Foxhill
Well-known member
Ill start with the positive, little Ghost successfully molted as I found the exuvium hanging on a twig, Lou the Idol seems to be picking up in strength as I was a little concerned it was looking rather weak and spindly but I think it will be ok, plenty of food for power I think, it has plenty of energy and seems to enjoy being handled. Now the bad news, I got 2 adult male Orchids (Cheers Liam) and I attempted to mate Esme who is now enormous. Most of the time she hangs from the mesh lid of the tank which I took off, placed the male both facing the same way and left them for a while, I thought she was well fed as she had been eating well but put some bait near her. After a while the male hadnt moved at all so I took off the mesh and placed them flat on a heat mat, bear in mind its - 2 degrees outside. I then put the male on her back which seemed to start well until she just turned round and grabbed him too fast to stop. Ive read that the female is best attempted while chewing on bait and so I thought Sod It and put the other male immediately on her who was chewing on his countryman. He got on the wrong way round then a gentle nudge he was on board the right way round. When she had eaten his best friend I put another prey item in front of her which she grabbed. When she had eaten that, I put another in front and repeated this about 5 times and found I was out of bait. the male was on there for about 3 hours and in that time I observed him drumming on her back several times, the mating signal. After that I had to go and I didnt want to leave them on the heat mat outside of the cage and I was concerned about unknown temp and humidity although I put damp toilet roll either side of them and so I turned the lid upside down returning them to the tank which I now know was a big error on my part. after another 30 minutes he was hanging on her wing but I noticed that both back ends were swollen , pumping and about an inch apart. After that the weight of him was probably annoying her and she turned around and bit off his head.... Ouch! I did leave the room for about 30 mins and I know that the intercourse can happen in this time so theres a very slim chance the transaction took place which I didnt observe but I doubt it. Ive got another 2 males coming and so Ive got another shot at this. Ive revised my method and I think Ive sussed a better way to attempt it. Firstly properly overfeed her, have plenty of big bait in, leave them in the tank undisturbed and remove the lid just to offer more prey if needed. Question 1..... Does it take just a few days for her to lay the Ooth if successful? and 2.... I know some of you Mantid fanciers have successfully mated the Hymenopus coronatus, Please can you give me any tips, insight, methods, techniques or anything at all relevant which might make my second attempt successful. Thanks Mantid people .. P.S sorry about the essay 
fortunately he had the good sense to hightail it to the other end of the cage as soon as he was done. Doesn't sound like there was much different you could do when they are like that. Keeping her busy with food, which you did.
