My new pets - Dead leaf (Deroplatys lobata)

I received two Dead leaf mantis (Deroplatys lobata) nymphs today in the mail, and both are doing great! Lame was nice enough to give them to me as a gift. The nymphs came from MantidBro, and due to the cold weather he sent a extra just in case.

You can read more about his original mantises that made the ooth, and the nymphs when they hatched. I find it interesting to see where the new nymphs came from, and that they have family.

Anyway they are both doing great in their new habitats, and have been eating Hydei fruit flies.

Even at this small stage, and their trip, they are both very active and curious. The first one likes to sit and walk around on me doing the wind dance/swinging and watches me constantly. It then gets bored and flares it's raptor forelegs until I put my other hand near it so it can change hands.

The other nymph likes to run around and when the camera (or anything) gets close it will jump to it and inspect it. The nymph jumped at my camera 3 times while I tried to take the photo - once it was about 10" away and it landed on the lens like it had walked over.

I figured due to the late time and their trip they needed to eat and get to bed. I'll post more photos in this topic later, and some nice close-ups.

Many thanks to Lame for the gift, it is greatly appreciated - and to MantidBro for the safe shipping with the extra baby

Oh my... I forgot how small they were... Too cute!

They are quite active... but mine learned real quick...that they liked the hand that fed them.. plus then they got to come out..

Thanks for sharing!

CosbyArt said:

I received two Dead leaf mantis (Deroplatys lobata) nymphs today in the mail, and both are doing great! Lame was nice enough to give them to me as a gift. The nymphs came from MantidBro, and due to the cold weather he sent a extra just in case.

You can read more about his original mantises that made the ooth, and the nymphs when they hatched. I find it interesting to see where the new nymphs came from, and that they have family.

Anyway they are both doing great in their new habitats, and have been eating Hydei fruit flies.

Even at this small stage, and their trip, they are both very active and curious. The first one likes to sit and walk around on me doing the wind dance/swinging and watches me constantly. It then gets bored and flares it's raptor forelegs until I put my other hand near it so it can change hands.

The other nymph likes to run around and when the camera (or anything) gets close it will jump to it and inspect it. The nymph jumped at my camera 3 times while I tried to take the photo - once it was about 10" away and it landed on the lens like it had walked over.

I figured due to the late time and their trip they needed to eat and get to bed. I'll post more photos in this topic later, and some nice close-ups.

Many thanks to Lame for the gift, it is greatly apperciated - and to MantidBro for the safe shipping with the extra baby

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Awesome! They are looking healthy indeed! LOL they ARE quite the jumpers arent they?? nice set ups!

LOL the soda cap top is pretty cool! I'm guessing the lid itself comes off??

fingers crossed for a lady, hopefully you'll end up with one of each.

dmina said:

Oh my... I forgot how small they were... Too cute!

They are quite active... but mine learned real quick...that they liked the hand that fed them.. plus then they got to come out..

Thanks for sharing!

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These are much bigger than my Carolinas, even the newly molted L3 ones . They do love being held, never had any like this yet, but hopefully the jumping will subside. I'm afraid they will get hurt/lost/or one of my cats will get them when the one gets jumping.

MantidBro said:

Awesome! They are looking healthy indeed! LOL they ARE quite the jumpers arent they?? nice set ups!

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That they are, at least the one is. Thanks, it was something to hold them for now while they are small, I'll make something better as they grow.

LAME said:

LOL the soda cap top is pretty cool! I'm guessing the lid itself comes off??

fingers crossed for a lady, hopefully you'll end up with one of each.

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Yeah, the deli cup functions as normal as the caps are only in the lid. They are top halves of empty pill bottles (like all my habitats), makes it better than a sponge (when there is enough room). It lets me feed anything including crickets, depending on how fast the babies grow and what they like. After all feeding crickets through a small sponge hole is difficult.

That would be nice, time will tell.

CosbyArt said:

These are much bigger than my Carolinas, even the newly molted L3 ones . They do love being held, never had any like this yet, but hopefully the jumping will subside. I'm afraid they will get hurt/lost/or one of my cats will get them when the one gets jumping.

That they are, at least the one is. Thanks, it was something to hold them for now while they are small, I'll make something better as they grow.

Yeah, the deli cup functions as normal as the caps are only in the lid. They are top halves of empty pill bottles (like all my habitats), makes it better than a sponge (when there is enough room). It lets me feed anything including crickets, depending on how fast the babies grow and what they like. After all feeding crickets through a small sponge hole is difficult.

That would be nice, time will tell.

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They are big arent they? bigger than most nymphs at L2! And the jumping does subside haha once they get bigger... My adult female never jumps. My adult male used to fly a bit but not so much that he was out of control. I do think they are females but i wont promise just in case lol

MantidBro said:

They are big arent they? bigger than most nymphs at L2! And the jumping does subside haha once they get bigger... My adult female never jumps. My adult male used to fly a bit but not so much that he was out of control. I do think they are females but i wont promise just in case lol

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Yes they are. Glad to see what instar stage they are, I meant to ask to be sure. As they will be twice as big when adults as the Carolina I guess that is why they are bigger - perhaps that means when my Miomantis paykullii ooth hatches those nymphs will be the size of fruit flies.

Nice to hear they mellow out. I find it cute, but I'm afraid they will get hurt. Flying, I'll worry about when they become adults if they are males, I got time

Well the jumping has stopped, at least unless something is with inches of them and they jump to investigate.

