Mantis Update *** Help sexing? 3rd page***

[imderanged]

So I figured I'd make a quick update on how the mantis raising is going. I had some heavy losses. I have a total of 7 now. But the good news is these seem to be pretty robust. Even the one with the crazy leg is doing well (I call him F***y Leg ) He molted again and this time instead of having a long backwards twisted leg he has a short leg, and while it's not perfect, it seems to be an improvement (he's getting around well) He has a great appetite and eats from my hand! the two largest mantises look to be well over an inch long and my husband and brother named them "Johny Mantis" and "Zorak" respectively. One mantis that molted either last night or today came out a beautiful green almost blue. I don't know if the color will stay but I HAVE to try and get a picture. My biggest issue at this point is what to feed them. they are starting to get too big to feed just D. Melanogaster but I tried the smallest Crickets I could get at Petsmart and they didn't want them (too big) that's all 'til I get some pictures smile


***********EDIT********Added pictures!**************************




 

[Gabrielle_AnimalLuver]

I have decided that posting pet updates without pictures without good reason (i.e no camera) should be punishable. But since you posted this before any such law is put into effect you will get away with it FOR NOW  

[Vanilla eXee]

Gabrielle_AnimalLuver

I have decided that posting pet updates without pictures without good reason (i.e no camera) should be punishable. But since you posted this before any such law is put into effect you will get away with it FOR NOW

rofl Gabby is taking action!


@Update: That's awesome, 7 will be much more manageable and if they're survived after a mass die off, then they'll be the strongest of the bunch, so it's really good news. Can't wait for pics!!! Can they eat mealworms? Maybe small ones or cut in half?  

[imderanged]

I'm going to try and take some pics tonight, I promise! I had to wait until my hubby came home to wrangle the mantises while I shoot them...
I'm not sure about meal worms, I know the ones I have now are way too big. I don't think cutting them up would work, the mantises only seem to want moving food. There are a couple places I am going to look for smaller "small crickets".  

[imderanged]

Gabrielle_AnimalLuver you don't have to punish me! Pics added to first post!  

[Krissim Klaw]

You got a green one. =/ <--- This is my totally jealous face. All the ones I ever raised up go brown.

I just got some super worms for the girls. I rip the head off and split it in half giving them each one end. To hand feed a mantis all you need to do is rip open the skin somewhere on the prey item and touch the gooey part to the mantises mandibles. They will start chewing and generally after a few seconds will greedily grab whatever you are offering. It helps to go slowly in from underneath or the side so they don't spaz when you are suddenly coming at them with something right at their face. It also helps if you have a nice pair of forceps or tweezers.

At that age I tend to feed a lot of little field moths. Since I have a tank of breeder crickets I also do feed crickets since I have pinheads to adults.  

[imderanged]

Krissim Klaw

You got a green one. =/ <--- This is my totally jealous face. All the ones I ever raised up go brown.

I just got some super worms for the girls. I rip the head off and split it in half giving them each one end. To hand feed a mantis all you need to do is rip open the skin somewhere on the prey item and touch the gooey part to the mantises mandibles. They will start chewing and generally after a few seconds will greedily grab whatever you are offering. It helps to go slowly in from underneath or the side so they don't spaz when you are suddenly coming at them with something right at their face. It also helps if you have a nice pair of forceps or tweezers.

At that age I tend to feed a lot of little field moths. Since I have a tank of breeder crickets I also do feed crickets since I have pinheads to adults.

Cool. I'm actually on my way to pick up superworms for my dragon. I'll try giving a "gooey" bit to the mantises smile And advice on trapping field moths?  

[Krissim Klaw]

You can also use the same method with crickets too. Crickets tend to be a bit easier since they are so mushy to begin with.

As for field moths I just go out in the grass with a net and stir them up by walking through. You could also try hanging a white sheet and shinning a light on it at night to catch all sorts of flying goodies.  

[imderanged]

ugh. I put a couple small crickets (not really pinheads, but the smallest of the "smalls" I got in Petsmart) in with some of the mantises yesterday, and today all the crickets are still there, but I'm missing a mantis scream It's very unlikely but not impossible he escaped, but I am going on the assumption the crickets ate him, although I didn't find any traces. Of course I removed the crickets already. How big should the mantises be before I can safely try small crickets again?  

