'tis the season for babies?

[liquidfluidity]

actually had to move my tank today and in the move, my mantis came out and had a head full of eggs. with the stress of moving across town, i will be surprised if she doesn't eat them. my question is, do mantiss retain sperm for future fertilization? i only have one so i'm wondering if i should be watching for larvae. i feed dt phytoplankton and have an over abundance of 'pods.

 

[Gonodactylus]

We know relatively little about this. Certainly some stomatopods can store sperm for several months, but how much remains after laying eggs is unknown. We do know that they probably do not store sperm across a molt.

Roy

 

[liquidfluidity]

mantiss eggs & stress

mantiss eggs & stress

thanks for the reply. it was about 2 days before she came back out, after the move. of course, she ate them or had them stuck up under her favorite rock. i actually thought that i did see a couple of larvae but never saw them again. i have another question- at what size do they become sexually active? my mantiss is still pretty small- about 2.5" and it really surprised me that she was spawning already. i haven't been able to identify her yet but she is scarlet red with blue and green hammers. please don't think me rude if i am unable to reply in good time. i am going through a break up with my girlfriend of 10 years and will not have computer access regularly. thanks.