I have a female ghost that was paired with a male ~3 weeks ago. I left him in over night, and awoke to just wings on the bottom of the cage. I was wondering how long it would take to confirm whether or not it was a successful pairing. She had laid 3 oothecae,2 very small, a few days later. I decided to check in on them and opened one of the small ones, might not have been my most ethical move but I did it. There was very obviously liquid in the ootheca, after 3 weeks, so does that mean it was fertile?
Possible infertile ghost ooth?
- Thread starter Ambystoma
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PlayingMantis
Well-known member
I must admit, I once cut open a fertile ooth before, and I could see light green egg sacs with liquid inside. Dumb move. The ooth still hatched, but I felt awful for cutting it open.
I did cut open my (infertile) ghost ooths before, just to see what the inside looked like. (I was sure they were infertile because the female never mated
). After about 1-2 weeks, the eggs were clear and had liquid inside of them. After 3-4 weeks, the eggs became opaque, and had the consistency of, I don't know, baked potato (that was the first thing that came to mind). After 6-8 weeks, the eggs had completely dried up, with the crunchy outer layer falling into pieces.
I never cut open a fertile ghost ooth for comparison purposes. The best way to tell if the ooth is fertile is just to wait it out. If I were you, I would just incubate it as usual and see.
I did cut open my (infertile) ghost ooths before, just to see what the inside looked like. (I was sure they were infertile because the female never mated
). After about 1-2 weeks, the eggs were clear and had liquid inside of them. After 3-4 weeks, the eggs became opaque, and had the consistency of, I don't know, baked potato (that was the first thing that came to mind). After 6-8 weeks, the eggs had completely dried up, with the crunchy outer layer falling into pieces.I never cut open a fertile ghost ooth for comparison purposes. The best way to tell if the ooth is fertile is just to wait it out. If I were you, I would just incubate it as usual and see.
