what percentage of nymphs survive up to L3?

beckyl92 · Jul 2, 2009

if they were kept in separate enclosures. (none would be eaten by other nymphs)

bassist · Jul 2, 2009

Too many variables impossible to know precisely.

revmdn · Jul 2, 2009

Also depends on what species.

PhilinYuma · Jul 2, 2009

BeckyL said:
if they were kept in separate enclosures. (none would be eaten by other nymphs)

Here's a chance for you to do some reasearch Becky! Bassist is right, of course, and the larger the hatch from a particular species, the greter the mortality rate. Most of the 20-30 ghost hatchlings will probably survive, but you may end up with fewer Chines 3rd instar nymphs than the ghosts. One reason for this is that ten chinese mantids will have a greater "biomass" and eat more food than an equal number of ghosts (though that is just an educated guess) so that they will have to be more spread out (= smaller number) in order to get enough food. But if you have a lot of pots, you could seperate them after hatching, and keep figures on their survival rate. You will find a lot of examples of SIDS that have nothing to do with canibalism. If you are lucky enough to catch them when they are hatching, it would be very interesting if you were to take six, say, of the first hatchlings and put them in pots marked "F" and the last six in pots marked "L." My unsupported guess is that the survival rate among the first born would be higher than among the last born.

Let us know what you find out!