Metallyticus violaceus consolidated

[Mime454]

Those act so weird! Nothing like other mantids!

 

[petoly]

I know I love it! lol!

I'd like to hear from any other paired owner if they have experienced such behavior on a semi regular basis after the male has become sexually ready.

 

[aNisip]

That is super cool! Nice job Myke! Thanks for the update, hopefully Michael can put some input bc he has some too and has hopefully witnessed something. So when the female is ready maybe she does some certain action/motion to tell him it's ok; how much longer until she's mature? About another week, right?

 

[petoly]

well she matured first. I think she's pretty ready. her abdomen is pretty swollen too. She's bound to lay soon I think. For all I know they could have already mated at night. Or they could have not. As soon as she lays an ooth I'm going to separate them for a few days.

 

[ShieldMantid1997]

Looks like aggression, but then again, these have proven to have very different behaviors than the generic mantis behavioral patterns?

 

[petoly]

I thought it was just agression too at first. But as I kept watching. It looks more like the female is trying to lead him on. Towards the end you can see that she straight up keeps her back at him. If she felt threatened I doubt she would have done that.

 

[sinensispsyched]

That's always a good point.

 

[brancsikia339]

Fighting like crabs! or idolos lol

 

[petoly]

okay so I have separated my male from the female for the last 6 days. the last couple of days my female has been doing some interesting stuff. I know she needs to lay an ooth, she's pretty plump. she's been wandering around her enclosure feeling around with her back end. At first I was like oh cool she's about to lay an ooth. Upon further inspection, I notice when she feels around, she then presses firmly with her back end on the surface for a second, moves on, feels around, presses firmly for a second, moves on etc... etc...

I'm starting to wonder if she's leaving a pheromone scent behind. thoughts on this?

 

[hierodula]

Why not try and mate them now?

 

[sinensispsyched]

Yeah! There's only one way to find out!

 

[petoly]

they are back together, it's kind of hard to control their mating. these guys scurry fast, I can't just align them like a normal mantis. This is probably part of the reason they are so finicky to mate. There have been quite a few times that I thought I lost them for good with them escaping and I mean literally JUMPING out of their enclosure while I was doing maintenance. I now make sure I move the enclosure to an area clear of clutter or anything they can hide under above, around or whatever before I clean them. hopefully they mated. I'm still not sure if they have. Heck I'm still not sure if they eat since I NEVER see them hunt LOL. I know they eat since they are always fat but still. these guys are excellent hiders of their ways.

I think they did mate though. The female does need to lay and it seems like she's struggling to do so.

 

[AFK]

petoly, you need to try M. splendidus next! Hopefully, you'll be a little luckier next time!

 

[petoly]

I ordered M splendidus. They were pretty much all DOA so I decided to focus on these guys for the time being. Because of their size they are automatically a bit easier than , splendidus.

 

[aNisip]

Congratz on the mating! But sorry to hear about the DOA's ... ... Wish you all the best with the ooths she lays and hope they are fertile I am so happy for you because of your success with this speice, and keep doing work....

All the best,

Andrew

 

[petoly]

let's play spot the ooth! I think I'm going to leave this one there LOL.

so based on this and the way the female was wiggling her butt around as if searching for something, I think it's safe to say that in nature they look for natural crevices in the bark to hide the ooth.

but how are the babies going to come out? Should I carefully take it out?

 

[petoly]

by looking closer at the ooth, it doesn't look like she layed it flat. it looks like it might be tilted and laid on the right side of the crack meaning her rear end would have left enough of a gap between the ooth and the bark for the babies to hatch out from the top of the ooth itself, then come out from the gap that was left from the mother's rear end as she was laying it. if that makes sense.

this is really the only way I could see babies coming out of it when laid in nature like this.

 

[mutrok4040]

Good job mating them! good luck with the ooth too

 

[petoly]

thanks man =). I got word that this is pretty much how they lay in the wild. I don't have to do anything, apparently the babies will come out just fine like this.

 

[sinensispsyched]

Maybe next time you should offer beech bark as a background, since it is rough yet doesn't have those crevices.