Yaaay! Came in today and `Mrs Creosote` has laid an ENORMOUS ooth. It`s over twice the size of the one she was born from! Over 40mm in length. I`ll try and post a piccie, if I can get on the other computer I thought this species preferred to lay on a flat surface(?); I ID`ed them initially on the strength of the ooth being identical to published photos of their ooths, now she lays one on a twig and it`s totally different more like a Hierodula membranacea ooth.....do they do it on purpose? Grrrr!

Congrats great result, now to wait for the hatch

Cheers! But I`m a little apprehensive..this is a 200nymph-er at least Not sure I`ll be allowed to raise `em all!

One of my females deposited one last night, again twice the size i was expecting!
Any way i had sod all else to do at this point as it was quite late for hammering and sawing so i took a few shots:

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Nice one Gary! Good pix...mine were all out of focus and that. Is that the ooth that`s got a chance of being fertile? (No worries if not, a couple more males will be with you Tuesday..ish.) Told you it was a BIG ooth! looks to be the same size as mine. I`ll have to restate what I`ve found with these though...feed the females more than you think they need! Even when they seem really big and full...they still eat the males most of the time! A couple of crix in long tweezers during mating may take her attention off the `snack on her back`!
Good luck!

Yes mate, this is the one that i saw the spermathica? < spelling) ??? in.
So hopefully mated. I would say from my experience due to proximity of laying from mating and general shape that it is fertile but that doesn't always stand but i am very confident.
You can even see the eggs and the way they are structured in the egg mass which is nice.
Thanks for the extra males, i'll not leave them alone this time and keep a stick and water vaporiser handy this time

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I cannot get the males to do anything other than piggy back, often for as long as 72 hours but no pairing up!!



Finally got a positive pairing, Soon as his head was removed he went into full mating behaviour. At least i should get some nymphs back now!

"come ere an let i love ee"




The results so far...a pile of appendages

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ive had mine to the piggy back for 3 days as well, but ive got 3 of the 5 pairs i have mated now, i saw one of my females doing that bending right round like in ur second to last pic

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Once again..brilliant photos Gary!...they will be `stolen` and saved in my album Even more detail!
hmm, yeah...the 72hr piggy back thing..until she gets bored and bites his head off. not the most romantic of mantids, eh? Oh..I don`t know if its crucial? but I try to stop the females eating when they get to the spermatothingybob ( technical term!) A tap on the nose with a stick seems to do it!
I`ve let one of my two remaining males `stay on` for two days now..so we`ll see if he lose his head or not!
Congrats on another mating though. I have two ooths and other females are tapping the branches with ovipositors, including `mrs Creosote`. Looks like 3 weeks between ooths for these.

congrats due to you too Simon! Sounds like you are doing slightly better than us!

ive found them realy easy to pair up and ive only lost 1 male so far

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