# wahlbergii to the left of me Ocellata to the right



## macro junkie (May 26, 2008)

2 adult females.

wahlbergii to the left of me Ocellata to the right..Wahlbergii rules!


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## Kruszakus (May 26, 2008)

Man, I'm so pumped up! My P. wahlbergii are L4 - can't wait till they mature, this female looks molten hot!


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## macro junkie (May 26, 2008)

Kruszakus said:


> Man, I'm so pumped up! My P. wahlbergii are L4 - can't wait till they mature, this female looks molten hot!


im amazed at how much bigger walbergii is..they rock.


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## darkspeed (May 26, 2008)

macro junkie said:


> im amazed at how much bigger walbergii is..they rock.


*Bigger ≠ Better*


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## Morpheus uk (May 26, 2008)

Great comparison photo, i dont see why everyone dont drop the boring ocellata :lol:


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## mrblue (May 26, 2008)

i remember a few years ago when everyone had _wahlbergii _and nobody had_ ocellata_, i always wished someday i would be able to keep _ocellata_ just because (on the whole) they tend to be smaller. now i have them i wont let them go! (even though my first generation came to a garnd total of 8 :angry: &lt;_&lt; &lt;_&lt; &lt;_&lt;  ) _ocellata_ FTW!


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## darkspeed (May 26, 2008)

Ocellata rock simply becuause you can raise one to adult without any problems stricly on a diet of fruit flies...

The bigger a mantis gets the bigger their feeder insects need to be... Maybe if shipping charges to constantly be ordering flies, bluebottles, crickets dont bother you then that is fine but small mantids are more economically feasible for us poor folks.


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## macro junkie (May 26, 2008)

DARKSPEED said:


> Ocellata rock simply because you can raise one to adult without any problems strictly on a diet of fruit flies... The bigger a mantis gets the bigger their feeder insects need to be... Maybe if shipping charges to constantly be ordering flies, bluebottles, crickets dont bother you then that is fine but small mantids are more economically feasible for us poor folks.


 :lol: :lol: i feed all mine green and blue bottles..i get 1 pint of maggots for 1£ so the cost to feed my mantids is so little i can afford to keep wahlbergii :lol: :lol:


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## mrblue (May 26, 2008)

DARKSPEED said:


> Ocellata rock simply becuause you can raise one to adult without any problems stricly on a diet of fruit flies... The bigger a mantis gets the bigger their feeder insects need to be... Maybe if shipping charges to constantly be ordering flies, bluebottles, crickets dont bother you then that is fine but small mantids are more economically feasible for us poor folks.


think it would take quite an unfeasably large amount of fruit flies to keep a group of larger nymphs well fed, let alone adults, let alone a mated laying female (or more than one). probably end up costing more (if not money than deffinitely time and effort) than feeding green/bluebottles, as fishing shops sell maggots pretty cheap.

however i deffinitely agree with your point in terms of the housing and space taken up by smaller species.


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## OGIGA (May 26, 2008)

macro junkie said:


> :lol: :lol: i feed all mine green and blue bottles..i get 1 pint of maggots for 1£ so the cost to feed my mantids is so little i can afford to keep wahlbergii :lol: :lol:


1 pint of maggots for £1?! Darn it, why don't we have that here??


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## darkspeed (May 26, 2008)

mrblue said:


> think it would take quite an unfeasably large amount of fruit flies to keep a group of larger nymphs well fed, let alone adults, let alone a mated laying female (or more than one). probably end up costing more (if not money than deffinitely time and effort) than feeding green/bluebottles, as fishing shops sell maggots pretty cheap.however i deffinitely agree with your point in terms of the housing and space taken up by smaller species.


Unfortunately fishing shops dont sell bluebottle maggots here in the states. That leaves us with only online distributers to purchase from and shipping charges alone can quickly put you in the red. But I got 8 FF cultures with hundreds of flies in each, and that keeps my P.O.'s fat and happy.


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## Guest_mrblue_* (May 26, 2008)

DARKSPEED said:


> Unfortunately fishing shops dont sell bluebottle maggots here in the states. That leaves us with only online distributers to purchase from and shipping charges alone can quickly put you in the red. But I got 8 FF cultures with hundreds of flies in each, and that keeps my P.O.'s fat and happy.


that sucks, but now mikhail is churning out some serious numbers of bluebottle maggots and pupae for some (to UK eyes) very reasonable prices so you guys got no excuse!

http://mantidforum.net/forums/index.php?showtopic=10653


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## Kruszakus (Jun 30, 2008)

DARKSPEED said:


> Unfortunately fishing shops dont sell bluebottle maggots here in the states. That leaves us with only online distributers to purchase from and shipping charges alone can quickly put you in the red. But I got 8 FF cultures with hundreds of flies in each, and that keeps my P.O.'s fat and happy.


Can you just starw a waxmoth colony or leave some rotten meat in a busket and wait till the maggots appear?


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## MANTIS DUDE (Jun 30, 2008)

Kruszakus said:


> Man, I'm so pumped up! My P. wahlbergii are L4 - can't wait till they mature, this female looks molten hot!


I realy dont like both of those pictures you have.


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## MANTIS DUDE (Jun 30, 2008)

Kruszakus said:


> Man, I'm so pumped up! My P. wahlbergii are L4 - can't wait till they mature, this female looks molten hot!


I realy dont like both of those pictures you have.


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