# Tenodera Sinensis



## Slinkytreekreeper (Feb 4, 2011)

I only have 2 of these and they are both low down dirty scuttlers, and for some reason they don't like looking at the lens like the Creobroters and Ghosts. Both molted to L2 since taking these.

I tried a few backgrounds to compare and really like the way the foam looks, feedback on background choice is most welcome. I think these could look really cool chilling on some long blades of grass or spider plant leaves.


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## Slinkytreekreeper (Feb 4, 2011)

a few more..


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## cuervo (Feb 4, 2011)

Great picture, they look grumpy. :taz:


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## Slinkytreekreeper (Feb 4, 2011)

A few with a reverse lens technique that I picked up looking at other peoples bug macro pics online, turns out a stock 50mm lens magnifies when you turn it round. Better magnification than a standard macro lens, just a paper thin depth of field to grab at though and loads of blurring everywhere else.

Limited I guess but it gets closer than a macro lens, I didn't even know this when I forked out for my first macro lens.


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## Slinkytreekreeper (Feb 4, 2011)

They look grumpy because they want to scuttle about and I marooned them on a bit of foam with yet another fly larvae to keep still. Cute but i'm going for some gongy's next to make it easier


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## hibiscusmile (Feb 5, 2011)

I like the one eyebrow! :lol:


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## Slinkytreekreeper (Feb 5, 2011)

What can I say, he is a messy eater, kind of captures his character more. Should I have removed the partial maggot for a cleaner look perhaps?

After speaking about stacking with Precarious, I decided to try a few stacks. I hadn't intended to stack with them so only had pairs of frames that went together.

Again, feedback most appreciated to help the learning curve.


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## Slinkytreekreeper (Feb 5, 2011)

Last usable couple of options to stack from this session of pics, the first took me ages and the second one was super fast and made two crappy pics into one of my favourites. Now I know what a path is, photoshop is getting more familiar too, thank god for all the youtube vids people have put up.

Is the joining obvious?


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## Precarious (Feb 6, 2011)

Awesome pics! I dig the black background. The contrast really pops.

The stacks look good. I did a manual stack of only 2 images the other day and it took forever. I guess that's why they made software to handle it. :huh:


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## Slinkytreekreeper (Feb 6, 2011)

From what I read only CS5 has focus stacking, cs4 does not. Layers will have to do. Maybe Photoshop would be a good buy, I don't see any competition. All that new context aware stuff seems somewhere between cheating and magical, kind of dirty but terribly compelling.

I don't think I can really justify the robotrailofdoom stackshot without getting some 20+ frame stacks under my belt even though I know i'm gonna love it. I still like the idea of a manual slide very much but it seems only the novoflex is precise enough to allow 10x mag and not slop.

Do you think the manfrotto 454 would be money wasted, a couple of people have it in the uk for under 70 quid inc postage. twitching for a basic rail but don't want to end up with another piece of ######, especially at twice the price that I paid for this bit of ######, lol


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## dgerndt (Feb 7, 2011)

Aw, I love them at that age! I love how the have that horizontal stripe on their face that eventually becomes a few vertical stripes.  Great photos, too. They're still so small at L2.


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## Slinkytreekreeper (Feb 7, 2011)

Thanks Deby, I tried to get the pseudopupil in that band really hard but failed every time. I think they would look cool, almost like sunglasses or a visor on.

I'm pretty sure that the place it can appear can change when a flash is used close but getting this close with natural light is proving difficult. I turned down an ooth of these as I hadn't actually got any mantids at that point and thought it more responsible to learn how to walk first. Now I want a mantis sanctuary


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## dgerndt (Feb 7, 2011)

Hee hee, maybe when he gets a little bigger you'll have an easier time getting it.  

I think you got it in picture #11, though. Assuming the pseudopupil is what I think it is. :lol: lol


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## angelofdeathzz (Feb 15, 2011)

Very good macros! really like post #2 pic 6, looks angry at your lens. :lol:


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## Slinkytreekreeper (Mar 12, 2011)

A couple more first instar I found when sorting some shots. You can make his 'toes' out.


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## Slinkytreekreeper (Mar 12, 2011)

I didn't manage to get any L2 shots of these two little guys as they molted so fast to L3 compared to Creos and Ghost, they caught up to same stage from 2 molts behind.


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## dgerndt (Mar 13, 2011)

AWW! So cute! I miss my Chinese...


