# OGIGA's Mantis Mini-gallery



## OGIGA

These are my L3s












I'll be adding more as I get bored and take more pictures. :wink:


----------



## rlechols

Those are cute little guys. What species are they?


----------



## OGIGA

I really don't know. Anyone care to tell me?


----------



## jplelito

Hierodula sp. maybe? Did you buy them under the name 'Giant Indian (African, Asian) Mantid' or something similar?


----------



## OGIGA

I actually didn't buy them. I just found the ootheca outside and it hatched. They must be native to Northern California, but I really don't know.


----------



## jplelito

Oh that makes it much easier then.

_Stagmomantis californica_ or _Iris oratoria_, but I'm not sure the range of _I. oratoria_. I've never seen a juvie _I. oratoria_ so I can only guess, but I know as they age they will grow an orange spot under their abdomen that _Stagmomantis_ will lack.

Either are a nice, medium sized species to work with.

If it turns out to be_ I. oratoria_ I might ask if you can find any more. 

Maybe someone from out West will know better.


----------



## OGIGA

Hmm, I don't think I have seen green mantises with an orange spot under them around here. Must be _Stagmomantis californica_. Thanks for the ID!


----------



## Ian

Lovely photos!


----------



## OGIGA

More pictures:

(They're all from the same ootheca. I don't know why this one is not green.)





















(I hope that dark spot isn't an infection)


----------



## OGIGA

I don't know what happened to his leg...

Anyway, this one is eating a large crane fly with its limbs removed.


----------



## robo mantis

wow you got some beautiful babies!


----------



## yen_saw

NIce pics Ogiga! If the dark spot didn't spread, it will be alright. Looks like a tiny wound, maybe a bite from one of the siblings.


----------



## OGIGA

Thanks. I don't think the dark spot spreaded. Maybe I fed it a cricket and the cricked wanted to retaliate. They all are kept seperately.


----------



## OGIGA

Latest molt


----------



## Jodokohajjio

> (They're all from the same ootheca. I don't know why this one is not green.)


I remember reading somewhere (possibly on this forum) that the mantid's color after a moult depends on the humidity during the moult and while their new exoskeleton is hardening.


----------



## OGIGA

My first L5:


----------



## Peekaboo

They're developing beautifully. Do you plan on breeding?


----------



## OGIGA

Thanks. I just plan to having mantises to look at and play with. I only have four left so if I don't get any ooths, it may be a while before I start playing with mantises again.


----------



## OGIGA

Enjoying my last good mantis while it lasts.


----------



## OGIGA

My first L5 has become my first L6!


----------



## stevesm

Thats a pretty little mantis


----------



## OGIGA

> Thats a pretty little mantis


Thanks. Here's the most recent picture.


----------



## stevesm

Great pic. Do you find the camera disturbs them in any way?


----------



## OGIGA

Hmm, I don't think the camera disturbs them more than any other large objects going near them. When they're eating, they usually don't care about anything other than eating.


----------



## OGIGA

Now I have 4 more mantises that my sister was keeping for me. They're from the same ooth but they are much smaller. I think I kept mine warmer. Here's the strongest one; it just molted.






And I hope that dark stuff in the thorax isn't mold...


----------



## OGIGA

Here's one of my two orchids. This is the first species I've gotten that doesn't look like the green ones I occasionally find outside. Got it from Yen, and he included a budwing too! Anyway, here she is!


----------



## OGIGA

My male orchid from Yen!


----------



## OGIGA

Finally, the budwing that Yen gave me for free.  






 I thought I would be feeding it fruit flies.


----------



## Ian

Wonderful photos  

Get em posted up on www.insectgalleries.com!


----------



## Jenn

They're wonderful. So cute. The pictures are great!


----------



## OGIGA

Thanks guys. I'll be posting more up a few days later.


----------



## yen_saw

Glad to know they are settling well there Ogiga. Even the little budwing. Here are few pics taken for my orchid mantis in orchid flower. My ghost mantis decided to join too.


----------



## stevesm

I love that Ghost's colour. I have an Ootheca just layed from my Ghost. I hope it contains some green examples.


----------



## yen_saw

Green color ghost mantis is not uncommon Steve. Good luck with the ooth.


----------



## OGIGA

That green ghost is really cool, Yen! Here's the latest picture of my mantis from my first ooth. It's really a lot more pale, but I decided that it looks better like this.


