# Cole's Mantids



## Cole 78 (Nov 16, 2018)

Hey everyone! I recently got my mantids (today) and I LOVE them. They are all either L1-2. I have a thistle, orchid, and a panther. They all ate well, the thistle ate tons. While the panther had trouble hunting, but caught a few FFs. I absolutely adore them! Here are some pics I took of them. also if you could determine what gender they are that would be great

Thistle:












Orchid:
















Panther


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## MantisGirl13 (Nov 16, 2018)

Awesome mantids, Cole! Btw, this is a panther mantis:



Cole 78 said:


> Thistle﻿:
> 
> ﻿


This is a thistle mantis:



Cole 78 said:


> :﻿﻿﻿﻿
> 
> ﻿﻿﻿﻿


☺ You got a bit mixed up there! What Instar are they? They are beautiful!

- MantisGirl13


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## Cole 78 (Nov 16, 2018)

@MantisGirl13 oh thanks for the clarification. The Panther is L3-L4, Orchid is L2, and Thistle is L2-L3.


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## Mantis Lady (Nov 17, 2018)

Nice pics,  Have fun with your mantids, they will learn you a lot  @Cole 78


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## MantisGirl13 (Nov 17, 2018)

I am glad I could help! Your thistle is beautiful, and i just love the eyes on the panther! 

- MantisGirl13


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## Cole 78 (Nov 17, 2018)

I am currently trading the thistle if any one wants. Same with Panther.


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## Cole 78 (Nov 17, 2018)

My panther is a ravenous eater! I probably will keep him/her after all. My thistle on the other hand refuses to eat. It mostly slaps away it’s food. What could that mean? My Orchid eats normally. I’m worried about the Thistle though, it’s only ate one FF in the past two days.


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## hysteresis (Nov 17, 2018)

Could it be your thistle is readying to molt?


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## Cole 78 (Nov 17, 2018)

hysteresis said:


> Could it be your thistle is readying to molt?


That matches up, I want a couple more opinions to confirm this suspicion. It sound about right though.


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## Mantis Lady (Nov 17, 2018)

I am thinking about molting too if you thistle slaps away his food it is a sign of "I don't want to eat"

I hope it will have a good molt.


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## MantisGirl13 (Nov 17, 2018)

Yep, it sounds like pre-molt to me!

- MantisGirl13


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## Cole 78 (Nov 17, 2018)

Ok thanks everyone!

Also quick update: Just finished feeding. Panther ate over 15, not sure how many the Orchid did, but now her abdomen is distended so she must have ate tons, and Thistle continues to display pre-molt behavior. When can I expect to see my Thistle's colors to come out? The green and white.


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## MantisGirl13 (Nov 17, 2018)

Cole 78 said:


> Ok thanks everyone!
> 
> Also quick update: Just finished feeding. Panther ate over 15, not sure how many the Orchid did, but now her abdomen is distended so she must have ate tons, and Thistle continues to display pre-molt behavior. When can I expect to see my Thistle's colors to come out? The green and white.


Wow, 15 is a lot! No more food for the panther or the orchid for a few days! I am not sure when you will start to see the colors because my thistle never got her green; she stayed tan and white all of her life.

- MantisGirl13


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## Connor (Nov 17, 2018)

Cole 78 said:


> Ok thanks everyone!
> 
> Also quick update: Just finished feeding. Panther ate over 15, not sure how many the Orchid did, but now her abdomen is distended so she must have ate tons, and Thistle continues to display pre-molt behavior. When can I expect to see my Thistle's colors to come out? The green and white.


Thistles normally never get their green until adulthood and sometimes unfortunately never get them. I believe it depends on the genes they carry and also what species of thistle they are. Not many people know but there are two different species of thistles going around, the problem is they look almost completely identical. One of the species is from Egypt and the other I forget lol.


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## Cole 78 (Nov 17, 2018)

MantisGirl13 said:


> Wow, 15 is a lot! No more food for the panther or the orchid for a few days! I am not sure when you will start to see the colors because my thistle never got her green; she stayed tan and white all of her life.
> 
> - MantisGirl13


Is it possible to over feed a mantis? I feed mine a couple times a day. They usually eat everything.


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## MantisGirl13 (Nov 17, 2018)

Yes, it is possible! Only feed once every other or every two days. Mantids do not need several meals a day. You can see how hungry they are by looking at the size of their abdomen. If the abdomen is skinny, feed the mantis. If the abdomen is bloated, no food for at least two days. 

- MantisGirl13


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## Cole 78 (Nov 17, 2018)

Some pictures I got that I thought turned out nice. Also surprise! A video!

Orchid:































Also here is a pic to determine what sex it is, please help.











Video!

https://i.imgur.com/eceNCJe.mp4

Please click on it as it will not let me display and show full video at the same time. 

