OOtheca fertilized or not?

[Graz73]

Hi,

I'm new to this whole mantis thing, and have really been enjoying it!

3 months ago(in September), we found a full grown female mantis (brownish with green stripes on her wings) on the door to an electronics store, far from any greenery. We got her a nice plastic bug cage with some sticks and dirt and caught her insects and spiders for the rest of the fall.

She did pretty well, and started getting fat. Sometimes eating ten or more bugs a day.

In Nov and December, it started getting cold and hard to find any bugs for her to eat, so I started buying crickets at my local pet store. She does not like them as well as the other bugs, but seems to eat them just fine when she is hungry enough. Maybe she is just getting old and slowing down?

It's now mid December, and we are surprised that she is still alive!

SO, yesterday, we were even more surprised to see that she'd laid a big egg ootheca.

So, this makes us wonder: Will these eggs hatch? Could she have mated months ago before we caught her? Or are these sterile eggs? We even read online that mantis's can hatch unfertilized eggs through parthenogenesis.

Whats the real story here?

How can I tell?

 

[yen_saw]

Usually a fertile wild caught adult female will deposit ootheca within 2 weeks when well fed. Unless your mantis is Brunneria borealis, which reproduce asexually (parthenogenesis), the ootheca produced by unmated female will not be viable. Just keep the oothecae and hope for the best.

 

[hibiscusmile]

Was she an adult? meaning did she have her wings? Then possibly she was mated when you found her, as Yen said, keep, mist three times a week and wait! 6 to 8 weeks for babies!

 

[dgerndt]

You could even put the eggs outside in a paper bag and let nature take care of them. That's what I did when my wild-caught mantis laid her ooth.

Do you know what species your mantis is? Just curious.

 

[Pet Duck Boy]

The ooth is worthless if you caught your mantis as a sub-adult or nymph (One with un-developed wings) If she was adult when you caught her, there's no telling if the ooth isn't fertile, so treat it like a normal one.

 

[Graz73]

Thanks for the replies.

Here is a picture that looks just like our mantis:

What breed is it? Its not that parthenogenesis one...

We definitely caught the mantis when she was full grown with wings. She has not molted in the last 3 months or anything.

Even so, I don't know how likely it is that she mated back in September and is just laying the eggs now though...

what should I keep the OOtheca in? I don't want my house to be overrun by tiny mantises when I'm not around but if I keep it in a sealed container there wouldn't be any air either...

 

[PhilinYuma]

Well, you've got a nice Chinese female there. If it has taken her this long to lay, I suggest that you feed her more. What are you feeding her, BTW, and how often?

A 32oz deli cup with pin holes in the lid will hold the ooth, but indoors, it will hatch well before spring. To have any chance of raising the babies, you'll need at least a 12" net cube. Both Hibiscusmile and Green Oasis, among other forum members, sell them.

Deby's idea of keeping it in a paper bag outside is a good one, because that way you will have more control over when it hatches. In the spring, start a fruit fly culture (first mels and then hydei) and bring the ooth in doors.Good luck!

This winter, you might want to buy another one so that if yours isn't fertile, all those ffs won't go to waste

 

[hibiscusmile]

Yes, as Phil stated, she should be laying before now. she needs food that is the size of a nickle every day, like 1/2 or 3/4" crickets, blue bottle flies, a nice worm or two a week as a treat!

 

[Graz73]

Thanks for all of the info.

I could put the eggs in a paper bag out in the snow, or in a cup in the house. Either is fine with me. Which has a higher success rate?

Even if it has taken her this long to lay the egg sack, I don't think she is malnourished. We fed her lots of bugs a day at first and she really fattened up. In the late fall she really liked eating grass hoppers. At one point I apparently gave her more than she needed. She tried eating one and only ate 1/4 of it before she was gorged with food. Her abdomen was huge.

Recently, I have been keeping 3-6 crickets in her cage, and she snacks on them when she wants to, but she does not seem to like them very much. I mean, she does not eat them very often even if they are easy to catch and right in front of her. Now that it is winter, there are not many insects around to feed her. In the past I caught all sorts of stuff and she gobbled it all up. (She ate something that gave her bug-diarrhea one time, but she recovered from that)

I bought a "super worm" and she totally ignored that. I am not sure where to get more food. The crickets are easy to buy, but if she doesn't want them, I'd like to try something else.

