# My mantids



## Mettler (May 27, 2007)

Hi guys, here are some pics of my mantids &amp; ooths... please help me identify this species. I'm from New Zealand, and I've only observed two species of mantid living in this country, I don't think there are any more.

Ok I've identified it, it's the south african species: Miomantis Caffra.

These were first discovered in NZ in 1978, and have been gradually increasing in numbers since... apparently these are displacing the numbers of native NZ mantids in the northern part of the country, including where I live.

I keep my other mantids roaming around my lounge and kitchen roof, they do a great job of keeping the house free of flies and moths.

Big Bertha is the one I've raised in a big environment jar, fed mainly flies, but anything else I can catch for her too. Here she is chillin out on my cellphone.







I've introduced a couple of males into her jar that have mated with her and then turned into dinner.






Here she is... just chillin:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ozU3xa3e560






Hello!






Straight after this shot, she managed to climb up on the lens. Mantids really seem to love cameras!






So I put Big Bertha back into her home, and got the next mantid down from the ceiling... this one's a smaller one... possibly because she hasn't eaten as much and isn't pregnant.






Heh






It's sort of cute






Just chillin:






DO WANT!!!


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## OGIGA (May 27, 2007)

She really likes your camera.


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## Mettler (May 27, 2007)

So anyway, since I knew you guys would be demanding more than just pics of mantids chillin.... I've devised a system by which I can train up my mantids in the art of MANTIS KARATE!!!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ul1-MkUB3MM

This is a vital skill, necessary for honing those lightning fast reflexes and killing and eating other predators like spiders!! Don't let their docile nature fool you however, mantids are lightning quick and brutally violent towards anything that is suitable to eat. If they were as big as cars, there'd be no humans.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-5TMoHD6SIQ

Here's a nice gruesome closeup to remind you that mantids are killing &amp; eating machines. Spiders are pussies!






So anyway, while the little girl was having a munch, I happened to discover the other big fat girl I'd released inside... she'd been missing for a few days, but I turned around and there she was, chilling on the fridge door.... but hang on, something was up... *grabs mantis to inspect it*






What's that crazy blob thing on its abdomen??






I read on here that some mantids will just keep eating until they burst... I found it hard to believe at first, but a couple of people here had claimed that yes, this is true. No one had pics of any though, so I didn't know what to expect... but lo and behold, this fatty must have been munching and munching because her side was split open and her insides were coming out!! Poor stupid thing!! Somewhat disappointing because I know this one's pregnant, but I don't think she'll live to lay her ooth.






Anyways... she appeared not to notice, and seemed somewhat chirpy as ever:






I decided to give her some water. Mantids that live inside don't usually have a source of water like rain, so you have to feed them water occasionally so they can survive. Check it out, I just wet the end of a skewer and held it up to the mantid's mouth and it was content to suck the water off the skewer:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U9ot4oWRO-U

Some pics:






Omnomnomn:






Check out the spikes on those raptorials.... pretty easy to see why nothing can survive! I wonder what kind of hydraulic pressure the mantid can exert with those... I know it's enough to stick into my skin if I pick it up it the wrong way!






This girl, despite having blown out guts, appears quite happy to chill on top of a spray bottle and look around for an even better perch:






I hope you have enjoyed my mantids!






I'd like to end on a lighthearted note... *DO WANT!!!*

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kJkiAtCfGzE


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## Mettler (May 27, 2007)

I popped over to my mate's last night on my way past, and while we were chatting outside, there was a little L3 or L4 mantis with deformed wings on the wall. I went to pick it up and it attacked my finger... they're actually pretty strong because it did hurt!! Anyways, after it calmed down enough to walk around on my hand, I picked it up from the neck to see if it would go psycho and attack again, which it did, and it opened its jaws wide and started biting my finger.... **** I dropped it straight away because that hurts man!

So yeh... be careful if handling a new mantid until it becomes accustomed to it!

Anyways... Big Bertha laid her ooth!!  I noticed she was all slim when I got home yesterday, then saw the absolutely massive foamy ooth she was guarding!! Check it out:






And here's the little one, had come down from the ceiling to check things out:


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## Mettler (May 27, 2007)

So anyway, I decided to go outside and see if I can find more mantids living near the house... and my efforts paid off.

Check it out:

A huge pregnant L6 chilling out on a yakka:






Heh she's all like OMG what is this crazy soft platform I've suddenly found ??






This is about the biggest mantis you'd find in New Zealand. Somewhat disappointing really... I measured 40mm from head to butt, that seems the be the typical full size for an L6. I wish we had awesome giant mantids here like the Sphodromantis Lineola!!
















Later that day, I looked up and to my disappointment, two of my ceiling roaming females had met and engaged in battle... by the time I'd noticed, it was too late, and one had already been mortally wounded... so I let the other one have her kill, which she devoured entirely in about 4-5 hours.


