Selective Breeding?

Devilpacker · May 18, 2005

Their is a lot of talk about crossbreeding but what about Selective breeding, like by breeding the larger nymphs of say a a chinese Mantis could this increase the size of their off spring over time, if so by how much and how long till you see a difference?

Rick · May 18, 2005

Not sure. Seems most of the same species are just the average size. Though I have seen a few individuals that were bigger than the rest. I guess you could breed those but I don't know if the offspring would come out larger or not.

Leah · May 19, 2005

There are a lot of breeders that practice selective breeding, for whatever trait, the problem is that most dont follow through enough generations to really know for sure if there was a difference.

Some things are pretty easy to breed for, color, temperament, longevity etc.

yen_saw · May 19, 2005

Hey Devilpacker, interesting!! believed selective breeding should produce a larger mantis on average but i haven't try that myself. I will try that soon, but it may take years before i know the answer

Jesse · May 19, 2005

You may be able to selectively breed for color, but adult size is highly influenced by temperature and nutrition, especially for the temperate species.