# I finaly got an account!



## robo mantis (Sep 20, 2005)

I have been collecting praying mantises for years mostly chinese  .I am trying to get a good collection of mantises I have been trying to breed P.argonina (budwing mantis)just in case I spelled the scintific name wrong :lol: I got a female from francisco but my male attacked her what do I do?


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## Jesse (Sep 20, 2005)

Please describe the "attack". From my experience the males are much smaller and the female will go after him if she spots him.


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## robo mantis (Sep 20, 2005)

well i put the male in right behind her and when he jumped he turned and clawed her abdomin


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## Jesse (Sep 20, 2005)

That is normal, I've seen that happen plenty of times. He is just a little "confused", after a couple of minutes or longer (up to 30 min.) he would have eventually turned himself around and began copulating. That is a good reason not to overfeed"fatten up" the females too much, the abdomen is much more prone to injury when big and fat.


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## robo mantis (Sep 20, 2005)

yeah she went into her defence position she is a bit small i was told she was adult but i think she is a sub adult.


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## Jesse (Sep 20, 2005)

If she has wings that cover 1/3-1/2 of her abdomen she is adult. You can't tell for sure? Maybe you should find some pics on the web.


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## robo mantis (Sep 20, 2005)

yeah if i get a good camera i will post pics


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## Samzo (Sep 20, 2005)

I've found that feeding the female up is the best way because I almost lost my male several times... (although he was a bit of a wuss lol) As Jesse said the wings should cover 1/2 or 1/3 of her body, it's fairly obvious really but you should look on the net as you don't want to waist your time trying to mate a sub!


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## robo mantis (Sep 20, 2005)

yeah i am going to look again


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## Ian (Sep 21, 2005)

Also, when the female is adult, she will not be able to curl her abdoman. I have to say...adults are pretty dam obvious, I expect you haven't gone wrong there. Although, it does make it harder, the fact that they do not grow full wings. Good luck  

Cheers,

Ian


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## robo mantis (Sep 21, 2005)

thanks for the advice


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