*Update:MORE Nymphs! What NOW?* The Mantises are hatching!!!

[imderanged]

I woke up to many many tiny mantises hatching out of their ootheca today. I will post pics soon ^_^ but what do I do now???

How soon do I feed them and how soon do I separate them?  

[imderanged]

Here they are, Tenodera sinensis :





 

[Vanilla eXee]

Yay! They're so cute!!  

[Parfait Parrot]

Those are adorable. heart  

[Krissim Klaw]

They are so adorable! Now I am getting a major baby mantis craving.

As for separation, I usually like to wait a few hours for everyone to dry before separating. Personally I tend to do it around the 12-24 hour mark. During this time they are usually fine together although occasionally you might get one that will cannibalize. For the most part however I find their prey drive and desire to seriously hunt doesn't kick in till closer to 48-72 hours. First thing I do after a hatching however is give a light mist. They are always thirsty and eager to drink! It is fun to see all of them bend down in unison when they feel the moisture.

A trick to help keep them from all scurrying out is as you open the cage you can give one or two quick puffs of air. This usually causes them all to freeze and cling tight, but it will only last a few seconds so watch those nymph toes when snapping the lid back on.  

[imderanged]

I put them in the terrarium last night. They looked so cramped in the deli container and I thought that if they had more room they might be less likely to cannibalize each other. Also I'm pretty sure only one out of the two oothecae hatched. There was some sort of material hanging down that wasn't there before, but only on one. The other looked exactly as it did before. I wanted to keep the one I didn't think hatched yet separate because I thought that if it hatches much later than the first "litter" they would have no chance against the older ones. I was wondering, once they start to emerge, how long does the process take? I was nervous to just throw away the hatched ootheca, just in case there might be a few mantises left to emerge!  

[imderanged]

AND I took more pics! It was my first time using a new Macro lens I just picked up.







I will take some pics of the enclosure later today ^_^  

[Krissim Klaw]

You have a macro lens? I'm so jealous.

As for Ootheca, the stuff hanging down is a sure sign of hatching. I usually keep Oothecas for a good week after hatching before tossing. Sometimes they do come out in waves so never hurts to keep it a little longer to ensure you don't miss any late hatchers.  

[imderanged]

WOW. Am I glad I asked about the egg cases! I left them alone at about 4:30 and came back at 7:30 and another wave of mantises had hatched out!
Amazingly I still only see that "stuff" hanging off one egg case, but it looks like there's more! But I missed them actually emerging again sad I must have noticed sooner though because they are whiter! I'm just glad didn't just toss the Otheca (OR WORSE!!!) when I thought it was over! Honestly, I'm just so curious about that kind of thing, I really want to break it open and look inside when it IS finished! Now I'm a little nervous to try it!

My BIG question is, what do I do NOW? It seems like the day old Nymphs would have too much of an advantage on the newly hatched nymphs if i threw them together now.  

[Vanilla eXee]

imderanged

WOW. Am I glad I asked about the egg cases! I left them alone at about 4:30 and came back at 7:30 and another wave of mantises had hatched out!
Amazingly I still only see that "stuff" hanging off one egg case, but it looks like there's more! But I missed them actually emerging again sad I must have noticed sooner though because they are whiter! I'm just glad didn't just toss the Otheca (OR WORSE!!!) when I thought it was over! Honestly, I'm just so curious about that kind of thing, I really want to break it open and look inside when it IS finished! Now I'm a little nervous to try it!

My BIG question is, what do I do NOW? It seems like the day old Nymphs would have too much of an advantage on the newly hatched nymphs if i threw them together now.

Get some plastic shoeboxes from the dollar store (if you have a dollar tree, they are only $1 each) and either buy or salvage some screening. Cut out the tops but leave the rim intact and salvge or buy some screening to screen the tops. I know the mantises mainly go to the top, but this is the cheapest way to house many, lol.  

