The Ghost Mantid ooth begins to hatch!

[schloaty]

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!

[swords]

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.

[schloaty]

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!).

[swords]

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.

[schloaty]

How am I keeping my ooths you ask...

slighlty higher than room temps (mid to high 70's in the day, whatever it cools off to at night).

Humidity is pretty good - they'r in a jar with what amounts to a papertowel (really some sort of cloth) over the top - air permiable, but it does serve to keep the humidy up.

I mist the inside to the jar every couple of days (when it looks dry).

That's pretty much it.

This species seems to be very forgiving....On my first ooth, Ii don't think I ever misted it...and I still got 15 or 20 nymphs.

Just wait and see what your larger ooth delivers. It's funny, I noticed that these are relatively large L1 babies, compared to the size of the adults.

Thought I just had one of my Idolo's shed to L3 today, too....and man, it's HUGE (for an L3).

[swords]

Lost both my Spiny flowers today, one had the appearance/actions of a female but she didn't last any longer than him - perhaps neither sex of this species lives long but i never got any ooths from them either. One was dead in the fern this morning and the other dropped in front of me twitched a few times and that was it. They had really been slowing down in the past week so I knew it was nearing "that time", just so shocking to be ready to mist the tank and see "plop!"

But in that case, "Oh Yen....!"

[schloaty]

Sorry to hear about the spiny flowers. That stinks...but with bugs, it's part of the hobby. They just don't last that long.

But in that case, "Oh Yen....!"

LOL! No kidding. Have you tried Rebecca? She's good too....and it's easier to browse what she has in stock - it's posted on her site.

[Chunkyhunks]

I always incubated my ootheca in the 32oz cups you can get from Rebecca. I fold up a paper towel and put it in the bottom, make sure its plenty moist, then add a heat source underneath. I hatched many ootheca on top of a cup warmer - although, I had to add a buffer zone, since it was too hot to place the cup directly on it. The sides of the cup should look just a little foggy, but if there's droplets forming, or if the condensation looks heavy, its probably too wet. 80-85F is typically going to be the best temperature. Hatching ootheca is pretty straight-forward, it seems the less you fret about them the better off they are. I once had a shipment of a dozen wahlbergii ootheca arrive from Africa in the middle of winter in a thin paper envelope broken into pieces. I tossed them into a plastic cup, thinking them gone for, only to find nymphs running everywhere a few days later.

I'm finally getting back into mantids again after quite some time. Ten gongys and a pair of brunneriana should be at my doorstep in around two weeks. You can find me on MF under the username Andrew.