s.Lineola ootheca

[godschild9]

Hi , I have never participated in this forum before. I have a question or two. I am totally new, two months, to the mantis world. I bought a s.lineola female. She had laid one ootheca at teh pet store. It has not hatched yet. I have had her since the first of June. The pet store has had the ootheca in a warm place with a lizard. Since I have had her here, she has laid four oothecas. The first one I dissected after reading that they lay them even if not mated. That one had small mantises inside. The ootheca was four weeks old when I dissected it. The next one in line to hatch is six weeks old or so today. I broke two small eggs and they were wet and sticky inside so I believe this ooth is also fertile. I have read that we are to keep the temp between 70-85 degrees F. Our home stays more toward 70. Here in Germany is it quite humid so I was not too concerned about misting the ooth. How long do I wait for it to hatch? Needless to say, I am quite excited to see those little 7 mm sized creatures come out of their nest. Thank you for your patience with my long note.

 

[ShieldMantid1997]

I read that it generally takes 5-6 weeks for the ootheca to hatch. I found a helpful link for incubating also.

http://insectstore.com/incubating_praying_mantis_ootheca.php Thanks to insectstore.com for all the great information!

 

[RevWillie]

Patience is the hardest thing to learn - believe me I know!

Hang in there, good conditions, and hands off!

 

[godschild9]

Patience is the hardest thing to learn - believe me I know!

Hang in there, good conditions, and hands off!

Yes, I have experienced the impatience. I have opened two oothecas, both were dried out. I did not know to mist them until too late. I now have two more that she has laid. I have "hung" them with a piece of thread sewn through netting at the top of two separate quart canning jars. I used the rings to fasten the netting to the opening of the jars. I have read to spray them every two days. I then read to only spray them once a week because they can mold. I have read several care sheets and they seem to differ in areas of misting. While I am asking, I noticed that our pet store had some fruitfly cultures for a while. They had to send them away since they got too old and I do not know if they will get any more by the time these ooths hatch. They also have some very small crickets that that are about the size of the Fruitfly larva. In other words about the size of the small pencil lead. Are these too large in the event they do not bring the fruitfly larva back?

 

[PhilinYuma]

Yes, I have experienced the impatience. I have opened two oothecas, both were dried out. I did not know to mist them until too late. I now have two more that she has laid. I have "hung" them with a piece of thread sewn through netting at the top of two separate quart canning jars. I used the rings to fasten the netting to the opening of the jars. I have read to spray them every two days. I then read to only spray them once a week because they can mold. I live in Germany where the air is humid and it has remained mostly in the temperature has remained 15.6-26.7 most of the summer. We have had a few days of higher temps, but most have been in the cooler range. She is about to lay another one this week. Thank you for your information.

Here's a thought. Mantids that hatch in Malasia among other places, do so at temps of 30C+ and a RH of between 90-100% yet, as you will know if you have seen WC ooths, they are not moldy. On the other hand, the S. limbata ooths in this area hatch after weathering conditions that include, depending on the time of the year, T35C+//RH10%

I raise mostly equatorial species and keep the ooths in a hatching chamber at around 30C/80%RH. I have hatched 6 ooths so far this week, using this method, so I shall probably stick with it. Oh. Many of us have found that an ooth's hatch rate often increases dramatically with higher humidity.

 

[godschild9]

Here's a thought. Mantids that hatch in Malasia among other places, do so at temps of 30C+ and a RH of between 90-100% yet, as you will know if you have seen WC ooths, they are not moldy. On the other hand, the S. limbata ooths in this area hatch after weathering conditions that include, depending on the time of the year, T35C+//RH10%

I raise mostly equatorial species and keep the ooths in a hatching chamber at around 30C/80%RH. I have hatched 6 ooths so far this week, using this method, so I shall probably stick with it. Oh. Many of us have found that an ooth's hatch rate often increases dramatically with higher humidity.

Thank you for the additional information. I guess I will have to raise the temp a bit. It is only around 44% humidity here today, so I guess i need to keep misting. Do you have a picture of your hatching chamber? When I got Charlotte, I did not plan on keeping any more. I have grown rather attached to her and I think I would like to go for round 2. In order to do this I need to keep a few extra accessaries.

 

[godschild9]

I broke down and bought a heating mat. Our weather here is so roller coaster as well as our humidity that I felt I had to do something to try for success. I used thread and hung two ooths from a piece of sheer fabric netting. Each ooth is in a quart sized canning jar and I am using a piece of paper towel in the bottom to hold the moisture. I do not know if this is what was meant. I have had three ooths dry totally out on me. So taking the advice from this forum, I thought keeping both jars warm on the mat and moist through a continuous moist towel, I might have a chance of getting one to hatch. The first one due to hatch is six weeks old Sept 9th. I don't know how much the temp will play on the waiting time now at this time.