# Connor's Mantis Collection



## Connor (Oct 7, 2017)

Well, I finally decided to do one of these, and I'm super excited about it. I've been wanting to share my whole collection for a while, just haven't gotten around to it. I can't wait to see where this goes in the future! 

DISCLAIMERS: sorry if this is in the wrong section... didn't know where the correct place was. PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE help me get the genders and age right; I am still learning and will except any help. Thank you for any responses!

LET'S BEGIN: 

Sphodromantis Lineola Subadult Male





He was in my first ever package of mantis... he was part of the reason I got hooked. He's the most aggressive mantis I own(except for my female) and is always entertaining to watch hunt. But he has caused me lots of trouble... even escaping his enclosure a few time lol. 

Sphodromantis Lineola Presub Female





She had to be the most aggressive mantis I own... absolutely crazy. I plan on breeding her with my male and hopefully continuing the generations.

Pseudocreobotra Wahlbergi L5/L6 Female?





She(?) was also included in my first package of mantis. The most color changing species in my collection, going from black and white poke dots to pink and white to now green and white and black. One of my more confident mantis. She(?) is always throwing her arms in the air and more than occasionally eats a fly with one arm just to show off lol.

Pseudocreobotra Wahlbergi L3ish 





This spiny is siblings with my other but it had gotten sick a while back and now refuses to molt. Very strange. It hasn't molted now for a month and is 2 molts behind it's sibling. 

Epaphrodita Musarum L5ish Male(?) 





Love this little guy! He is one of my most cool looking mantis. Heard these guys are rare so I will definitely be interested in breeding him(?). I will definitely be able to determine age next molt. 

Hymenopus Coronatus Presub Female





I shouldn't have to explain it, but she is definitely one of my favorites. She is my most calm mantis; I have never scared her or made her freak out at all. When I push her along she goes slowly and willingly. Not to mention how pretty she is. But she's an eater... munching down BBs in a minute! Will 100% be breeding her. I have some males on the way. 

Phyllocrania Paradoxa

Crazy little guys! The leave patterns on them are just absolutely incredible. 100% will be breeding! Males are behind a molt atm.

L4/5 Female





L4/L5 Female





L3/4 Male(?)





L3/4 Male(?)





Brunneria Borealis Ootheca





Heard these guys are a little more difficult species but I love the look of them so I had to get some. It might take a while but hopefully the wait is worth the reward. 

Blepharopsis Mendica Presub(?) Female(?)





One of my favorites for sure. I love the coloration and texture on this mantis. And boy is she a eater! Definitely wanting to breed her.

Stagmomantis Californica Adult Mama





Here is my female carolina mantis munching on a Dubia preparing for a ooth lay. My uncle actually found her outside then brought her to me, knowing that I love mantis. She was a sub and boy was I surprised when she had wings one day. I have bred her and she has already laid one big healthy ooth!

Stagmomantis Californica Adult Papa





Not much to say other than he got the job done lol. Bought him specifically for breeding.

Stagmomantis Californica Ootheca 





Cannot wait for it to hatch!

Deroplatys Lobata L4/5ish Male(?)





My most skittish mantis. He doesn't take off but instead goes immediately into stick formation. He is also the slowest possible eater EVER lol.

Gongylus Gongylodes L4(ish) Male and Female(?)





Some of the most cooling looking mantis. And the most communal in my opinion. Their name is no joke. As soon as you open that lid they start exploring. Hopefully I will be able to breed these guys

ON THE WAY: 

I have a Otomantis Scutigera ooth in route

I also have some Idolos and male orchid on the way. Breeder is waiting for idolos to molt.

Thank you so much for reading if you have gotten this far. This took a lot longer than I thought it would lol. But who cares... I now have a post of all my wonderful mantis. Lmk what you guys think.


