Is this unusual?

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My Gonatista grisea nymphs hatched out on January 4th and now on January 21st some nymphs look bigger, like they molted and some don't I searched their containers and found no evidence of them molting.But i found one very small nymph that was dead and looked like it was gnawed on and was just wondering when i should separate them?

 

[Rick]

Seperate them whenever you want. Your decision as there is no set time to do it. When I have a large ooth hatch I keep them together in the hatching container until I have about ten left. If you had a small number hatch out you may want to seperate them now so you are sure to end up with at least several. Just too hard to seperate out 100+ nymphs and try to care for that many individuals.

 

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Well before i guess they were plumping up because yesterday one molted and it dwarfed the other ones.

I have not checked today because it is cold and i know there cupboard is nice and warm but soon i will open it i cant wait much longer i need to know what going on in there.

Will try to put up some pictures later.

 

[nasty bugger]

I lack much experience, but they say that males mature faster, and I wonder if this may be the case in your instance.

He may also just be the fastest at snatching the food, or be perched in the right place to get the food first, or have mantis diabetis and be building a gut... it could happen...

I would also wonder if maybe the mother had more than one sperm donor, and that one of those would have genetics that would lean toward larger, or faster growth. Unless this factor is eliminated I'd have to wonder if it could contribute to the current state of..err...affairs :huh:

 

[[email protected]]

Well to answer your question i have no clue who the mother or father was. :lol:

I found the ooth so i guess the female could have mated with more than one guy.

But i am guesing it is the food consumption, because Three legs one who eat every time i fed molted ( but now she has 4 legs so she need a new name).

 

[yen_saw]

They will start to eat each other as early as first instar (L1) if there isn't enough hiding spots. Place several pieces of log resting at 45 degree they are pretty bad at climbing glass or smooth surface. Plenty of food and heat or they will take a long time to molt. Good luck.