# Mantids you keep together



## Kruszakus (Nov 4, 2007)

Well, I've been curious if any of you had any success rearing mantids of the same species in the same, reasonably big vivarium. Is it a good idea with some species, or is it better not to risk cannibalism?

I have my eyes set on Gongylus species, and I hear that they can be easily kept together, as the do not like catching anything too big.


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## Andrew (Nov 4, 2007)

My _Phyllovates chlorophaea _have been kept together from L1 to L4 so far with no problems.

They haven't eaten in over a week(screwed up my fly order&lt;.&lt, and I still haven't observed any cannibalism.


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## Red (Nov 4, 2007)

i have together miomantis paykully included adult instar. Oxypilus distinctus, idolomantis diabolica, gongylus gongyloides...

phyllocrania paradoxa

and now i have together odontomantis planicepts to mate pourpose. ( 3 females and 4 males)

dont see canibalism problems

Regards


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## yen_saw (Nov 4, 2007)

Andrew said:


> My _Phyllovates chlorophaea _have been kept together from L1 to L4 so far with no problems. They haven't eaten in over a week(screwed up my fly order&lt;.&lt, and I still haven't observed any cannibalism.


_Ph. chlorophaea_ is the least cannibalistic species I have ever kept before, you can basically go all the way to subadult (or even adult) keeping them together, and yes, they can even "tolerate" with each other when food source is limited. Rare for praying mantis of any species.


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## Precious (Nov 4, 2007)

yen_saw said:


> _Ph. chlorophaea_ is the least cannibalistic species I have ever kept before, you can basically go all the way to subadult (or even adult) keeping them together, and yes, they can even "tolerate" with each other when food source is limited. Rare for praying mantis of any species.


I kept my Unicorns together for a time. There were no problems but, even in a very large enclosure, they congregated in tight groups and had "stand-offs" and boxing matches. It just made me nervous after awhile so I separated them at L5. They tolerated each other, but seemed always on alert.


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## Kruszakus (Nov 4, 2007)

Well - I really would like to give a reality check the idea of having a huge vivarium with multiple mantids - and I intend to buy Unicorns from Yen, so I'll se how it goes.

Odontomantis kept together? Well, I noticed that they are very agressive hunters - I do not know if I would like to keep them together.

By the way - today one of my males molted into adulthood. I hope it will live long enough to mate with my females (one is also after fifth moult).


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## asdsdf (Nov 4, 2007)

Ya, I've seen my un-gravid female odontomantis adult run to attack and kill a cricket wider and longer than her. :blink: I fear for the males.


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## Rick (Nov 4, 2007)

I keep none except small nymphs together. After they hatch and reach about L3 I seperate them.


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## Kruszakus (Nov 5, 2007)

asdsdf said:


> Ya, I've seen my un-gravid female odontomantis adult run to attack and kill a cricket wider and longer than her. :blink: I fear for the males.


Gosh! One of my males is at best 14 milimeters long! But none of my females is adult, so I do not really know just how agressive they can be when stocking up for ooth.


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## Mantis_Whisper (Nov 6, 2007)

Precious said:


> I kept my Unicorns together for a time. There were no problems but, even in a very large enclosure, they congregated in tight groups and had "stand-offs" and boxing matches. It just made me nervous after awhile so I separated them at L5. They tolerated each other, but seemed always on alert.


Mine do that all the time, I mean they have this HUGE cage to run around in but they all stay by eachother.

Though they have little boxing matches I've never seen any hurt eachother. (expect for the time where they hadn't eaten for a week and a half and the one that got eaten was going to die anyway.  .) I have four in a somewhat large cage and there's three sub-adults and one adult in there. They rarely ever fight, unless they are right ontop of eachother. (But I would too if some guy was right ontop of me.)

I've seen my unicorns share meals as well. I thought it was pretty cute so I took pictures.


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## Kruszakus (Nov 7, 2007)

So post them here - share with us!

After what you have said guys - I'm already in love with this species.


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## Mantis_Whisper (Nov 7, 2007)

I should get some pictures of them up soon, I just have to download them onto photopocket.


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## Rick (Nov 7, 2007)

Subadult female:


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## trojon (Nov 8, 2007)

How communal are Idolomantis? And the risk of canibalism?

Was really planning on keeping a few together.

Also if numbers were less, would canibalism be less? As then they would have less encounters and more space each, but i know some species work better in larger groups instead of smaller ones...