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## Serle (Oct 7, 2017)

hey Connor , marvelous looking herd , quite the cross section of species. I have a few Blepharopsis at the same stage L6/7 certainly taking their time moulting to adult .............. S


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## Connor (Oct 7, 2017)

Hey @Serle. Thanks, I love them all! I really love all the different kinds of mantis so that is what I am going for. Good luck with your thistles. Lmk if you'd be willing to perhaps do some exchanging for a male when the time comes  .


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## Carnival Glass (Oct 7, 2017)

Wow you've got quite a lil family there! I commend you for keeping track of so many lol. I'd like to try my hand at keeping Blepharopsis Mendica someday too.  ^_^


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## Jessie (Oct 7, 2017)

I have a caralina mantis to female. Very agressive. My mom gently touched her foot the first day and she took the banana under her rapture swatted at my mom and took off haha. Shes slowly tameing. I hold her with my sock on my hand. The other day i went to put her in her cage ans she grabbed my pants and started biting them.


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## Connor (Oct 7, 2017)

Carnival Glass said:


> Wow you've got quite a lil family there! I commend you for keeping track of so many lol. I'd like to try my hand at keeping Blepharopsis Mendica someday too.  ^_^


Thanks! Lol it doesn't even take that long everyday to take care of them. 10 minutes at the most if I didn't get them all out to feed and continually watch them with awe. B. Mendica are amazing! Just make sure you got a heat source.



Jessie said:


> I have a caralina mantis to female. Very agressive. My mom gently touched her foot the first day and she took the banana under her rapture swatted at my mom and took off haha. Shes slowly tameing. I hold her with my sock on my hand. The other day i went to put her in her cage ans she grabbed my pants and started biting them.


Geez she seems pretty aggressive. Mine is just really skittish. If I scare even a little bit she starts running around like crazy!


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## Shaun Young (Oct 8, 2017)

Connor, you mentioned having some orchid mantids on the way? Where did you order them from / what website? I was not able to find any at all on any website that were available !


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## Connor (Oct 8, 2017)

Shaun Young said:


> Connor, you mentioned having some orchid mantids on the way? Where did you order them from / what website? I was not able to find any at all on any website that were available !


They are from @Savechanges. One of the best breeders that I've done business with. I strongly recommend him if your looking for some mantis. I believe he has got some L3-L4 orchids for like 30 bucks. Tell him I sent you!


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## Ocelotbren (Oct 9, 2017)

Great collection, thanks for sharing!


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## Connor (Oct 9, 2017)

Ocelotbren said:


> Great collection, thanks for sharing!


Thank you!


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## Logan_123 (Oct 9, 2017)

You have my dream collection?. Will you be selling any mantids that come from your ooths? BTW you should start a YouTube channel for mantids! I think you would make some great vids


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## Connor (Oct 9, 2017)

@Logan_123Haha thanks. I for sure will be selling some nymphs. I'll think about a channel, but I do not have my own laptop yet or know how to edit. Maybe in the future


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## Okoboji22 (Oct 9, 2017)

Great collection! How can you take care of so many at once? :blink:  Also, you should post some more pics of that epaphrodita on a different post as they aren't just rare, I think they are actually completely new to the USA


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## Connor (Oct 9, 2017)

@Okoboji22Thank you! The maintenance honestly isn't bad at all. When I will start having to spend a lot of time is when all my ooths start hatching. Once I get home I'll put some more pics on.


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## Connor (Oct 9, 2017)

UPDATE: 10/09/17

Another ghost molted on 10/07. Turns out one of the males is actually a female  ! I'm going to hope this last ghost is a male or else I'm gonna have to hunt one down.





All three of my newly hatched lady ghosts





My female Giant African successfully molted once again(10/08). But she is not as big as my male and her wingbuds aren't as apparent. Is it true that the females of this species have one extra molt?





And here are some pics of the E. Musarum for @Okoboji22 I believe it's a male but I'll be sure next molt.


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## Okoboji22 (Oct 9, 2017)

Thanks for posting more of the epaphrodita, there's almost no pictures of this species and I find them pretty interesting. They're like a shorter and stockier deroplatys.