----------



## OGIGA

Here's my female orchid from Yen. It looks like it's wearing shades on one eye. That's the side where I had a light source that's not even shining on the mantis.


----------



## OGIGA

Finally took her out for a photoshoot.











And I finally found out how rough her skin is.


----------



## OGIGA

I want to eat you!






Sorry, it's a bad picture.


----------



## Butterfly

> Hmm, I don't think I have seen green mantises with an orange spot under them around here. Must be _Stagmomantis californica_. Thanks for the ID!


I found a small flying male I oratoria last summer here in Northridge. I actually found him out late at night at CSUN by the film dept doors eating like a madman cause of all the bugs attracted to the light.

I ended up releasing him tho because I couldnt cath him small enough food.


----------



## OGIGA

After a little over two weeks, my orchid female finally molted and left this behind.


----------



## Way.Of.The.Mantis

Excellent pictures, like your orchids in particular.

On the first pic all I saw in the book ws 'WMD', what are you planning!   

xD

Jonny.


----------



## OGIGA

Thanks. I just took some more pictures when my mantis finally molted into adult!






Just chilling there.






Almost done! Are those stringy things her tracheal tubes?






Left from adolescence.






Look at the wings still unraveling!

I actually watched her molt from beginning to end! First time I did that and it's a final molt! To add to the excitement, I even recorded it! Well, I used a low quality camera so it's a low quality video, but I finally got it!


----------



## captainmerkin

great pictures!


----------



## OGIGA

The final product, all grown up.


----------



## OGIGA

This is my only male left. He's an L6 and I think he has one molt left. I hope nobody tries to eat him when I have him mate!


----------



## robo mantis

Good luck mine are around that stage also


----------



## Horatio

Wow! I will have to show my family this run of pictures! They all have started really becoming fans of these fascinating creatures. (However, I remain the primary care giver aka insect hunter/feeder). I can't believe how beautiful the Orchids are. Almost like little princesses (or princes). I think I am going to try to up my humidity a bit/different substrate to see if it makes a difference in coloration. I know that the Orchids stay still alot, but if they move, what kind of locomotion is it? I am just getting use to the speed of my L2 Chinese(?). I am trying to compare it to when I had toddlers and how fast they use to run.


----------



## Horatio

I forgot to add that the molting pictures are superb! I can hardly wait to show my kids! We haven't seen ours molt yet (however, we did see them hatch). How is your L6 male doing?


----------



## OGIGA

Thanks! My male L6 still has yet to molt. The other two (females) have already molted to L7 (subadult). I hope he'll make it to the end.

My orchids' movements are really funny. They walk really slowly and sway so much when the walk. However, I have seen them go lightning speeds when I scared them. I've even seen my orchid female jump from the side of the aquarium to catch a prey.


----------



## OGIGA

Here's my orchid male! He finally molted to adult last night when I was asleep and I finally got him to eat two blue bottles a couple hours ago.  






Hmm, he is a lot more brown than I had expected. I thought he would end up pink. Oh well.


----------



## OGIGA

Here's my orchid female. I just fed her 20 blue bottles! :shock: Yesterday, I fed her 4 crane flies and 7 blue bottles. Now she's all fattened up.


----------



## OGIGA

Here's my budwing. She(?) molted just a few minutes ago. Looks like she became quite a lot greener. Her bottom side is even more green.


----------



## Jenn

Great pictures! I love the little green budwing...


----------



## OGIGA

Woohoo! He finally molted into adult! He's my only male stagmomantis californica so I hope he likes to mate. Three females are lined up for him.


----------



## OGIGA

My subadult female is all pink!
















Actually, I turned up the saturation so the pink would be pinker. :wink:


----------



## OGIGA

Stagmomantis Californica adult male


----------



## Way.Of.The.Mantis

What kind of beetle is that?


----------



## OGIGA

> What kind of beetle is that?


The thing it's eating? That's actually a bluebottle.


----------



## colddigger

> Here's my orchid male! He finally molted to adult last night when I was asleep and I finally got him to eat two blue bottles a couple hours ago.


A manly pic of a manly mantis



> Hmm, he is a lot more brown than I had expected. I thought he would end up pink. Oh well.


Is it not normal for a male Orchid to be brown? if it's a rarity then you should try to breed it as much as possible, then you could name it after yourself for the sciency name, common name: Orchid mantis brown varient!

