Take me through the process of caring for the egg sac and the babies.

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arpooch

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Ok guys. I have kept mantises for a few years and they have laid egg sacs every year but I finally decided to raise the babies. I have the egg sac. It is this kind of mantis (http://www.cirrusimage.com/Mantids/Chinese_mantis_09.jpg) A chinese? Right?

The egg is in a critter cage and I'm going to move it into another one away from the mother and put paper towel on the bottom of it. I will spray it every day. Am I caring for the eggs right? Once the eggs hatch, what do I do? Will they eat eachother right away? Because that has happened to me before.

Once they are hatched, can I put each one in an individual jar? What substrate do I use and what do I put in theere? How often do I feed it and how much? When do I stop feeding fruit flies and start feeding crickets? When do I move them into a bigger cage?

I really want to sell them for a profit. Will they sell on ebay or at my local farmers market? How much will they sell for?

I appreciate you answering my many questions.

-Arpooch

 
well firs is the egg case furtle if so when it hatches u dont have to seprate them right away when they moult 1 or 2 times but u r going to have to feed them well. what state or country do u live in. if there is to meny mantis for u there is 2 things u can do 1. is release some of them in a grassy area during the early sprig 2. is that u could try and sell them in the class feilds section.

-- Mark

 
Thanks for your response. What kind of mantis is this? I live in Illinois. How do you know if an egg sac is fertile?

 
first if that is a wild mantis there is no telling if it is furtle or not but if the mantis is wild i would treat the egg-case like it is furtle because u never know. u could release them if u want from where u live. from other pic i have seen in other topics u posted i'm defiantly sure it is a Chinese antis native to the us so u are able to release it.

--Mark

 
I can't speak for the real breeders here.

But my experience is that the food (mostly) and (less so) substrate and housing involved in rearing mantids means there is no way to sell them for profit. Add in energy costs (higher heat, or light as heat) and time expenditure and you're mostly in the red.

Selling mantids is a way to recoup some of the expenditure of owning mantids.

But for now just worry about the rearing.

Read the stickies.

 
First thing you should do is remove the ooth from a critter keeper. The holes on the top of those are large enough that nymphs can escape. You should also try the search feature for all of your questions. They are all very basic and have been answered many times.

 
Thanks. Once I remove the ooth, what do I hatch it in and how can I install it into another enclosure?

 
Would I just be able to cover the top with cloth or clingwrap? I'm thinking that clingwrap would be better to hold humidity so it will not dry out. Has anyone ever used a small rummermaid container with small holesdrilled into the top? I would probably put paper towels on the bottom and glue the ootg onto a stick and put it in there. I would mist it 3 times a day. Is that ok?

 
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Cling wrap will hold in the air. Which is potentially bad.

The trick here is to keep it humid and ventilated. Which is a tough balance.

Our earwig pit is in a large critter keeper, I hot glued fine mesh on the inside of the cover. It seemed difficult to layer it against the vent holes, so it's just a solid sheet across the inner bottom most flat edges. I'm betting that description sucks, but I am not certain how else to put it.....It's glued to the part of the lid that sits on the top lip of the tank.

Anyway, it wasn't all that easy, and I haven't repeated it. Plus it makes the trap door useless (especially when people try to put the earwigs back in the tank through the trap door).

But it is an option.

Though, the rubber made thing is almost certainly easier.

Those disposable food containers (ziplock or whoever) from the grocery store may work. And Target has a $1 sweater box that is more than large enough for an ooth.

Also, is your ooth stuck to the lid of the critter keeper? Was it laid there?

 
It was laid at the top of the critter keeper. I can take it off with my hands? Or with a razor? If I drill small holes on the top of the rubbermaid container will it be enough venilation? I plan on glueing the ooth to a stick and putting it in the container. Can they hatch in the rubbermaid container?

 
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arpooch said:
It was laid at the top of the critter keeper. I can take it off with my hands? Or with a razor? If I drill small holes on the top of the rubbermaid container will it be enough venilation? I plan on glueing the ooth to a stick and putting it in the container. Can they hatch in the rubbermaid container?
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I suspect it would not be enough ventilation. You might be better off cutting a large rectangle out of the lid and gluing on some fine mesh. Hotglue works great. Superglue might work, but you need a complete seal, so that would be a lot of super glue.

