# attracting males



## massaman (Aug 13, 2009)

I read in this site or somewhere that if you put a female mantis in a mesh cage who is of age to mate and set it outside that it could attract males and just wonder if there is any fact to this and does it matter what species of mantis it is and do all species of mantis use the same type of pheremone to attract the males or is it different to each particular species!!


----------



## PhilinYuma (Aug 13, 2009)

massaman said:


> I read in this site or somewhere that if you put a female mantis in a mesh cage who is of age to mate and set it outside that it could attract males and just wonder if there is any fact to this and does it matter what species of mantis it is and do all species of mantis use the same type of pheremone to attract the males or is it different to each particular species!!


1) Yes it works.

2) Yes it matters what species. You have to put out a female of a species indigenous to the area. If you put out a ghost female, you won't have any luck!  

3) The mating pheromones released by the female will only attract males of the same species.


----------



## massaman (Aug 13, 2009)

interesting then will have to try this with my female


----------



## a1_collection (Aug 13, 2009)

That is the most interesting thing I have heard today. I will be sure to try this out as soon as they are adults. B)


----------



## jameslongo (Aug 13, 2009)

Nothing beats getting off your bum &amp; actually looking for one


----------



## PhilinYuma (Aug 13, 2009)

jameslongo said:


> Nothing beats getting off your bum &amp; actually looking for one


Yeah, there's no free lunch. If you set up a female in a cage and leave her over night, odds are that when you come back next day, any males that visited her will have left diappointed. If you make a funnel entrance for the male, so that he can get in but not out, you stand a good chance of finding two pairs of wings in the morning. So in fact, if you only want to find males, it might be easier to go out and look for some rather than staying up all night for males that might never come.


----------



## hibiscusmile (Aug 13, 2009)

Then how come the chinese mated with the religiosa?


----------



## massaman (Aug 13, 2009)

well i have been looking in the spots i had found some a few days ago and the area is complety empty of mantis's and I can find just about every other kind of bug out there but no more mantis's too be found and i looked all over and i live next to a ditch that goes from my house to the road and a field and a forest but theres no tresspassing signs so i am limited to where to look!


----------



## massaman (Aug 13, 2009)

well I did manage to capture 4 wild mantises though but sadly one male has badly mismolted wings and tempted to just release him instead of using him to breed my female i have and just waiting for her to become a adult in a few weeks or so and I dont think a mismolted male would be worth using since he cant fly to escape since his wings are all messed up!


----------



## PhilinYuma (Aug 14, 2009)

hibiscusmile said:


> Then how come the chinese mated with the religiosa?


A case of mistaken identity?  Waste of effort if he did.


----------



## Rick (Aug 14, 2009)

I doubt that will work.


----------



## ismart (Aug 14, 2009)

hibiscusmile said:


> Then how come the chinese mated with the religiosa?


If i recall correctly? You released them in the same vicinity. The males will pursue females just on vision alone, if he is close enough to see her. It does not matter if there different species as long as they look similar.



massaman said:


> well I did manage to capture 4 wild mantises though but sadly one male has badly mismolted wings and tempted to just release him instead of using him to breed my female i have and just waiting for her to become a adult in a few weeks or so and I dont think a mismolted male would be worth using since he cant fly to escape since his wings are all messed up!


You should really keep that male. messed up wings are really not a big deal in captivity. His mission in life is to pass on his genes. If he gets to mate successfully and pass on his genes it makes no difference whether she eats him or not. He would have served his purpose. His messed up wings are probally a result of your care. Letting him free now will probally hinder his chances of finding a mate, and make him a bigger target to predators. What if your female ends up with messed up wings as well? Will you throw her away too?


----------



## massaman (Aug 14, 2009)

just so happens i also have one wild female who mismolted as well sadly wings not as bad but she has trouble walking but going to try to use her but her prob is she cant climb anything cause of her legs one of the back ones was amputated halfway cause it was just broken and going to give her a try at least!Though there is a small green circle on one of her wings thats prob either where fluid collected when she fell from trying to walk and she had a perfect transformation but just went a little downhill after that!


----------



## PhilinYuma (Aug 14, 2009)

ismart said:


> You should really keep that male. messed up wings are really not a big deal in captivity. His mission in life is to pass on his genes. If he gets to mate successfully and pass on his genes it makes no difference whether she eats him or not. He would have served his purpose. His messed up wings are probally a result of your care. Letting him free now will probally hinder his chances of finding a mate, and make him a bigger target to predators. What if your female ends up with messed up wings as well? Will you throw her away too?


+1


----------



## wero626 (Aug 27, 2009)

Agree you should keep the miss molt mantis.Because i had a miomantis adult with one leg and i thought the same as you its not gonna beable to mate but that bad boy jump on the female adult and did there business.I woke up and he was off of her and fine but mistakenly i put him in another adult female who had jus molted and she ate him but he did his purpose in mating with the female and since then she had to ooths =] keep him...Good luck wit them..


----------