I'd nab dat!

nab= buy, steal, or nab


----------



## OGIGA

> Is it not normal for a male Orchid to be brown? if it's a rarity then you should try to breed it as much as possible, then you could name it after yourself for the sciency name, common name: Orchid mantis brown varient!


I guess so. This is the first pair of orchids I kept so I'm not too experienced with them yet.


----------



## OGIGA

I haven't had a photoshoot for a while until now.  

















Hard to imagine that something that small can mate with something that big. Yeah, she wanted to eat him.






I tried to get them to mate, but I guess they aren't ready yet. The female became an adult 15 days ago and the male 31 days ago.


----------



## wuwu

you need to feed her A LOT more before attempting to mate them again. her stomach looks pretty flat in the pics.


----------



## OGIGA

How much is A LOT more? I fed her 3 large roaches last night.


----------



## Ian

More fantastic photos there mate!

Best of luck with mating them, looking forward to the dirty photo shoot to come


----------



## OGIGA

Thanks! I just realized that I forgot to show you guys something. Enjoy!































No ooths yet, but I guess she's fertile now.


----------



## OGIGA

I just tried to get him to mate with another female. He didn't do it, but good thing he didn't get eaten. I just fed the female lots of blue bottles (they finally eclosed).


----------



## mrblue

> How much is A LOT more? I fed her 3 large roaches last night.


i would say you should try to judge how hungry/sated mantids are by how they look, more than anything else. for example, the female in those pictures looks pretty hungry, and "a lot" more would be til she is visibly fat. i think a general rule of thumb is to feed the female as much as she will eat before introducing a male for mating. if she refuses your food, then she is less likely to try to eat the male. it can still happen obviously, if he is unlucky or plain incompetent and makes a wrong move or something. but usually sated mantids are less on edge/nervy, they seem a bit more relaxed.

so i would reccommend to feed the female until she won't eat anymore, then maybe the day after try to feed her again. if she still refuses food then it would seem to be a good time to try a mating. because in theory (amoutn of days theyve been adult) they are both sexually mature. let us know how it goes when you try it.


----------



## OGIGA

Sure. over the past several days, I fed her 4 large roaches and about 40-50 blue bottles. I'd say she's pretty fat now but I couldn't get her out to take pictures. She was having an attitude. Anyway, she hasn't stopped eating, but she lost her appetite for blue bottles now. I couldn't catch a roach for her last night  . She still looks very interested in eating her potential mate though.


----------



## Mettler

Would you mind taking the next lot of pics with something next to her to show scale? Up until now, I didn't realise how big the orchid mantis grows, I'd only ever seen pics of the little ones. She looks awesome! 8)


----------



## OGIGA

Sorry Ian. Looks like my orchids don't want to mate yet. However, I got my male stagmomantis californica to mate with another female. He's more experienced this time because he's keeping his tail attached. He kept taking out his tail and putting it back in with the other female.

Just got on






Looking for the right place






Female going, "Hey!" She tried to grab him and i stopped her.





That's how it's done.











This is the best I can get to kinda show what happens inside


----------



## OGIGA

I fattened up the female orchid, but she's still eating. She half half of my entire supply of eclosed blue bottles plus a bunch of roaches. By the way, I put a quarter next to her so you guys can tell how big she is.


----------



## Mettler

Nice! Lol ummm, I don't know how big a quarter is  We have different currency here


----------



## colddigger

a quarter is like, oh, 2 1/2 cm or somfin...


----------



## Ian

Again great photos! I do like the photos of the mating guys, which species is this? Stagmomantis? I first thought it was Cilnia but doesn't look chunky enough.


----------



## OGIGA

> Again great photos! I do like the photos of the mating guys, which species is this? Stagmomantis? I first thought it was Cilnia but doesn't look chunky enough.


Thanks.  It is stagmomantis. Stagmomantis californica.


----------



## Asa

What's it standing on?


----------



## OGIGA

Which picture are you referring to?


----------



## Asa

The one with the orchid near the quarter.


----------



## OGIGA

It's a table runner made out of bamboo. Got it at Dollar Tree. Great for covering (part of) the top of my mantis tank.


----------



## Butterfly

I still maintain yours look exactly like my Stagmomantis Limbata's, darn Stagmomantis's, lol







I just recently bought an ooth of Californica's from Rick. I sure hope I didnt screw up and end up with the same species I already had lol.


----------



## Asa

It's so cute. I always loved those mantid's wings.


