# Lucky the L2 Idolomantis diabolica nymph photos



## MantidBro (Apr 22, 2014)

Hey, just thought I'd share some photos I took of the Idolomantis I received yesterday. I had bought 5 but only 1 made the trip. So I named him/her Lucky.







_There is no lid. The lid is netting I'd cut from a butterfly net and stuck over the top with an elastic band. Good for molting and ventilation. Since this photo I'd also tired a piece of rope to the middle of the net, so it's hanging down. _






_I love this species. I'm really going to keep an eye on him/her to ensure that he/she molts properly. I've bought so many spikes (maggots), thinking I'd have 5. So I won't be running out any time soon. I keep them in the fridge to slow them down and keep them living longer. I only let a few maggots pupate and emerge as flies at a time. This little one's eaten 2 Blue Bottle flies already. Amazing how they can do that at such a young stage._






_So sensitive to the smallest thing touching them, it's amazing how well they can feel. He/she kept raising his/her foot because of the tiniest piece of dust. I could sense the irritation._


----------



## elake (Apr 22, 2014)

Oh my gosh!! I want some!! Lol


----------



## Lou (Apr 22, 2014)

Nice shots!


----------



## MantidBro (Apr 22, 2014)

elake said:


> Oh my gosh!! I want some!! Lol


lol they are awesome arent they, my favorite species for sure, theyre colorful and huge and unique and just impressive


----------



## MantidBro (Apr 22, 2014)

Lou said:


> Nice shots!


thanks!


----------



## Lou (Apr 22, 2014)

MantidBro said:


> thanks!


I haven't worked with them .....yet


----------



## MantidBro (Apr 22, 2014)

Lou said:


> I haven't worked with them .....yet


haha i worked with them last year, didnt do so well, crickets are a huge no no. teying again this year now that ive had more mantid experience.


----------



## PlayingMantis (Apr 22, 2014)

So cute! Good luck - Idolos are amazing beyond belief, but I feel I need a bit more experience before I feel comfortable enough to try them out.


----------



## MantidBro (Apr 22, 2014)

PlayingMantis said:


> So cute! Good luck - Idolos are amazing beyond belief, but I feel I need a bit more experience before I feel comfortable enough to try them out.


thank you! i have good feelings about it this time. i know more now, about mantids in general, and this species. i have 3 years experience at this point. i didnt try them out until my second year but they got sick off crickets, were puking, then died. i avoid crickets 100% now and havent had problems with any of my mantids dying early since.


----------



## PlayingMantis (Apr 22, 2014)

MantidBro said:


> thank you! i have good feelings about it this time. i know more now, about mantids in general, and this species. i have 3 years experience at this point. i didnt try them out until my second year but they got sick off crickets, were puking, then died. i avoid crickets 100% now and havent had problems with any of my mantids dying early since.


Awesome! I'm sure Lucky will do well for you, he/she is definitely a fighter, I can tell.  Sorry to hear about the ones that died from crickets. I learned the lesson the hard way after feeding my ghost some crickets from the pet store - and to think, ghosts are supposed to be tough. Anyways, good luck! Idolos are my dream mantids, I guess they will be my long term goal in this hobby.


----------



## MantidBro (Apr 22, 2014)

PlayingMantis said:


> Awesome! I'm sure Lucky will do well for you, he/she is definitely a fighter, I can tell.  Sorry to hear about the ones that died from crickets. I learned the lesson the hard way after feeding my ghost some crickets from the pet store - and to think, ghosts are supposed to be tough. Anyways, good luck! Idolos are my dream mantids, I guess they will be my long term goal in this hobby.


i think lucky is lucky and will do well!  haha i think the littlw ones a fighter too  thanks, im sorry about your ghost. i even had a tenodera sinensis die just after eating a cricket from a new batch id bought. she stopped eating after that cricket and became slow and deranged and died. and she had just become an adult so it wasnt age. thanks! haha i think i will always get idolos whenever they are available, i could live owning just this species for the rest of my life, they are awesome


----------



## Paradoxica (Apr 22, 2014)

Sweet! I just got my Idolos today too! I'm so excited.


----------



## MantidBro (Apr 22, 2014)

Paradoxica said:


> Sweet! I just got my Idolos today too! I'm so excited.


awesome! who did you get them from?


----------



## Paradoxica (Apr 22, 2014)

I assume the same English gentleman as you?


----------



## MantidBro (Apr 22, 2014)

Paradoxica said:


> I assume the same English gentleman as you?


nope mine was a polish gentleman lol


----------



## Lou (Apr 22, 2014)

Just a quick thought about the crickets,because I've used crickets for years and used to breed my own (I may start to again).When you get them from the pet store did you feed them out right away?The reason I ask is you should wait a day or two before you feed them out this way you can gut load the crickets with something nutritious(and flush out the in their gut),because the crickets in the pet store eat potatoes,dead crickets, and that gel crystals which are garbage.I feed them chicken layer pellets pulverized (to a fine powder)and zucchini or squash for nutrition and hydration and rarely lose any crickets.Also there was a time when the cricket farms were getting hammered by a cricket virus which wiped out many cricket suppliers.I don't know if it was in that same time frame or not,but just some food for thought.


