Mantid eggs hatching- all at once?

[samak]

I have this case of mantis eggs, and I noticed today that there were about 10 baby mantids that looked like they just emerged. How many eggs are in a mantis egg case? Do all of the eggs usually hatch at the same time?

 

[wuwu]

most species yes, but a few species have burst hatchings where hatching occurs over several days.

 

[samak]

The species I have is the Chinese Mantid -"aridifolia sinensis".

 

[wuwu]

these should hatch all at once.

 

[Rick]

Yep all at once and by the hundreds.

 

[samak]

Well I have had the egg case inside my house since they were first laid. Today I found about 10 baby mantids on the plant with the egg case. The egg case looks just like it originally did, except now it has 2 very fine threads with about 4 small things that look like they were individual egg shells. Would the entire egg case look drastically different than it originally did once all of the eggs hatch? Or will the egg case look pretty much the same even after all the hundreds of eggs hatch? It is getting cold outside, around the 30s-40s. If they all hatch, (or if they already hatched and got loose inside the house), I don't think they will survive outside at this time. I might just get some fruit flies to feed them until it gets warmer. Will they also eat ants?

 

[Shelbycsx]

Ants might be a little too big for nymphs. I'm still new to properly taking care of mantids, but I have been dealing with three chinese ooths (plus 20 more getting ready). I've found that even D. Hydei fruitlies are a little big for most of the nymphs (the don't actually grab the fly 50% of strikes). The D. Melanogaster flies are perfect size. Hope this helps.

 

[Rick]

It may be too late. You generally need to have a good fly culture going prior to hatching. The ooths generally look the same after they hatch. Usually these all hatch at once. You may have an ooth that is going to have a low hatch rate.

 

[samak]

I managed to get some wingless fruit flies for the nymphs. I saw a few of them catching and eating the fruit flies.

 

[OGIGA]

Did you enjoy watching?

 

[samak]

Yeah and I'm glad they finally started eating something.

 

[samak]

Today I noticed that there were more eggs hatching from the ooth! A total of 61 nymphs hatched so far. It looks like they are all done hatching right now.