My dessicata has laid an egg sack... ?!

scaramanga

Arachnoknight
Old Timer
Joined
Feb 24, 2004
Messages
158
Ive done a little bit of searching and it looks like my dessicata has laid an egg ..sack?! How? There is no male in there. Will it be just an infertile egg sack?
 

Jesse607

Arachnodemon
Old Timer
Joined
Dec 29, 2002
Messages
715
Female mantids, regardless if they have mated or not will still lay oothecae periodically. They will be infertile if no mating occurred. You still might have someone tell you it could hatch because of parthenogenesis, but the chance of this happening is like .00001%
 

scaramanga

Arachnoknight
Old Timer
Joined
Feb 24, 2004
Messages
158
I doubt it. I got it off a dealer in the UK and ive had it for a while now

So what should i do with it? Leave it there or remove it and keep it warm/moist just in case?
 

cacoseraph

ArachnoGod
Old Timer
Joined
Jan 5, 2005
Messages
8,325
i kept my sphodromantis (i'm guessing, sold as African Praying Mantis) ootheca on the branch in the cage with the female, and misted weekly to biweekly. about 50 babies hatched out.

here is a clue... MAKE SURE TO HAVE A FOOD SUPPLY in about 30 - 90 days. i was digging micromaggots out of my backyard to feed these guys while drosophila were on order. i don't even want to say how many i have left... but a woodshop teacher could count on one hand.

one of the dangers of keeping ootheca with mom, that i saw when i fed mom i had to watch crickets like a hawk, as the little devils would try to eat ootheca sometimes.

EDIT:
oh yeah, my babies could tackle freshly hatched baby crickets... but only the smallest... most of the crix i put with my nymphs seemed to go uneated.
and i did see two PM eat the micro maggots i put in
 
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