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## Connor (Oct 9, 2017)

Okoboji22 said:


> Thanks for posting more of the epaphrodita, there's almost no pictures of this species and I find them pretty interesting. They're like a shorter and stockier deroplatys.


Yeah exactly how I would describe it as well.


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## Connor (Oct 13, 2017)

GIANT UPDATE: 10/12/17

My packages have arrived this week! I now have wayyy too many mantids but who cares lol. So I'll go through the list of stuff I have received and then I'll go through updates of my past mantids. Any help or response would be greatly appreciated!

First up are my group of Idolos! These guys are magnificent creatures. Absolutely beautiful and so majestic. These will be my first real challenge in this hobby so let me know what you guys think. I got 2 female L3s and 4 male L3s. I tried getting older females but unfortunately there were none so I will be providing the girls with more heat and food! These pics are not in order or are any specific sex(I can't remember which is which, once they start having some more personal details I will be able to remember). Props to @Savechangesfor handling such a large order!















Males in net cage and females just in he regular enclosure. Let me know if I should change anything around?





Next are my pair of prohierodula laticollis. Stunning colors on these. Cannot wait for them to get their wings!







Last but not least are my two little orchid males. They better make my girl happy!







 Now onto the updates with my original mantids. 

My last ghost molted and it's a she  .... means I got to get a male now. At least I got 4 beautiful girls! This last girl that molted had a bit of an accident where she molted too close to the bottom. But the only thing affected was her crown. So now she looks like she's wearing a baseball cap lol. 





One of the violins molted. I have now confirmed both are girls so imma need some boys for them too lol. I will have to get a better pic soon because she is a pretty light green, a color I don't see violins having very often.





My D. Lobata molted as well. It is a she!





And last but certainly not least a NEW OOTH! My carolina laid again and this time she laid even bigger. I'm not interested in keeping this one so Pm me if you are interested.





lmk what you guys think! The idolos have quickly become my favorite if I'm going to be honest. I will get more pics out soon because these idolos will be molting shortly. Let's hope they do well molting! Thanks for reading everyone!


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## Ocelotbren (Oct 13, 2017)

Everyone looks great; glad they arrived safely.  I would enjoy another angle of the ghost with the baseball cap. :lol:   Also another of the greenish violin.  I have no experience with idolos so I can't comment on your setup, but it seems good.  Maybe a bit big for feeding purposes?  That's all that comes to mind.

Enjoy the new mantids!


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## Connor (Oct 14, 2017)

Thanks @Ocelotbren. They actually somehow find their food ok as I've watch them catch it. But I have been taking them out and feeding the separate as well. I will get some more pics Sunday as I am away right now


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## Logan_123 (Oct 16, 2017)

Umm your collection is my dream ?. So lucky! Are you going to start breeding and selling?


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## Connor (Oct 16, 2017)

Logan_123 said:


> Umm your collection is my dream ?. So lucky! Are you going to start breeding and selling?


Yeah I plan on breeding for sure. I have already sold one carolina ooth and I have more on the way. I have a O. Scutigera(boxer mantis) ooth that is going to hatch this week and I will be selling some of those hatchlings. But yeah I plan on breeding most of the species I keep. From there I plan on picking my favorites and focusing more heavily on them.


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## Logan_123 (Oct 16, 2017)

Cool! I would love to possibly buy from you when you start selling


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## Connor (Oct 16, 2017)

Logan_123 said:


> Cool! I would love to possibly buy from you when you start selling


Sweet man! I'll let you know when I got some for sale.


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## Connor (Oct 20, 2017)

UPDATE 10/20/17

A lot of things have happened but I have not have much time recently to update this thread. I honestly don't remember the dates of everything so I'm just going to put it in chronological order. 

@Ocelotbren here are some more pics you requested. 







Here are the violins. The other one molted green as well. But they seem to lose their green over time after molting for some reason. Now they are a tannish green.





Here is another shot of the baseball playing ghost haha.





Better pic of my Lobata girl.





