Idolomantis diabolica Adult Females

The girls are growing up. Caught a molt on video. I'll post that later.

Such incredible colors on this species! And huge! About 5" long and 4" high. Worth every minute I spent raising them from L1.

Still looking for a male mate for them.

This one molted just last night. They start out this light fleshy tan color...







Then the colors come in. This female molted 5 days ago...

Beautiful bug.

Super gorgeous! What were your temps and humidity levels at on the last molt?

How many girls do u have? if you wish, I can get in touch with someone who has males and see if it is ok to exchange emails addresses, if you want to give it to me, send it to me at [email protected] , and I will email him.

AMAZING Precarious! I would like to applaud you for being dedicated in your efforts to raise mantises from day 1 of their nymph stages to adulthood. I really love to see the growth and development of these different species of mantises.

WOW! Those are great photos.... And what a cool looking species. I sure hope someone finds a male for you. It would be a shame if you can't mate this species after all that effort.

animalexplorer said:

Super gorgeous! What were your temps and humidity levels at on the last molt?

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I kept them pretty much room temp (70-80) their whole lives. For a while there I was running a light each day which pushed the temp up to around 90 for 5 or 6 hours a day. They seem to like that. I keep humidity 60% and up, and I mist them every day. Always a good idea to put the others in another enclosure once you see swollen wing buds to prevent any accidents.

joeho said:

AMAZING Precarious! I would like to applaud you for being dedicated in your efforts to raise mantises from day 1 of their nymph stages to adulthood. I really love to see the growth and development of these different species of mantises.

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Thank you! I really enjoy it and it's great I get to share with everyone. I wish I could do this for a living. Maybe the photography will help make that happen.

Tammy Wolfe said:

WOW! Those are great photos.... And what a cool looking species. I sure hope someone finds a male for you. It would be a shame if you can't mate this species after all that effort.

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I am so overwhelmingly happy just to have these beautiful girls in front of me that I'm not going to lose any sleep if I don't find them a mate. This is the most amazing species I've dealt with so far. A very rewarding experience. If I get to breed them it will be icing on a very rich and satisfying cake. Thanks for all the photography help, Tammy!

Insane details in that Idol, especially the fractal branching pattern on the back and sides of the head. A real pleasure to be able to see all from all angles, I look forward to the vid too.

I can imagine it's easy to lose a few hours photographing these guys, so intricate.

Fantastic pics! I hope someone can send you a male?

Slinkytreekreeper said:

Insane details in that Idol, especially the fractal branching pattern on the back and sides of the head. A real pleasure to be able to see all from all angles, I look forward to the vid too.

I can imagine it's easy to lose a few hours photographing these guys, so intricate.

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I know... so many patterns and textures. They are living works of art.

I took all these pics in like half an hour. The MT-24EX macro flash system I got is beyond belief. I took all these FREEHAND! It sure pays to invest in the right flash system. No more tripod for me. I'll be catching some great shots out in the wild when spring rolls around.

Absolutely, some sort of flash is essential for sharp macro shots of moving subjects. Freestyle is the only way to go B)

Couple Q's if you don't mind

How far does the whole unit protrude beyond the lens, forward and out to the sides? Is it just a screw thread like a filter that fastens to the lens?

Also, I shoot totally manual now but does it let you use TTL and still set power ratios for the two heads?

Man, I wish I could pop round and take some pics of your mantis family, I twitch to buy more every time you post a set of juicy pics. Self control failing

Slinkytreekreeper said:

Couple Q's if you don't mind

How far does the whole unit protrude beyond the lens, forward and out to the sides? Is it just a screw thread like a filter that fastens to the lens?

Also, I shoot totally manual now but does it let you use TTL and still set power ratios for the two heads?

Man, I wish I could pop round and take some pics of your mantis family, I twitch to buy more every time you post a set of juicy pics. Self control failing

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It's a really smart design. There is a ring that encloses a lip on the lens. You can take it off and on by pushing a button that spreads the prongs that secure it in the groove. It holds suprisingly secure for such a simple mechanism. You can also rotate the ring around the lens by pushing the same button, which is really useful to change the angle of light without moving the flash heads individually when switching between landscape and portrait perspectives.

There are 2 flash heads that seat in a channel around the outside of the ring. They can be angled individually to face each other just beyond the lens, face outward or anywhere in between. Each head can also move freely around the ring. You could put them both on the same side or detach them and mount on a tripod. Incredibly versatile.

And, yes, it uses TTL so it's practically point-and-shoot macro. Of course there is also exposure compensation/offset as well as ratio between heads A and B so lighting is not completely flat. There are 58mm threads on the end of the ring which I use to mount the 250D Closeup lens for an additional .4x magnification. I'm going to rig 2 Gary Fong Puffer Pop-Up Flash Diffusers over each head so it's not quite so harsh. I've seen a few people online who've done this to good effect.

I was going to get the cheaper MT-14X Ringlite, but I found this brand new (open box) MT-24X on Ebay for just a little more. I had really good timing that day.

Come on by. My pets like to show off for the camera. :lol:

...Oh, I forgot to say, each flash head sticks out about 3" to the side and maybe an inch in front if angled sharply. Since I use the addon lens the flash heads don't go past the end of the lens rig at all. Once I add the diffusers they probably will.

I... am... so... jealous!!!

I'm running out of room in my SOUL to just "be happy for you". I'm a good person. I give to charity. I DESERVE IDOLOMANTIDS!!!

(ahem).

Sorry. I'm OK now.

Great pictures... (sarcasm). Nice work...

Just making sure the sarcasm OOZED from that last post in just the right way. Happy for you, BUT MAN! Couldn't you at least take crappy pictures!?! Man!

(Obviously kidding. Great, great work!)

Awesome!!!! I really like this green coloration...displayed with these great pictures!! Gratz!

Sporeworld said:

Just making sure the sarcasm OOZED from that last post in just the right way. Happy for you, BUT MAN! Couldn't you at least take crappy pictures!?! Man!

(Obviously kidding. Great, great work!)

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:lol: Just remember, I've only had a real camera for 3 months now. I promise I'll get better once I know what I'm doing.

Thanks man, that clears up a couple of things I couldn't find details about. TTL for crawling around in the undergrowth for bugs would be nice when light is always changing.

I have seen quite a few results with those puffers and they are pretty compact but you will get better diffusion with more surface area. I highly recommend you trying a small diy softbox over each one, kitchen roll/towel does an awesome job at reducing specular highlights. I wouldn't look as cool but it would save a few dollars and work really well.

Kitchen towel and an elastic band would be no effort and probably worth a couple test shots.

I'm sure you got it all more than covered but PM me if you need pics or better explanation etc.

I shut up and wait for quietly for the vid now :lol: