Idolo update

Two Idolos molted to L6 last night/this morning. Unfortunately I fell asleep before I wet the paper towel. Humidity was only around 35% when I woke up.

Mantid #1 molted from the metal screen top. I found it in a mangled mess on the floor of the cage. The skin was completely off and on the floor near the mantid. It was still alive but badly bent. He became Rhombodera basalis food.

Mantid #2 molted on the sticks/leaves of the cage. It was still on its way out when I woke up, came out perfect. Good lord these are getting big! Her forelegs are bigger than my adult male R. basalis.

Here is their cage:



There is a bamboo frame with sticks, thorn bushes, and coconut husk fiber woven into the frame I made. There are only a few small spots where the mantids can actually hang from the metal screen top...of course mantid #1 chooses one of them.

My take is that the mantid got out clean, then tried to climb back up its old skin and it broke. The other one didn't have a problem with it though. We'll see what happens to mantid #3...

Wrong pic? That's a female Gongy.

I believe Idolos do best in their natural habitat during the rainy season. This species does so much better in humid conditions.

Brian Aschenbach said:

Wrong pic? That's a female Gongy.

I believe Idolos do best in their natural habitat during the rainy season. This species does so much better in humid conditions.

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No its correct, I just had the Gongylus in there for better heat. Once they bred I switched them with the Idolos. According to that chart I posted a few weeks ago, it should be around 60% with an increase to ~70% during the rainy season (into adulthood). Great luck that the night they molt is the night I forget to spray.

The mantid got out fine, I checked the skin and it was normal with no breaks, bends, or limbs still in there.

Could have been a sabotage of some sort by a disgruntled cage mate...

It seems, from my experiences, that the higher humdidity helps, but none of my mismolts were still IN their skins when I found them. They all seemed to suffer mishaps during repositioning. Two of them had completely extended wings, just not perfectly folded. Even the one I watched molt into adult on the side of the enclosure got out fine, and crumpled afterwards.

I think tons of very soft, spongy material on the bottom might have saved some of mine. I've seen ghosts (obviously less massive) fall about 2 feet and then just crawl back up, right as rain and finish drying. I think the Idols are "breaking" during their fall, and hardening their skin in a mangled heap. And I'm not sure screen or twig make a difference...

I had a mis mold to last night. Sub adult Idolo to Adult. She came out her old skin, but her front legs where bent en 2 other legs to. She can't stand. I have changed there inclosure today, with more branches and on the sides of the inclosure I placed gauze.

Idolo #3 molted perfectly some time last night from the twigs and leaves. The humidity was ~50% when I woke up. They are 2/2 molting from the twigs and leaves, 0/1 from the metal screen. Just an observation.

On a side note, apparently I didn't get the memo that it was mantis activities night. My runt armless violin molted to a nice 3.5" adult, 2 female shields molted nicely to adulthood, obviously the Idolo, two budwings molted, and a Chinese ooviposited again. Yesssssssss

Would it be better when I place a musquito screen over the metal screen. Or doesn't make that any different.

guapoalto049 said:

Idolo #3 molted perfectly some time last night from the twigs and leaves. The humidity was ~50% when I woke up. They are 2/2 molting from the twigs and leaves, 0/1 from the metal screen. Just an observation.

On a side note, apparently I didn't get the memo that it was mantis activities night. My runt armless violin molted to a nice 3.5" adult, 2 female shields molted nicely to adulthood, obviously the Idolo, two budwings molted, and a Chinese ooviposited again. Yesssssssss

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Congrate guapoalto049! Similar to you I have better molting rate on twigs than mesh screen.

naeff002 said:

Would it be better when I place a musquito screen over the metal screen. Or doesn't make that any different.

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It would be better than metal screen. You can use pantyhose or just add more twigs, but keep the cage warm and humidity high. Good luck.

Sorry about the fall.

what if you changed your "flooring" to a fine net with a bit of sag in it?

by the way:

at 80f and 60% with house fly, moth or soldier fly - 3x's a week

my idolos are -

L3 to L4 20 day span

L4 to L5 20 day span

***can i expect another 20 day span to L6 ?

paddythemic said:

what if you changed your "flooring" to a fine net with a bit of sag in it?

by the way:

at 80f and 60% with house fly, moth or soldier fly - 3x's a week

my idolos are -

L3 to L4 20 day span

L4 to L5 20 day span

***can i expect another 20 day span to L6 ?

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I haven't kept track of their days between sheds, though I didn't notice a longer period for L6 than L5. The change of flooring may be something that could help!

How big is that tank you are keeping it in? A 10 gallon tank or more of a 20 gallon tank?

kitkat39 said:

How big is that tank you are keeping it in? A 10 gallon tank or more of a 20 gallon tank?

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10 gallon @ 12" high x 10" deep x 20" long

Just to illustrate my point about how the Idols seem to at least PREFER the heat, if not actually NEEEDING it. They would huddle under the warmest possible spots, until I decided to just increase the heat throughout and let them climb don't if they had an issue with it (which they didn't). As I mentioned in an earlier post, it was 100 degrees where their feet were, which had me concerned, but they didn't seem bothered at all.

that's a very nice group you have there.

"Had", sadly. Just incubating ooths and my lazy slurm queen now. An-ti-ci-pa-tion!

Sporeworld said:

"Had", sadly. Just incubating ooths and my lazy slurm queen now. An-ti-ci-pa-tion!

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Incubating ooths? You thinking about selling any when they hatch?

Not planning on it - not for this generation, anyway. I'm hoping to do a number of enclosures and very different environments, and track the success. I got 3 out of 20 to adult last time, so I need numbers to do MUCH better than that.

I'll keep everyone posted.

Sporeworld said:

Not planning on it - not for this generation, anyway. I'm hoping to do a number of enclosures and very different environments, and track the success. I got 3 out of 20 to adult last time, so I need numbers to do MUCH better than that.

I'll keep everyone posted.

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Nice! Hopefully you can find a method that keeps them more consistently in culture.