Mantis religiosa - UNEXPECTED SAC

MrsHaas

MrsHaas

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My son found a full grown adult female Mantis religiosa (I posted about it recently) and we took it inside to see if we could feed it so my son could see the awesomeness that is inverts in the wild. We fed her a huge mealworm and he said he wanted to keep it a little longer to feed it a few times more. My in-laws made a kritter keeper for it that SUCKED but I fixed it up appropriately and we put her back.

A few days ago we gave her another worm... SO much fun to watch!! However, in the middle of the night we could hear her scratching vigorously at the lid and in the morning she looked really fatigued. I picked up the kritter keeper to see what was up... and staring back at me was about a dime-sized EGG SAC stuck to the lid!! And I don’t know ANYTHING about mantises - especially taking care of a sac... I’m a T girl, and I have over 50 Ts, but the closest thing to this I’ve ever dealt with is an Avic phantom sac.

So I’m at a crossroads and need advice - BADLY!! I heard the nymphs from this species are decently priced if sold individually. So that tempts me to keep them until they hatch and then sell them to a local exotic pet store or something... but the other part of me doesn’t want to get in over my head.

I know people that are really good with mantises that I could potentially give/sell the sac to, but I don’t know how to pack/ship...

Can anyone supply me with some good advice on what I should do/my options? Thank you!!!
 
darkness975

darkness975

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MrsHaas said:
My son found a full grown adult female Mantis religiosa (I posted about it recently) and we took it inside to see if we could feed it so my son could see the awesomeness that is inverts in the wild. We fed her a huge mealworm and he said he wanted to keep it a little longer to feed it a few times more. My in-laws made a kritter keeper for it that SUCKED but I fixed it up appropriately and we put her back.

A few days ago we gave her another worm... SO much fun to watch!! However, in the middle of the night we could hear her scratching vigorously at the lid and in the morning she looked really fatigued. I picked up the kritter keeper to see what was up... and staring back at me was about a dime-sized EGG SAC stuck to the lid!! And I don’t know ANYTHING about mantises - especially taking care of a sac... I’m a T girl, and I have over 50 Ts, but the closest thing to this I’ve ever dealt with is an Avic phantom sac.

So I’m at a crossroads and need advice - BADLY!! I heard the nymphs from this species are decently priced if sold individually. So that tempts me to keep them until they hatch and then sell them to a local exotic pet store or something... but the other part of me doesn’t want to get in over my head.

I know people that are really good with mantises that I could potentially give/sell the sac to, but I don’t know how to pack/ship...

Can anyone supply me with some good advice on what I should do/my options? Thank you!!!
Click to expand...
You're going to need a lot of individual deli cups for each one to be housed individually.
 
darkness975

darkness975

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cold blood said:
How long does it need to hatch? Does it need anything as far as care?
Click to expand...
Not really. Mantid oothecas from temperate climates overwinter and hatch in spring.
In this case, since the ootheca is attached to the lid, it can be left there and the babies will hatch out as long as its a viable sack and its not dessicated or drowned. In the wild they overwinter on branches of bushes and what not.

The babies may or may not be small enough to squeeze through the lid on that kritter keeper.

If kept inside in room temperature they'll probably hatch out in 2 or 3 weeks.

When I overwinter mine in the fridge, they hatch anywhere from 2 to 4 weeks after I take them out. I do so in spring so that I can release most of them when they naturally would hatch.

If the intention is to keep all of them then it can be left there and they'll hatch. Wouid be a cool Christmas present.

I personally would try to carefully remove the ootheca from the lid and hot glue it to the lid of one of those 32 ounce deli containers with the mesh covering the airholes. That way there is no risk of escape.
Once you open that lid you're going to have anywhere from 50 - 150 babies escaping everywhere.

If trying to keep as many as possible post hatching, open the lid inside a 10 gallon tank. They can climb glass but they're clumsy and it makes it easier to separate as many as possible without them disappearing.
 
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