mating mantids
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batsofchaos
Well-known member
Tried it out last night. I fed the female a cricket so she'd be nice and distracted and maneuvered him onto her back. he seemed to be getting on okay, until she freaked out, dropped her cricket half eaten and tossed him off (pinching me a little in the process, which to be honest I probably deserved a little 
). This is the second time that exact thing happened, and the seventh or eighth time I've tried to mate them. I'm done trying to coax them at this point. I stuck them in a biggish cage together and I'm going to leave them that way until they either figure it out or one of them dies.
). This is the second time that exact thing happened, and the seventh or eighth time I've tried to mate them. I'm done trying to coax them at this point. I stuck them in a biggish cage together and I'm going to leave them that way until they either figure it out or one of them dies.
beckyl92
Well-known member
does it work?That's how I usually end up doing it (12x12 net cage)!
i once had a pair of creobroters in a net cage for 2 days. they didn't even move once..
lol!
Hit and miss, but if they're ready they'll usually get around to it themselves... but unfortunately not always or guaranteed.
Im also having a problem with my hierrodulas. the male doesn't even move once he sees the female. so I tried putting him on the females back, but he wandered off. they are about 3 weeks old each, and i tried to mate him several times.
Either of them are probably not ready yet. If they're ready, we don't really need to do anything on our part except place the male near the female.
Cosmic
Well-known member
That's how I usually end up doing it (12x12 net cage)!
It's how I mate alot of species, especially small/meduim species, works for most and it's how I mated your Ghosts up Becky
.
beckyl92
Well-known member
wow.. i spent about 12 hours in total trying to mate them ghosts!It's how I mate alot of species, especially small/meduim species, works for most and it's how I mated your Ghosts up Becky
how long did you leave them together for?
I don't know about Cosmic, but I do it like Bats. If I'm short on males, I'll either put several females in the cage with him, or move him around every few days to another female's cage.
batsofchaos
Well-known member
So, I left them be, witnessed one occasion where the male had climbed on the female's back without connecting saturday morning, but he had moved off less than three hours later with no sign of connection. Yesterday at about 9 PM he died. *grumble*
batsofchaos
Well-known member
I can't be too shaken up over it, he was an old man and lived a good, buggy life. As for giving up, I've already posted a wanted ad. :lol:
batsofchaos
Well-known member
One of my replacement males did the job. I put them together in a fairly large cage with a handful of crickets last Thursday and let them be. Saturday morning he had climbed on her back and throughout the day he stayed there but did not initiate connection. When I woke up this morning, they had separated and she was gyrating her valves, so they had successfully mated over night. Both mantids survived the connection happy and healthy, if not a little thirsty due to me not spritzing them while mounted for fear of spooking the male into leaving.
So from now on that's going to be my plan for mating mantids (at least for the less aggressive species); stick them together where they have enough room to maneuver, leave them plenty of food, and let them be.
So from now on that's going to be my plan for mating mantids (at least for the less aggressive species); stick them together where they have enough room to maneuver, leave them plenty of food, and let them be.
