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Mantid Hatching

Once upon a time...

1. I had been keeping them temp. at about 80 degrees F. almost consistently.  (I don't recommend temps. this warm w/o frequent humidity)
2. I turned off the heat lamp (I only use one because I have to...bugs in basement.) at about 5:00 AM.
3. About 30 min. later the mantids started hatching (this is the 3rd time in a row that turning off the light has prompted immediate hatching (P. paradoxa, separate oothecae)...suggesting that they may prefer to hatch at night...was it the absence of light, or temp., or both?).
4. One by one, or sometimes 4+ mantids simultaneously, but slowly slide out of the ootheca (the ootheca was hanging nearly upside down).
5. Gravity pulls them down and out of their individual cell openings, as they hang about 1 or 2 cm from the aperture, on a strand of a silk-like material...how spiderlike!
6. At first, the mantids are cylindrical in shape, formerly conforming to the cells in their ootheca. It takes no more than a minute or so for them to break free from what appears to be a very thin membrane that surrounds them.
7. As they free themselves, they waste no time climbing back up the short silken thread and crawling to a fairly distant location where their 1st exoskeleton begins to harden. Gradually, they become less transparent, finally darkening to almost black.