S. limbata: A world record?

[PhilinYuma]

My lone female S. limbata spawned on the day that I captured her on October 3rd. She was very undernourished (witness the fact that she devoured fire ants when that was all I had to give her) and the ooth was 12mm long and skinny, a little smaller than the minimum cited by Roberts in the report mentioned elsewhere on this board. On November 1st she spawned again and the ooth was 25mm long and consistently broader, more in keping with Roberts' longest wild collected ooths than with those that he observed produced in captivity, which averaged only 14mm long.

So far nothing amazing, but after eating ravenously for two days, she laid another ooth last night! This is as long as the first ooth and as thick as the second.

Questions:

Is this a common occurence, or world record?

If the latter, do I get a prize? A lifetime subscription to the Mantid Forum would be great.

Has anyone noticed that the laying of two ooths so closer together in time is a harbinger of impending death? If so, I wouild like to be able to make arrangements in advance.

Thanks for any advice/comments that you may have to offer.

 

[Rick]

I am pretty sure records are not kept of such things. I have seen huge ooths and I have seen small ooths from the same mantis. Large just means you get more nymphs.

 

[Orin]

If the latter, do I get a prize? A lifetime subscription to the Mantid Forum would be great.

Since it's free I think we can handle that.

 

[hibiscusmile]

R U saying that two days or so after laying the first ooth she laid the other? If so I would say it is a record! And if so u win!

 

[Peter Clausen]

I had an orchid mantis do that last week. I think what happened in this case was that she began laying it near the top of her deli cup and then fell during the process. There was a second ootheca down closer to the bottom. I was out of town for six nights, so I'm not sure this all took place in the same hour or whether it was six days apart, but there were definitely two oothecae in there (now transferred to incubation).

My guess it that she was interrupted while laying her first one. Of course, power-feeding is a must for getting more frequent oothecae.

 

[hibiscusmile]

Doesn't power feeding make them die faster?

 

[Peter Clausen]

Lots of food and warm temps. do mean shorter life spans, but if creating hundreds of lives from a single one is your goal...Mama's gotta eat!

 

[yeatzee]

Ha, well my S. Limbata laid 1 large, 1 medium, and one small in a three day span......boy was she fat before that lol.

 

[PhilinYuma]

Ha, well my S. Limbata laid 1 large, 1 medium, and one small in a three day span......boy was she fat before that lol.

Well, you win Yeatzee! If you will send me the three ooths and the usual certificate of authenticity, I shall send you the scroll giving me lifetime membership on the Mantid Forum.

I have no doubt that in this case, these were seperate ooths, not the result of interruption. Was that true in your case? Mine looks ready to lay again, and I don't have the heart to tell her that she has lost the contest.