Now for the Panther:











What sex?






Didnt want to disturb Thistle since I think it will molt soon.


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## Graceface (Nov 18, 2018)

It may be too soon to tell on your Orchid nymph. Usually it is a guessing game until they reach L4 and the color band develops. Based on what I've seen in your awesome photos, it looks male (narrow leg petals, I'm counting 6 or so segments with the last segment looking small). Again, very hard to determine at L2. 

I've never sexed a panther mantis before, but it also looks male based on the abdominal segments. 

Great photos! Do you use a macro lens?


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## Mantis Lady (Nov 18, 2018)

Cool pics. I like the close ups. I need a macro lens for my phone. Your pics are better than mine.


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## MantisL (Nov 18, 2018)

Very nice picks, what camera did you take the photos from?


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## Cole 78 (Nov 18, 2018)

@MantisL @Graceface @Little MantisI use a  Canon Powershot SX 60 HS with a Raynox DCR-250 Lens. Btw phone macro lens won't be able to get these kind of shots.


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## cwebster (Nov 18, 2018)

Gorgeous little guys!


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## Cole 78 (Nov 18, 2018)

Do you guys like the white background? Do you want me to try black?


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## Synapze (Nov 18, 2018)

Great photos. Beautiful mantids.


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## Nicole (Nov 18, 2018)

Really stunning photos! Love the clarity, wow! Such beautiful mantids, you will have a blast with them!


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## Mantis Lady (Nov 19, 2018)

Cole 78 said:


> Do you guys like the white background? Do you want me to try black?


White looks, ok, but if you like to try a black background, just do it


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## Prayingmantisqueen (Nov 19, 2018)

I love the white @Cole 78. They Are all very gorgeous.


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## Cole 78 (Nov 28, 2018)

[Deleted by author]


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## Cole 78 (Dec 4, 2018)

My orchid molted!









Also, a bunch of my Creo nymphs molted as well!


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## Mantis Lady (Dec 4, 2018)

gratz on the molts  Nice pictures


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## MantisGirl13 (Dec 4, 2018)

Yay! He/she is beautiful, @Cole 78!

- MantisGirl13


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## hysteresis (Dec 4, 2018)

Isn't that something?! 

Gorgeous!


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## Cole 78 (Dec 5, 2018)

Thanks @hysteresis @MantisGirl13 and @Little Mantis! So I have decided to name my orchid Felicity (pronounced Fe-lis-it-e) (if it is a girl) and Oliver if it is a boy.


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## MantisGirl13 (Dec 6, 2018)

Great names!

- MantisGirl13


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## Cole 78 (Dec 12, 2018)

Great news! Bought three L5 P. Paradoxa (Ghosts) 2 Females 1 Male. I took some pictures, in the corner of my favorite one I wrote my name so people can't use it without others knowing it was me lol. Oh yeah, my name isn't even Cole lol. It's just this character from my favorite book and I like to  go by that on the Internet.




 




 




 

Tried a couple new backrounds too, do you guys like them?


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## Prayingmantisqueen (Dec 12, 2018)

Cole 78 said:


> Thanks @hysteresis @MantisGirl13 and @Little Mantis! So I have decided to name my orchid Felicity (pronounced Fe-lis-it-e) (if it is a girl) and Oliver if it is a boy.


I have an Oliver too.


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## Graceface (Dec 12, 2018)

Looking good! Glad the ghosties arrived safe and sound 

I like the new backgrounds.


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## Mantis Lady (Dec 13, 2018)

Did you photoshop this picture? Your ghost looks here more alien.


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## MantisGirl13 (Dec 13, 2018)

Beautiful mantids! 

- MantisGirl13


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## hysteresis (Dec 14, 2018)

Ghosts


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## Cole 78 (Dec 14, 2018)

Little Mantis said:


> Did you photoshop this picture? Your ghost looks here more alien.


The colors were already like this when I took the pic, btw this is the male. I obviously cropped a bit and enhanced backround colors, sharpened the pic a bit, and brightened it up just a tad. But it's mostly natural.


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## MantisGirl13 (Dec 14, 2018)

Cole 78 said:


> The colors were already like this when I took the pic, btw this is the male. I obviously cropped a bit and enhanced backround colors, sharpened the pic a bit, and brightened it up just a tad. But it's mostly natural.


That is awesome! You take really good pictures!

- MantisGirl13


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## Cole 78 (Dec 14, 2018)

MantisGirl13 said:


> That is awesome! You take really good pictures!
> 
> - MantisGirl13


Thanks!


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## MantisGirl13 (Dec 14, 2018)

Cole 78 said:


> Thanks!


I wish I could take such great pics!

