When they hatch, do you seperate them into

[Malnra]

dozens and dozens and dozens of little containers, or do you let the strong take over and keep just a few of them, or do you pick 6 or 8 of them and let the rest go free outside ?

I am new (obviously) and was wondering (well in advance) what the general ideas are. If they hatch 100's of babies I cant see keeping all of them.

 

[Mantida]

If 30+ nymphs hatch out I usually keep them together and don't bother separating them until 4-7 days later and the strong are the only ones left.

Generally I always keep all of my nymphs unless I'm REALLY overloaded with them. That's when I let some loose outside. Picking out 6-8 and letting the rest go might hurt your chances of having them mature since they have a high mortality rate.

If there's less than thirty ish nymphs that hatch out and I have a good amount of containers and time on my hands I will separate them.

It really depends on if you're willing to separate them, if you have a lot of time, and if you can take care of that many nymphs.

 

[Malnra]

If 30+ nymphs hatch out I usually keep them together and don't bother separating them until 4-7 days later and the strong are the only ones left.Generally I always keep all of my nymphs unless I'm REALLY overloaded with them. That's when I let some loose outside. Picking out 6-8 and letting the rest go might hurt your chances of having them mature since they have a high mortality rate.

If there's less than thirty ish nymphs that hatch out and I have a good amount of containers and time on my hands I will separate them.

It really depends on if you're willing to separate them, if you have a lot of time, and if you can take care of that many nymphs.

Thank you .... I will have to decide and plan for that day. I suppose a trip to the dollar store might save me some money on containers to hold the newborns.

 

[hibiscusmile]

It depends on what species we are talking about, the ones from overseas are not suppossed to be let loose, but the ones we are familare with can be, as in the chinese, european, carolina and such. Letting them outside is good because then you can usually find the ooths come winter.

 

[Mantida]

It depends on what species we are talking about, the ones from overseas are not suppossed to be let loose, but the ones we are familare with can be, as in the chinese, european, carolina and such. Letting them outside is good because then you can usually find the ooths come winter.

Yes, I forgot to mention that.

Only let loose chinese, carolina, and european mantids. Any others probably will wack up the ecosystem and can be illegal depending on where you live.

 

[Rick]

I leave them all together until I have a number left I can more easily manage.

 

[Andrew]

Get a big net cage and keep them all in there. Dump in a ###### load of fruit flies every day. Depending on how many you end up with(once they hit L3/4) you can sell or give away extras and separate however many you feel you need.

Word filter here is a little extreme. :blink:

 

[OGIGA]

I keep orchids together. They seem to start eating each other a lot at L3 so it's time to separate!

 

[Galactic Lord Xenu]

Any others probably will wack up the ecosystem and can be illegal depending on where you live.

Illegal, yes.

But I doubt that most with be able to survive, especially the more exotic ones; since all mantids pretty much eat just about anything that moves in front of them I don't think they'd mess with the ecosystem any more than the ones we already have here. Add in their cannibalism--they also eat each other!--and it seems unlikely to me that they'd effect the ecosystem anymore than releasing a bunch of Chinese mantids outside.

I could be wrong, though. Not that I'm advocating doing such a thing...

 

[Mantida]

Illegal, yes.But I doubt that most with be able to survive, especially the more exotic ones; since all mantids pretty much eat just about anything that moves in front of them I don't think they'd mess with the ecosystem any more than the ones we already have here. Add in their cannibalism--they also eat each other!--and it seems unlikely to me that they'd effect the ecosystem anymore than releasing a bunch of Chinese mantids outside.

I could be wrong, though. Not that I'm advocating doing such a thing...

Yes, it is possible for them to mess up the ecosystem even though all those factors come in. Just think of the cane toad and the red imported fire ant. :blink:

 

[Malnra]

Almost sounds like playing the strong survive game until you get to 15-20 of them, then seperate ....

 

[Kruszakus]

Well, you can choose only those species that are wanted by many and will be sold quickly. As for containers - it woulb be a good idea to buy small containers in-bulk from a med-supply store, much cheaper that at the chemist's. I purchased 50 sterile centainers for 4$ - cheap, innit?

 

[macro junkie]

yer im going to start breeding flower mantis....no good with aload of mantis that noone wants..and living in the uk we cant go and put aload out side..where stuck with em..

 

[asdsdf]

Well, you can choose only those species that are wanted by many and will be sold quickly. As for containers - it woulb be a good idea to buy small containers in-bulk from a med-supply store, much cheaper that at the chemist's. I purchased 50 sterile centainers for 4$ - cheap, innit?

Where exactly did you get it???!!!! :blink: