Orchid mantis POLL

[Extrememantid]

Most of Thomas's stuff is wild caught due to where he lives, so bloodlines aren't a concern. And he seems to have a good reputation. Like I said though, I'd focus on what you have currently

 

[DeShawn]

also, i saw that you mentioned why the fertility rates of orchids are so low, due to inbreeding. is that the breeding of different species? 

No, just breeding the same lines over and over.  Orchid female with a male of same bloodline.  Usually takes many generations in insects for that to be an issue though, but you can breed many generations of orchids in just a few years.  Not sure how many it takes.

 

[Starving Always]

No, just breeding the same lines over and over.  Orchid female with a male of same bloodline.  Usually takes many generations in insects for that to be an issue though, but you can breed many generations of orchids in just a few years.  Not sure how many it takes.

ill just have new males from someone else hopefully every year

 

[Extrememantid]

ill just have new males from someone else hopefully every year

That's not as easy as it sounds lol.

 

[Starving Always]

oh reaally?

 

[PlayingMantis]

I've heard that orchids do badly with inbreeding. Yen said it's around 3 generations. I've probably already hit my max so that's why I'm adding new blood to my stock. I should've been adding fresh blood every year. 

Over the generations, I have seen a decline in the percentage of ooths from mated females that actually turned out to be fertilized. But interestingly, with each successive generation, I've also seen an increase in hatch size (up to 113 from an ooth from my 3rd generation). That might seem counterintuitive to the effects of inbreeding, but there's a catch: my 3rd generation, I've seen a sudden increase in L1 mortality rates. So my assumption, based on my limited experience, is that inbreeding for multiple generations lowers the % of actual fertile ooths and increases mortality rates.