male or female

[nympho]

hi just bought a number of h. grandis nymphs which are probably L3. They are all the same and look a bit like this underneith.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v11/macu...a/underside.jpg

could someone please confirm its gender.

If its what I think it is, is there anyone selling h grandis in the uk that can supply me the female version, GUARANTEED as i'm pretty fed up with getting the male mantids every time i buy 'em :evil:

btw do you always count segments on the underside? from what I have seen they have a couple more segments on the top side ie 10 on top and 8 underneith which is a bit confusing.

cheers

 

[Sheldon Johnson]

thats a male.

 

[Rick]

That is male. Count from the bottom.

 

[nympho]

so proven, its pretty easy to *** even small mantids then, right. all you need is a reasonable digital camera which most people have these days.

why do sellers say they cant *** them. if im spending over £20 i want the choice of male or female, not gamble on getting one in a group of five or something and end up with none.

i reakon they do *** them before sending them and just say they cant as an excuse. IMO they want to keep the females to prevent people breeding them and competing. :twisted: given the choice most people would buy a female as they are larger, more powerful and 'better', not just because they want to breed them, although thats their choice as they have spent money on them, and not been given them.

i have to say this really deters me from buying more mantids.

but maybe im wrong and bein' too cynical, i know other people have said they don't have trouble with this. Has anyone counted the proportion of males and females that hatch from an ooth. Maybe theres just more males from the start. oops ive probably just given another possible excuse for me getting the males! :roll:

 

[Jwonni]

nymph just to add my experience so far on buying

i first bought a sphod and she was female i then bought 3 orchids 1 was female

i hadn't realised and thought i had 3 males so asked the dealer if i could buy 2 females which he was happy to do and i got my 2 females

so i have only ever bought from one dealer up to now but that one has always seemed fine

 

[randyardvark]

I ALLLWAYS GET FEMALES!!! :shock:

whoever i seem to buy from- solution- Buy an ooth and swap stock:wink:

 

[robo mantis]

i always get male mantids :x i am not joking either

 

[nympho]

probably the best thing to do before buying mantids, is to ask seller if they can supply at both genders or the particular one you need and if they say they won't or can't *** them then assume you will get all one ***, probably males, and shop elsewhere. I dont think its an unreasonable request to ask what you will get.