----------



## OGIGA

> I still maintain yours look exactly like my Stagmomantis Limbata's, darn Stagmomantis's, lol


I agree... I don't even know where the difference is. Oh yeah, update (if you remember from long ago): The wings also look exactly the same.


----------



## OGIGA

About time I put the pictures in the pictures' place.


----------



## Laemia

I thought I had a sub adult male Orchid, my first Orchids also from Yen and one was an adult male for a month then I lost him. I figured the other may be from a different ootheca or something but now, from your photos I think I have a female. I'd have to look, I keep all their moultings in a container with the date on it but I think it's at L5 or L6. It, I'm calling it an it because I'm just not possitive. The thing I was noticing in your photos was little horn on her head do only females have that. Anyone who knows please answer and thank you.


----------



## OGIGA

Body parts






Orchids mating!!


----------



## OGIGA

> I thought I had a sub adult male Orchid, my first Orchids also from Yen and one was an adult male for a month then I lost him. I figured the other may be from a different ootheca or something but now, from your photos I think I have a female. I'd have to look, I keep all their moultings in a container with the date on it but I think it's at L5 or L6. It, I'm calling it an it because I'm just not possitive. The thing I was noticing in your photos was little horn on her head do only females have that. Anyone who knows please answer and thank you.


My male does not have a horn on his head. Okay, well, from that picture, you can see a little tiny one. Anyway, you should be able to tell if it is he or she by their size, even at subadult.


----------



## Laemia

The male I had became an adult on May 11th then died on May 20th. He started lookinh ill for about two days and the black stuff coming out of his mouth. I fed him crickets when he was younger but hardly at all the last two to three months of his life.

I live in Las Vegas, Nevada so I can't find the things you can unfortunatly. When he died I knew she was a bit larger then him but she still isn't that large. He's only been gone less then a month so does the growth just happen quickly? I hope you don't mind if I'm asking you. Also I'd love to know the camera your using for these photos. My father gave me a certian amount of money for a digital camera and I want to be sure I can take good photos of my mantids with it, thank you.


----------



## OGIGA

> The male I had became an adult on May 11th then died on May 20th. He started lookinh ill for about two days and the black stuff coming out of his mouth. I fed him crickets when he was younger but hardly at all the last two to three months of his life.I live in Las Vegas, Nevada so I can't find the things you can unfortunatly. When he died I knew she was a bit larger then him but she still isn't that large. He's only been gone less then a month so does the growth just happen quickly? I hope you don't mind if I'm asking you. Also I'd love to know the camera your using for these photos. My father gave me a certian amount of money for a digital camera and I want to be sure I can take good photos of my mantids with it, thank you.


I just had a female adult with stuff coming out of her mouth. She died yesterday. I've only ever fed her blue bottles. Anyway, with the male, mine stopped wanting food for the past 2 months. He's been an adult since April 24 but he's still very active and walking around everywhere.

I got my female orchid as subsubadult from Yen. She didn't grow much after her last two molts, but she _looks _huge with the wings she has.

I have been using a Canon A520. It's not that great, but it works and has full manual. If you can, I'd say get a camera that can record video decently. Canon A520 is horrible with video. Anyway, I got it in 2005 on a Black Friday sale for about $130 after rebate.


----------



## Jenn

Your pictures are great! Love the mating ones. The males are so small compared to the females. The yellow wings on the Stagmomantis are gorgeous.


----------



## OGIGA

> Your pictures are great! Love the mating ones. The males are so small compared to the females. The yellow wings on the Stagmomantis are gorgeous.


Thanks! I hope to get some orchid ooths soon.


----------



## Horatio

Was it a different female than the mated one that died?


----------



## OGIGA

The first mated female is still alive and well. The second died.


----------



## athicks

Wow! These are really cute! Great photos!


----------



## OGIGA

Thanks! My orchid mantis finally laid an ootheca! How many eggs do you guys think are in there?


----------



## yen_saw

How long is the ootheca? 2 or 3 inches? my guess is 50-100 eggs, but bare in mind usually not all eggs managed to hatch as some could turn bad or not fertilized. Best of luck, you will see hatchling in 35-50 days depending on temp. I hate the wait too :?


----------



## Sparky

its nice to see the word "Life" right there.


----------



## OGIGA

It's 1.5 inch (~4cm). The text is small so I guess it makes the ooth look bigger.  Do you think mating multiple times will increase fertility?

