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The Ghost Mantid ooth begins to hatch!

Looky what I found this afternoon! :D

ghosthatch1.jpg


The little guy is just emerging on the string and not fully unfolded yet, hope all goes well.

My mature female is so fat I find it hard to believe she hasn't laid another egg case yet, it can't be much longer!
 
these mantids dont die after laying their egg cases? interesting. i thought they crapped out shortly after mating.
 
The males are weak after their final molt and can end up as lunch for the female after mating which was my males end but females live long enough to become gravid and lay egg cases (generally a month or two) but some species live a long time. Female Ghosts can live up to 14 months after their final shed (one of the longest lived mantids) so they have plenty of time to make lots of ooths.
 
check it out , this is soooo cool get some more shots if you get the chance, would love to see them crawling every where.
about haw many babies do these guys hatch out at a time, in general.

---------- Post added at 05:47 PM ---------- Previous post was at 05:44 PM ----------

love the witchy avatar ,reminds me of the bugs bunny witch from the Hansel and Gretel episode.:grin:
 
I hope he's ok, I think it's taking an inordinate amount of time for this guy to emerge, I have a bed of live moss in the bottom of the container and water under that so there is lots of humidity but I would expect him to be fully emerged and running about by now, his tail is still moving so maybe just taking it slow.... with any luck more will emerge tomorrow. I think 45-50 is about the maximum number of nymphs that emerge from a ghost ooth but many people wind up with only a dozen. I just hope to get enough to raise a new generation.

My new avatar is just a political cartoon of a stereotypical "anarchist". I saw it in a old punk fanzine 20 years ago and always remembered it and then stumbled upon it on google the other day and got all excited! :)
 
Congrats, you gonna be overun by little aliens.
 
So far today I have four little ants wearing dunce caps running about and 3 or 4 have died in emergence. I don't know why they are getting stuck 1/2 way, there is plenty of humidity, a wet pad of moss on the floor and it is warm 78-84*F (daytime) where their hatch container is. But so far about a 50/50 hatch success rate.

I've put the 4 ghosts into a small terrarium with fruit fly screen over the opening and some melanogaster fruit flies incase they get hungry, not sure how soon they start eating but I've already seen them dividing up territories being just hours old.

Hopefully more emerging later or tomorrow! :)
 
goodie , cant wait to see them at a week or two , get us some real close ups, like Larry does .
 
I'll never be able to get pics like Larry does... :(

But I'll do what I can! :)
 
  • #11
4 out of 8 babies have emerged and survived so far, no more emergences yet today but my female made another ooth!

Seems like they tend to hatch a few each day, first day one, today 7, maybe tomorrow a dozen? Keep your fingers crossed!
 
  • #12
awsome did you mist the sides to keep Humidty up?
 
  • #13
Yes, as well as nearly water log the moss in the bottom of the hatching container and tape off the ventilation except for a very small section of screen. I've placed the hatch container ontop the TV to get slight bottom heat to help evaporate the water into humidity, maybe tomorrow everyone will hatch smooth and easy.

Oh yeah, my female laid a new ooth today too! :D

Seems like she only wants to lay them on certain diameter twigs, her tank is full of twigs but it wasn't until the latest one I added the other day that she made a new one on that new twig.
 
  • #14
Hey Swords - ghosts are actually burst hatchers. I don't think you'll get any more nymphs.

Might be because it was the first ooth she laid....does the second one look better? Sometimes they're just schangad for no reason, too.

Generally, nymphs see to start getting hungry 24 - 48 hours after hatching.

I raised ghosts communally, so you don't really ever have to separate them as long as you keep them fairly well fed.....though with just four, I don't know if you want to chance it. I started with 10, and ended up with 7. Then all hell broke loose - I had 5 males, all of whom molted to adult fine....and two females. The first to mold (TWO MONTHS after the males matured) mis-molted and died. The second, two weeks later, fell, but I got there in time to rescue her. However, ALL my males died of old age before she was ripe. Then she died two days after being mated (about 2 months later) to a male I procured from a friend.

Sheesh.

I have four ooths that I have since gotten now that I'm waiting on...but they seem to take a while. Here's to hoping! This is a GREAT species.

Have you tried D. bolivari? It's a South American dead leaf - also really cool, and also very long-lived. I have a fresh male and female adult that I'm going to try and mate this weekend (if he's finally ready - break out the soft music and wine!).
 
  • #15
The first to mold (TWO MONTHS after the males matured) mis-molted and died. The second, two weeks later, fell, but I got there in time to rescue her. However, ALL my males died of old age before she was ripe. Then she died two days after being mated (about 2 months later) to a male I procured from a friend.
Something I've wondered about with the mantis discussions. If owners aren't making any attempt to keep from breeding siblings - how are you avoiding inbreeding depression?

There was an article in a recent NatGeo magazine on inbreeding within royal families. King Tut apparently had some serious issues likely caused by this...
 
  • #16
Thanks for the input Dave, the second ooth is definitely longer by about 50%. I'll watch the first ooth a while just incase, nothing else to do! LOL

Ron, I've asked about this in a few places that will allow US dwelling members to join and haven't gotten any concrete answers. I would think it's best if siblings didn't mate but most don't seem to be too concerned about it in regards to raising insects. The bigger concern seems to be weakening and deformations caused by successive parthenogenic generations in those species capable of it.

I wonder how many of the ghosts and other exotic mantids circulating the US are originally from the same ooths, my orange isopods (and everyone else's) all came from one guy's chance discovery and the culture seems strong. They have to be kept separate or they will cross breed and become grey when kept with normal ispods.

The babies are all eating now. :)
 
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  • #17
Ron,

This has been asked a time or two on the mantidforums. It seems the in-breeding in mantids often leads to HEALTHIER populations than when you start mixing the pot.....At least in captivity.

At any rate, mantids don't suffer from the same issues that inbreeding causes in mammals.

I have no idea why, but they just don't seem to.

Swords,

Sure doesn't hurt to keep the old ooth around! You never know...even burst species do occaisonally produce an odd late hatch. Just don't hold your breath.

Great to hear the babies are eating! Aren't they just so cute?

And if you thing THEY look like ants...you should try some ant mantises....These are truly ant mimics...and they do a GREAT impression!
 
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  • #18
The ant mantid species I want is the splendid mantis - the metallic chrome one that lives on springtails and firebrats. Not sure how easy it would be to keep enough of that really tiny food around though...

I had both an orange isopod and springtail culture but the springtails have found their way into the isopod bin so I guess they're fine together.
 
  • #19
Great. Now I have to look that one up....what's the species? I have acontista multicolor (don't mind my spelling). They're pretty cool so far.

And great news! My first ghost ooth just hatched! I think I have 25-30 nymphs.

I just fed the D. bolivari....here goes my fitst attempt at mating her (well...not MY first attempt, LOL!).
 
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  • #20
Cool! How were you keeping your ooth? Temps, position, light, dark, etc...?

I can't recall what the species name is of the chrome ant mantis, I saw it at one time, the only name I recall used on them is "the splendid mantis". I hate using common names like that.
 
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