----------



## MantidBro (Apr 22, 2014)

Lou said:


> Just a quick thought about the crickets,because I've used crickets for years and used to breed my own (I may start to again).When you get them from the pet store did you feed them out right away?The reason I ask is you should wait a day or two before you feed them out this way you can gut load the crickets with something nutritious(and flush out the ###### in their gut),because the crickets in the pet store eat potatoes,dead crickets, and that gel ###### crystals which are garbage.I feed them chicken layer pellets pulverized (to a fine powder)and zucchini or squash for nutrition and hydration and rarely lose any crickets.Also there was a time when the cricket farms were getting hammered by a cricket virus which wiped out many cricket suppliers.I don't know if it was in that same time frame or not,but just some food for thought.


thanks for the info, i still am totally against crickets though, even when you gut load them they stink so bad, either its their feces or one dies then taints all the others with bad bacteria, i dont wanna risk it, maybe if they were housed seperately itd be better. that is good advice though none the less


----------



## Lou (Apr 23, 2014)

No problem,I just thought I'd share.I raise a box of 1000 in a ten gallon tank and don't lose them.They shouldn't die or smell bad.

If I don't change out the squash after a couple of days the vegetable can smell some,but I try to keep up on it.If they die off on you they will die and smell bad.I used to have that happen years ago when I used the water crystals which I will never use again.I haven't had that problem since.


----------



## MantidBro (Apr 23, 2014)

Lou said:


> No problem,I just thought I'd share.I raise a box of 1000 in a ten gallon tank and don't lose them.They shouldn't die or smell bad.
> 
> If I don't change out the squash after a couple of days the vegetable can smell some,but I try to keep up on it.If they die off on you they will die and smell bad.I used to have that happen years ago when I used the water crystals which I will never use again.I haven't had that problem since.


when i have crickets i give them a container with coconut fiber and cypress mulch, with lettuce amd cricket calcium, and i give them a misting, what is the cause of the deaths do you think, i dont have a dying problem with the pinhead crickets but with the adults or sub adults for some reason


----------



## Lou (Apr 23, 2014)

I don't use any substrate at all,it's just not necessary.Just some cardboard eggcrate on top of the clean glass bottom. If I'm breeding them I add a small cup of damp coco fiber for egg deposition only.There is pretty much zero value with lettuce.Squash has nutritional value and works great as a hydrator as well as lasting longer than lettuce.There is no need to mist them either.I never ever do.I think between the misting and the substrate and whatever vegetable matter and feces melting into it,that could be a bacteria haven and probably your problem in my opinion.I also disinfect the tank between batches of crickets.I assume the cricket calcium is like flukers cricket diet? That would be fine as a dry staple.Similar to what I use as a high calcium diet,but 20+ times more expensive.


----------



## MantidBro (Apr 23, 2014)

Lou said:


> I don't use any substrate at all,it's just not necessary.Just some cardboard eggcrate on top of the clean glass bottom. If I'm breeding them I add a small cup of damp coco fiber for egg deposition only.There is pretty much zero value with lettuce.Squash has nutritional value and works great as a hydrator as well as lasting longer than lettuce.There is no need to mist them either.I never ever do.I think between the misting and the substrate and whatever vegetable matter and feces melting into it,that could be a bacteria haven and probably your problem in my opinion.I also disinfect the tank between batches of crickets.I assume the cricket calcium is like flukers cricket diet? That would be fine as a dry staple.Similar to what I use as a high calcium diet,but 20+ times more expensive.


ive been trying to breed them, a few times, but with no success. maybe because those times i used soil instead of coconut fiber? the soil kept drying up. and the crickets didnt live that long. so what do you mean by a cup of coco fiber, a cup off to the side in the container, or do you mean a cups size worth along the bottom of the entire container? what if we dont regularly buy squash and are on a tight budget, is there anything else i could use? i know locusts like danelions, would crickets? would that be of any nutritional value? if not, what other vegetables could i use? and what about fruits? such as apples? and theres no need to mist, okay. yeah fluckers, exactly. i use that and lettuce, or carrots when i have carrots. but only for my tarantula, bearded dragons arent supposed to have carrots, so i cant feed crickets that im feeding to him carrots. so is fluckers cricket diet okay to use or not? i have quite a few containers of it, so i think it would last a while. then maybe i can move onto squash if you say its cheaper? it would especially be worth it if i were able to breed the crickets and didnt need to buy them anymore. thatd be one less expense on top of the food being cheaper. why, how much is squash? im not a shopper, lol. could you help teach me how to breed crickets?


