# Thesprotia graminis



## Kruszakus (Dec 18, 2008)

Howdy! People wanted to know how to rear Thesprotia graminis, so - here is what I know so far.

I got Thesprotia graminis ooth on Halloween, and on the exact same day, just a few hours after, the ooth gave me 12 hatchlings, which I moved to a bigger container and started feeding them.

Small nymphs were ready to hunt just a few hours after they hatched - at first they would eagerly grab springtails, but since those usually crawl at the bottom, I had to try and mix it up with some flies - surpisingly, 5 mm long nymphs were able to grab D. melanogaster with those tiny arms, and munch on them for about an hour.

After 5-6 days, first nymphs started molting into L2, and this pace was prety much consistent up until the final molt, which took about 10-12 days for the females, and 14-16 days for the males - both sexes undergo 6 moltings. It took only 42 days for the first females to mature, and about 46 days for the males - needless to say, they are quick developers.

As for size, males are about only 5 cm long, while females are usualy above 6 cm - sexing can wait till they are pre sub, before that it may be a bit hard to tell the difference.

I kept all nymphs in one container - they were never separated into smaller groups, yet there was no cannibalism whatsoever - but I atribute it only to the regular food supply, because this species so agressive, that despite the slender body it may attack the prey that seems far too big to handle, this includes other Thesprotia nymphs/adults.

As for conditions - temperature is best to be kept around 30C, it might be a bit higher, but this is the fasest bet. Humidity is important, but this species can tolerate humidity fluctuations - as for me, I simply kept the substrata a bit moist, and there were no mis-molts.

They seem to like spending time in places that simulate their natural habitat - most of my Thesprotia avoid the mesh lid, and hang around the twigs I put in the enclosure - so I guess it would be a good idea to provide them with grass, branches, twigs and so on.

Well - if you have any other questions, ask away.

Sub-adult male eating a waxmoth, and another one, molting into adult.

















Freshly molted adult female...


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## Katnapper (Dec 18, 2008)

Very nice... thanks, Kruszakus. This will help, as I someday would like to try this species.


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## revmdn (Dec 18, 2008)

Very cool, and nice pics. B)


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## shorty (Dec 18, 2008)

Excellent! Thank you Kruszakus. I now have another care sheet to add to my notebook. I will be keeping this species eventually, so I appreciate it.


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## Frack (Dec 19, 2008)

Cool pics and thx for the caresheet, but its just a little late for me lol I just breed mine a couple weeks ago. Everything went really easy it wasnt hard at all to breed them and shes laid 4 ooths over the past 2 weeks. It is really surprising how big of a feeder insect they can eat with there little arms. I saw my adult female eat some crickets that you would think would be way to big for her and the fruitflys are huge for the nymphs but they eat them just fine.


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## Frack (Dec 19, 2008)

Cool pics and thx for the caresheet, but its just a little late for me lol I just breed mine a couple weeks ago. Everything went really easy it wasnt hard at all to breed them and shes laid 4 ooths over the past 2 weeks. It is really surprising how big of a feeder insect they can eat with there little arms. I saw my adult female eat some crickets that you would think would be way to big for her and the fruitflys are huge for the nymphs but they eat them just fine.


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## Kruszakus (Jan 7, 2009)

I never saw mine mate, and all my males died approx 3 weeks of age (they matured 7-8 days before Christmas), which led me to believe that I failed with this species - but today I found 10-12 healthy little nymphs in the female's enclosure - there is a lot of twigs and branches with leaves, so I could not find any ooths - but I guess, that all went okay since there are nymphs... unless this species can reproduce through parthenogenesis, but I don't know anything about that.


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## nasty bugger (Jan 7, 2009)

My inch long mantis, if that, was biting a cricket that's about a half inch long today.

I had to laugh cause the cricket is much stouter, and the mantis thin, but the cricket took off running like, Hey man  

I was concerned from what I read on here that the cricket may take advantage of the mantis while the mantis was smaller, but I'm not so concerned now. OUch, ooch, hey man, quit bitin' me  :lol: B) 

I figure he'll weaken that cricket over time, and eventually take him down.

It's not like the mantis is fixated on the cricket, he just reached over and bit him cause he was too close to him or something.