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## ThorEH (Nov 8, 2007)

TroJon said:


> How communal are Idolomantis? And the risk of canibalism?Was really planning on keeping a few together.
> 
> Also if numbers were less, would canibalism be less? As then they would have less encounters and more space each, but i know some species work better in larger groups instead of smaller ones...


I had 5 Idolomantis communaly... now I onlye have a loner left  Because he always moulted a couple of days before the others and could'nt resist the small white neighbours. They van be held communaly, but I think you then should have as many specimens as possible, so that you can afford to lose some.

Look at Yen Saw's thread "moulted in transit" or something like that. There are some great pics of communaly held Idolomantis


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## trojon (Nov 8, 2007)

ThorEH said:


> I had 5 Idolomantis communaly... now I onlye have a loner left  Because he always moulted a couple of days before the others and could'nt resist the small white neighbours. They van be held communaly, but I think you then should have as many specimens as possible, so that you can afford to lose some.Look at Yen Saw's thread "moulted in transit" or something like that. There are some great pics of communaly held Idolomantis


Yeah i saw that thread.

I think the older they get the less likely they are to feed on each other, mine are all 5/6th instar now, would it be ok to keep them together, cos it's a pain in the backside removing tupperware lids to add flies into the containers. Flies are so damny annoying to handle too, so would rather smack in a pot of them than hand pick (tweezer) each fly individually.

And even after refridgerating, they warm up too quickly!

How long should you leave them in the fridge for?!


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## Kruszakus (Nov 8, 2007)

TroJon said:


> Yeah i saw that thread.I think the older they get the less likely they are to feed on each other, mine are all 5/6th instar now, would it be ok to keep them together, cos it's a pain in the backside removing tupperware lids to add flies into the containers. Flies are so damny annoying to handle too, so would rather smack in a pot of them than hand pick (tweezer) each fly individually.
> 
> And even after refridgerating, they warm up too quickly!
> 
> How long should you leave them in the fridge for?!


I cannot find this "Moulted in transit" thread...


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## ThorEH (Nov 8, 2007)

http://mantidforum.net/forums/index.php?sh...ic=8118&amp;hl=

here it is


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## Kruszakus (Nov 8, 2007)

Ouch! A sad scene...


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## yen_saw (Nov 10, 2007)

TroJon said:


> Yeah i saw that thread.I think the older they get the less likely they are to feed on each other, mine are all 5/6th instar now, would it be ok to keep them together, cos it's a pain in the backside removing tupperware lids to add flies into the containers. Flies are so damny annoying to handle too, so would rather smack in a pot of them than hand pick (tweezer) each fly individually.
> 
> And even after refridgerating, they warm up too quickly!
> 
> How long should you leave them in the fridge for?!


I have seen cannibalism in idolomantis even on first instar, which happen during the ill-fated shipment where the idolo ooth hatched during shipment for me, so no doubt they will eat each other rather than starving themself to death. But with plenty of food, they are dong alright together, not sure if "the larger they get, the less cannibalism they are" is true, mine been doing alright without any issue keeping together now at 6th/7th instar.

Few crappy pics here
























Kruszakus said:


> Ouch! A sad scene...


It could have been worst.... i lost about 20 hatchling in that shipment, although 75% of the total hatchling miraclely survived.


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## Kruszakus (Nov 10, 2007)

Interesting container.

Well, and mantids too!


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## Mantida (Nov 10, 2007)

I have two communal species, P. chlorophaea and P. paradoxa, but I house them seperately. It's a force of habit I guess.


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## Kruszakus (Dec 14, 2007)

Well - a little update...

I've been keeping Idolomorpha lateralis communaly - so far so god, they sometimes even get on top of each other and still - no agressive response.

They usually just hang from the mesh screen and pivot from side to side if disturbed or if a fruit fly gets their attention - which usually ends up with a fly being devoured...

I intend on keeping them together until sub-adult - let's hope they will do just fine.


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## macro junkie (Dec 15, 2007)

Kruszakus said:


> Well - a little update...I've been keeping Idolomorpha lateralis communaly -


i also have 2 of these..they went up to each other and 1 pulled a threat pose..amazing!but then they backed off.so far so good.


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## Kruszakus (Dec 15, 2007)

I have eleven, so a plenty of research material - I really prefer communal mantids to more seclussive ones - more comfortable to feed them all at once and it's always nice to see them dueling a bit by showing of a threat pose - sweet! But I guess that all empusidae are doing great - both in the appearance and bahaviour departaments.

Today another molted into he 3rd instar - I must say that they grow very quick, and are rather big for such youngsters.

Failed - it seems that this experiment has to stop before I lose more mantids.


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