----------



## Lou (Apr 23, 2014)

Sure,I'll help you  Any soil that they can oviposit into is probably fine.They do it in the wild.I use coco fiber because it's cheap,clean,free of parasites, holds moisture well,and has worked fine for me.For the cup of cocofiber I use the smallest delicup which is the 8 oz cup I believe(it's only about 2'' high).The key is to keep the "dirt" damp but not wringing wet.You can watch the females stuff their ovipositor into the dirt like a sewing machine and they will lay the eggs in the cup constantly.You will be able to see the eggs jammed against the side of the cup between the substrate and the cup.Change the cup every 10 days or so with fresh dirt or they may eat each others eggs.If it dries out, the eggs will die.If it's too wet,they will die,but if kept damp,they will thrive.Most leafy veggies will wilt and mush pretty quick.They love apples but it will rot quick too.I like to use the squash because it lasts longer,and really isn't expensive.It's really easy to grow too if you're into that which will make it that much cheaper and will keep for quite a while in the fridge.The flukers is fine.I raise chickens and get a 50 lb. bag of high calcium layer pellets for about 13 bucks.I have to buy it anyway. I just run it through a coffee grinder (yard sale pickup for 2 bucks)to make it a powder.I use the powder diet (or in your case flukers which is fine) and the squash in conjunction.The powder diet gives them the calcium rich dry food they need and the squash/zucchini for added nutrition,but more importantly for the hydration factor(very important too).The added nutritional value is an added bonus,but beneficial.Squash depending on the time of year can cost $1 per pound or 3-4 for $1 in season.I get mine from the local flea market which is fresh off the farms and even cheaper.If you know anyone that plants a garden,often they grow so fast that sometimes they grow larger than people like to eat and throw them away.I try to grab those too.They are just fine for crickets and roaches for that matter.After you have success with it,it's pretty easy.True pinheads (you usually can't buy)are super tiny.Smaller than melo ffs,but they do grow pretty quick.Sorry if this is too wordy.


----------



## MantidBro (Apr 23, 2014)

Lou said:


> Sure,I'll help you  Any soil that they can oviposit into is probably fine.They do it in the wild.I use coco fiber because it's cheap,clean,free of parasites, holds moisture well,and has worked fine for me.For the cup of cocofiber I use the smallest delicup which is the 8 oz cup I believe(it's only about 2'' high).The key is to keep the "dirt" damp but not wringing wet.You can watch the females stuff their ovipositor into the dirt like a sewing machine and they will lay the eggs in the cup constantly.You will be able to see the eggs jammed against the side of the cup between the substrate and the cup.Change the cup every 10 days or so with fresh dirt or they may eat each others eggs.If it dries out, the eggs will die.If it's too wet,they will die,but if kept damp,they will thrive.Most leafy veggies will wilt and mush pretty quick.They love apples but it will rot quick too.I like to use the squash because it lasts longer,and really isn't expensive.It's really easy to grow too if you're into that which will make it that much cheaper and will keep for quite a while in the fridge.The flukers is fine.I raise chickens and get a 50 lb. bag of high calcium layer pellets for about 13 bucks.I have to buy it anyway. I just run it through a coffee grinder (yard sale pickup for 2 bucks)to make it a powder.I use the powder diet (or in your case flukers which is fine) and the squash in conjunction.The powder diet gives them the calcium rich dry food they need and the squash/zucchini for added nutrition,but more importantly for the hydration factor(very important too).The added nutritional value is an added bonus,but beneficial.Squash depending on the time of year can cost $1 per pound or 3-4 for $1 in season.I get mine from the local flea market which is fresh off the farms and even cheaper.If you know anyone that plants a garden,often they grow so fast that sometimes they grow larger than people like to eat and throw them away.I try to grab those too.They are just fine for crickets and roaches for that matter.After you have success with it,it's pretty easy.True pinheads (you usually can't buy)are super tiny.Smaller than melo ffs,but they do grow pretty quick.Sorry if this is too wordy.


so they jump into the 2" cup to deposit the eggs?

okay ill be sure not to keep it too wet or too dry to ensure the eggs thrive.

oh the other crickets will eat ones eggs? i never knew that

do you need heat to get the males chirping and calling the females?

wow that is cheap squash! ill see what i can do about that.

thanks for all the info! ill let you know how it goes!

haha wordy is good, the more detailed the better!


----------



## Lou (Apr 23, 2014)

They climb right up the sides with no problem.

Yup,they will definitely eat the eggs,especially if they build up.

When they are adults,they will chirp anyway.I've always kept them at room temperature,but if you had some heat they would probably be more prolific,but you need to be careful they don't dry out because of the heat.

I am in the Garden state,so I guess because all the farms and such in the area.I don't know how much it costs elsewhere.I like going to the flea market because it's fresh local grown veggies picked daily from the farms,and they last a long time compared to store bought,which is fine too,but I always prefer the freshest I can get.That's why I raise chickens.The fresh eggs I get are a million times better than the up to 6 month old pasturized eggs from chickens fed poison(no joke).I may grow some squash again this year,but it almost doesn't make sense to at that price though.


----------



## GhostStealth7889 (May 25, 2014)

I like the color really nice how much you paid for it?


----------



## MantidBro (Jun 11, 2014)

GhostStealth7889 said:


> I like the color really nice how much you paid for it?


i paid $50 for 5 but only one made it through shipping then it died 3 days later, a real bummer!!


----------



## GhostStealth7889 (Jun 17, 2014)

Where u get them from?


----------

