OMG!!!! - P. Paradoxa breeding help

[yeatzee]

Ok, so basically this is my first generation of ghosts. I've raised them from L2 through adult and now its breeding time B)

After many many failed attempts from the males (though over a month since molting to adult) refusing to even aknowledge my female (also molted adult more than a month ago) I FINALLY got my last living male and female ( ) to notice eachother! I set them up like kamikiri suggested and my girl started releasing pheromones. Finally, The male actually jumped on the female. Sucess!!!! I preceded to take pictures in my darkish closet where the bugs are held:

All is fine, he is cleaning himself and getting a better position.

than I start to notice the female freaking out through the viewfinder. I move the camera away and the male is EATING THE FEMALE!! (more like nibbling her back. He did this while being in the ordinary mating position with arms around her mid section.) Now they are fed A LOT of BB flies, and right after I let them out of their cages i attempted to feed the male a fly which he refused so there was no way he was hungry! he almost nibbled off the point where the wing connects to the body. So im freaking out putting a peice of paper between her and him. Finally he stops and I let loose a huge sigh. Now all is back to normal the female is fine and the male is still holding on strong. (i attempted to get some pictures of him doing this to no avail. )

I continue to take some pics.

now for what ever fricken reason he began to move back farther off the female, and at one point she was draggin him while he held on to the leaf like projections from her abdomen! So I seperate them, pissed like no other because I WAS SOOOO CLOSE! she also stops releasing her pheromones.

Now, I ask you guys.

1: why the heck would the male do this?

2: what in the world is causing these guys not to get busy? I mean I've never ever had problems mating my Limbata's.

one more picture of the little female nibbler for good measure

 

[Opivy]

can't answer your questions - but I really like the pics!!!

 

[Colorcham427]

hmmm... maybe they dont like being watched??

nice pix by the way bro!

 

[PhilinYuma]

Perhaps this will help!

Zog:

I continue to have problems with my pair of humans. The male is now 15 of their years, about 110lbs and definitely sexually mature. The female is about 35, but still able to conceive, and is nice and plump at 275lbs. I put them, naked, in a darkened room, as you suggested and played them some "music" by an earth band named Metallica to get them "in the mood," but to no avail. I even tried misting them, but that just made them shiver.What am I doing wrong, and why does the male run away whenever the female comes towards him?

Yrs, Furg

When mantids fail to mate, it is because, not surprisingly, we have it wrong. In nature, a pair are never "introduced" to each other, the male searches for a female when he is ready. The only suggestion that I can give you is to follow Orin's advice and seperate them so that he cannot smell the female's pheromones for a week or so and then put the female into a 1' cube with lots of branches and whatnots, and introduce the male in the near-dark (yr closet seems to be great for tha)t. Let him find the female when he is ready; it's what happens in nature!

 

[yeatzee]

Thanks guys

@Phil - :lol:

On a more serious note I dont think they have much more time in them

I'll give it a shot nonetheless

 

[Peter Clausen]

It's not inconceivable that your male just isn't ready yet. I had a ghost male like this recently. Instead of attacking her though, he'd do a 180 on her back for the first few weeks or just jump off. He also behaved this same way with another female that had previously mated with a different male about 6 weeks earlier.

I always place the male on the female's back while she's feeding (and they're both already generally well fed). Seems like ghost males don't always have the heartiest of appetites. Just keep feeding them up and re-introducing them to each other.

Females can live almost six months as adults if you don't keep them terribly warm. Maybe cool her down (if you are concerned about her waning lifespan), warm him up and feed him more and keep them in different rooms as Phil/Orin suggest (hormone saturation theory).

Also, females that are interested in mating won't generally move around with the male on their backs unless they are on an unsecure surface. Could be him, could be her or a combination thereof. Try, try again!

 

[Rick]

Think that is bad try orchid mantids. I've had a male ride around on a female for a week without doing anything except drumming. Just keep trying.

 

[sufistic]

Think that is bad try orchid mantids. I've had a male ride around on a female for a week without doing anything except drumming. Just keep trying.

Recently, I observed my female Orchid constantly pushing away the male's genitalia with her genitalia each time he tried to connect. So the male kept drumming until the female finally relented. Your female was probably not in the mood lol.

 

[beckyl92]

my ghost was a ###### to mate. i bought them at 3rd instar. the female had been adult 7 weeks. the male about 12. i'm sure he was gay.. :huh:

it was so frustrating.. in the end i just traded them. i was scared the male didn't have long left. i literally tryed to mate them for about an hour everyday for a week. one day when i was off college i tryed for about 7 hours. i gave up and just left them to it. so yeah, i put them in a net cage for 2 days and as far as i know nothing happened. they was in the exact same place 2 days later. nightmare...

 

[sufistic]

my ghost was a ###### to mate. i bought them at 3rd instar. the female had been adult 7 weeks. the male about 12. i'm sure he was gay.. :huh: it was so frustrating.. in the end i just traded them. i was scared the male didn't have long left. i literally tryed to mate them for about an hour everyday for a week. one day when i was off college i tryed for about 7 hours. i gave up and just left them to it. so yeah, i put them in a net cage for 2 days and as far as i know nothing happened. they was in the exact same place 2 days later. nightmare...

Really sorry for you. We can do this and that but when it comes to breeding them, we start to realise that it's not in our hands any longer.

 

[sbugir]

He could be desensitized to her pheromones. If your keeping them together, consider separating them?

 

[kamakiri]

Darkness. The male needs darkness to only think of sex. If there's light...they seem to get distracted.

Once in the dark, it often takes a while for the male to get into the right position. I've found that it usually occurs *after* the female moves to a place where she can hang facing downward or hang upside down. While the female is walking to such a position she often walks away from the male, because he isn't even in the right position or his feet aren't all on her.

Good luck, and I hope that helps!

Great pics, btw...really like those

 

[davestreasurechest]

i dont thank you should have removed him, these are pretty easy to mate (from my experience) the male is longer than the female so he has to get way back on her to be able to completely turn his abdomen in a "u"shape and get up in her ,from what i have observed in these and other mantids as well ,the male jumps on her in the 69 position and quickly turns around, sometime the female freaks out a bit ,it happends pretty quick ,while you are thinking ,..oh ###### ,oh ###### should i ?,....but it allways worked out ok, with the Ghost it is better that they are upside down(more natural for them)

but make sure there is a good upper surface for her to hold on to and no obstructions below,....hope this helps,...

 

[yeatzee]

Well I tried separating them for a week and pairing them together and sure enough..... she ate him :angry:

I've got three ooths from her and she did live communally almost all her adult life so fingers crossed. <_<