Violin Mantis Eggcase!

[swords]

I got home and found a Gongylus Gongylodes egg case plastered to the front glass of my females tank. Usually this would be a time for rejoicing, however, the female is mature and the male is not, thus they are living separated so the egg case is a sterile dud. He hasn't gotten even half wings yet so he has at least 1 maybe two molts left to go before he's mature. Not sure why she matured so much faster than him, they are the same age, except he has always eaten far less than her.

This stinks.

[Cthulhu138]

No hope of parthenogenesis ?

[swords]

No, unfortunately this isn't a parthenogenic species. At one time I was under the impression they all were if no males were present. I just hope she remains alive & viable until he's ready to go. I do see vestigial wings on him so if he'll hurry up and molt one more time...

[joossa]

Aww that sucks. They look so cool too!

Is tampering with temps and humidity to speed up the male a good idea on this species? I know a couple people that do this with easy US natives. They basically keep the more mature females cooler to slow down their development, all the while providing the males with additional heat and food to allow them to catch up.

I'm not sure how picky the violins are though. Best of luck!

[swords]

I've got him in the warmest part of the room but her as well, they hate being separated. I had moved just his tank but they both began pacing continually and plastering themselves against the glass trying to see the other across the room so I moved their tanks side by side and they both calmed down to their normal non-moving activity but they like to look at each other all day long. LOL

[swords]

Damnit! Another dud ootheca while he hangs around being jailbait!

[schloaty]

eh, don't worry too much.

She'll lay many ooths before her time is up.

It is a little frustrating....I just went through that with my ghost.

But since mating, she has laid me four beauties. I'm expecting the first to hatch around 05/09 (don't ask, but with the data I have available, the median wait time is 45 days for ghosts. I'm such a nerd.) if the mating "took."

Then hopefully I can keep second ooth for me, and sell/trade the others.

[swords]

I mated my ghosts and she ate him. I put them together at night and went to bed with the intent to separate them in the morning. I woke up to a huge bug turd beneath her on a fern leaf and a set of wings on the tank floor! LOL

She laid her first ooth in August and it hatched in Sept but several of the nymphs were trapped and didn't fully emerge. I got about six babies IIRC and none of them made it past their first molts. Not sure why, they had plenty of food, humidity, water to drink. Her second and third ooths did not hatch at all despite being in a humid hatching chamber.

Of all the mantids I've had so far, the males have always matured faster despite eating less than the females, this is the first time the reverse has happened.

[swords]

YAY! Finally my male / sacrificial victim is ready!

Gotta feed him a bit first then it'll be transferring time.

[swords]

MF!!! Male died two days after molting - never even ate his first adult meal yet...