Found a gravid Chinese

I found this girl outside a few days ago and wanted to share a picture of her. She looks like she is about to explode with eggs but she doesnt even want to stay on the branches I gave her. Is there a way to tell when they are about to lay? She is also refusing food and wont fly.

is that a female its wings go past is abdomin ... or maybe is just so fat tha it kinda came inward lol

Definitely a female... guess just give her some time. Both of mine I just caught laid a couple days after I put them in a tank.

is that a female its wings go past is abdomin ... or maybe is just so fat tha it kinda came inward lol

Click to expand...

Just because the wings go past abdomen doesnt mean its a male.. it has deffinatly got 5 segments. I reckon it will lay within 2-3 days

sorry I am new at this hobby, i wasnt sure. :shock: she is HUGE lol well hope u get lots of babies in the future if you plan to keep the ooth. good find

is that a female its wings go past is abdomin ... or maybe is just so fat that it kinda came inward lol

Click to expand...

In the case of the Chinese females, I've yet to find one whose wings didn't go past her abdomen. They actually do fly, not all that far nor very gracefully but they can fly. Once gravid, they fly less.

I've read that the Carolina females wings are shorter than her abdomen, not sure about the European females.

Rgds,

Louis

Looks like this female chinese mantis is either gravid or just had a "great" meal. I believed she is most likely mated and ready to lay ootheca soon. All the best!!

Thanks all.

Do they stop eating before they lay? I have caught 4 males of various sizes and they all ate right away.. however she wont. Im guessing its because she's gravid?? If its stress.. I will let her go. If its cause those eggs are comin out then I will keep her for a bit longer!

It's a female. I can tell on most species at a glance. No need to count segments. They seem to eat right up until they lay. She is a little plump but not really that fat. They get much fatter.

Well I put her in a container last night and this is what I woke up to this morning...

cool, are you keeping the ooth or gunna out it outside?

Hmm I dunno. Probly keep it Its makin me wanna breed my Africans. I cant stop buying containers as it is. I DO have a whole room for them :twisted:

Updating...

She has laid 2 ooths now and is my best eater! She actually comes off the cover and walks across the branches to the floor to hunt her food down as soon as I drop it in.

Nice michelle, are you going to over wnter the ooths?

Have to say, have never owned an adult chinese mantis before..

Cheers,

Ian

The ooth in the picture above hatched overnight and I woke up to hundreds of babies! This is the only one Im not overwintering. The other 3 are in the fridge and will probably go outside in the spring. I also have 4 carolina ooths.

:shock:

cool are you going to sell the nymphs?

I dunno. I was thinking they would die off cause I hear Chinese arent very hardy as nymphs, but so far have only had a couple of deaths. I also wondered if they would feed off each other, but that aint happnin either. I dropped in a bunch of fruit flies this afternoon and so far only a few have eaten. I may sell some, and may give some to select families in our homeschool group. Thank god I refridgerated most of the others. I couldnt handle more mouths.

The Chinese are my sons favorite. We have lineola also, but the females are so aggressive. Our biggest female struck my son, and she sits there with her mouth open like Predator! But our Chinese seem to crave human interaction. When you hold them in front of you to look at them closely they crawl on your face and hair.

My little Carolina laid another ooth today, so now I have 5 of those.

lol exspect more deaths and much carnage

but you will have plenty to spare i gave away 30 to 40 away just to dull down my sheer numbers of them.