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## Slinkytreekreeper (Mar 15, 2011)

Cheers Deby, I can see their eyes changing from one stripe to multiple like you said. Although my lovely green specimen is changing brown like the other one.

A 2 frame stack, finally got the eating tackle in.


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## dgerndt (Mar 15, 2011)

Yeah, my Chinese nymph was turning greener and greener with every molt until about L4, then he turned dirt brown all over. &lt;_&lt; I was disappointed, but he was still an awesome little guy.

Great photo, by the way. I love the golden background. It really makes your little guys pop!


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## Slinkytreekreeper (Apr 3, 2011)

Time for a few more pics.

L3 male, adventurous and clumsy as anything, so much character.


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## Slinkytreekreeper (Apr 3, 2011)

You can see his dodgy appendage in these, it molted out thankfully. Didn't slow him down for long.
















and a butt shot


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## Slinkytreekreeper (Apr 3, 2011)

A pair of 2 frame stacks


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## dgerndt (Apr 3, 2011)

I see that they're turning green! So pretty! These are what mine look like right now.


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## Slinkytreekreeper (Apr 3, 2011)

Hey debs, did you get some more? I hope so, you can tell you missed em. Lots of photos please  

I have a huge backlog of pics as I am totally trigger happy at the moment, I didn't get any pics of L4 as they didn't really change, just got a lot bigger and unfortunately this little guy is no longer. These are at L5 with my new lens a day or so before he started to turn deep brown. You can see how rich the colours are minutes after a molt in his face on the first one and the yellow and red patch under his neck on a couple of the other like PatrickFaser posted the other day.

His butt was squished in between the container lid he was sitting on and his container by a friend taking pics. He was munching on a cricket when the pot was knocked, mantis jumped onto the photographer (no names mentioned - you know who you are) causing a very manly man to squeal like a girl and lunge forward. The rest wasn't pretty, I put him in the freezer an hour later when his body was wafer thin and he couldn't stand. RIP little guy.


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## Slinkytreekreeper (Apr 3, 2011)

A few stacks, slowly getting a bit more confident with these, even if I do keep missing some data in my stacks. Frustratingly addictive though.

4 frames






6 frames






2 frames for these two


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## dgerndt (Apr 4, 2011)

These are great photos! I love how you take pictures of other body parts. I really enjoy being able to see other parts of a mantis up close. My eyes alone just aren't good enough to see the detail you're able to reveal.

I'm sorry to hear about that tragic accident.  I lost a sub-adult Chinese male to a vicious triple cat attack. I still miss the little guy...

But, yes, I did get some more nymphs! I got four L4 nymphs in the mail last week. Sadly, one mismolted the morning after I got them. The poor little guy didn't have a chance, as he had gotten stuck and I found him too late. I ended up feeding him to a hungry Ghost.  I felt bad, but it's the circle of life, I guess. The good news is that one had a perfect molt last night, and the rest seem very healthy. I'll make a new topic and post some pictures, just for you!


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## Slinkytreekreeper (Apr 4, 2011)

I couldn't bear to see him get munched up and perhaps I can still use him as a subject.

The guy above with the curled front leg (I really need to learn some terminology/taxonomy) had a bad molt prior to that one and had both his back legs stuck inside his exhuvia, dragging it about  

I pinned him down and soaked the area with a cotton bud and 20mins later he finally pulled one leg out of it. The other didn't come out at all so I cut it off way below his leg so he could move about. He never managed to nibble it all away but fed ok and never looked distressed. I don't know if they are frail compared to other species or if I was just getting the correct humidity but lots of people seem to have problems with Tenodera Nymphs early on. Hard to believe when they get bigger, I don't even need the macro lens to see his details now his L6 and tiny budwings, almost prehistoric in size compared to my creos.


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## dgerndt (Apr 5, 2011)

The only reason I was able to feed my mismolted mantis to my Ghost was because I hadn't had time to bond with him yet. Now if any of my other mantids were to have a mismolt or some sort of accident, I couldn't feed them to another. I love my little sweeties just too much.

There have been a few mismolts with my mantids, but I'm almost always able to help them out. I usually hold onto the old skin of a back leg, spray the mantis with a super fine mist, and let the mantis walk out of the skin on my hand. One or two of the back legs becomes crippled most of the time, but at least I've still got my mantis.


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## dgerndt (Apr 6, 2011)

I finally made a thread with pictures of my new nymphs.  Here's the link. My camera isn't nearly as good as yours, and my photo-taking skills are lacking a little bit, so don't have high hopes for great pictures.


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