FIRST WILD MANTIS FIND!!!! Gonatista grisea!!!

Thanks to Rob (aka Grob) for giving me the info on where to find these guys in the wild, I took his info to heart and headed toward a park he informed me had some. Getting there I didn't see any at first but I saw many other types of interesting insects so I knew this place was a good one to start. Well, I walked down a path near the water with a few oak trees and found 4 Gonatista grisea nymphs on one tree! At this point I felt like a freakin pokemon trainer trying my best to catch them all >.< In my excitement I took all 4 and now I don't even know where I'm going to put them. I have three of them in a 5 gallon tank and the largest one(that I think might be an L3 or 4) In a large jar.

Here's some pics from my shitty camera phone :]

If you can't keep them all contact Andrew Nisip, he is working to establish them in culture.

Yeah if you don't have the infrastructure you might want to consider releasing them or sending them off to someone who has a good setup for them.

Congrats, Scruffy. Must take some good eyesight to find this species given how well-camouflaged they are in their environment.

Looks like the house u have them in is fine, the first one is nosing around! The 5 gallon should be fine for them, u got food? Cant believe u found them in one try!

Good job! You got one of the most sought after native species on your first go!

I plan on getting more jars and food tomorrow. For tonight they'll live together.

I hope you find more, we all want some. unk:

Nice find.

Which park did you go to? And yes, if you have questions about their setup and such, send me a PM...

Awesome find by the way! Once you know where and what to look for....it gets a lot easier....

Nice!

What park did you go to?

If it was a national or state park, you might want to read their policy. You aren't allowed to take anything - not even a dingy pebble, let alone algae, plants, or living creatures - out of the park boundaries. Once when we were leaving Crater Lake, there were huge pinecones that were about a foot long. We wanted to take some home as a decoration, because a woman gathering firewood told us we were outside of the park. Turned out that we weren't, so when we reached the exit booth, we verified and then handed them the pinecones.

Yes ScienceGirl this was true. The park I went didn't permit people taking anything from the park out. And they were checking people at the exit. BUT Like a sneak I put the pocket jar I had them in under my seat and got away with it >.>

The Park was Tree Tops.

Great job! That is so exciting

The mantis in the top left red circle looks to be pre-sub male and the last picture (the bottom zoomed one) looks to be pre-sub female...cant tell about the other two though...

All the best,

Andrew

Time will only tell. But I'll be sure to photograph them with my good camera so you guys can tell me what's what. I think one lost a leg I saw a severed leg on the ground in the 5 gallon.

Cool. They are easy to keep.

Any updates?

Did they eat each other?

Saludos,

Estoy pensando en criar la Gonatista Grisea, como son los cuidados ???