Tears....:(

It is with sadness that I report that my female mantis has passed away. After my last update, I waited anxiously to see if she would make an egg case. After two weeks of waiting I made the decision to put the male and female together again, thinking that it had not "taken" the first time. Almost immediately the two hooked up and stayed that way for a good 24 hours. When they finally separated I moved the female back into her own cage. It was at this time that I noticed that she had a sizable hole in the side of her abdomen right about where the head of the male would have been while he was with her. Apparently the male was snacking on her during mating. :( From everything I have researched and read, I have not yet once found anything that mentions the male eating the female during mating. It is always the other way around. It was this past Friday that I discovered her injury and she fought and held on until late this afternoon, 5 full days. I feel rather silly about how sad I feel over the death of an insect but she was beautiful and I have so enjoyed watching her grow. The boys were quite sad as well. She will be missed.
So all of this to say that we will not be seeing our life cycle project go full circle after all. It has been an exciting and awesome journey. The boys have already asked if I will buy a new egg case and do it all again next year. We will have to wait and see.