Yay!

[BugLover]

So i ordered 3 chinese mantis oothecae a few days ago and they were supposed to take until the 20th to get here, but they arrived today! can't wait until they hatch

About how long do they take to hatch?

 

[D_Hemptress]

you're gonna have your hands full!

 

[OregonMantis]

I have 2 Chinese Oothe hatching myself. I'm curious if your cases rattle when you turn them? Mine sound like they are full of sand or something that shifts and makes a rattling sound.

I have had mine in a tank for a couple weeks now and have heard it can take from 3 weeks to an entire year.

 

[BugLover]

I have 2 Chinese Oothe hatching myself. I'm curious if your cases rattle when you turn them? Mine sound like they are full of sand or something that shifts and makes a rattling sound.

I have had mine in a tank for a couple weeks now and have heard it can take from 3 weeks to an entire year.

I just checked, mine didn't make any noise. That sounds weird though :blink:

Wow, that's a wide range. I'll be waiting for them to hatch, though :yawn: haha

 

[grob]

I just hatched one a few days ago. I had it just under three weeks. I just finished letting most go in the garden and vacant lots. I counted 150 and that wasn't counting the ones moving around. Now I think I'm down to 40-50.

They still don't seem too keen on eating. A few ate. Here they are in the mesh cage:



Here are some just before being released:



pictures are sideways.

 

[BugLover]

150!? that's alot :blink: I'm going to be releasing alot of mine in my backyard.

 

[Crazy4mantis]

most of them die in a few days.

 

[BugLover]

most of them die in a few days.

In that case i may keep them a few days in one container so that i don't pick some of the ones that will die

I may (instead of releasing all of them) sell/give them out in the neighborhood as pest control. I know some people here who are big on gardening lol

 

[glock34girl]

I have three. Have had them for about five weeks. Nothing. I think its a bust.

 

[grob]

I felt like an idiot too keeping and misting a foam ping pong ball in a cage but stay with it. There was no indication that anything was alive until one morning I looked and it was full of little mantids.

I'm down to ten that I'm keeping, I let even more go. Only 5 of the 150 died withing the first week, and three of those because I left the tag on the plastic flowers and and a tiny bit of the sticky back, barely 5 square millimetres was exposed, and three managed to get stuck there and die. Be sure to take the tags off!

 

[BugLover]

I felt like an idiot too keeping and misting a foam ping pong ball in a cage but stay with it. There was no indication that anything was alive until one morning I looked and it was full of little mantids.

I'm down to ten that I'm keeping, I let even more go. Only 5 of the 150 died withing the first week, and three of those because I left the tag on the plastic flowers and and a tiny bit of the sticky back, barely 5 square millimetres was exposed, and three managed to get stuck there and die. Be sure to take the tags off!

lol if i buy plants (they will be fake) i will be sure to take the tag off. for my other enclosures that i have done I used things i found around my house

 

[Crazy4mantis]

I felt like an idiot too keeping and misting a foam ping pong ball in a cage but stay with it. There was no indication that anything was alive until one morning I looked and it was full of little mantids.

I'm down to ten that I'm keeping, I let even more go. Only 5 of the 150 died withing the first week, and three of those because I left the tag on the plastic flowers and and a tiny bit of the sticky back, barely 5 square millimetres was exposed, and three managed to get stuck there and die. Be sure to take the tags off!

thats weird I lost over 40 in the first night.

 

[BugLover]

thats weird I lost over 40 in the first night.

maybe different conditions?

 

[grob]

thats weird I lost over 40 in the first night.

I didn't do much for them. They were in a net cage so they got plenty of ventilation. Humidity was around 60%, 22C and I gave them a good misting when I saw they had hatched, and misted a couple of times a day.

They didn't seem to start to eat until after 48 hours, and then only maybe 1 in 5 ate.

I could imagine that high mortality out of the ootheca could just be the result of the genetics of some populations.