She ATE him!! How rude!!

[Introvertebrate]

Interesting. Thanks.

 

[RevWillie]

I've only lost 1 male in about 2 dozen matings: I raised 3 Orchids from L2 to adult and ended up with 2 males and a HUGE female. The males matured first and I kept them 5+ degrees cooler and only fed them 1 BB twice a week (and lots of water). The female finally matured about 5 weeks later, I waited until she was 4 weeks mature, and introduced the the male to her cage, behind her. He was close behind her, hanging from the screen lid, looking scared to death although she hadn't noticed him. I watched them for half an hour, nothing much happened, then I got distracted and forgot to check on them for 20 minutes. I searched all over for the male in the well-planted cage, couldn't find him anywhere.

And then I found the wing. No legs, no raptors, no crumbs - just a piece of wing 3/4" long was all that was left of the male. It took me a while to get up the nerve to try again but about a week later the 2nd male successfully bred with her and lived to brag about it.

IMO (with major help from this and another forum )

- feed the female everything she'll eat

- have more food ready to give her

- put the female in the honeymoon suite first and let her settle

- introduce male behind female, as close as possible; distract the female if she sees him

- I prefer to NOT have them hanging from the lid, have them on top of or amongst branches

- supervise as much as possible

 

[Psychobunny]

What about the "out of cage" method?

Put them out in the open. Put the male a few feet from the female and let

them discover each other slowly.

If the female gets too aggesive, at least the male has a chance of flying away!?

 

[lancaster1313]

What about the "out of cage" method?

Put them out in the open. Put the male a few feet from the female and let

them discover each other slowly.

If the female gets too aggesive, at least the male has a chance of flying away!?

I have done this almost every time I have allowed my mantids to mate.

I have only had 4 males be eaten, and 3 of them were contained during the process.

 

[patrickfraser]

As Sugarland would say, "Shhhhhh.....it happens" :lol: I don't take it hard when a male gets eaten. I sometimes prefer it. His job is done and it's one less mouth to feed(2 for a day or 2 :lol: ). I figure he's just "taking one for the team". It's also a lot of good nutrition to get those eggs a-pumpin.

 

[Psychobunny]

I dont exactly loose any sleep over it either.

But when it's my only one, I get a bit irate!! <_<