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## Katnapper (Jan 7, 2009)

Kruszakus said:


> I never saw mine mate, and all my males died approx 3 weeks of age (they matured 7-8 days before Christmas), which led me to believe that I failed with this species - but today I found 10-12 healthy little nymphs in the female's enclosure - there is a lot of twigs and branches with leaves, so I could not find any ooths - but I guess, that all went okay since there are nymphs... unless this species can reproduce through parthenogenesis, but I don't know anything about that.


Well congratulations, Kruszakus!  Looks like you did good... and didn't even realize it. Hope things go well with the nymphs...


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## Kruszakus (Jan 8, 2009)

I once saw like 3 cm long sub-adult male grab and eat a big, fat house fly - like the one in the picture, ate just the head and was totally done - it's fun to see what they can grab with those tiny arms  

Yeah - just so happens that another ooth is hatching right now - so far 6-8 nymphs popped ut of it - the ooth was hidden on the bottom side of a leaf, so I was unable to see it - and I still don't know where is the ooth that hatched yesterday...

*EDIT: And another ooth has hatched - I have like 30 nymphs right now - sweet  This one was also hidden in a crazy place - just between the netting and the lid - there is maybe like 2 mm space there - some nymphs hatched through the netting, hehehe  *

*EDIT II: Yet another ooth popped with like 8 nymphs - out of four ooths I found just two... those mantids are indeed a bit peculiar  *

Guess that all that panicking was for nothing - and it's the only species I've had and bred that I never saw mating! All my males are dead, so the next generation maybe...

I wanted to ship ooths - but there is NO CHANCE of that! It's like -12C in Europe!


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## Frack (Jan 8, 2009)

Gratz! Thats funny the oothecas are hidden lol, my females laid all hers on the lid.


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## Kruszakus (Jan 9, 2009)

Today yet another ooth hatched - and I could not find it as well.I think I'll move the rest of the females to smaller containers - where they lay ooths only on the mesh screen in the corner of the container... I guess this species instinctively looks for a safe and well concealed spot to lay ooths.


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## revmdn (Jan 9, 2009)

Congrats on the new kids!


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## Kruszakus (Jan 11, 2009)

Today another three ooths have hatched.

One was really in a REALLY weird place! Nymphs were coming out from a hole in the cardboard! Like when you cut through the cardboard, and there is an empty space there (you can see it in the picture with a freshly molted adult female) - you can barely stick a match in there... a female laid an ooth inside, so there was no way of noticing it, and today like a dozen of nymphs popped out from this tiny hole in the cardboard!


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## Katnapper (Jan 11, 2009)

Kruszakus said:


> Today another three ooths have hatched.One was really in a REALLY weird place! Nymphs were coming out from a hole in the cardboard! Like when you cut through the cardboard, and there is an empty space there - you can barely stick a match in there... a female laid an ooth inside, so there was no way of noticing it, and today like a dozen of nymphs popped out from this tiny hole in the cardboard!


Hahaha.... so much for failing with this species... I'm glad for you!


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## Kruszakus (Jan 11, 2009)

I just hope that the cold weather will subside - I'd like to ship some ooths, cause there ain't no chance of selling all the nymphs in Poland...


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## Katnapper (Jan 11, 2009)

Kruszakus said:


> I just hope that the cold weather will subside - I'd like to ship some ooths, cause there ain't no chance of selling all the nymphs in Poland...


Hmmm.... yes.... I'd like you to ship some to me!  Like I need any more mantis right now...


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## Kruszakus (Jan 11, 2009)

Females are barely 25 days old - I think they should still be alive one month from now, I bet it will be a lot warmer then - let's see how it goes


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## Katnapper (Aug 5, 2009)

Hey Kruszakus, I saw a pair of mine mating yesterday.


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## Kruszakus (Aug 5, 2009)

Katnapper said:


> Hey Kruszakus, I saw a pair of mine mating yesterday.


You something quite rare then - I never saw mine mate, and I had a horseload of pairs


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## Katnapper (Aug 5, 2009)

Kruszakus said:


> You something quite rare then - I never saw mine mate, and I had a horseload of pairs


They reminded me of the Walking Stick pairs that I had last year mating... looked very similar in "posture/position." I guess I got lucky, as I don't sit and watch them much at all. I just happened to be inspecting their cage to see if anyone was molting before I misted them... and there they were.


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