Moving oothecae

[Chivalry]

Murph (T. sinensis) laid her oothecae on the ceiling of her 10 gal tank, foamied to the plastic slotted cover. The first was 4 weeks ago and the second maybe a week and a half ago (I understand they can both be fertile, aye?) She is ancient but still hanging out in the tank and still hunting. There are also sometimes crickets in there with her, so obviously the childrens need to be moved before they make their debut or they will be someone's breakfast.

How do I go about this? I seem to recall reading that you can mist them and remove them from surfaces but I'm a little nervous about attempting it so any pointers would be much appreciated. Should I hatch them in a deli cup or one of those critter keeper containers with fabric over the vent holds to keep the fruit flies in?

 

[agent A]

I usually grab both sides and pull from 1 side and they usually come off easily, like an old scab on skin, or a spatula may help if it is really stuck

Put the ooth in a deli cup, hot glue ooth to lid by side that was attached to surface ooth was laid on, they should hatch within like 8 weeks at room temp with regular misting, hope this helps

 

[ZenViouS]

Never had to deal with getting them off the wall but I'd try scraping them off first then try what Agent A said. As far as the enclosure, I'd say something larger than your everyday 32oz deli cup because you can have 200-400 little ones come out of there. Personally, I've recently hatched 4 T. Sinensis oothecae in 14x14x24" butterfly containers. I might try 12" cubes the next go-around but an 80oz deli cup could suffice as long as you then separate them into groups of 10-30 in 32oz cups. Another plus to the butterfly containers is that 30min after I'd spray them (pretty heavily I might add) the enclosure would be dry. That's including the paper towels at the bottom.

 

[Chivalry]

Thanks! I think we are going to move them to a different container today; news when I have it

 

[fortran42]

What are some of the storage options for a fertile ooth that you would like to hatch out in say June? I had an H.Multispina lay an ooth last week. Or point me to a thread discussing this issue would be great-Thanks!

 

[Rick]

Don't mist them to remove them. Best to be dry. A slotted lid is probably the hardest place to remove an ooth from. Put a razor blade flat against the surface next to the ooth and slice it straight across. You won't get all the foam, but there is plenty before you get to any eggs. And at four weeks you need to hurry because they can hatch in six if they have been left indoors.

 

[MantisFan]

Same issue. This helped me out thanks.

 

[sporeworld]

Don't mist them to remove them. Best to be dry. A slotted lid is probably the hardest place to remove an ooth from. Put a razor blade flat against the surface next to the ooth and slice it straight across. You won't get all the foam, but there is plenty before you get to any eggs. And at four weeks you need to hurry because they can hatch in six if they have been left indoors.

+1

And (re)read Peter's post on Ooth care - It's great!

http://mantidforum.net/forums/index.php?showtopic=9597