CosbyArt mantid thread

[CosbyArt]

My first ooths of the year have hatched. So far two Chinese mantis ooths (Tenodera sinensis) started hatching just before midnight, so I've been dealing with them the last few hours (otherwise I'd be in bed as I have to be up in a few hours for Easter dinner and such). It was nice though seeing some tiny baby nymphs

I didn't bother to count all of them in the container itself - but the last photo (inside the container of the bottom corner) has 46 nymphs, and the entire 5 gallon container is crawling with them.

 

[LAME]

Look at all the babies!

 

[CosbyArt]

Look at all the babies!

There are a couple of babies, did you want any when they make L2?

I plan to keep them inside till it warms back up (some near freezing nights a few days ago), and they make it through a instar and release them back at my sisters, where I collected all those adult Chinese mantids last fall.

Thankfully my fruit fly cultures are ready for them too.

 

[CosbyArt]

I've just had a few more hatching nymphs; however, this time they are Brunner's mantis (Brunneria borealis) nymphs! I'm really excited about this as I got three wild ooths total, from two trades in early October last year - and these are the first nymphs I've seen from them.

Hopefully I will see more nymphs soon. I've been waiting to try out this native species since I saw photos about them, and their 100% parthenogenesis ooths, shortly after finding out about the mantid hobby.

Very strange to think that the nymphs are clones, I'll have to name them Dolly and Bonny.

 

[Brunneria]

Woohoo! Congrat.! I'm waiting on my brunners to hatch. They are taking FOREVER! LOL

 

[CosbyArt]

Woohoo! Congrat.! I'm waiting on my brunners to hatch. They are taking FOREVER! LOL

Thanks

Indeed you are one of the people I did the trade with. They definitely did take a long time for just two nymphs (about 5 months when I got it), hopefully your get some hatching soon as well.

 

[Sarah K]

Congrats Thomas! Looks like you got your hands full with babies! 

 

[CosbyArt]

I had another Brunner's mantis hatch this morning, up to three nymphs. I love their antenna's, they have a very unique look even as nymphs.

I also bought a Olympus FE-4000 camera today at a pawnshop, nothing special like my old DSLR's or anything, but is much better than my HP 5 MP camera. This camera is 12 MP and does amazingly "super-macros" if I can get close enough to them (I got some excellent test shots), but so far this was the best I could get of my new Brunner's nymph. Hopefully with some playing around with it I can get it setup for some decent shots even if they don't cooperate.

Congrats Thomas! Looks like you got your hands full with babies! 

Thanks, yeah they keep hatching. I have many more ooths to go too.

 

[Starving Always]

excited to see your new camera's pics!!

 

[CosbyArt]

excited to see your new camera's pics!!

I am too, especially compared to what I had for awhile. I fed my adult mantids flies before I thought of getting a photo, so here is one through the top (aluminum mesh is the weird thing in the way).

The camera has some "hot pixels" but definitely not bad for a point-and-shoot camera through mesh. I'll have to post some new photos coming up.

 

[Sticky]

Cosbyart, will you be selling any Brunners?

 

[LAME]

Thats actually not bad considering the photo is shot through mesh.  

 

[CosbyArt]

Cosbyart, will you be selling any Brunners?

I will sell a few if I get more than a handful to hatch. I'll shoot you a PM if that happens.

Thats actually not bad considering the photo is shot through mesh.  

Not bad for a $30 used camera.

So far the only downfall of it seems to be it requires plenty of indoor light for faster shutter speeds to prevent blurring of anything moving, typical of most point-and-shoot cameras. That shouldn't be a issue for mantids though as they like to hold still until they are doing the swaying (or Ghost antennas).

 

[Starving Always]

wow only $30?!?! thats super cheap!!! i was thinking of buying a camera for a low price too. point-and-shoot, nothing special. just macro clear pics.

 

[CosbyArt]

wow only $30?!?! thats super cheap!!! i was thinking of buying a camera for a low price too. point-and-shoot, nothing special. just macro clear pics.

Yeah it was $31.03 with tax, $29 without. If you do, go with a true camera maker name such as Canon, Nikon, Olympus, or Pentax. The other names are generics and no matter the megapixel size the optics & electronics are so bad they aren't worth getting (that includes avoiding Vivitar and Kodak as they went out of business years ago and the names was auction off).

My model has two macro modes, but requires plenty of light for a decent shutter speed to avoid too much blur. There is a common trick to get much better macro shots too with any camera and that is using a reversed prime camera lens (here is a pretty good article on it). Although you will have to hold the extra lens, or get a adapter tube if you can find one for your camera model. Best of luck finding one local.

 

[Starving Always]

i think i might just stick to one of the simple Canon cameras that wont be so macro, but still be clear. I have no idea how to work cameras and no knowledge on their equipment and their functions. 

 

[CosbyArt]

Here is a shot of one of my little Chinese nymphs.

View attachment 7285

 

[Kermit]

Very cool!

 

[Sarah K]

Awww.....so cute!

 

[bobericc]

Congrats on the brunners ooth hatch. Its been a long while since I've seen any on the forum. Wish you the best with them thomas