Recent content by femmephyllocrania

I would really like to get one more adult male ghost. I would prefer one that's already had his last molt, but if that is not an option I would be willing to take a 6th instar one. I am willing to negotiate price as long as it is reasonable. I would even be willing to take one on a temporary...

I may be interested. I live in Massachusetts so shipping will be cheap. I really need another male, too so if you know of anyone who has one please send them my way. I won't pay anything over $15 (not including s&h) because that's what I paid for the ones I have now. If you get a better...

It sounds like you've answered your own question and that they were, indeed, hatched prematurely. It would be interesting to see, however, if the same thing happens with the offspring of any of the nymphs from the premature ooth. I'd suggest doing some experiments (i.e. perhaps mating some from...

So I have 3 ghost mantids (I know, not many, but that's all I could afford at the time) and I want to mate them if possible. Today one of the females molted to adulthood so I want to start figuring out what to do about mating as soon as possible. First of all, is there anything I should do to...

I'd be careful with that. I had all mine in one cage for a while until one of them turned on her brother. They had plenty of food, too. I dunno what compelled her to go after him instead of one of the flies/crickets that were there, but she did. Usually it's ok but still, just a warning, keep a...

So I recently went back to school and brought all my little creatures with me. Unfortunately I ended up in a room with two windows on the corner and it tends to get cold. I'm starting to worry for my creatures. So far they've been doing alright with it and once the main heat is on in the...

Hey! Just thought I'd update this a little. The bug was a Jagged Ambush Bug (Phymata americana) and since then I've collected a little over a dozen mating pairs and I've now got several clusters of eggs waiting to (hopefully) hatch in the spring. I'm also considering aiming my concentrations...

Correct. It does sort of stab at prey with its forelegs, but can't actually hold onto anything with them. They seem to be more for threatening than anything else. Anyway, it is an ambush bug. I actually found a picture that looks almost exactly like it online: [photo removed] So thanks. I...

I don't have access to a camera right now so I'm doing the best I can. I've successfully helped people I.D. insects at least to genus without pics based on region and physical description and I've been helped, as well. I emailed a lep. specialist I worked with last semester recently about a...

I don't know many of the differences between adult sexes. I've only been told to count segments and look at the crown. I've also heard the females are larger, but these nymphs I have now are my first P. paradoxa ever so I've yet to experience adults for myself. Anyway, though I will count again...

Oh the guy who sold them to me said you couldn't count the segments of the nymphs. That's good to know, though. Is the number the same for nymphs?

My ghost nymphs have molted once since I got them and nothing went wrong, but they didn't stop eating like I keep hearing they would. From what I've read and what others have told me they should stop eating prior to a molt, but that didn't happen. The only reason I didn't replace the food was...

Agreed. Just remove food and wait another day or two, then put it back in.

It's a light yellow color with some brown markings in the head area and on the wings. I believe it's predatory rather than a plant feeder from the thickness and length of the "beak" and it seemed to go after some fruitflies I put in the jar with it (though it hasn't successfully caught any so...

Indeed! Sounds good. As of now I'm not too far from Boston at all, though I'll be heading out to Amherst soon for the fall semester. What do you keep? I currently just have the ghost nymphs so I may not be very helpful right now, but it could certainly be worth it to keep in touch.