Pseudocreobotra ocellata breeding diary

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Another of my adult males died yesterday from sudden mantis death syndrome... so fo fear that my luck is running out I went ahead and introduced the other adult male to her today. he jumped right on and has been riding around on her for about an hour now, but no real action. How long do the little guys ride before they actually do the deed?
Well after five hours riding around on her back without actually connecting I had to remove him, cuz I dont plan on leaving them alone together. Is that normal, or does he need to mature more before I introduce him to her again?

 
Well after five hours riding around on her back without actually connecting I had to remove him, cuz I dont plan on leaving them alone together. Is that normal, or does he need to mature more before I introduce him to her again?
i woulnt do that..let them do there own thing!soon as he has done his job he wil jump off..if he dont thats his hard ######..should of been faster..LOL..as long as u feed her right up theres no reson why she would want to eat him.you should of just left them to it.if he jumped on her back hes ready to mate.just cause they didnt connect after 5 hours dont mean he or she is not ready.its happened to me mayby times..i rember mating mine and the male and female where mating for 24hours.leave them to do there own thing.how long has female and male been adult for?.sorry if u allready said that in the thread.i forgot.

 
They have both been adults for 15 - 20 days. I planned on waiting till she made 21 but Im afraid that my adult male will up and die for no apparent reason like my other one did. He had only been adult for a month. This hobby is so frustrating cuz you can try so hard to do everything just right, and they still die without an apparent cause of death to learn from. I'll try again ain a few days when I have more time to monitor them.

 
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Well I put the lovers together again yesterday, fed her really good prior and again after about six hours into it. When I checked on them I could tell that the male was curling his abdomen around to meet hers, but when I tried to get a good look he would straighten it out. So I gave them their privacy......They stayed together all night, and till nearly noon the next day, when he politely hopped off and went about his merry way. I assume that means he finished his job and was successful, but since I didn't really see it with my own eyes how do I know for sure? Will he hop on her again given the opportunity in the future, or is he done with her?

 
I wouldn't leave them together now they've finished but re-introduce them after a few ooths have been laid.

As for whether he got off without doing the business all I've got to say is he's a bloke, no matter what species :D :D :D

 
Well I am pleased to announce that the copulation was a success!!! We now have one beautiful ooth laid just 5 days after the mating took place.

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Mom and her ooth...

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The happy couple...

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this does not mean copulation was successful. also, how much did you feed her prior to her laying this ootheca? because for a first fertile/laid ootheca, it is very much on the small side, and looks about the same as the duds my female used to lay before i mated her. anyway, this nobody can know for certain until this one does/does not hatch, so good luck, hope its fertile. though if i were you i would try to let them mate again to be safe.

 
She will be mated with the other adult male I have as soon as he is 3 weeks old just to be on the safe side...I have been feeding her fat moths from the porch light and wax worms daily since she molted to adult... The ooth even sorta shimmers like moth dust. She had been an adult for roughly 28 days when she laid the first ooth... 4 days after the mating attempt. Do those numbers seem typical?? Do unfertilized female PO's lay dud ooths around thirty days after the molt to adult?

 
Well it is time for an update... Of the 6 ootheca that "Big Momma" laid, only one hatched... and of that hatch a total of 15 emerged, and only 5 made it past 1st instar, and only three made it to 3rd instar. They are now 5th istar, and the three remaining are of wonderfull health. They are voracious eaters, usually finishing off 20 large wild fruit flies within a few hours. Best of all I ended up with one female and two males. Hopefully this time around I'll be more successfull at the breeding process. Plus I have another P.O. ooth on the way so I should have some new genes to work with in the future.

 
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