My pretty lady Orchid has made it perfectly to sub-adult! My little males better catch up! 







One of my male idolos has successfully molted to L4! That's a cause for celebration ?! The second pic is showing the difference between L3 and L4. Crazy! 







My little spiny has gotten bigger! Not sure what instar but I'm guessing pre sub or sub. Has gained a ton of color, it really is amazing. I believe it is a female. So beautiful. Unfortunately my sick little spiny that refused to molt passed this morning...









My E. Musarum has molted to pre sub or sub. Some really cool characteristics one this GIRL. Yeah pretty sure it's a female. Gonna need a male for this little lady so hit me up and we could figure out some kind of breeding loan.







Was given another female Stagmomantis Carolina by a family member. Tried to breed her but she refused and ultimately ended up killing my male. Going to guess she mated in the wild. We will see though by how fast she lays ootheca. Btw if I post a carolina ooth it is not from this female unless it is noted. I'll be posting the ooths from my for sure fertile female.





Just got him today. A BEAUTIFUL male violin for my females. He has such amazing coloration.  I'll get a better pic of him soon. The pics don't even show his true coloration. Shout out to @Savechanges for sending me such a amazing little guy.





He also came with the violin. Hopefully he'll be able to do the job for all four of my female ghosts lol.

Well that's all for now. I have a ooth hatching soon so I'll probably put some more updates here soon. Thanks for reading!


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## Ocelotbren (Oct 20, 2017)

Some more great pictures.  The baseball playing ghost is super cute like that haha.  I only hope the kink in the crown won't cause any issues with molting.  It will be interesting to see how the crown looks after molting though.

Nice colors on your spiny flower mantis and also that new male violin, wow!

Looks like you're probably keeping busy with all your mantids lately.


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## Connor (Oct 20, 2017)

@OcelotbrenThanks! Oh geez I never thought about molting ?... hope that works out ok. 

Yeah that violin is a crazy color! 

Yeah ive been pretty busy with all the new arrivals but once everyone gets settled down, the maintenance should slow. Trying to balance school, work, and mantis. 

I'm collecting some potted fake plants to try and get some free roamers atm


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## Ocelotbren (Oct 21, 2017)

Well good luck to your little baseball player!  And have fun with the free range project.


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## Okoboji22 (Oct 21, 2017)

That's a lot of mantids. The ghost is really cute with the baseball cap. Also, with so many mantids do you name them and get attached or just keep them and let them do their own thing?


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## Connor (Oct 21, 2017)

@OcelotbrenThanks! Hopefully I don't lose any mantis trying to let them free roam...

@Okoboji22 Sure are a lot of them! Yeah she's a cutie! I have yet to name any... have a hard time picking names and for some reason I just like them without names. But if anyone has a good name, I'm up for using it. I have yet to have a mantis die that I have raised from a nymph so not sure if I get attached. Although it helps that with this hobby things are always constantly changing.


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## CollinR (Oct 22, 2017)

Connor I have to say you have an absolutely beautiful family! Makes me want to show mine! Looks like you're doing a phenomenal job in raising them healthily and safely. Keep us updated and take more photos! I love to see these threads. Those Violins and Orchids are definitely on my wish list of Mantids I need to raise some time.


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## Connor (Oct 22, 2017)

@CollinR Thanks! You should definitely create your own thread when you get the chance. My theory is that if even other people don't enjoy it, at least I got something to go back and look at! I have been making sure all the mantis are being spoiled haha. I will definitely be keeping this updated as long as I have to the time to. Violins and orchids are probably some of my top species atm. Don't let others scare you away from them saying the are hard to take care of... they're not! My orchids do completely fine with normal care, nothing special(other than extra misting). And the violins just need extra heat and some kind of netting. Hope you can get ahold of these two species some time(ik @Savechanges has violins and might have some orchids, @DeShawnhas violins and orchids coming soon).


