# Nymph care after shipping?



## rbird (Sep 16, 2015)

I'm new to this hobby. After people receive a nymph in the mail _exactly _what do you do to take care of them afterward? I seem to kill them ; (

Leave them alone for 1, 2 or more days?

Feed and leave alone? Don't feed?

I was immediately feeding then leaving alone for a couple of days before doing anything else. BUT I can't keep my nymph's alive for more than a week! (Ghosts)

I thought I figured out why; I was using tap water to wash out the deli cup but leaving some drops inside to keep up the humidity. I don't know if that did it but I'll remember to use distilled now.

Then today, after receiving an active Popa spurca, African Twig Nymph. I fed it a fruit fly. It died within hours of eating it. It ate one immediately, then attacked and held a second but didn't eat it. Now it's almost dead (with the squirming fruit fly in it's raptors.) Did I stress it out by feeding it so soon after receiving it? I opened the container dropped in two fruit flies and that was it. Maybe I'm jinxed? or is that just how it goes?

Is this average? What _exactly_ do you guys do to care for nymphs after receiving them in the mail?


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## Ranitomeya (Sep 16, 2015)

First thing to do is offer them water to drink if they're a species that will drink. You can feed them immediately after unpacking, but remove food if they're uninterested or act threatened by the food items.

It's not normal for a mantis to suddenly die soon after being received unless they experienced stresses through shipping that they could not handle. Feeding usually means they went through shipping okay and they would not suddenly die from feeding soon after feeding. It is possible that it is something in your environment that is killing them.

You should be using a spray bottle to avoid large puddles of water that they can get trapped in permanently or temporarily. I avoid using tapwater, especially tapwater from the city since it tends to contain high levels of chemicals used to make it "safe" for human consumption.


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## rbird (Sep 17, 2015)

Ranitomeya said:


> It is possible that it is something in your environment that is killing them.


Thank you for the advice and suggestions.

Well, I do live in Los Angeles... but the S. Limbata I found and keeping inside is doing fine for a couple of months now so, I don't think it's my environment.

I don't doubt the shipping is very stressful for the little guys. So far the ghost that arrived with the shipment ate 2 ff and is hanging out.

He looks like an L3 so a little bigger and stronger.

Anyone else have a guess as to your survival rate after shipping? Overnite? 2 day Priority? With L2's ? L3's ? etc. What have you experienced? 90%? 50%?

So far I'm at 25%. Not good.

I don't have much personal experience so I'm just trying to learn what to expect on average.


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## CosbyArt (Sep 17, 2015)

rbird said:


> Thank you for the advice and suggestions.
> 
> Well, I do live in Los Angeles... but the S. Limbata I found and keeping inside is doing fine for a couple of months now so, I don't think it's my environment.
> 
> ...


Sounds like your postman might be rough with all your packages, it happens. You might try requesting that your packages be held at the post office for you to get (can be done from the shipper selecting the option, or you can call the post office before it arrives too), and see if that fixes the issue.

I use to have one sob, years before insects thankfully, that would do whatever it took to smash a package into the mailbox or simply launch it from the street to the door - to solve that problem I had to quit having things shipped to my home and used one of my families addresses. Lately I had one box I received awhile back that had 10 nymphs individual packaged, only 2 are still alive - most didn't make it beyond the first few days. Usually though thankfully I don't have many problems anymore (knock on wood).

I always use priority mail (which is 2 or 3 days depending on distance) myself and have had a range of feeders and mantid species (L2-L4) arrive with little problem, typically about 95% survival rate. When selling things the only problem I ran into was shipping fruit flies as the adult flies don't survive long; however, they usually laid enough eggs and nymphs hatching that the culture is thriving within 3 to 7 days of arriving. Mantid nymphs I ship at L2-L4 and they do just fine usually, but when shipping adult mantids it seems there can some issues occasionally (never bought any adults myself so I am not sure of the stats on that one).

Also when anything arrives, immediately take the box inside and cut open the box so they can cool/warm up back to room temperature - if I'm not around my wife does that and it helps. After an hour for them to get back to proper temps and to rest a bit, I mist and feed them, and most are really hungry from their trip.


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## Rick (Sep 17, 2015)

I immediately put them into their new enclosures and give them water and some food. Mantids are usually thirsty and hungry after being shipped. I do try to eliminate additional stress by getting them into their new homes quickly.


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## rbird (Sep 17, 2015)

CosbyArt said:


> You might try requesting that your packages be held at the post office for you to get (can be done from the shipper selecting the option, or you can call the post office before it arrives too), and see if that fixes the issue.
> 
> I always use priority mail (which is 2 or 3 days depending on distance) myself and have had a range of feeders and mantid species (L2-L4) arrive with little problem, typically about 95% survival rate.


I'll hold at the post office in the future. Of course, it's risky with high temps this time of year so, I shouldn't be surprised.

Do many of you use overnight? Good results with that?



Rick said:


> I immediately put them into their new enclosures and give them water and some food. Mantids are usually thirsty and hungry after being shipped. I do try to eliminate additional stress by getting them into their new homes quickly.


All the mantids in the past wanted to eat so I've fed them. Offering water I have not done because they all ate upon arrival. I'll offer water too.

(Over feeding was a problem once; a ghost L2 ate 5 ff the first day then threw up red liquid a day later, threw up again the next day and died that afternoon. Learned my lesson on overfeeding with that guy.)

Moving to a new enclosure I didn't do. I thought that might add stress so I left them in the tiny deli cup.

I'll move the new ghost to it's permanent enclosure today and mist the walls. See how that works. He ate 2 ff yesterday.

Thanks again.


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