S carolina ooth, close to hatching?

[ZoeRipper]

I was doing my daily inspection of the ooths, and the S carolina (thank you Rick!) seemed to have 4 holes! I was freakin' out, I didn't see any nymphs or anything. Nothing was moving around, nadda. After inspection of the container, there was nothing there. So I got out the magnifying glass.. And they aren't holes at all! Just 4 rather dark spots. Does this mean that it's close to hatching? Or is this normal?

 

[beckyl92]

i don't think it means anything. some ooths are just like that i once had a texas unicorn ootheca with about 8 holes in it and it hatched 40 nymphs.

 

[Rick]

There is no indication that an ooth is about to hatch, it's just a surprise when it does.

 

[ZoeRipper]

I hope it's a Christmas suprise~

 

[hibiscusmile]

is it wild caught? might be parasite holes?

 

[PhilinYuma]

is it wild caught? might be parasite holes?

Notice that Zoe is saying that they aren't holes, just dark spots!

 

[jplelito]

is it wild caught? might be parasite holes?

Rebecca might be right - perfectly circular holes on the ooth (especially that are not along the 'hatch line' of flaps on the top) often indicate parasitization by a wasp. These usually reduce the number of babies out of the ooth but rarely do they wipe out the entire clutch. Do be careful not to let those wasps out though, if you should get some (don't want them to get into the local mantid populations).

 

[PhilinYuma]

Rebecca might be right - perfectly circular holes on the ooth (especially that are not along the 'hatch line' of flaps on the top) often indicate parasitization by a wasp. These usually reduce the number of babies out of the ooth but rarely do they wipe out the entire clutch. Do be careful not to let those wasps out though, if you should get some (don't want them to get into the local mantid populations).

A very good point. I also asked a lady in the complex with a Weimeraner named Buster how she could account for such holes, and she suggested bb pellets, though she thought that they would leave through and through holes. Her 10 yr old son thought that they might be secret caves for nanobots, and I thought that that was pretty reasonable too. It just seems a pity that THERE AREN'T ANY HOLES IN THE OOTH!!

Zoe, could you make a few holes in the ooth just to give these excellent theories some foothold?

 

[ismart]

There is no indication that an ooth is about to hatch, it's just a surprise when it does.

+1!

 

[ZoeRipper]

Thanks to those who actually read the OP!

I think the rest just kinda read the words "ooth" and "Holes" and were like

PARASITES!

 

[ismart]

What!? Parasites where!? :lol:

 

[ZoeRipper]

I think they came with the nanobots!

 

[Rick]

Ooth in question is from a captive female. No parasites.

 

[elf run1]

There is no indication that an ooth is about to hatch, it's just a surprise when it does.

lol ya...like today when i checked and found a lot of chinese nyphs...i was not expectiong it so early =)