mating my ghosts

[dlemmings]

okay so i have been feeding my male & female ghost...still worried he eats way less and is so thin...had a heater going all afternoon and fixed a box with some hot glued twigs inder a mesh tent and set them loose...at first he had no interest then crawled up the branch and shivered or shook then hopped on, he went the wrong way (thought only dogs sniffed butts) and then got on proper. she climbed higher with him on but no connection yet....

 

[dlemmings]

I turned on the heater for them, gonna dim the lights a bit

 

[lunarstorm]

Good luck, I hope you get some fertile ooths!

 

[ShieldMantid1997]

gonna dim the lights a bit

hahaha! that generally does the job

 

[dlemmings]

still not connected...just hanging out.

i popped in a couple bluebottle flys in case she gets bored or hungry.

she seems be "throbbing" her abdomen.

back to "Modern Marvels" for now.

 

[azn567]

How long has it been since both the male and female's final molt?

Sometimes they need more time to mature.

 

[dlemmings]

Female final molt 9/12-2011 and the male molted 10-26-2011

this morning they were still hanging from the top of the mash dome i set up. I could clearly see space between thier abdomens. I had turned up the dimmer on the light to get a better look and it looked like he was starting to connect (and I "was" contemplating seperating them till after i got home from work) so i tossed in a couple more blue bottles and came to work...crossing my fingers that she wont snack on him & that they successfully mate.

 

[sinensispsyched]

How'd it go?

 

[dlemmings]

they looked like they may have connected this morning. but I work till 6PM PST so I will have to count on my son to check on them when he gets home from school at 3PM

so...wish me (or rather my male) luck. i want them to mate but like having him around so I dont want him munched...plus I offered to "loan" him to a fellow forum member to breed with one or two of his females. thus increasing the risk of his demise...but the males dont live all that long as adults so I may as well let him enjoy.

I wonder if adult mantids enjoy adultery as much as infants love infancy.

 

[sinensispsyched]

Good luck!

 

[dlemmings]

so I think they connected and successfully mated, they disconnected this afternoon and my son seperated them. i can see a small droplet of creamy looking goo like stuff at her hind end. sound like a success?? or am I just seeing what i want to see? i never really stared at her bum before (closely) i amy try to take a pic...how do i post it here? i click on image and it asks for url

 

[agent A]

Sounds like a spermetaphore to me! Now the question is, did she immediately drop it or did she pull it into the abdomen?

 

[dlemmings]

it just looked like a whitish spec the size of a toothpick tip or slighly bigger i snapped a pic and the tip of her back end just below wings has an opening with like three (?) flaps and a white salmon egg shaped something inside (plus two "short antenna" looking goodies on either side...wish i knew how to post a pic