- MantisGirl13


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## Cole 78 (Dec 15, 2018)

I just did a MASSIVE photo shoot of my male ghost (he has the best colors.) Btw, the pics below are completely raw and un-edited. Meaning I haven’t changed what the look like AT ALL! Also, I really like the bright backgrounds, do you guys? (Please do not use any photos in this journal without my permission) 





































Next pic is a super macro of the eye.





















I don’t want people thinking that all the pics I take are good, because that would be a lie. I take tons of bad pics! This for example:






My good pic to bad pic ratio is depressing, so don’t worry lol.

@Prayingmantisqueen you asked me for a pic for the front cover, would any of these work? You can use any of them for your book. Just credit me as Shaheer Fahad.


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## hysteresis (Dec 15, 2018)

These photos are *sick*!


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## Prayingmantisqueen (Dec 15, 2018)

Cole 78 said:


> I just did a MASSIVE photo shoot of my male ghost (he has the best colors.) Btw, the pics below are completely raw and un-edited. Meaning I haven’t changed what the look like AT ALL! Also, I really like the bright backgrounds, do you guys? (Please do not use any photos in this journal without my permission)
> 
> 
> 
> ...


Those are *AWESOME!*


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## Prayingmantisqueen (Dec 15, 2018)

I would love to use some of those. Esspecially the upclose pics and the one of his eye. Awesome!

As long as I have pernission that is


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## Synapze (Dec 15, 2018)

Beautiful photos!


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## Mantis Lady (Dec 15, 2018)

Wow, nice close ups of your ghosts faces. Ghosts are beautiful if you see them in close up


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## Cole 78 (Dec 15, 2018)

Prayingmantisqueen said:


> I would love to use some of those. Esspecially the upclose pics and the one of his eye. Awesome!
> 
> As long as I have pernission that is


You do have my permission!

Also thank you @hysteresis @Little Mantis @Synapze and @Prayingmantisqueen for the kind words!


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## Prayingmantisqueen (Dec 15, 2018)

@Cole 78 

Thanks so much.


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## Graceface (Dec 15, 2018)

He is so handsome! Glad you are enjoying him. Love the close ups of his face, so neat!


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## MantisGirl13 (Dec 16, 2018)

Those pictures are BEAUTIFUL! Great job! I love the bright backgrounds and the shots are so clear!

- MantisGirl13


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## Cole 78 (Dec 19, 2018)

@Graceface here are the Spiny Flower pictures you requested. These are by far some of the worst photos I’ve token, and I’m pretty embarrassed about it . To my defense, these little dudes are L2 and CRAZY tiny, did I mention fast and jumpy too? They will not hold still for a pic.  Sorry.









 

Also, my Creobroter (Gemmatus?) L3-4. 



















 




 
















And, I have two G. Amoena ooths in incubation, here is a pic of them and their setup.


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## Mantis Lady (Dec 20, 2018)

Nice pics, they aren't so bad. Mine are worse. Now i want creos again. I never got a good close up of mine.


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## Cole 78 (Jan 3, 2019)

I'm getting rid of a lot of my mantids and ooths, trading them for tarantulas. I'm only keeping a P. Paradoxa Ooth, a Ghost female and male    . (L5) A female and male Sphodoromantis linolea, and maybe my giant Asian L6. I need to make room for my new tarantulas...


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## MantisGirl13 (Jan 3, 2019)

Cole 78 said:


> I'm getting rid of a lot of my mantids and ooths, trading them for tarantulas. I'm only keeping a P. Paradoxa Ooth, a Ghost female and male    . (L5) A female and male Sphodoromantis linolea, and maybe my giant Asian L6. I need to make room for my new tarantulas...


How many tarantulas are you getting?

- MantisGirl13


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## Cole 78 (Jan 4, 2019)

MantisGirl13 said:


> How many tarantulas are you getting?
> 
> - MantisGirl13




Around five or so. But at least two for sure. The other three I'm still negotiating a trade for mantids with the guy.


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## MantisGirl13 (Jan 5, 2019)

Cole 78 said:


> Around five or so. But at least two for sure. The other three I'm still negotiating a trade for mantids with the guy.


Cool!

- MantisGirl13


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## Mantis Lady (Jan 5, 2019)

Show us pics of your tarantulas when you get them. Isn't it hard to give your mantids away? (trading) will you not miss them?


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## Cole 78 (Jan 14, 2019)

Little Mantis said:


> Show us pics of your tarantulas when you get them. Isn't it hard to give your mantids away? (trading) will you not miss them?




No, it's not hard on me, I will post pics later.


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## Prayingmantisqueen (Jan 16, 2019)

Cole 78 said:


> No, it's not hard on me, I will post pics later.


It was a little hard at first but sometimes it is a relief now..! They are stressful.. Mismolts... Black death... Random deaths.... You name it. Its fun but stressful.


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