Here are some new photo's of both of my nymphs. Believe it or not they were taken at the same time/day/place but depending on where I held them the background really affected the image colors, and both nymphs actually look quite dark almost black normally.

Here is my first nymph....












And my 2nd nymph...

CosbyArt said:

Well the jumping has stopped, at least unless something is with inches of them and they jump to investigate.

Here are some new photo's of both of my nymphs. Believe it or not they were taken at the same time/day/place but depending on where I held them the background really affected the image colors, and both nymphs actually look quite dark almost black normally.

Here is my first nymph....

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Aw man they do look male for sure. Sorry! X_X i didnt have my pops iphone at the time so used my naked eye which seems not to have worked very well. Lol. Well you can always find a female in the future, and do a trade, im sure in the future someone might need a male for breeding purposes. Those are great photos by the way, awesome how close you can get!

MantidBro said:

Aw man they do look male for sure. Sorry! X_X i didnt have my pops iphone at the time so used my naked eye which seems not to have worked very well. Lol. Well you can always find a female in the future, and do a trade, im sure in the future someone might need a male for breeding purposes. Those are great photos by the way, awesome how close you can get!

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Bound to happen, but at least you were consistent with picking both. Indeed I'll do some trading or buying when it comes time. Or offer one in trade for a couple of ooths laid from his efforts.

Thanks but I was hoping to get better shots, but heck even when these two aren't running around or jumping they are swaying around. I think they have ADHD or something - they are definitely some active nymphs

They are so cute... Yeah, you have lots of time to figure out what to do with them... I think you are going to enjoy their size Thomas... and the more you handle them.. the more they will like to come out and be with you... I really enjoyed both of my dead leafs.. lobata & desiccata..

I agree with dmina, when echo was found... She was handled alot, come sub/adult she loved coming out. Any time I put my hand in her tank she would come crawling over.. And when outside her home she really wouldn't move from her little areas.

I'm glad you like your deadleaf boys buddy

LAME said:

I agree with dmina, when echo was found... She was handled alot, come sub/adult she loved coming out. Any time I put my hand in her tank she would come crawling over.. And when outside her home she really wouldn't move from her little areas.

I'm glad you like your deadleaf boys buddy

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Mine were/are the same way, they love coming out, and go for my hand as soon as I put it in. Or will start climbing up the container when i take the lid off. When these nymphs first hatched they were scared of me, but now they have calmed down, and wont try running. They gladly climb onto me now. Im like there own safe personal tree lol

dmina said:

They are so cute... Yeah, you have lots of time to figure out what to do with them... I think you are going to enjoy their size Thomas... and the more you handle them.. the more they will like to come out and be with you... I really enjoyed both of my dead leafs.. lobata & desiccata..

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No problems there I try to get each out at least once a day for awhile, often several times daily.

LAME said:

I agree with dmina, when echo was found... She was handled alot, come sub/adult she loved coming out. Any time I put my hand in her tank she would come crawling over.. And when outside her home she really wouldn't move from her little areas.

I'm glad you like your deadleaf boys buddy

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I really do like them, thanks again

MantidBro said:

Mine were/are the same way, they love coming out, and go for my hand as soon as I put it in. Or will start climbing up the container when i take the lid off. When these nymphs first hatched they were scared of me, but now they have calmed down, and wont try running. They gladly climb onto me now. Im like there own safe personal tree lol

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I started my Carolina's at L2 with holding them, because at L1 they are so tiny they can jump and disappear without a trace. I had it happen once when I was putting them in their cups at L1. When some reached L3 they have really started to accept me holding them, and seem to enjoy getting out.

Wow, looking the photos of when I got them, they have really grown. They are both now L5's. One molted yesterday, and I got a video of it, and my other did today while I was gone. I named my Deadleaf mantids Sammy and Terry.

Indiana members should get the reference to the TV host. The name itself is word play on "Cemetery". My dad loved to scare me as a 5 year old kid when the show came on. He would turn on the sound system to the loudest volume, after flipping off the lights, and doing the laugh (and more)... Guess that is why I like horror movies so much, I got over it... many years later.

Cool video.. good catch!..Thanks for sharing!

Wow Thomas - your mantids molt much faster than mine!

I really enjoyed the video. I hope you are able to rear this species to adult and beyond!

Really? I guess it's good, but it also means they will live shorter lives though. Here is the log of their hatch and molt days...

January 10 -- Deadleaf nymphs hatch from their ooth

January 29 -- My Deadleaf nymphs arrive as L2
February 11 -- Both molted to L3 (13 days since L2 molt)
March 2 -- Both molted to L4 (19 days since L3 molt)
March 22 -- #1 Sammy molted to L5 (20 days since L4 molt)
March 23 -- #2 Terry molted to L5 (21 days since L4 molt)

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Glad you liked it, and thanks Jay. I did the time-lapse and compression for Youtube using VirtualDub and Handbrake.

I hope so too as they are a interesting species. At times they don't want to come out of their habitat, but once they are out they don't want to go back.

That is great keeping track, Thomas! I figured that I will keep track of the instars once I have my adults produce ooths. I have only kept track of mantids becoming subadult and adult. I have a small group of young adults now, though one of my spiny females seems to already be calling in under 1 week!

Life is never boring with spinies. Though ghosts will not eat unless they are legitimately hungry, it seems that other mantises will bite the head off of any passing insect, whether they are really hungry or not.