OK got my Oothacae ... gettin' ready for the births

[markdneck]

I read that the best thing to do when the nymphs hatch (these will be Chinese something?) is to place the hatchlings in a netted enclosure, put a cup of small fruitfiles or wingless fruit flies in the middle of the "cage", mist once a day and divide them up every few days into enclosures with just a few nymphs ... eventually netting maybe 15 mantids or so from an original egg case.

You experts concur? Sounds pretty simple. If it gets too tough I can just release them into my California garden/back yard (they already exist here so no environmental damage!) and raise L3 nymphs but I'd like to hatch the oothcae I ordered and got and see how it goes.

I found a site that sells golf shirts and even underwear, thong underwear, with Mantid pictures. They have cups and magnets and infant bibs ... now that stuff is for fixated hobbiests!

Any advice appreciated!! Thanks in advance.

I just retired relatively young, thank you great stock market! I have an MBA but have always wanted a degree in some kind of science so tomorrow I plan to check around to see what it takes to get into a biology progran at Cal State Fullerton or UCI. Might as well do this right.

 

[Rick]

Not what I do. I keep them all together in the container they hatch in (provided it's a decent size). I keep them together until about L3. Feed them every other day.

 

[markdneck]

Rick, When they first hatch (L0?) what can they eat? Aren'y tjry too small for wingless fruitflys? Pinheads are even bigger, right? But L3s can eat either?

 

[Butterfly]

Since your here in SoCal I can help out. Go to PetCo or Pet People, I try and call ahead though. They usually have a small weird shaped little plastic jar with fruit flies. I keep 4 or 5 of them in circulation around here so I can rotate them. I found that if I feed them everyday or even everyother day it's hard for the FF's to reproduce and I have to buy another jar within a week or so. So now I keep multiple ones around. But Im raising 2 species right now with a 3rd from Rick to hatch anytime so I need to keep plenty on hand since I dont want them to cannabilize so much.

When theyre a bit bigger I get them on pinhead crickets. But only buy a few at first, sometimes I think they're ready and they dont even go near the darn thing and it ends up just dying, So I wait another week and try again. lol.

 

[Rick]

Rick, When they first hatch (L0?) what can they eat? Aren'y tjry too small for wingless fruitflys? Pinheads are even bigger, right? But L3s can eat either?

They are L1 at birth and will have no trouble taking the small fruit flies. L3's could eat the larger fruit flies and small crickets.