Recent content by mmcguffi

Hey guys I just noticed my female ghost mantis laid an ootheca, but my male is still a sub adult (...actually I couldnt find him today so maybe she ate him? I saw him 2 days ago). My question is, is this ooth viable? Do ghost mantids undergo parthenogenesis, or is it just a dud ooth? :)

Hey guys I just picked up one female and one male ghost mantises (L3/L4?) and I set up a ~1.5 gal terrarium with live plants. Can I house them together? I've read conflicting reports on canabalism. Will I be alright housing them together?

I've got about 10 of these guys and hydei seem too small and small crickets too big -- what do people normally feed them? Pretty sure they're L3 but they may be L4

Well, sadly I had a mis-molt on one of my last two mantids so that brings me down to one. Good news is that s/he seems really healthy! I can't tell if s/he's L2 or L3 And! In other news my other ooth hatched today so this time I can apply what I've learned so I dont commit mass mantid genocide...

Well, down to 2 mantids. I guess for one of them it was too little too late. This is really bummin me out! I'm usually very good at care for my animals and it's super disappointing to see so many of them die!! Gah! I just hope these last two make it. I want to explore more exotic species but I...

Down to 3 nymphs! The corpses arent decapitated so I think that means ventilation is the culprit. I see/smell a little more mold I took out all of the live moss, scrubbed the jars down, put moist paper towel in the bottom & replaced the sticks, and replaced the lids with mesh/rubber bands...

two more dead in the same jar :( that means Im down to 4 nymphs any ideas what Im doing wrong? these guys are definitely eating the FFs I see some mold in one of the jars I made (that one didnt actually have any mantids in it though -- just an extra). Could mold be the culprit? Should I just...

how is she?

+1 what does this mean? lol

Huh, I didnt consider ventilation. Thanks for the tip! I checked out some nymph cup thread and they indeed have much more ventilation than my current set up (I only have about 5 or so pin-sized holes in the metal top). I guess for now Im just going to add about 20+ more pinholes to the tops...

So I havent had time to separate them yet but Im going to do that in a min However, one of the jars is full of completely dead mantises. Ive put some hydei in there and over time they disappeared so I assume they've eaten so I dont really know what's up. Perhaps the holes are too big and the...

So indeed they are gobbling up the hydei. I suppose it just took about 3 days before they developed the urge to eat I tried to grab a picture, but my house actually doesnt have any power right now and it's super cloudy outside! Because of the lack of good light I cant grab a decent macro of...

Do I absolutely need to use melanogaster? From searching the forums it seems that I might be able use hydei for L1 T. sinensis? ​And Im fine with some cannibalism as long as I end up with 3-4 mantids! I just dont want to have them all die for whatever reason. And actually I just read your...

Hey guys! One of my chinese mantis ooths just hatched 2 days ago and Im in need of some direction! I let the vast majority of them go (in Michigan) but I have 3 small mason jars (~16 oz or less) that I have some in. The jars have live moss substrate, plenty of small twigs and such for vertical...