# Age



## Curiosity (Jan 31, 2022)

I know that you can make it take longer for a nymph to reach adulthood by messing around with its environment, how often it's fed, etc. (As I've said before, I've learned remarkably little in 5 years. . .) If you do this, does it extend their lifespan or just make it so that a larger percentage of their life is spent as a nymph?


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## Synapze (Feb 1, 2022)

In my experience, it extends their entire lifespan.


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## Curiosity (Feb 1, 2022)

@SynapzeThanks


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## Orin (Feb 2, 2022)

Curiosity said:


> I know that you can make it take longer for a nymph to reach adulthood by messing around with its environment, how often it's fed, etc. (As I've said before, I've learned remarkably little in 5 years. . .) If you do this, does it extend their lifespan or just make it so that a larger percentage of their life is spent as a nymph?


It extends their lifespan, possibly greatly but only by the length of time they are nymphs.

Let's say a mantis species normally takes 3 months to reach maturity and adults live 4 months. If you extend the nymph time to 10 months they live a total of 14 months. Of course if you aren't careful you just kill them in month 2 and you've greatly shortened the lifespan.


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## Synapze (Feb 2, 2022)

Orin said:


> It extends their lifespan, possibly greatly but only by the length of time they are nymphs.


Just so I understand:  lifespan becomes fixed once they hit adulthood and metabolism can't be manipulated by controlled feeding &amp; lower temps?


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## Orin (Feb 2, 2022)

Synapze said:


> Just so I understand:  lifespan becomes fixed once they hit adulthood and metabolism can't be manipulated by controlled feeding &amp; lower temps?


Yes, that is my experience.


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## Curiosity (Feb 2, 2022)

Thanks guys


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