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## CollinR (Oct 22, 2017)

Connor said:


> @CollinR Thanks! You should definitely create your own thread when you get the chance. My theory is that if even other people don't enjoy it, at least I got something to go back and look at! I have been making sure all the mantis are being spoiled haha. I will definitely be keeping this updated as long as I have to the time to. Violins and orchids are probably some of my top species atm. Don't let others scare you away from them saying the are hard to take care of... they're not! My orchids do completely fine with normal care, nothing special(other than extra misting). And the violins just need extra heat and some kind of netting. Hope you can get ahold of these two species some time(ik @Savechanges has violins and might have some orchids, @DeShawnhas violins and orchids coming soon).


Thanks! I'm really looking forward to seeing how your Mantids grow. I usually give mine a little extra misting too and they seem to enjoy it!


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## callisto9 (Oct 23, 2017)

AWESOME collection! So cool to see all these photos!  Thank you so much for sharing.


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## Connor (Oct 23, 2017)

@callisto9 Thanks?!


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## Connor (Oct 30, 2017)

UPDATE TIME: 10/30/17 phew time is flying by?

First but actually happened last night is my Sphodromantis Lineola molting to adult! This is my first adult raised by me from a young nymph. Sad but happy times. I still remember when he was just a small little nymph. Now he's a monster. Isn't he just magnificent?!











From here on out it will be in chronological order starting since I put my last update.

My Prohierodula Laticollis pair both molted to L6. They are stunning!





My ghosts have all molted except for 1 female. One of them is going green! Time to celebrate ?!







My female Lineola molted to Sub! She's a couple of weeks behind the male but I should still be able to breed. She is the biggest mantis in my collection. It freakin hurts when she walks on me!





My other orchid male has molted. They are both at L5 and my female is a week into sub adult. They need to pick up their pace!





All of my idolos have molted to L4 except one female. Got to catch one of the males in the act of molting.





Both of my female Carolinas have laid ooths. One of them thought they could hide it away from me in the very back of the aquarium  but I noticed the sudden weight loss and searches for the reason. These are both FOR SALE if anyone's interested.







And now for the new arrivals!

I bought a few groups of nymphs from @yen_saw, it was an amazing transaction.

A breeding group of 5 G. Amoena (L5). These guys have amazing color and differ a ton mantis to mantis.







Bought a group of 5 ocellatas... got 6! Cute little guys. Love them as adults as well. Btw they are not in the same container pictured. 







Got these next guys from a trade with @DeShawn

A pair of Hierodula K. (Presub)These guys have amazing colors and have quite the friendly personality.







And of course DeShawn being himself sent me a pair of B. Mendica (L4/5)as well. These guys are awesome and have got me back into the species after my older female has gotten sick for some strange reason. 





Well that's it for now. Hopefully things will start to slow down here soon and I stop spending all my money lol.


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## Ocelotbren (Oct 30, 2017)

Cool new additions!  Based on the picture of where your Carolina tried to hide her ooth, it seems like it's behind the Styrofoam backdrop of an Exo Terra or similar?  Isn't that the inset for putting cables and stuff?  If so, how in the world did she even get back there?  Maybe I'm envisioning the wrong thing.


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## Connor (Oct 30, 2017)

@Ocelotbren Thanks! Yeah that is exactly where she tried to hide it. There is a tiny little area where she can squeeze through to get back there. But she had to squeeze herself in crazy ways to accomplish that lol. Determined mother is what I would call that.


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## Ocelotbren (Oct 30, 2017)

Wow, I am impressed!  Determined mother indeed haha.


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## Okoboji22 (Oct 30, 2017)

Wow I don't think I could ever keep that many :blink: . Also what's that species of hierodula? I've never heard of a hierodula k. Before


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## Connor (Oct 30, 2017)

Okoboji22 said:


> Wow I don't think I could ever keep that many :blink: . Also what's that species of hierodula? I've never heard of a hierodula k. Before


Not going to lie, it's been starting to take up my time. But that's the whole point of a hobby, right?. They are Hierodula Kalimantan. Beautiful species.


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