I have not had one emerge to my knowledge, unless it was eaten! I have had them show up (just one or two) when adding new bark or plants. Free chameleon food!
They are fine. They actually need a cold period to hatch. In the wild they survive much colder temps. Im in Maryland, USA and we get lows in the teens (rarely below, but somwtimes) and the chinese and caroline mantid ooths do just fine in our winters. I put them in the fridge dor a few weeks...
When you see the babies, I think your fears will be calmed. They are cute (and very observant). They are also very tiny. If one or six escape, I dont worry about it. I probably will never see them again - and if I do, I place them on my house plants. They would never make it to adult size or...
I dont bother with seperating unless you want to grow them to adult size. My chams eat them like m&m’s as hatchlings. The ones that cannibalize just make dor a bigger snack later!
So the sloped ^ part is top, and the more rounded ball shape is bottom. I think mama sorta wipes her butt to seal it off… so i think of the sloped ^ as the indent her butt makes lol
Looks good to me! Mine are missing sticks making the point a little more prominent. The egg case is wider/rounder at tge bottom and tapers off at the top. That’s true for chinese mantids - carolina and european are a little trickier as they aren’t round.
Usually the pointiest end is up… like your last ooth in the photo… the point on the bottom right is the top.
Here’s some I set up yesterday. I usually put them right in the enclosure, but need some for my cham sitter for an upcoming vacation.
I dont think its shed. Ive had two chams with it - both lived a long time (one made it to 7!) with only an occasional “wart” or “pox.” It is definitely contagious to other chams. In some chams it can cause larger “pox” internally and/or externally, but at this size I wouldnt worry about that...
Those are my babies pictured! I love this species!
Lots of vining plants like philodendron micans, pothos, etc. my favorite to use is small ficus allii or benjamin, or similar, but adding some thin branches and vining plants works just as well. I look for branches with lots of tiny branches...
They are. There are several great site sponsors to order from, too. Starting a dubia colony is easy and worth while but you may need to order extra while its getting established. A variety of bugs is best. Rainbowmealworms.com was my go-to for years, as they have a lot of variety...
Room temp is fine. can also keep the ooths in the fridge for a few weeks (but not past april). They actually need several weeks of cold to make them think winter has passed.
Often I just wedge them against a branch directly in the cage. They “fall” out while hatching so you dont want to obstruct the ooth or a few inches below it.
If I want a more controlled environment I just hang them from a lil piece of wire, poked thru the lid of a tall deli cup and shake them in.
I feed mantids often! I buy the eggs / ooths in December or January (usually harvested around then) in bulk on ebay. I hatch them right in the cage. For smaller chams or females, they eat them as babies/hatchlings. Small but fun/engaging!
The larger chams usually ignore them until the...
Agreed. It seems like it would not take much effort for petstores to update their signs and literature to put the animal’s best interests at heart. They’re in the business of selling those supportive items, so it seems like a win win?!