Hello,
I have my female mantis in a terrarium for some time, and she laid her egg pouch, ootheca, at the top in clear sight. This happened 1 week ago, and everything is good, but I knew the eggs were sterile as I had this female alone for several months. Then I found a male mantis and decided to mate him to see what would happen. The female was very well fed. I placed the male in the terrarium, they checked each other out and joined forces is a cordial mating soon after. After about 5 hours of the uneventful mating I peered inside the terrarium to notice that the female was having a tasty mantis head as an appetizer. The mating position was the same, still locked up , male on the back side, and the male penis was still doing its job with valiant effort.
Then I’m like wow, the male doesn’t even care he has no head, then about an hour later, same mating position, but the torso and thorax were gone, and the female was enjoying the meal, and the male was still functioning down below as if nothing had happened... No attempt to escape and still working hard at his job description with no head or thorax.. Ok, so eventually the male ended up as debris pile on the floor a few hours later, but the mating was successful by all indications. Then I noticed 2 days later, that the previous ootheca unharmed, was simply gone. It didn’t fall, it’s next to the glass and can only go onto the soft sand/ loom.
Did the female eat the ootheca because she knew that one was sterile and she had just been mated ? Is that possible.... I have pics.
Thanks..
I have my female mantis in a terrarium for some time, and she laid her egg pouch, ootheca, at the top in clear sight. This happened 1 week ago, and everything is good, but I knew the eggs were sterile as I had this female alone for several months. Then I found a male mantis and decided to mate him to see what would happen. The female was very well fed. I placed the male in the terrarium, they checked each other out and joined forces is a cordial mating soon after. After about 5 hours of the uneventful mating I peered inside the terrarium to notice that the female was having a tasty mantis head as an appetizer. The mating position was the same, still locked up , male on the back side, and the male penis was still doing its job with valiant effort.
Then I’m like wow, the male doesn’t even care he has no head, then about an hour later, same mating position, but the torso and thorax were gone, and the female was enjoying the meal, and the male was still functioning down below as if nothing had happened... No attempt to escape and still working hard at his job description with no head or thorax.. Ok, so eventually the male ended up as debris pile on the floor a few hours later, but the mating was successful by all indications. Then I noticed 2 days later, that the previous ootheca unharmed, was simply gone. It didn’t fall, it’s next to the glass and can only go onto the soft sand/ loom.
Did the female eat the ootheca because she knew that one was sterile and she had just been mated ? Is that possible.... I have pics.
Thanks..