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## AFK (May 27, 2007)

wait, so big bertha was the mantis with the GUTS coming out of the side of her abdomen, and the next day, she was able to lay an ootheca...and survived her splitting abdomen??? :shock:


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## Mettler (May 27, 2007)

> wait, so big bertha was the mantis with the GUTS coming out of the side of her abdomen, and the next day, she was able to lay an ootheca...and survived her splitting abdomen??? :shock:


Nah, Big Bertha's a different one to the one with split guts. There were three... Bertha's got a gammy leg, the other little one is actually the same size as Bertha now that the ooth has been laid, and the one with split open guts was actually slightly bigger than the other two... it's disappeared now however, it'll be somewhere in the kitchen or lounge. I'm keeping my eyes peeled.I introduced a fourth to the ceiling over the weekend, and that one would have fought with the other one resulting in the above pics, so I'm back down to three housetrained mantids &gt;_&lt;


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## OGIGA (May 27, 2007)

Awesome story! Glad you got it all documented and photographed.


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## AFK (May 27, 2007)

how long do you guys think a mantis can survive with exposed guts???


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## Mettler (May 27, 2007)

Unsure, this one lasted at least 2 days... possibly more, I'll have to see if I can find her tonight. If I find her and she's still alive, that'll be like 5 days.


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## AFK (May 28, 2007)

Mettler, just wanted to tell you that I LOVED your "You better watch out water... I KNOW KARATE!!!" mantis video on YouTube! :lol: 

Adorable mantis! ^_^


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## ellroy (May 28, 2007)

Hi mettler,

Nice mantis, I'm raising some here at the moment. So are they adult at L6?

Cheers

Alan


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## hibiscusmile (May 28, 2007)

Well it appears at least one of us knows how to house a mantis, just let em go where they want..LOL I really got a tickle on the noise she made while drinking off your screwer :!:


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## OGIGA (May 28, 2007)

If I could have it my way, I would have mantises crawling all over my house too.


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## beckyl92 (Jul 27, 2009)

how long does the miomantis caffra ooth take to hatch?

i recently got one and got told 5-6 months :blink: 

is this true?


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## superfreak (Jul 27, 2009)

you do realiise how old this topic is.....? and why dont you try google.


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## PhilinYuma (Jul 27, 2009)

superfreak said:


> you do realiise how old this topic is.....? and why dont you try google.


I think that Becky found this on a Forum search, Superfreak. There isn't much on Google.

I would wonder why a S. African species would take so long to hatch, Becky, though it would give the "collector" time to disappear into the bush before anyone started demanding their money back!  You don't even know when it was laid (the kids employed by the collector might have found it months before it arrived in England, and it may have been months old when it was found). But let us know if it does (or doesn't) hatch! Did the Britsh agent show you pix of the nymphs?


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## beckyl92 (Jul 28, 2009)

superfreak said:


> you do realiise how old this topic is.....? and why dont you try google.


Thanks for your constructive post superfreak. As Phil said, theres no information on google because not many people keep this species.

And Phil, I got a pregnant female +3 ooths off someone who went to south africa on a trip and caught it in the wild. I don't think he'd scam me because he's got good feedback on the UK forum and is a pretty nice guy


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## PhilinYuma (Jul 28, 2009)

BeckyL said:


> And Phil, I got a pregnant female +3 ooths off someone who went to south africa on a trip and caught it in the wild. I don't think he'd scam me because he's got good feedback on the UK forum and is a pretty nice guy


Sounds good, Becky! Keep us informed on their progress! How long do you have to wait, now, supposing that the incubation p[eriod is what you were told?


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## beckyl92 (Jul 28, 2009)

well he had the ooths for about 1-2 month and god knows how long they've been in the wild for so they could hatch at anytime really  

ill let you know when an ooth hatches.


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## Emile.Wilson (Jul 28, 2009)

BeckyL said:


> Thanks for your constructive post superfreak. As Phil said, theres no information on google because not many people keep this species.And Phil, I got a pregnant female +3 ooths off someone who went to south africa on a trip and caught it in the wild. I don't think he'd scam me because he's got good feedback on the UK forum and is a pretty nice guy


How do you know she has been mated?


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## beckyl92 (Jul 28, 2009)

he found a couple in the wild and remated her just incase


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## Emile.Wilson (Jul 28, 2009)

oh ok


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## superfreak (Jul 28, 2009)

Thanks for the entierly useless post resurrecting an ancient topic. "how long till my ooth hatches" is about as annoying as "when will my mantis molt" or "when will it die" . The answer is likely to be wait and see.

Sorry for jumping down your throat earlier - simply angered by what ive interpreted to be a complete lack of respect for the critters you keep. I hope i was wrong


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