Pine the Carolina Mantis and His Life

Hey everyone! Sorry I haven't been posting for a while, I've been busy and I haven't had anything mantis related happen, but recently, I had an ootheca hatch from Stagmomantis carolina. Only five have hatched in a little over a month, which is surprising. Only one has survived, Pine, a little male. Pine is a big eater, once, he ate 3 fruit flies within an hour interval, and they're Hydei's! I've had him for about three weeks, and he still shows no signs of molting anytime soon. He was eating this morning actually. I'm not sure why he has yet to molt into an L2. Most mantids molt into L2 within their first week. I mean, there's nothing wrong with him. He's very healthy, he's eating, he's drinking, he's running. He's just being a mantis nymph. Is there any reason why he isn't molting? I will submit photos later on.

Hi Cloud the Dinosaur King,

First off, welcome back! And congratulations on the ooth. Even if it was a small hatch, there is the chance that more eggs are still waiting to emerge, so perhaps you might want to continue incubating it. 

As for little Pine, I don’t think there’s much you can do about forcing him to molt. You could try increasing humidity and feeding to a reasonable amount. Temperature also changes growth rates. Continue to give him the typical “mantis medicine,” honey and sugar water. Other than that, he might just be a slow grower. 

Hope he molts soon,

—D.E.

River Dane said:

Hi Cloud the Dinosaur King,

First off, welcome back! And congratulations on the ooth. Even if it was a small hatch, there is the chance that more eggs are still waiting to emerge, so perhaps you might want to continue incubating it. 

As for little Pine, I don’t think there’s much you can do about forcing him to molt. You could try increasing humidity and feeding to a reasonable amount. Temperature also changes growth rates. Continue to give him the typical “mantis medicine,” honey and sugar water. Other than that, he might just be a slow grower. 

Hope he molts soon,

—D.E.

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Okay, thanks for the advice!

Quite interesting these mantids , so much depends on feed , humidity and temperature . I hatched a Tenodera ooth around the same time as a friend , comparing progress I found mine at L2 While theirs were L 4's. All the way up I wondered why the difference , turned out in was heaT and plenty of food ...... S

Update, Pine successfully molted into an L2 a few days ago. He's looking very green.

Yay!

Pine molted again yesterday. He's looking pretty good, and I'm going to feed him tonight. I will be posting pictures when he gets a little bigger.