# Big male and tiny female.



## lancaster1313 (Aug 27, 2010)

I will be letting them have a go in a few days.  Has anyone else had a pair with such proportions? Sorry, my photo came out huge. :blush:


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## Ntsees (Aug 27, 2010)

I'm pretty sure it's happened to everyone of us because it did for me. I try to prevent this by feeding the female lots of food when it's still in the instar stage.


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## Rick (Aug 27, 2010)

Looks about right. He is longer, but much more petite. Normal.


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## LauraMG (Aug 27, 2010)

They look like a great pair!


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## lancaster1313 (Aug 27, 2010)

I just recieved the female, I had been trying to find a wild one but no luck. When I opened the package I was expecting something bigger as I have never seen another mantid of this species in person. I love the way she looks, I can't wait until my wild ooth hatches, and for her to lay fertile ooths of her own. In photos that I have seen of them mating, the males looked smaller with smaller heads. I am glad to know that it looks normal. I was afraid that he wouldn't fit. :lol:


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## mantisboy (Aug 29, 2010)

likebugs said:


> I just recieved the female, I had been trying to find a wild one but no luck. When I opened the package I was expecting something bigger as I have never seen another mantid of this species in person. I love the way she looks, I can't wait until my wild ooth hatches, and for her to lay fertile ooths of her own. In photos that I have seen of them mating, the males looked smaller with smaller heads. I am glad to know that it looks normal. I was afraid that he wouldn't fit. :lol:


As I am typing this I am mating a male that is slightly longer than the female. Don't if he live afterwards since it might be easier for her to grab him. They were both fed well before hand so I think it should be o.k.


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## lancaster1313 (Aug 30, 2010)

He survived the first round. :lol: He connected at 8:20PM, it took a couple of minutes of disconnecting and reconnecting to get it right. At around 1:30AM, I found her alone, and later found him. Was that long enough to fertilize? I will post pics soon. They ended up on thier backs for a while. :lol: I think his weight pulled her down. It didn't stop them, they seemed to be in a daze.


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## Ntsees (Aug 30, 2010)

likebugs said:


> Was that long enough to fertilize?


It should be. Mines only mate for about 30 minutes and then the males hop off, but that's with my species only.


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## lancaster1313 (Aug 30, 2010)

He was dragging her down, after a couple of hours. :lol: The connection.


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## ismart (Aug 30, 2010)

Wow! The size difference is pretty significant! :blink: It's amazing the size difference of the same species in different locations.


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## LauraMG (Aug 30, 2010)

Ha! What great pictures likebugs! He looks like he's the dominant one in this relationship! :lol:


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## lancaster1313 (Aug 30, 2010)

:lol: It really seemed so. Once he established his position, she relaxed, like when a kitten is picked up by the scruff. :blink: After all I have read about mantid copulation, I didn't expect to see that. He might not be so lucky if I decide to let them mate again. :mellow:


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## LauraMG (Sep 14, 2010)

Well, my female molted to an adult today and is smaller than the adult male I have! She is heartier, but he's a good quarter to half inch longer than she is!


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## MantidLord (Sep 14, 2010)

Let's hope the male isn't like mine. I don't know if mine is a mutant, because he's bulkier than the deceased female.


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## LauraMG (Sep 14, 2010)

MantidLord said:


> Let's hope the male isn't like mine. I don't know if mine is a mutant, because he's bulkier than the deceased female.


I really hope not! I would be heart broken if this beautiful female was eaten! She's friggin' purple! Unbelievable coloration


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## lancaster1313 (Sep 15, 2010)

My little Hulk got another chance to mate the other day. Shorty was not having any of it. :mellow: I think she is scared of him. She ran away acouple of times and tried to fight him, so I put them away. I don't think it would be right to have let him do it when she was that frightened. I will try again later, she was pionting her abdomen down for most of last night.


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## LauraMG (Sep 15, 2010)

How long has she been an adult? I'm using your experience as a drawing point to mate my Carolinas! :lol:


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## lancaster1313 (Sep 15, 2010)

I got her from ismart on Aug 26 when she was already an adult. They mated on the first try on Aug 29, and she laid a nice ooth on Sept 9. I think that she was young when I got her, but ismart probably knows how old she is. It just seems like she wasn't in the mood when I introduced them a second time. She does these cool movements that my other mantids do not do. Maybe its a Carolina female thing. :lol:


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## LauraMG (Sep 15, 2010)

Ok, I figure I'll wait about 2 weeks before I try to breed her. It's my pretty purple girl. She looks just awesome!







What motion is it that you're referring to? Wiggling? Pumping? I've seen all kinds of strange booty movements


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## lancaster1313 (Sep 15, 2010)

She does a clawing at the air motion,(first one claw then the other) and alot of side to side movements. It reminds me of how nymphs behave. She "dances" every time she eats, the whole time. :lol: It is the whole body more than the booty when she does the side to side. My Chinese used to do the side to side moves before catching prey and while eating it. They must have grown out of it, they only sometimes do it now. I think that it is suposed to mimic leaves or branches in the wind or something. The male Carolina used to do an advance then pause, back and forth, while walking, now he just walks most of the time since he became an adult. :mellow:


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## LauraMG (Sep 15, 2010)

Great observations! I let my adult Carolina male out in the apartment today and he had a great time flying around. He finally settled down on the curtains in the sun and relaxed and warmed his wings for a while. It was cute :wub:


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## lancaster1313 (Sep 15, 2010)

They are mating again now. I fed her 4 roach nymphs and let out the Hulk. :lol: He jumped right on and she didn't seem to mind this time. She just looked right up at his face. It was cute the way she looked up, if I didn't know better I would have thought she was going to give him a kiss. :lol:  What happened to your mandible? :blush:


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## lancaster1313 (Sep 16, 2010)

Manty has survived round two! I have noticed that he spends more time than the female, cleaning his butt. Almost every time I look at him, he has hold of his abdomen, and looks up at me like, "What are you looking at?". :lol:


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## ismart (Sep 16, 2010)

likebugs said:


> Manty has survived round two! I have noticed that he spends more time than the female, cleaning his butt. Almost every time I look at him, he has hold of his abdomen, and looks up at me like, "What are you looking at?". :lol:


Hes just praticing proper hygiene! :lol:


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## lancaster1313 (Sep 16, 2010)

:lol:


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