I don't think she has eaten since laying that egg sack a few days ago. (Maybe she ate when I was not there, but I'm not sure) I have given her some water though and she drank that.

Here is a photo of her laying that Ootheca

 

[hibiscusmile]

humm, seems like u r rite on the food, is it possible she has laid any outside the container?

 

[Graz73]

humm, seems like u r rite on the food, is it possible she has laid any outside the container?

The ootheca is stuck to the lid of the container. I will probably remove it. I could either put it in a cup in our bathroom (so it gets more humidity from our shower) or outside in a bag.

It's not likely that she laid any eggs outside the container, but its hypothetically possible she could have laid eggs before we caught her, 3 months ago...

 

[dgerndt]

Aw, she's such a cutie! She reminds me so much of my first mantis. She was also a Chinese that took a while to lay an ooth, even though she was very well-fed. I guess we'll have to see how our ooths turn out together!

She probably doesn't like the crickets as much as the other food because she was wild-caught and you spoiled her with lots of other wild bugs. Mantids like variety just like we do! You could try dangling the superworm in front of her with tweezers, maybe even hold it up to her mouth. She needs to see some movement before she realizes that it's food. Also, you might want to only put one or MAYBE two crickets in her enclosure at a time. Crickets can be really mean and attack mantids; even kill one if given the chance.

 

[PhilinYuma]

The ootheca is stuck to the lid of the container. I will probably remove it. I could either put it in a cup in our bathroom (so it gets more humidity from our shower) or outside in a bag.

It's not likely that she laid any eggs outside the container, but its hypothetically possible she could have laid eggs before we caught her, 3 months ago...

Yes, I wondered about that. I wonder if this latest is a "swan song" ooth.

Chinese ooths are used to wintering outside where it is cold and the humidity, low, so don't keep it in the bathroom!

To control when the ooth will hatch, you must keep it cool (in the F30's). When you take it out in the spring, you can have everything ready and it will hatch fairly quickly, often in less than a week.

You can keep it in a pot in the fridge and moisten it once a week. I suggest that you glue it (hot glue or super glue) to the lid to facilitate hatching.

 

[Graz73]

Yes, I wondered about that. I wonder if this latest is a "swan song" ooth.

Chinese ooths are used to wintering outside where it is cold and the humidity, low, so don't keep it in the bathroom!

To control when the ooth will hatch, you must keep it cool (in the F30's). When you take it out in the spring, you can have everything ready and it will hatch fairly quickly, often in less than a week.

You can keep it in a pot in the fridge and moisten it once a week. I suggest that you glue it (hot glue or super glue) to the lid to facilitate hatching.

How long is my mantis likely to live after this egg laying?

OK, so you think if I take a ziplock container, glue the ootheca to the inside of the lid, and keep it in the fridge all winter with a moist paper towel?

 

[dgerndt]

How long is my mantis likely to live after this egg laying?

OK, so you think if I take a ziplock container, glue the ootheca to the inside of the lid, and keep it in the fridge all winter with a moist paper towel?

It's hard to tell. Mine lived for another month or so after she laid her ooth. Some live longer. All I can say is that she might not make it to spring since she was wild-caught.

Sounds about right.

 

[Graz73]

It's hard to tell. Mine lived for another month or so after she laid her ooth. Some live longer. All I can say is that she might not make it to spring since she was wild-caught.

Sounds about right.

Well, I'm sad to report that she died Saturday, a few days after laying that egg sack.

She used to spend all of her time suspended from the roof of the cage. A few days ago, she has stared perching in the branches, as it was too hard for her to get to the roof. She had been gradually loosing strength.I tried to get her to eat and drink, but she started vomiting up drops of water, and wasn't very interested in food. The twitching of the super worm in her claws just scared her and she dropped it.

Then saturday morning I found her laying on the floor of her cage. Still alert, but very weak. I helped her eat a few nibbles of a big worm the next day, but could tell it would not help as she gradually started shaking then loosing the ability to move.

I decided to let her die in peace on a nice big leaf. It was interesting as I came back to her throughout the day thinking she was dead, only to find that she was still hanging onto life.

Eventually, she seemed paralyzed. Her limbs and head were non-responsive, but her abdomen was still moving around with its tail feelers moving around.

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I prepared the egg sack and put it in the fridge. Still not sure if it will work, but we'll see.

 

[dgerndt]

Oh, I'm so sorry. It's hard losing your first mantis. At least you'll have her little babies in the spring.