Suggestions and feedback for my Mantises?

Hey everyone!

I am a longtime mantis enthusiast, but a novice mantis keeper. I had received four l4-l5 Ghost Mantises a week and a half ago and I am hoping to get some advice and feedback on 1) How well I am keeping my mantises and 2) the gender of them. My terrariums consist of some soil at the bottom, some twigs with dead leaves I procured from my yard, and cheesecloth over the top to keep the fruit flies from escaping. I have a hygrometer/thermometer and the temperature ranges from 68-78 degrees F, and the humidity I always keep between 50-90%. I use a spray bottle filled with distilled water and, with the dry climate we're located, mist the enclosures at least twice per day and water the soil about three times per week. 

I am currently housing two mantises per enclosure and I believe each enclosure is 12"x 8"x 8". They seem to be sticking to their corners and are content chomping on the fruit fly that gets too close. I have been loading each enclosure with about 50 fruit flies every other day and I have some Blue Bottle spikes that should be here by Friday. As soon as the BB's get here I plan on letting some pupate. I feel I made a mistake by not getting larger feeders sooner, but I didn't do my research and just assumed the local Petco had something or I could go feeder hunting in my back yard/garage (except its the middle of winter, Feisty...). 

Overall they seem to be doing alright. I have kept other bugs before, and up until recently housed a bark scorpion that I found in my garage, for over a year. I also housed a giant wolf spider that I found for about six months. The mantises are kept in a fairly climate controlled room due to some other projects involving indoor horticulture. As you might piece together from the pictures and names of my mantises (providing you are privvy to the television show It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia), I am hoping to mate them and try hatching some oothecas. 

So how am I doing? Do these fellas stand a chance? Is there anything major I am overlooking with the way I am housing them? I believe the very dark mantises are males and the green ones are females. I also believe I have male/female set of l4 and a male/female set of l5. I know the pictures aren't the greatest, but could anyone help verify this? Either way, thanks for reading!

Looks like you're doing a fantastic job! 

Setup and environmental conditions look great. Definitely time to move on to BBFs... I'm surprised they'll still go after hydei. 

With the type of substrate you are using, you may want to consider throwing in some isopods as a clean up crew. I don't keep my ghosts communally, so I'm not sure what dimensions are necessary to "keep the peace". 

I believe the first one is male, but I can't tell by the photos on the others. LOL... which one is Dee?

Well done and good luck! 

Thank you so much for the reply Synapze! I figured I was on the right track, and I tried to do as much research beforehand as possible--I just remember when I was a kid and my mom found my first praying mantis and it survived maybe 12 hours and died, so that fear and slight trauma is making me a bit paranoid because I love these little guys already and I really want them to thrive.

In regards to the isopods, would pill bugs from outside suffice or is that something I should look into purchasing?

As far as the names, from top to bottom, Dr. Mantis Toboggan, Ongo Gablogian, Pecan Sandy, and Shadynasty.

Again, thanks for the piece of mind and advice!

FeistyMcGrudle said:

In regards to the isopods, would pill bugs from outside suffice or is that something I should look into purchasing?

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Pill bugs are perfect... and free for many of us. We have tons of them here during the spring and summer. I wish I had collected more.

FeistyMcGrudle said:

As far as the names, from top to bottom, Dr. Mantis Toboggan, Ongo Gablogian, Pecan Sandy, and Shadynasty.

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I love that show! 

No problem... happy to help.

The first two pics are males, the second two are females. You definitely want to give them something more than fruit glies, and I would not suggest keeping them communally for much longer. You also should not keep the humidity as high as 90%, because they are not a high humidity species. 

Hope that helps!

- MantisGirl13

Thanks for the feedback MantisGirl13! I ordered blue bottle spikes, but I was unaware just how long they would take to pupate (been 6 days now...definitely buying pupae next time around). I went to the local pet store and bought the smallest crickets I could find and I have been basically hand feeding them and watching the entire process so the crickets don't bite back. I had just noticed your reply last night, but I have separated all the mantises since reading it. Over the weekend I was lucky enough to be able to stop what looked like an attack from one of the females--the male backed himself into a corner and was threat displaying while the female was just marching right over to him looking for a meal. I was thinking that maybe she was just really hungry (this was before I bought the crickets) and thought Dr. Toboggan looked tasty, but I don't want to take any chances. I also am no longer shooting for such high RH--one website said 60-90% is fine, whereas almost every other source says  40-70%. Again, thank you so much for the feedback!

Video of said attack *SFW*, I intervened before anything happened

And random pics:

Your mantids are beautiful! You know, ghosts LOVE to eat spikes as well as the flies. Spikes are juicy, easy to catch, and delicious! (If you are a mantis...) Spikes are always the best option, because they can be fed to the mantis as larvae, or flies, and the pupae last longer than if they had already been refrigerated before arrival. I am glad you intervened and that the male did't get eaten! Ghosts are fine at almost any RH, as long as it is not super high. They are not a particular species.

- MantisGirl13

I tried feeding a spike to one of my more easy-going male ghosts and he didn't want anything to do with it, so I figured none of them were going to go after them until they hatched...TIL. I was also worried I was gonna smoosh the spike with my tweezers, so I kinda shelved that whole idea and just focused on getting them to pupate. Now, the spikes look like half are pupating and the other half are greyish and look dead and aren't moving at all. Luckily they still munch on the fruit flies, but I know they need more than that, and am trying as hard as I can to provide. If I don't see any BB's in the culture by the end of the work day I'm going to have to go buy more crickets. 

FeistyMcGrudle said:

I tried feeding a spike to one of my more easy-going male ghosts and he didn't want anything to do with it, so I figured none of them were going to go after them until they hatched...TIL. I was also worried I was gonna smoosh the spike with my tweezers, so I kinda shelved that whole idea and just focused on getting them to pupate. Now, the spikes look like half are pupating and the other half are greyish and look dead and aren't moving at all. Luckily they still munch on the fruit flies, but I know they need more than that, and am trying as hard as I can to provide. If I don't see any BB's in the culture by the end of the work day I'm going to have to go buy more crickets. 

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If you 'smoosh' the spike and hold the goo up to the mantid's mouth it will take it and eat it, but it sounds like it is kinda late for that. I hope your bbs hatch soon!

- MantisGirl13