White glue likely won't stick to the rubbermaid plastic. Caulk might work?

Mesh is cheap. We actually use a fine white fabric from the sewing store. I think it's sold as wedding veil material or something. $5 a yard or so, and a yard goes a long way. You can use it to top your deli cups if you haven't bought mesh tops for them.

It's not suitable for arthropods that might chew through it (like cricket colonies) but holding in mantids and fruit flies works.

That said, it MIGHT be enough ventilation with just the drilled holes, personally I wouldn't take the risk.

Removing the ootheca from the critter cage top is easier than it seems. I've done about 30 in the past month or so. It just takes a razor blade and a patient hand. The first few times is a little nerve wrecking because you don't want to ruin the ooth.

If it's completely on a flat then it is quite easy with the razor. If she laid it on one of the ridges where the plastic goes up or down then it's a bit more tricky. But it works out fine if you take it slow.

Alternatively, if you are scared about ruining the ooth, and if you are not using the critter keeper for anything just now you could suspend the whole lid inside the rubbermaid container with the ooth pointed down and it can hatch from there.

Whether you do that or not, make sure the ooths are high enough that there is a decent drop height because the nymphs come down on a thread as they hatch.

 
Thanks for the information sooooo much. I finally get how to do this. But will the mesh still hold humidity? And the moment it hatches I plan to move them to the deli cups individually. Is that allright?

 
Well, the mesh will hold the humidity better than open space, but that's about it.

You'll just have to keep up with your misting.

It seems like most people don't separate them right away.

1: They can be very delicate at first

2: There are so many of them. Do you really want to raise (feed and clean) 50 - 100 individual mantids?

3: Various species aren't super cannibalistic right away.

So most people let them live together for a while. As some die off from cannibalism, failed molting, and random deaths people usually start to separate them into individual containers.

 
Peter J F said:
Whether you do that or not, make sure the ooths are high enough that there is a decent drop height because the nymphs come down on a thread as they hatch.
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What is the minimum drop height you'd recommend for chinese mantids and sense chinese are pretty cannabalistic should you seperate them at L1 or 2 if you're planning on releasing all but a couple and want them all to live?

 
MrPitseleh said:
What is the minimum drop height you'd recommend for chinese mantids and sense chinese are pretty cannabalistic should you seperate them at L1 or 2 if you're planning on releasing all but a couple and want them all to live?
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I have my ooths in a empty: Frosting container, CD-Rom Housing, Peanut Butter Jar, Mayonaise Jar, Novelty Cookie Container, and other misc. containers.

If they lay the ooth on a stick I cut the stick with 1/2 inch on either side, drill it then string it up to the top the container.

I take Ooths laid on the walls or lids of housing, poke a whole at the end of the zipper with a large sewing needle, then use a smaller threaded needle and pull the thread through. I can't speak for other species but Religiosas tend to leave a strip (like a tail) of ooth sealant when they finish.

Poke 2 holes in the lid of a container and hang them from the lid.

I drill 6 small holes about an inch from the top of the container then wrap a strip guaze fabric around the container covering the holes. I place a marble size wad of wet paper towel on the bottom of the container once a week, leave it for a day, then remove it. I do live in Idaho and the weather is changing to cold and gray, so I don't think I have to worry much about the ooths drying out.

 
I ordered an egg sack from Insect- Lore and they hatched in their cage without me doing anything! My mom didn't want to keep them, so I let them loose in our vegetable garden to eat the bugs. There were at least 200 of them!!! The next day, I went out and almost all were still alive and in the garden, and I thought they would have left.... A few months later, my mom said she had seen a 5-6 inch praying mantis on the porch! WOW! Never thought they would have survived that long!

 
Hopin said:
I ordered an egg sack from Insect- Lore and they hatched in their cage without me doing anything! My mom didn't want to keep them, so I let them loose in our vegetable garden to eat the bugs. There were at least 200 of them!!! The next day, I went out and almost all were still alive and in the garden, and I thought they would have left.... A few months later, my mom said she had seen a 5-6 inch praying mantis on the porch! WOW! Never thought they would have survived that long!
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you should have kept a batch for breeding purposes

 

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