# i've never seen nymphs like this before



## minty (Feb 23, 2011)

this mantis i found layed these eggs, &amp; when they hatched

they were so small they were only about 1/2 inch big.

no point taking pics cs they wouldn't show up.

how am i sposed to care for these?


----------



## infinite213 (Feb 23, 2011)

That is normal, they are very small and ant like when born. You need to feed them small fruit flies and mist them with a spray bottle every day with a fine mist no big drops of water or they might drown. You can get fruit flies from many places online or from people on this forum.


----------



## Rick (Feb 23, 2011)

New born nymphs are tiny and the best food is fruit flys.

Don't forget to introduce yourself in the introductions forum.


----------



## hibiscusmile (Feb 23, 2011)

Ditto that!


----------



## minty (Feb 24, 2011)

ive bred nymphs before, but these are way too small!!

they're smaller than any ant i've ever cn!

&amp; they don't have any of the characteristics of a normal mantid nymph...

they're more like bacteria.

they're mum was kind of wierd too...

she had arms that folded backwards, if that makes sense...

sorry i forgot to introduce myself.

im 12 years old &amp; have kept &amp; bred many mantids before


----------



## [email protected] (Feb 24, 2011)

Are you sure that they are mantids?? Can you post a pic of the female?


----------



## minty (Feb 24, 2011)

im 100% sure their mum was a mantid but she was very unique.

im sorry i can't post a picture because she somhow managed to get out of her container.

she was wierd cs she had wings, &amp; looked a bit like a lacewing flie, but she ate flies &amp;

was about 2 1/2 cm long.

her arms were manits arms but it was like she was the mantid version of 'double-jointed'.

&amp; her eggs weren't altogether in a sack like most mantids are, they were tiny &amp; dotted all over the place.


----------



## MantidLord (Feb 24, 2011)

The "mum" as you so aptly named her, was not a praying mantis. She was a mantisfly. Or mantispid. Let me guess, she looked something like this? http://www.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://ecolibrary.org/images/full_image/Convergence_Mantis_fly_DP880.jpg&amp;imgrefurl=http://ecolibrary.org/page/DP880&amp;h=768&amp;w=1024&amp;sz=98&amp;tbnid=MHN6TinVRxUl_M:&amp;tbnh=113&amp;tbnw=150&amp;prev=/images%3Fq%3Dmantisfly&amp;zoom=1&amp;q=mantisfly&amp;hl=en&amp;usg=__joigTbbxmWsWC9zuYhn3u5hjcHM=&amp;sa=X&amp;ei=WB5nTd29IIr6swOAieWmBA&amp;ved=0CCoQ9QEwAg The larvae are parasitic to spiders and other creatures, I'm not sure if anyone's ever bred them or raised the larvae.


----------



## yen_saw (Feb 25, 2011)

MantidLord said:


> The "mum" as you so aptly named her, was not a praying mantis. She was a mantisfly. Or mantispid. Let me guess, she looked something like this? http://www.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://ecolibrary.org/images/full_image/Convergence_Mantis_fly_DP880.jpg&amp;imgrefurl=http://ecolibrary.org/page/DP880&amp;h=768&amp;w=1024&amp;sz=98&amp;tbnid=MHN6TinVRxUl_M:&amp;tbnh=113&amp;tbnw=150&amp;prev=/images%3Fq%3Dmantisfly&amp;zoom=1&amp;q=mantisfly&amp;hl=en&amp;usg=__joigTbbxmWsWC9zuYhn3u5hjcHM=&amp;sa=X&amp;ei=WB5nTd29IIr6swOAieWmBA&amp;ved=0CCoQ9QEwAg The larvae are parasitic to spiders and other creatures, I'm not sure if anyone's ever bred them or raised the larvae.


+1


----------



## minty (Feb 26, 2011)

thx soo much!

i haven't heard of mantis-flies...

well, i guess u learn something new every day

that's awesome!!


----------



## dgerndt (Feb 27, 2011)

That is one COOL bug.


----------



## macawlover2 (Mar 3, 2011)

Will you continue to raise the larvae now knowing that you have mantis fly nymphs? I'm curious


----------



## ninjaboy1988 (Apr 3, 2011)

"More pet bugs" is a great book for raising all kinds of insects, including mantisflies. "Pet Bugs" says how to raise mantids and others cool insects. Quick question, how did some of you get animated avatar pics?


----------



## sporeworld (Apr 3, 2011)

MantidLord said:


> The "mum" as you so aptly named her, was not a praying mantis. She was a mantisfly. Or mantispid. Let me guess, she looked something like this? http://www.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://ecolibrary.org/images/full_image/Convergence_Mantis_fly_DP880.jpg&amp;imgrefurl=http://ecolibrary.org/page/DP880&amp;h=768&amp;w=1024&amp;sz=98&amp;tbnid=MHN6TinVRxUl_M:&amp;tbnh=113&amp;tbnw=150&amp;prev=/images%3Fq%3Dmantisfly&amp;zoom=1&amp;q=mantisfly&amp;hl=en&amp;usg=__joigTbbxmWsWC9zuYhn3u5hjcHM=&amp;sa=X&amp;ei=WB5nTd29IIr6swOAieWmBA&amp;ved=0CCoQ9QEwAg The larvae are parasitic to spiders and other creatures, I'm not sure if anyone's ever bred them or raised the larvae.


Ah, learn somthin' new everyday...


----------



## dgerndt (Apr 3, 2011)

Rogue Forest Ninja said:


> "More pet bugs" is a great book for raising all kinds of insects, including mantisflies. "Pet Bugs" says how to raise mantids and others cool insects. Quick question, how did some of you get animated avatar pics?


It's an animated GIF file. You can search for some online, I'm sure. But I usually make my avatars.


----------



## ninjaboy1988 (Apr 5, 2011)

What program did you use. I animated the gif, but when I try to upload it to my avatar or photo, it is not animated. My mandibles protruding from beneath my hood are supposed to be pinching at 2 frames per second.

:huh:


----------



## Katnapper (Apr 6, 2011)

Hello Rogue Forest Ninja,

It's nice you're raising mantids (and mantisflies, lol) at your age. Best of luck with it... and I hope you keep investigating, and maintain your obvious love of science/animals throughout your life. Working with animated graphics is also a commendable endeavor, especially at your age. Good for you!  

Some things to check with your animation: 120x120 or under pixel size of .gif, 50kb max, and make sure animation is set to loop indefinitely.

How did you upload it? Did you upload to the Mantidforum server? Or do you have the animation stored on an outside server, such as Photobucket (and link to the .gif)? The second option is what I do... upload .gif to a folder in my Photobucket account (you can create a free account if you don't already have one), then copy the "IMG code" of the .gif and paste in your Mantidforum account Control Panel in the "change Avatar" section. I hope you get it resolved.


----------



## dgerndt (Apr 6, 2011)

Yes, what Katnapper said. :lol: If you need more help, I'm sure there are plenty of tutorials out there for you.


----------



## Katnapper (Apr 7, 2011)

Glad to see you got your pinchers going.


----------



## Mr.Mantid (Apr 8, 2011)

I created my avatar in adobe flash. I took some pics of my orchid mantis and made a little gif image, but it seems to be all blurry. Did flash somehow compress it?


----------



## dgerndt (Apr 8, 2011)

It's more likely that turning it into a GIF made the image quality degrade. GIF images are better for pictures with only a few colors that are wide-spread such as buttons or logos.


----------