Nice catch, Sparky.


----------



## yen_saw

Ogiga, that's kind of small for the first ootheca but i don't believe she's underfed. You can still expect around 30-50 nymphs running around the cage by next month. Try to feed her more flying insects of various kind with pollen and honey, it might help in producing larger ooth. I can see more orchid being bred here in the US now which is great.


----------



## robo mantis

Yes yen you started an orchid craze lol


----------



## Asa

I love orchids.


----------



## OGIGA

> Ogiga, that's kind of small for the first ootheca but i don't believe she's underfed. You can still expect around 30-50 nymphs running around the cage by next month. Try to feed her more flying insects of various kind with pollen and honey, it might help in producing larger ooth. I can see more orchid being bred here in the US now which is great.


I was surprised when I found her laying an ootheca because she was really skinny at the time. She hadn't eaten/attacked food for about a week prior. Right now, she's eating everything again.  Maybe the trick is to load them up while they eat, huh?

By the way, does mating her again increase fertility?


----------



## Asa

> Ogiga, that's kind of small for the first ootheca but i don't believe she's underfed. You can still expect around 30-50 nymphs running around the cage by next month. Try to feed her more flying insects of various kind with pollen and honey, it might help in producing larger ooth. I can see more orchid being bred here in the US now which is great.
> 
> 
> 
> I was surprised when I found her laying an ootheca because she was really skinny at the time. She hadn't eaten/attacked food for about a week prior. Right now, she's eating everything again.  Maybe the trick is to load them up while they eat, huh?
> 
> By the way, does mating her again increase fertility?
Click to expand...

I don't think so.


----------



## yen_saw

Ah so she was kind of underfed, that make sense.

remating wouldn't affect the hatching rate for the first 3-4 ootheca, but after 6-7 ootheca, remating apparently can increase the hatching rate again. But this is true only if your orchid mantis is always being kept at top notch since the quality of the ootheca deteriorate for the last few.


----------



## OGIGA

Went home for the weekend and found a little friend.

















Also found something I hate. Anybody want to buy her? I think it's a her...


----------



## Asa

How could you hate a black widow? I've got enough at home.


----------



## Horatio

It sure would be cool to be able to find mantids outside. We have -40 celsius sometimes in the winter and hot dry summers, which doesn't seem to make any want to move here (Camrose, Alberta)! Your pictures are, as always, fun. When you find a mantis in the wild, how does "he" first react? (I always get a kick out of running). Also, how is the ootheca orchid style?


----------



## Asa

When you find a mantis in the wild, it will probably bite you and try to get away.


----------



## OGIGA

I'm about to send her away so I photographed her. My sister's camera works so much better than mine!


----------



## jfmantis

Very nice pictures. I like the pink eyes  . How long was your adult female Stagmomantis californica?


----------



## Jenn

she is cute. Has a lot of green like my female but yours has pinker eyes.


----------



## OGIGA

Thanks. My Stagmomantis californica is about 2.5 inches long. She's getting really weak and I don't know how much longer she'll live. Seems like she's extremely fat but she hasn't laid an ootheca for a bit over 2 weeks. I hope those eggs aren't stuck inside her...


----------



## OGIGA

Here's my last stagmomantis californica. Even though she's already fat like crazy, she ate another 4 crickets. Now she's really having trouble climbing.


----------



## robo mantis

nice mantids


----------



## buddhistsoldier88

> Here's my last stagmomantis californica. Even though she's already fat like crazy, she ate another 4 crickets. Now she's really having trouble climbing.


 :lol: wouldnt surpirse me


----------



## sk8erkho

in reference to your Orchids, Ogiga, I'll say what my neighbor's kid said when he came over to play with my nephews and saw my little orchids at L2..."OOOHH!! Khori! They are so cute I just wanna to kiss em!!! I'm not kidding I just wanna kiss em!!"

Then I said to him in the tiny Orhcid voice, "You kiss me and I'll give ya such a PINCH!!" :evil:


----------



## OGIGA

Right before my last stagmomantis californica died, I found some more outside.  I found this guy as a subadult (L6) in my backyard. Now he's an adult (since August 26)!
















I also found a subsubadult (L6) female earlier who became an adult just this morning (August 27).


----------



## OGIGA

And here's the female. Can someone help confirm if she's stagmomantis californica or not?






And here's the guy.


