Recent content by gare58

@Graceface thanks for the tip! Update: Midway through their second week.  Their numbers have dwindled to 19 by my count last night.  There's 3 on the big free range plant and the rest are in habit containers.  Most sharing the space. I tried to keep as many fed as I could but food became an...

@hysteresis  Thanks!

Hey @hysteresis!  Yeah been a while.  Just preoccupied with work stuff.   So yeah they're roaming free but I've managed to keep most isolated by the bookshelf/plant and have been rounding up the adventurers, putting them in random clear containers with paper towel taped on the top as a lid...

Update: Sad to say Honeydew passed away 2 weeks ago.  Seemed to be from natural causes.  She was well fed as you all know.  Went peacefully laying down. I thought my mantis days were over... Came home from work today to find one of the ooths she laid on my plant hatched.  It was the third one...

I already spoil Honeydew with honey daily as a dietary supplement XD.  She seems to know how much to eat.  I did get her a gigantic hornworm though which seems to be her favorite.

@MantisGirl13 if you want you could design the experiment around their reaching.  Do handfed mantids reach for food or to hitch a ride?  Your hypothesis would be which you think it is.  Then you could record occurrences of them accepting a ride and accepting food following a reach.  Maybe it's...

I'm curious about their vision.  It seems primarily tuned to spot movement.  Sometimes when I'm watching her climb in her plant she feels around quite a bit before she finds a good hand hold.  Sometimes feeling in empty air and it makes me wonder why she doesn't see where the branch is and reach...

@MantisGirl13 that would be a great idea to compare different species.  It would add a new element to the original experiment. @hysteresis another great article.  That's interesting that discontinuous training (breaks between sessions) is more effective than continuous. I'm still really...

@hysteresis great find!

Do the shrimp molt?  Maybe right after they do when their shell hasn't hardened would be easier on the mantis too.

@Little Mantis I did!  Then had to clean a trail and puddle of it haha.

So today I got her a hornworm.  Had it on a chopstick while she was still in her cage.  I was just waiting for her to wake up and wander out then I was going to give it to her under a more controlled environment.  Nope.  She climbed out then dove off her cage and spear tackled the worm.  Rolled...

@MantisGirl13 It's further East.  Just above, outside the North Philly area.

@MantisGirl13 Whoa no way!  We're practically neighbors. I grew up in Thorndale/Downingtown, my family still lives in Thorndale.  I live in Ambler.

Oops, I've had them laying down, but I've been very gentle.  I'll try adhering them to some chopsticks tonight.  I'll need to do something like that anyway when I decide to incubate them.