[Krissim Klaw]

Crickets are opportunistic and will eat mantises smaller than them or ones they catch in a moment of weakness, like mid molt.

As far as size. I tend to like to feed insects that will look like they will comfortably fit inside the mantises claws. I know what petsmart carries and I have a feeling most of what they have are going to be too big for your crew till another shedding or so. Any chance you could take a picture of one of your mantises next to say a dime and then a picture of your smallest cricket next to a dime? That would give me a better idea of the size difference.

Personally I find a good way to tell if something is too big is to drop it in and see if the nymph shows any interest. The Chinese mantises are usually pretty voracious when it comes to hunting so if you are sticking crickets in there and they aren't scurrying down to snag them, then the crickets are too big. It is never suggested to leave crickets in with praying mantises unsupervised because if the mantises do molt the crickets may attack and kill them. A cricket left without food, can also get desperate enough to attack a healthy alert mantis and though they might not be successful in killing one they could do damage. I tend to remove all prey items that are not eaten within the first 10-30minutes of being dropped in.  

[imderanged]

One of my large mantises (just under 1 inch) is dying and I don't know why. This is not one of the ones I had in with the crickets. It was one of the oldest group, the ones in the terrarium. Up until now it seemed to be doing well. but i just found it lying on the bottom of the terrarium crumpled up. I thought it was dead but I took it out to examine it to see if I could tell why it died. It's very nearly dead and unfortunately I'm sure it's too late to help it, but it still has a very weak response when I touch it crying Its body is completely intact so I don't think it was attacked by another mantis (I have two others in that terrarium but it's 12x12x1 cool I'm pretty bummed about this one because it was one of the biggest & one of the ones my husband & brother named. Most of all I wish I knew what happened to it so I could try and prevent it from happening to my others. I was handling a few of the mantises the other day, but I'm not sure if it was this one or the other one, and I tried to be very gentle. I would think if that had caused the problem he would have died much sooner, but I just don't know. One good thing, the other big one in there shed again and is absolutely HUGE. he looks like he is still drying out so I will wait to mess with him or take pictures.  

[Gabrielle_AnimalLuver]

WOW some of those pics look like they belong in a museum. Ive never seen such an itty bitty mantis so close up biggrin  

[Krissim Klaw]

imderanged

One of my large mantises (just under 1 inch) is dying and I don't know why.

Do you happen to know what the humidity is in your terrarium? They sell little humidity checkers in the reptile sections of most petstores for a few bucks so you might want to get one if you don't already have one. My instinct tells me it might have been a shedding problem and the mantis may have fell when it was getting into position and was then too weak to climb back up. Is there anyway you can get it to hook its feet around the screen?

Sometimes however you just don't know why they die. This species is known for high somewhat unknown deaths. *Hugs* I know how it can get harder once you start to name and bond with them. It is one of the reasons I call all my nymphs Speck till they have one shedding and I feel they are strong enough to receive their true name.  

[imderanged]

Thank you Krissim Klaw. I haven't had a chance to get a hydrometer yet but I will soon. What humidity level should I be shooting for?

At least today I can make a happier update smile today I got the BIGGEST of the mantises (twice the size of any of the others!!!) out and got him/her to take a cricket by squishing it and putting the gooey bit by the mantis' mouth. I was really excited to have the chance to watch him/her eat close up while he/she sits perched on my hand all this time. Right now as I type one handed, my mantis is sitting on my left thumb happily chewing the last edible bits out of a cricket's head! So cool. twisted  

[Krissim Klaw]

I found 55%-65% worked pretty well for this species. Mostly you have to worry about it right around when you think you might get a molt. After a while you will find you can start to judge when they are getting ready. Also, keep in mind that they tend to molt at night so I find it is better to make sure to mist before heading to bed versus middle of the day, when I think a lot of people end up doing it. At night in the wild places often naturally have temperature drops and a raise in humidity, so it makes sense to give our captive mantises a similar experience.

Isn't it a joy getting to watch them eat. They look like little people almost because they hold their food and dig in with such zeal. It gets easier to hand feed, the larger they get. I used to hand feed mine all the time while perched on my hand. I have several lovely plants around my room that I often take my girls out and set them on. I then will toss a live cricket in one of those small plastic cups and hold it up to them. They will see the cricket scurrying around, reach in and snag it, and then I can watch them eat their meal up close and personal.