# Stagmomantis Limbata ate off her foot?!



## Butterfly (Jan 18, 2007)

As I was feeding my big green mama last night I noticed she was walking funny and was having difficulty holding onto stuff. Then I noticed one leg was smaller than the other and her foot is gone! She can still climb relatively ok and she was hungry enough to go find her food so I think she'll be okay but im still a little worried.

BTW, how long will her ooth's take to hatch?

While I was in Colorado on Vacation she laid another ooth right next to the first one she laid for me. So now I have 2 from her. 5 from my European Mantis that passed away a while ago and 2 wild found ooths.

Man Im gonna have a gazillion nymphs!

Also is it true I can feed the babies raw hamburger or pieces of apples until I get a fruit fly culture going like I read somewhere in here on another post?


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## Rick (Jan 18, 2007)

Is she old? Sometimes when they get really old the ends of their feet get brittle and break off. No way will you be able to feed newborn nymphs hamburger or apples. Mantids don't eat fruit. You need to get fruit fly cultures going NOW.


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## xenuwantsyou (Jan 18, 2007)

I've done the hamburger thing and it works better than nothing.


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## Rick (Jan 18, 2007)

> I've done the hamburger thing and it works better than nothing.


You feed hamburger to hundreds of tiny nymphs? Sorry but I don' t think that is very practical if it's even really possible.


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## OGIGA (Jan 18, 2007)

> I've done the hamburger thing and it works better than nothing.


Did you mean it's the worst or did you really mean it works better than everything?


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## Rick (Jan 19, 2007)

> > I've done the hamburger thing and it works better than nothing.
> 
> 
> Did you mean it's the worst or did you really mean it works better than everything?


Think he means it will work if you have nothing else. However I don't buy that he feeds hamburger to a bunch of tiny nymphs.


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## Butterfly (Jan 20, 2007)

I do plan on starting some fruit fly's but have no clue when to start them since I dont know when my ooths are going to start hatching.

I just read somewhere on here that if I had nothing else I could give them raw hamburger.

Ok so once I buy the fruit fly stuff how long till theyre ready to feed to the nymphs?

And any answer on how long the Stagmomantis ooths take to hatch or any certain conditions I should have them in?

Rick, She is getting pretty old. I found her here in So Cal on Halloween night. It was so cold out then that I was amazed she was alive when I found her.


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## OGIGA (Jan 20, 2007)

> Ok so once I buy the fruit fly stuff how long till theyre ready to feed to the nymphs?


I get my fruit flies from PetCo for $6 per pack. There are usually flies already walking around in the container so I use them right away. Then, more will hatch later.


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## Rick (Jan 20, 2007)

> I do plan on starting some fruit fly's but have no clue when to start them since I dont know when my ooths are going to start hatching.I just read somewhere on here that if I had nothing else I could give them raw hamburger.
> 
> Ok so once I buy the fruit fly stuff how long till theyre ready to feed to the nymphs?
> 
> ...


I will tell you what I do Butterfly. Others might tell you something different but this works. I purchase a few vials of flies from www.carolina.com. You can also get them at petco and some other places. I then buy a bag of the commercially made fruit fly medium from carolina.com. If you get the big bag it lasts a long time.

Using a 32 oz deli cup I cut a hole in the side that is a square about one inch by one inch. I use a foam plug from a fruit fly vial to plug it with. I add about a 1/4 inch of the medium and a pinch of yeast. Add water to get it moist. Dump in the flies from the vials. Sit back and wait. Within a few weeks you should have thousands of flies.

Soon as that culture starts producing I start another one. That way when this one bombs out I have one already going. I just keep up the cycle so I always have thousands of flies on hand. The flightless fliies will start flying again after many generations. For this reason I destroy them every six months and get all new flies. Fruit flies are very simple to raise. The only real cost is the medium which isn't that expensive.


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