Orchid success!!!

[Love2read]

OMG! I'm so happy right now!!!



I hand-fed her honey til he connected and then smeared a little more on her front arms to keep her busy, lol

 

[Lazyiks]

Congrats!!

 

[agent A]

that's the easy part

now get her to lay an ooth

 

[sally]

Great job!!

 

[twolfe]

Congrats on getting them to mate. Good luck with them.

 

[Love2read]

Agent A- that was the EASY part?! *gulp* I was biting my nails the whole time waiting for him to connect, lol.

Any suggestions for helping mama lay ooths? It's hard to find exact info on Orchids, but from what little I've read, they do tend to be picky about where they lay, so if you have any suggestions, they would be much appreciated! This is my first mantis mating, so I'm a major newbie. I probably shouldn't have started off with such a difficult mantis, but I couldn't help myself.

 

[pomersamaj]

very good

 

[agent A]

Agent A- that was the EASY part?! *gulp* I was biting my nails the whole time waiting for him to connect, lol.

Any suggestions for helping mama lay ooths? It's hard to find exact info on Orchids, but from what little I've read, they do tend to be picky about where they lay, so if you have any suggestions, they would be much appreciated! This is my first mantis mating, so I'm a major newbie. I probably shouldn't have started off with such a difficult mantis, but I couldn't help myself.

they like wide flat surfacesi had 2 females, 1 older who mated but i gave someone else the male because the pair mated the day the younger female molted to adult so i figured he'd be dead by the time the younger is ready anyway

so the older one never laid but the younger laid an infertile ooth on the lid of a deli cup before i sent her to someone

so i think it is partially the female u r working with too but try wide leaves like those big tropical houseplant things

pothos and philodendron may also work

 

[Pizzaparlor45]

This is my first mantis mating, so I'm a major newbie. I probably shouldn't have started off with such a difficult mantis, but I couldn't help myself.

Yeah many newbies fall into the trap that is the orchid mantis.

 

[Toxic]

They are easy to raise and mate. They rarely have moulting issues, once female is ready and full hardly any aggression is shown towards the male. The only hard part I've found is getting them to lay. As already said they like flat surfaces to lay on. Large leafs are good or a tight meshed cage. I've had them lay on plastic before but found the female would slip and have to restart the ootheca so mesh works best. Oh and your male may stay on your females back after disconnecting for a week the males even feed on the back of a female I use a big cage for mating with twigs n leafs down low for male to hide in after he dismounts her.

 

[Love2read]

Thank you both!

I just put together this cage for her:


What do you think? Will she like it? I left the walls kinda bare and put screen across the top, back, and side so she will have all of those sides as laying options. I didn't want to over-clutter it, so I only put one, large stick. Should I add more?

She's already huge! It's a good thing I didn't wait any longer to breed her or she might have laid infertile ooths!

 

[kobelu3]

ARE YOU GONNA BE SELLING THE NYMPHS?