[imderanged]

LOL I must be coming off like a nut. Even if it doesn't seem like it I DID read up a bit online about the mantises & I even got a book about them. I will admit I am finding it harder to "look up" than say, Bearded Dragons. But I had just about given up thinking the oothecae were duds when they finally emerged. I wasn't as ready I would have liked to be because in the mean time I broke my foot (again) I am planning to raise some in the deli cups and some in the planted terrarium to see which way works best for me.


One odd thing I noticed, the new brood seems more active. They are racing all over the cup, any idea why they are so much more active than the others? They are in the same room so the temps must be similar...  

[Vanilla eXee]

imderanged

LOL I must be coming off like a nut. Even if it doesn't seem like it I DID read up a bit online about the mantises & I even got a book about them. I will admit I am finding it harder to "look up" than say, Bearded Dragons. But I had just about given up thinking the oothecae were duds when they finally emerged. I wasn't as ready I would have liked to be because in the mean time I broke my foot (again) I am planning to raise some in the deli cups and some in the planted terrarium to see which way works best for me.


One odd thing I noticed, the new brood seems more active. They are racing all over the cup, any idea why they are so much more active than the others? They are in the same room so the temps must be similar...

They had more rest! rofl  

[Krissim Klaw]

imderanged

LOL I must be coming off like a nut. Even if it doesn't seem like it I DID read up a bit online about the mantises & I even got a book about them. I will admit I am finding it harder to "look up" than say, Bearded Dragons. But I had just about given up thinking the oothecae were duds when they finally emerged. I wasn't as ready I would have liked to be because in the mean time I broke my foot (again) I am planning to raise some in the deli cups and some in the planted terrarium to see which way works best for me.


One odd thing I noticed, the new brood seems more active. They are racing all over the cup, any idea why they are so much more active than the others? They are in the same room so the temps must be similar...

They tend to be super active right after hatching because it is instinct for them to want to spread out and get away from the Ootheca. This does two things, helps them avoid predators that might be drawn to the hatching, and put distance between each other so they can all find their own patch and won't start cannibalizing. This is also in part why it makes sense that their desire to eat and hunt usually takes a couple days to kick in.

As time passes however their instinctive desire to flee lessens although this is still easily the most active mantis species I have ever seen. They are primarily an ambush predator so they will slow down as their curiosity and drive to find food increases. In group cages with this species you will often notice everyone sort of tries to get their own personal bubble about them. There is simply no way to avoid cannibalizing with this species without separating. The new group will be at a disadvantage with their earlier hatched siblings because their siblings are going to get their prey drive keyed in earlier. Another risk factor with communal settings, even of those with species that don't tend to cannibalize is as they age and start shedding, it has been found that crowded cages can increase risks of missmolts.

Some in the hobby will simply house them together add ample food, and then let the mantises slowly weed down their numbers via cannibalization also till they reach a number they prefer. After 24 hours I usually separate mine into 2-5 nymphs per a net cage. Then within the first 2-5 days I generally make my selections and start to separate to the point I have 1 nymph per a container. A good rule of thumb is keep twice as many as you hope to have make it into adulthood.

If you want to cut open the Ootheca a good week wait should be plenty of a wait time. If you are super nervous you can wait longer, but generally there isn't more than a few days wait between waves, should a ooth not hatch out all at once.


Edit: Lol and you are not coming off like a nut. Just think, any research you did was way more than when I first got into the hobby. I pretty much winged it. lol  

[imderanged]

Guess what I woke up to this morning? That's right, MORE mantises! LOL the second ootheca hatched this time! I've decided I'm just going to release these as I already have more tiny mouths than I can feed rolleyes


OH!...about releasing them, we just sprayed NEMATODES all over the lawn because we have a flea problem. Is this an issue for the mantises? will the nematodes eat them? will they eat the nematodes? will the mantises eat fleas? I'm going to look it up now, but I figured I'd ask, just in case someone already knows the answers smile  

[Kipluck]

Oh beautiful shots! They are SO stinking cute!