.

 

[PrayingMantisPets]

perfect its temperature is kept exactly at 40 and humidity is pretty high but will be lowered. oh and also how many nymphs hatch out?

 

[Jay]

One thing to consider is the lows of places where these things come from. I don't know if other places where the Iris oratoria from have incredibly moderate climates, but my last indoor attempt at incubating an ootheca of these did not result in hatching very many.

I left several ootheca of this variety out one year and noticed that they had all hatched out completely around the same date in April. Here is the post with a newspaper clip of the temperature trends leading up to the mass outdoor hatch. Though I would not incubate above 82 degrees it sometimes helps to know some of the climate of the areas where these mantids thrive.

 

[agent A]

my last indoor attempt at incubating an ootheca of these did not result in hatching very many.

i thought these ooths hatched over a few years? i think i heard somewhere that some nymphs may not hatch until the year after their siblings do

 

[Jay]

i thought these ooths hatched over a few years? i think i heard somewhere that some nymphs may not hatch until the year after their siblings do

Interesting! I never knew this, Agent A!

I found a half-hatched ootheca in the wild this winter and picked it up just for reference. I think I'll try incubating it and let you know if anything transpires! Perhaps another possibility is that some hatch in the fall and some in the spring. Either way I will let you know if anything hatches from the half-hatched ooth I found.