# What makes a Ghost go Green?



## Colorcham427 (Dec 27, 2009)

title says it all...

Is it genetics? It's surroundings?


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## batsofchaos (Dec 27, 2009)

A little of both. Higher heat and humidity is supposed to help, and a branch in the enclosure with green leaves may also help, but it's not necessary to end up with a green ghost. I have two females that were kept in identical conditions and one turned out green while the other turned out chocolatey brown. I'd say genetics probably play a larger role than environment, but I'm not sure anyone knows for sure what causes a ghost mantid to turn out the color it does.


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## charleyandbecky (Dec 27, 2009)

This is such an interesting topic! I don't have any ghosts, but my Carolina babies that hatched a few weeks ago and after some of them have molted twice, I noticed that I have pale green, light brown, grayish brown and dark brown with striped legs, all from the same ooth. The humidity is the same for all of them and they all just have a plain old brown stick right now.

Rebecca


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## batsofchaos (Dec 27, 2009)

I could probably amend my previous statement to be for any species of mantid that has a variety of colors. I think ghosts get brought up more often than other species (except possibly orchid mantids and how to get them to turn pink), since green is a less commonly seen coloration for them, but I think color variations within any species isn't particularly understood by anyone.


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## ismart (Dec 28, 2009)

There are just way to many factors involved in mantid color changes. Just to name a few. Light, surroundings, humidity, temperature, texture, genetics. Some mantids are more senseitive to some of the above mentioned than others. I have noticed with ghosts high humidity/bright light gives me more green females.


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## Guy'n'Jane (Dec 28, 2009)

We wondered about this as we keep Ghosts too. We wondered if it was the same principle as this: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peppered_moth_evolution

B)


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## Kruszakus (Dec 28, 2009)

Brian Aschenbach said:


> title says it all...Is it genetics? It's surroundings?


I think that ghosts are predominantly white, but there was one green one in GBs, I think. I guess it's the ectoplasm.


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## Katnapper (Dec 28, 2009)

Kruszakus said:


> I think that ghosts are predominantly white, but there was one green one in GBs, I think. I guess it's the ectoplasm.


 :lol:


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## Ntsees (Dec 28, 2009)

I don't know about other mantid species, but for the ones I keep (very highly inbred), I have noticed something: (1) when raised outside on plants, they tend to match the color of the plant/branch they are on (the varying colors of green, brown, or yellow), (2) when kept inside, they tend to become tan/brownish/gray with few or no traces of green. As for genetics on how it determines the color change, I think it kicks in when I give them a colorless environment to grow in (glass jar). I'm thinking that when there's not a color they can become, they change to the color that's set by default in their genes (varies).

Note: I'm still puzzled on my observations and am still trying to understand more, but what I see is what I see.


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## Peter Clausen (Dec 29, 2009)

Entirely genetics in my (minority) opinion, except for the following examples. There are situations where color can change, as when pigment granules within the eyes of orchid mantises migrate per the day/night cycle, and also prior to and following a molt (increase/decrease in pinkness of orchid mantises).


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## hibiscusmile (Dec 29, 2009)

I always thought it was cause they saw themselves in a mirror


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## Orin (Jan 2, 2010)

High humidity and cooler temperatures (mid 70s) lead to more likelyhood of green ghosts (warmer temperatures -?85-90F?- are mentioned above but that's not the experience with this species).



Peter said:


> Entirely genetics in my (minority) opinion....


 I'm curious what your explanation for wild _Parasphendale agrionina _females that are neon green in color and yet their captive offspring are all gray?


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## massaman (Jan 2, 2010)

kind of like my giant asians too I have a male and female that are pink and another male that is whitish dont know think humidity effects their colorizations but its surroundings that its containment is in might have be a factor!


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## Peter Clausen (Jan 2, 2010)

Orin said:


> High humidity and cooler temperatures (mid 70s) lead to more likelyhood of green ghosts (warmer temperatures -?85-90F?- are mentioned above but that's not the experience with this species). I'm curious what your explanation for wild _Parasphendale agrionina _females that are neon green in color and yet their captive offspring are all gray?


I can have opinions without explanations  Are gray offspring of green P. agrionina for real? Never seen one!

Daddy must have been gray?

My sister has beautiful, light brown eyes even though nobody in the history of our family is known to have had brown eyes (and we have the same parents). We both grew up in rainy Oregon, so we were exposed to the same levels of humidity. :lol: 

I'm not saying humidity isn't a factor. I'm just saying that I've seen green and brown mantises show up in captive populations that were kept in approximately the same captive conditions too many times to think it was something I could "control". I've tried and I've read accounts of hobby-experiments and none of them are conclusive...in my opinion.


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## sufistic (Jan 3, 2010)

We got our Ghosts from Yen. All of them had the same color. Three females turned from dark brown to a light tan and one turned green. The green one is still one or two molts behind the other females which is strange because the other females molted at around the same timings. All of them were kept in the same enclosure.











In short, we have no clue what made her turn green. One thing they all have in common though is that all of them used to be dark brown, then they all turned lighter.


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