Sally's mantis thread start 05/13

[sally]

That is great! And if you posted your photos in the order they were taken, that means your female was a little ahead of your male. I don't think you could have timed that more perfectly. How long did you wait before you took those photos? Both of your adults are very green. Was one of them the green nymph? In my 2.5 years with this species, I've only had 3 - 4 green nymphs. So, they are special to me.

I posted them right away so they are abt 1 week apart. The green nymph is from the 3 rd hatch, just a baby still. Out of all the hatches it is the only green nymph. I separated it quickly, lol. I really haven't had an issue with cannibalism though.

 

[aNisip]

Hey Sally this is a great thread! Keep it up!

P.S. I have four h coronatus ooths from two females that were mated multiple times...however I'm starting to give up on them as its been 4+ months since their lay date.... I don't kno what I did wrong, howd u incubate them?

And ill send you a pm abt lobata and t elegans...

 

[twolfe]

Hey Sally this is a great thread! Keep it up!

P.S. I have four h coronatus ooths from two females that were mated multiple times...however I'm starting to give up on them as its been 4+ months since their lay date.... I don't kno what I did wrong, howd u incubate them?

And ill send you a pm abt lobata and t elegans...

Sorry to hear that Andrew. That keeps happening to me. I mated one female with four different males, and she laid ooths on a regular basis. I asked that question on the Facebook page and validated that I'm incubating them correctly. I always gave up on my ooths after a couple of months, but didn't someone on this forum say that they had a 4 month old ooth hatch?

 

[sally]

I incubated the Orchid ooths at 80 f in the day and 73 or 74 f at night. I am still waiting on my 2nd hatch, fingers crossed. Out of the two females, only one would mate... The other girl will not mate and has only laid a very small ooth. She eats well, and seems healthy, but is really set on not mating, lol. It is amazing how different they are. Now I am going to try the D lobatas....hoping for the best. I am still waiting on the 2nd ooth of the T Elegans to hatch. My Stagmo Cali ooths have not yet hatched. My Creos mated and now there is an ooth Ironically, my mated female ghost is taking really long to lay her ooth. I am trying to hatch an Idolo ooth, I hope it is fertile All in all my very favorite by far are the Shields.....

 

[aNisip]

Sorry to hear that Andrew. That keeps happening to me. I mated one female with four different males, and she laid ooths on a regular basis. I asked that question on the Facebook page and validated that I'm incubating them correctly. I always gave up on my ooths after a couple of months, but didn't someone on this forum say that they had a 4 month old ooth hatch?

Yeah, the other andrew (branciskia) said his hatched after like 4-5 months...

 

[twolfe]

I incubated the Orchid ooths at 80 f in the day and 73 or 74 f at night. I am still waiting on my 2nd hatch, fingers crossed. Out of the two females, only one would mate... The other girl will not mate and has only laid a very small ooth. She eats well, and seems healthy, but is really set on not mating, lol. It is amazing how different they are. Now I am going to try the D lobatas....hoping for the best. I am still waiting on the 2nd ooth of the T Elegans to hatch. My Stagmo Cali ooths have not yet hatched. My Creos mated and now there is an ooth Ironically, my mated female ghost is taking really long to lay her ooth. I am trying to hatch an Idolo ooth, I hope it is fertile All in all my very favorite by far are the Shields.....

That happens with the Orchids. It seems like a shame that we can't breed all of the females. I wonder what it is about this species. I wish we could figure it out. I was so happy with my last attempt when both of my females readily mated with multiple males. But I knew it was a bad sign when one of them laid irregular ooths on an infrequent basis. It's the other female that baffles me because everything looked good. I remember hearing about a surplus of Orchid nymphs years ago. So many were attempting to breed them last year that I really expected that to happen, but it didn't. They are still expensive and sell quickly when someone offers them. Perhaps we need to learn more about their natural environment.

sally/Pat...I just looked at your join date. You have done well for only being in this hobby for a year, and some of the species you have had success with are more challenging.

We both have our forum anniversaries this month. I photographed my first mantis on October 4, 2010 in Texas and joined the forum later that month on October 27, 2010. Sometimes I still feel like a newbie, but in this hobby, people come and go all the time. Perhaps I'll soon be considered an oldtimer.

Good luck with your D. lobatas! My male died before my female was ready. So, I'm just enjoying my female as a pet.

 

[sally]

The Orchid babies are getting big. Still not a second hatch yet... I won't give up hope I can't believe "she" ( I think ) took on this bbfly already... I think I have all girls. I am really bad at sexing Orchids until they get a little bigger, lol. I can't even tell by the leg petals...

 

[sally]

Today the D lobata male finally connected to one of the girls I am surprised that the lobatas were so challenging ( for me ) to mate. I went through 2 males The T elegans are getting big Hopefully my green ghost will lay some ooths First Tau to molt to adult I have the 1st generation b mendicas starting to become adult from the first hatch . The D lobatas connected for over 12 hrs. I got him off of her as soon as they were done. He is safe

 

[Lannister]

To those having problems with breeding and infertile ootheca with the orchids - may I ask what diet you've got them on? And if you have them on a controlled day/night cycle?

 

[sally]

To those having problems with breeding and infertile ootheca with the orchids - may I ask what diet you've got them on? And if you have them on a controlled day/night cycle?

. Yes to the day and night cycle. When my girls were mating and laying ooths I was lucky to have bumble bees, moths, and I fed blue bottle flies. The favorites were the bumble bees for sure. They would easily eat 2 or 3 huge bees a day + flies and moths

 

[Extrememantid]

I've heard pollen and honey is essencial for flower mantids to be healthy.. Maybe it has something to do with the breeding problems ppl have?

 

[Lannister]

Any particular lighting spectrum? Is the day/night cycle reflective of what they would be experiencing at that stage in their native range? How about water - are you just getting it from the tap? If I recall correctly (I raised carnivorous plants for a while) orchids happen to require rather pristine (distilled) water as well, so perhaps the same can be said for the mantis. Sorry for the interrogation! Haha.

 

[sally]

I use tap water cause we have well water. No chemicals and safe to drink for humans, so hopefully ok for mantids The lighting I use is 12 hrs daylight bulbs, 12 hours nighttime bulbs. Temp change from 80 to 85 depending on position in the bugroom daytime to 70 to 75 at night. I also use heatlamps and a humidifier and I manually offer water and mist.

 

[devetaki9]

Those b mendicas are beautiful

 

[sally]

First ever Creobroter sp. hatch

 

[bobericc]

Haven't seen any creos around in a while!

Did you get a good number?

 

[sally]

Haven't seen any creos around in a while!

Did you get a good number?

About 30 so far

 

[sally]

Ok another Creobroter hatch. Lots and lots of Creos, lol.

 

[devetaki9]

Nice!!!! Congratulations

 

[sally]

Nice!!!! Congratulations

Thanks! I love the little Creos This was my fist one ever Cleopatra