wow, 2 days! then diapause is not a good idea. I'll be looking for some in spring, I want to keep at least 1 native species. chinese mantids are no longer seen around here and im not sure why. ah well.
Yes, it's always a good idea to keep some native species. You may have noticed that the majority of native species live in the southern states. The winter temps there would not be sufficient to break diapause.
I am not sure, but your comment that "diapause is not a good idea" suggests that you believe that "diapause" and chilling are synonymous; a number of members still appear to, despite the occasional post to the contrary! In fact, chilling serves to
break diapause in an ooth sent into diapause by the days getting shorter after it is laid. So, since days get shorter everywhere in the fall, why don't all mantis ooths go into diapause? No one --as usual -- has really studied the mechanism in mantids (at least, not to my knowledge!) where it is fairly rare. There seems to be some connection though, in other insects, between latitude and production of the hormone that causes diapause. Part of the confusion is due to the fact that some members refrigerate ooths to slow down development. This is called "quiescence" and is altogether different. This always happens if an ooth is laid indoors and gets the same amount of light each day prior to refrigeration. Some members like Rick, do this regularly and with success, but it is virtually the opposite of breaking diapause. Rick, can you tell us again, the native species that you do this to?
It may well be that the last process in a modified form, takes place among the ooths laid in the southern states. Yen has noted that
Stagmomantis limbata ooths do best when allowed to overwinter outside in a climate that matches what would occur in nature, and I have found the same to be true in AZ. I'll tell you a joke, Alex. I found about the benefit of quiescence in
S. limbata while trying to prove another member wrong. I thought at the time that I was proving/disproving diapause, but I was not, and I accidentally found a handy way of telling the difference. If you chill a diapaused ooth for a few weeks, egg development will restart, but the eggs still won't hatch until some time after the weather has become warmer (the whole purpose of diapause after all). The guy with whom I (and everyone else!) was arguing quit the forum and I brought the ooths in in early March. It was still to early for the ooths to hatch naturally, but within a few days of indoor warmth and daily moisture, they hatched. Great fun!