----------



## OGIGA

It's been forever since I last added pictures. Here it goes again!

This perverted male mantis mated with both of these females twice. :lol: 











And finally, I let you all know that I have a bunch of awesome orchid mantises. They've recently become L2. The cameras never do them justice!!











I just know that someone wants to buy them... so here's the thread.


----------



## OGIGA

While I'm at it, I might as well photograph the L1's while they're still L1. I think this one lost an antenna and he/she is already getting tired of his/her old exoskeleton.











Note: I am not advertising that iPod. Apple doesn't pay me and I do not support Apple.


----------



## hibiscusmile

A lot of nice photos girl!


----------



## OGIGA

And now, one of them is laying an ootheca! Woohoo!


----------



## OGIGA

Pseudoharpax Virescens


----------



## MantidLord

congrats. Let us know how the little things make it


----------



## pedro92

They look to be Giant Asians.


----------



## pedro92

Sorry for the previous post. I posted on wrong thread. Sorry


----------



## OGIGA

The mantises are much darker now. Their color is nothing like how it was when they were just born.


----------



## OGIGA

Virescens L1











Acromantis L1


----------



## MantidLord

BTW: the ooth that the mantis was laying, looks alot like I. oratoria ooths.

P.S. Great photos.


----------



## spawn

The acromantis nymphs have ridiculously long antennae!


----------



## OGIGA

he's praying really hard!






Now he's hiding.








"Oh, there was nothing to be afraid of in the first place!"


----------



## MantidLord

:lol: Love the first pic.


----------



## OGIGA

And Iris Oratoria!


----------



## collinchang635

Wow, really nice pics! Really cool mantids!


----------



## MantidLord

Yes I was right B) . How many I. oratroria nymphs/ooths do you have?


----------



## OGIGA

I have like 7 nymphs left. :-/


----------



## OGIGA

Pseudoharpax Virescens subadult male, 2-3 hours before final molt to adult






Pseudoharpax Virescens subsubadult female eating






Unfortunately, after the molt, the wings are all messed up.  It's the first time I had messed up wings.


----------



## OGIGA

And a video of it molting (10x speed)

http://www.youtube.com/swf/l.swf?video_id=1JR1SFOzfis


----------



## MantidLord

Nice video. I keep finding more I. oratoria nymphs, so now I have ten, but they're from different ooths, and at different stages (L2-L6). Good luck if you're going to breed the virascens. Are they hard to breed?


----------



## OGIGA

MantidLord said:


> Nice video. I keep finding more I. oratoria nymphs, so now I have ten, but they're from different ooths, and at different stages (L2-L6). Good luck if you're going to breed the virascens. Are they hard to breed?


I thought they'd be easier. I started with 14 that came out of an ootheca and now I'm down to 4. I had 5 a couple days ago until I found one missing and one really fat so I'm assuming it got eaten. I separated them yesterday. They're easy but could be easier.


----------



## MantidLord

I agree, I had about twenty of them, then dropped down to 8, then back to 10. But they only died at L1. Once they reached L2, all of my mantids survived, except two that were eaten. they could be easier, but I love the fact that they don't really need misting. I ended up seperating all of mine after an L4 (now L5) ate a fellow L4.

I actually checked up on them that morining, and when I came back from getting ffs, I saw the fat L4, and a claw on the bottom of the container. :blink: So I'll just wait till they reach adult, then breed them. See how I do. I failed last year with a couple of adults I found (reason I joined the forum), so hopefully I'll succeesd. Good luck.

[EDIT] I'm terribly sorry, but for some reason, I didn't think you were talking about you'r virascens (even though I asked, I'm really tired). Sorry for waisting your time if you read this, obviously I was still talking about my I. oratoria. So what do you feed your virascens? crix, or do they prefer flying types? They really look cool.


----------



## OGIGA

Heh, I was indeed talking about virescens. I feed them D. hydei. They're easier to get/breed than crickets.


----------



## MantidLord

How large to they get? and what do you feed the nymphs, melanogaster (or however you spell it)?


----------



## OGIGA

I fed them melanogaster early on. Then, I started feeding them hydei at maybe L3. So far, that male doesn't have to switch to anything else for the rest of his life. The male is really small (to me) as an adult and the females who aren't adults are already bigger than him.


----------



## MantidLord

So what will you feed the adult females?


----------



## OGIGA

One female became an adult a few days ago. She seems to be fine on eating D. hydei.


----------

