When will my mantis lay eggs

SpaceWolf · Jun 18, 2016

So my female Ghost mantis is about 2 weeks into adulthood right now and she has mated like 8 times already, when should I expect to see the first ootheca appear? Right now she's nice fed, I try not to overfeed her since I read something about egg bounded animals, so right now she eats about 4-5 flies in 2-3 days. However she does really seem very fatty, I don't know if this could have any problems with egg bound?

SpaceWolf · Jun 20, 2016

The last days she's been moving around a lot, and that's quite the odd behavior for her since she normally just choses a spot and hangs from there for a few days. I think she's looking for a spot to lay her ootheca but I'm not quite sure. Anybody got some explanation or advice?

Sarah K · Jun 20, 2016

SpaceWolf said:
The last days she's been moving around a lot, and that's quite the odd behavior for her since she normally just choses a spot and hangs from there for a few days. I think she's looking for a spot to lay her ootheca but I'm not quite sure. Anybody got some explanation or advice?

Sounds like she is probably moving around a lot because she is looking for a good place to lay. A lot of my females seem to do that right before they lay. If she is about 2 weeks into adulthood, it could be time too...although don't be worried if she doesn't lay this week, because sometimes it can take them a month or longer before they start laying.

I was once given this piece of advice about ghost mantises from a member named Kermit. I think it is very good advice, and seemed to work for me:

Put plenty of horizontal and 45 degree sticks / branches. Pencil thickness is ideal.

Ranitomeya · Jun 20, 2016

Mantises can be a bit particular about where they lay their eggs. Phyllocrania seem to have a preference for thin sticks, so provide plenty of those like Sarah said. I'm pretty sure that mantises don't really get eggbound as frequently as people think--it's more that they're looking for just the right place to lay their precious future generations.

Think of it this way: Even though most mantis eggs are well-protected from the environment by the ootheca casing, they still need to be laid in an area with the right humidity and temperature range. Some mantises also have the additional requirement of needing a place that matches the camouflage of their oothecae.

SpaceWolf · Jun 23, 2016

She just started laying an ooth, but when the first egg came out she was struggling and didn't quite knew what to do, she took her abdomen out of the mixture and started rotating it. then she just dropped it and she stopped producing the ootheca. Now I have about 1cm of ooth with no eggs in it, she's kind of a derp when it comes to reproducing it seems xd