Tons of nymphs

[bug lady]

I purchased 2 oothecas at a local nursery (Chinese mantids I think) and put them in deli cups. One hatched this morning and there are tons of nymphs. Not sure if I should just release most of them and keep a few. I'm not a breeder but have just recently purchased a few exotic nymphs. Thoughts?

 

[roadglide16]

I did the same thing with 3 ooths that I got from Amazon,  I ended up keeping a few and released the others in stages.  I released the first hatch keeping 6.  Then I released the 2nd and 3rd hatch after a week and then about a couple dozen after the 2nd molt to give them a head start since I had plenty of left over fruit flies.

 

[bug lady]

I did the same thing with 3 ooths that I got from Amazon,  I ended up keeping a few and released the others in stages.  I released the first hatch keeping 6.  Then I released the 2nd and 3rd hatch after a week and then about a couple dozen after the 2nd molt to give them a head start since I had plenty of left over fruit flies.

Did you keep them all together?

 

[roadglide16]

Did you keep them all together?

During the first week of each hatch I did.  As I feed them (outside in my garden) the ones that felt like escaping got to go free range and the ones that stayed in the cups got fat.  I slowly started separating to more cups as I cleaned and eventually had 12 cups from the 3 ooths that hatched (about two weeks apart each).  The 6 of the first hatch (about a month old) eventually got their own cups.  The last ooth hatch (about a week and a half old) are in three cups (about 75-100 nymphs) and I have about 2 dozen of the 2nd hatch in another 3 cups.  I will probably keep releasing a cup each week or so depending on the food supply.