P. chlorophaea, O. distinctus, and Rhombodera spp.

[yen_saw]

Thanks Yen. Lost one to mismolt around L4/5. *facepalm*First adult male today. How long do the males of this species live?

The male will live for about 3-4 months, if not eaten by the female. HOw far behind is your female? I am sure you have plenty of time left. HOw many males do you have? Again, great job on rearing 7 out of the 8 survive this far. Moulting into adult is not as big of a hurdle compare to mating so you should get all adults aright, best of luck Andrew.

The first texicorn molted to adult last night. If only I had some males! Hopefully I'll be able to get some from Orin in the next week or two.

Also made an attempt at breeding the Oxypilus today. The female was given a large cricket, which she feasted on until there was virtually nothing left. The male tried to make a move, but waited until she had finished the cricket. There was a whole lot of boxing going on as the male tried to make his way to her, but she turned aggressive and he totally flipped. Fluttered up to the top of the cup(his wings don't look messed up anymore :blink: ) and ran a few laps. So I tried again, and moved him behind her more. She noticed him though, and the second she looked at him, he flipped out again.

Oh well. Will keep trying throughout the weekend.

THe female isn't ready yet by the souns of it, he may be hurt if the female beat him trying to mate so remove the male at once. Probably give the female a few good days before sending her into his cage again. Good luck!

 

[Andrew]

Thanks for the advice Yen. Despite what you said I put him in with the female this morning. He made his move almost immediately this time. She wasn't as aggressive as last time, but still no success. I've been told that this species should be ready after only a week, but I guess mine need more time!.

There was one more mismolt with the Rhombodera yesterday. A female molting to subadult. Bad luck or low humidity, maybe both. But I have three or four more subadult females, and the rest are male. I don't keep track of the sexes very well.

Took some more pics today.

And the queen P. dominula that got away from me while I was taking pics. T_T

 

[yen_saw]

That's alright, looks like you have a well balanced ratio of male vs female. I mated the female after she is 2 week old, and then for some female i remated her after the 3-4 ooth but it is not necessary really. Strangely, I lost most of my males (cannibalism) when remating the females whereas the first time they went alright. One week seems to short, you might wanna try again this weekend.

Very nice pic of your O. distinctus and P. virescens.

 

[Andrew]

Ahh, I worded that badly. They should have been ready after only a week; the females are both 14-15 days, and the male is 8. I'm going to wait a couple days before putting them together again though.

Thanks a bunch for the tips, sounds like the Rhombodera won't be much of a hassle.

Will keep things updated here as well as my blog as they go along.

 

[Andrew]

Last night I saw the female tucked away into the Tillandsia, and found her making this!

I bought a night time heat lamp, moved the oldest pair into a larger enclosure with live tillandsia and some green moss for substrate, and then set it all up in my closet, where it's pitch black after I turn the lights out. Never saw them mate myself. She laid this after two or three days of these conditions. Hopefully it's fertile.

 

[Andrew]

Well, left the heat lamp on for a couple hours, then it was lights out. I think they liked the lingering warmth in the pitch black. This is the youngest pair.

This gives me more hope that the ootheca from the other female is fertile.

My apologies for triple-posting. x_x

 

[Kruszakus]

So it worked out? Well, congrats!

 

[macro junkie]

looks like the eggs havent got any foam on..will it still hatch?

 

[Kruszakus]

Actually, this is what O. distinctus ooth should look like.

Nice thing with them is that after about two weeks eyes should be visible.

 

[Andrew]

Thanks Kruszakus! Looks like I might be able to tell if that ooth is fertile before it ever hatches.

 

[Kruszakus]

By the way - my Texicorns turned L6 - man, they are sub-adult already?

 

[Andrew]

Congrats on the texicorns. I didn't keep track of the later molts very well for my Phyllovates, so I don't really know if thats subadult or not. It should be really easy to tell from the budwings.

Two of the Rhombodera females matured sometime during the night.

 

[Kruszakus]

How tiny... :lol:

What a beast!

 

[Andrew]

I thought they would be bigger.

 

[Andrew]

First adult P. virescens.

 

[Andrew]

First Rhombodera pair is mating.

But I see a droplet of blood on her abdomen. I hope this isn't serious. She ate something like 9 1/2 adult crickets before this .

Edit - Pair #2

 

[Andrew]

It took all this time, but finally I've got my first Rhombodera ooth.

The texicorns have been like this since late afternoon yesterday. I don't know if they have actually mated or not yet, so I'm just going to leave them like that until he jumps off.

 

[Kruszakus]

Look at my Texicorns

They are so sweet

 

[Andrew]

Nice mantids! I've got one male paired up with the fourth female, only one more to go after this.

This girl is enjoying one of the first treats of spring.

 

[darkspeed]

HA!!! Your dragon style kung fu is no match for my praying mantis style!!!