My Ghost nymphs (Phyllocrania paradoxa)

As a new forum supporter I took up Rebecca's offer from her site MantisPlace, for a free mantis (as seen at the banner on the bottom of every page) for the cost of shipping.

My package arrived today and as you can see I received two Ghost nymphs (Phyllocrania paradoxa), which was the species I was hoping for! Also included were 100 house fly pupae to feed them with, which I promptly put several in a container to hatch and the rest in the refrigerator.

They arrived safely and are very active. The first thing they wanted was water, as they tried to drink from my hand, so I put some water on my hand and they drank. They are both in their new homes and hanging from the lids.

On another note the nymph in the first photo, only has one raptor foreleg - it is missing completely all the way up to the shoulder. It hobbles around but has no problems moving around or hanging from the lid. I will feed them first thing tomorrow once they rehydrate and rest up, and will see if I will have to help feed it until it molts and repairs the foreleg.

Dang the whole arm?! I hope it grows back man... =/

That second one has a gnarly looking crown lol!

LAME said:

Dang the whole arm?! I hope it grows back man... =/

That second one has a gnarly looking crown lol!

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Yeah, the whole thing is gone. I thought it might have happened during shipping, but it was not in the cup so it happened before that. The nymph gets around, climbs, and such without issue - hopefully it can eat as well which I'll find out shortly.

It does have a bit of bend in it

I have more photos that I will post later.

I hope the are grows back... and I hope it can eat... I love ghosts...I think it is one of my favorites.. from nymph to adult...they are just so active.. Congrats on the new kids!

Update on my Ghosts. My one armed ghost can not catch houseflies, but it can catch Hydei flies. It can take a few tries but it has caught and ate 3 Hydei tonight by itself so I don't have to hand feed it. Also the mantis molted to L3 on Sunday, still no arm of any kind though (so it must have lost it recently).

My other Ghost is doing great and has been eating houseflies and Hydei. Although It hasn't molted yet.

may take it a few molts, its still very young so its got a high chance to regrow... I had a T.sin I properly named "TriPod." When I first joined the hobby and found echo. It took her a good 3-4 molts before the leg grew in to a usable state. She made it to pre subadult and unfortunately didn't make it passed the submolt , however her 3rd missing leg fully regrew before her death.

LAME said:

may take it a few molts, its still very young so its got a high chance to regrow... I had a T.sin I properly named "TriPod." When I first joined the hobby and found echo. It took her a good 3-4 molts before the leg grew in to a usable state. She made it to pre subadult and unfortunately didn't make it passed the submolt , however her 3rd missing leg fully regrew before her death.

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Funny you mention the name Tripod due to her legs - my ghost has taken on the name "One Armed Bandit" due to it's arm...  I figure when it regrows the arm I will just call it Bandit, or get fancy and call it Bandito.

Glad to see yours regrew the leg. Too bad though it didn't make it all the way to adulthood. As my little L3 ghost is eating Hydei, and I have also been giving it honey to keep it's strength up, I have high hopes it'll make it.

Me too, good luck with the new species! They are mighty neat for being some small guys.

My two Ghosts are still doing great and updates are in my main mantid thread.