Just hatched my first Ooth! (w Pic)

[Graz73]

Back in December I found an ooth on a Christmas tree. Many months passed with no activity. Yesterday (June 23) It finally hatched!
I had the Ooth attached to the wall in a cd container with a net over the top. After they hatched, I transferred a bunch of them into a terrarium with a dirt substrate and more stuff to climb on. I have tried to keep the enclosures moist, and I can keep doing that, but besides that...

WHAT DO I DO?

What do I feed these tiny things? I'm sure there are things I can buy, but i can't spend much money on this right now.
Which food should I provide? How quickly? Where to buy cheaply?

Thanks!

P.s. what kind of Mantis' are these?

 

[myzticalboi]

Congrats on the hatchlings! Looks like a chinese ooth, but we'll see when they grow up. You can feed them fruit flies. But looks like you have too many mouths to feed.

 

[aNisip]

Where do you live? Chances are you can release some outside (make the load more bearable for you)...but your best bet is to get some fruit flies....usually at a PetCo...or order online... and the do look like Tenodera Aridifolia Sinensis (Chinese mantis)...

 

[sally]

good job! Petco for emergency, Then either order Hydei fflys on line with a culture already started, cause they take weeks to hatch, or get replashy ff starter for your own culture. There is a thread on here showing how to make your own culture also. Soon you will have to separate them. If they are native then you can release them and have new generations in your area They look like Tenodera sinensis, Chinese mantids, but it is hard for me to tell I am very new at this.

 

[Graz73]

I'm in Ohio, and yes these are native mantids. I have already released a few and plan to release more.

I do NOT have any culture started, so I guess I will buy one. How quickly do they need the feeder fruit flies?

 

[aNisip]

After the hatch they go a day or two without eating....so they'll start wanting to eat wednesday...but until then, a light mist of water will be good...

 

[Graz73]

Thanks for the advice everyone.

I gave a bunch of these little guys away to 2 friends who each kept a few and let the others free in their yards. I let some free in my own yard as well.

So now I'm down to about 14 left, not counting all of the little ones still coming out of the Ooth.

The humidity is good so far, and I have been spritzing them with a spray bottle to give them water to drink.

I have ordered a fruit fly culture, but it won't get here for a few days. What can I feed these little guys until then? They have eaten ants so far, but I don't think that is a great meal. It is really hard to catch stuff for these little critters though. Ideas?

Also, housing. Should I divide them up in seperate containers, or worry about that later?

 

[sally]

Go to petco and get the big jar of mels. just shake them in the container. they run about 10.00 but you will have thousands. When your culture comes you may have to wait for them to emerge anyway.... divide them up, they will eat one another, especially if they haven't been fed yet.

 

[Graz73]

There is no Petco within an hour of here. I called the 3 local pet stores and no luck.

 

[Ranitomeya]

You can try leaving a few pieces of rotting fruit outside in a container and checking it after a few hours. By now they're probably starting to cannibalize or die of starvation.

 

[hibiscusmile]

I can get them to u by Friday with express, I m in ohio to, just pay shipping, if u want them, I will weigh but I think it will only be around 15.00

 

[Graz73]

Thanks for the info guys. I drove up to the Petco in Strongsville and got the Jar of fruitflies. What a great product! I sprinkeled a few into the containers of each of my mantis' and watched some of them enjoying their tiny meals!

A problem though: I used all of the flies that were in the jar. How long before more are hatched? I thought it was supposed to produce new flies every day for a while? There were no more in there this morning yet.

Additional question: A bunch of corpses are still hanging off of the Ooth. Should I clear those off or wont they be in the way if more are going to hatch later?

 

[Ranitomeya]

Check to see if there are any living maggots, you'll see them moving about with their black mouthparts near the surface of the culture medium. Are there any pupae in the container? If there are no pupae, the culture was probably very recently made and you'll have to wait at least a few days before any more flies appear. When you use your fruit fly culture in the future, I suggest either first setting up a new culture before feeding off every single fly in the old culture or leaving at least a few in the old culture to continue reproducing to avoid lengthy time gaps between fruit fly emergences.

You can remove the corpses if the ootheca is kept humid and you think more might hatch. Leaving the corpses there could promote the growth of fungus.

 

[Graz73]

OK, so after giving away a bunch of the mantises to friends and releasing others. I was left with only about 12. The Culture I bought at Petco didnt produce any flies (after the first day) for almost a week.

I was running around like an idiot for a few days trying to catch tiny flies to feed to these tiny L1s. Many of them died.

FINALLY, the culture started producing. My last 3 mantises are VERY well fed and doing well so far. And now I've for LOTS of flies in that jar... A little too late for most of them...