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I'd considered the hairworm possibility, Phil. It would be pretty cool (in a really macabre sort of way), actually, because I've never seen them before and it would be neat to. But what would be even cooler is not losing any more mantids. Let me elaborate on what I mean by "stringy..." the...

My mantids are currently all fed on house crickets (the standard kind you find at pet stores). I will stress that when I get new ones, I let them eat the food I provide for several days before they're fed to the mantids. I clean their enclosure twice a week. All of the mantids eat the same...

Nope, these were ones I hatched in August. They've been adults for only a few weeks.

I lost two adult T. Sinensis females in the last few weeks to identical symptoms. The problem seems to start with the mantid becoming less alert and losing control of its abdomen. When it hangs, the abdomen seems to hang down freely--not in line with the mantid's body. Eventually the mantid...

I have a couple of apterous cultures for the winter; I plan to order some more apterous samples from Ward's natural science (science supply company) to freshen the gene pool come spring. For wild type cultures, I just collect them from outside and culture them. They're always the hardiest. The...

The only difference is that one has vestigial wings and the other has none at all. Other than that, I haven't noticed a difference. Anyone who took a genetics course in college probably has experience with one or both. Just make sure your cultures don't get contaminated by wild type flies. Both...

The last batch of Tenodera nymphs I had started eating one another after the second or third molt. After that, it was guaranteed that they would feed off one another if not kept seperate. Hope that helps.

The two that it happened to are being about as friendly as the queen from the movie Aliens, so I suspected they might be in pain or something. Nice poses for the camera though.

I have two adult females now whose wings did not finish "pumping up" and instead stayed wrinkly. They seem to be otherwise healthy, but are they in pain? Here's an example of one: http://img253.imageshack.us/img253/5936/mantidattackxr3.jpg Also, is it dehydration that causes it? Nutrients...

It's not that crickets are bad, it's that crickets sometimes eat bad food, and are able to live in an environment that you could politely describe as "putrid". If you end up having to buy crickets from the pet store, keep them in a clean enclosure with clean food for a couple of days before you...

They're in seperate containers, and clean them regularly, so it's probably not an issue. I was just curious if anyone else had seen it.

This was a weird one. Hopefully someone else has seen this. I'm not so upset over the mantis (they hatch so many for a reason) so much as I'm afraid this could be a contagious disease or something. One of my mantids recently started becoming sluggish and the eyes darkened. This was a subadult...

Welcome to the forum.

As long as the Mantis is still ready to rock and roll I am sure she'll be fine. I just don't want her to be uncomfortable forever, unable to fold her wings. Do you clip the tips when this happens or will that hurt the mantis?

24 hours later and the tip ends of the wings are still wrinkled or "half pumped" as you say.

I have a Chinese mantis who just underwent a final molt. It's been 7 hours, and the top set of wings still haven't "dried." Is this normal or is something wrong?

I think it comes from that urban myth about it being illegal to kill them, which I think is kind of funny. Not only are they fairly common in the state (especially when you get to the more rural areas like Sussex county) but there's never been a law that I'm aware of that prohibits you from...

I'm one of those types who likes to keep things above board. Specially when it gets discussed on the internet. Tenodera aren't really native to this part of the country, but they were introduced in the Philadelphia area more than 100 years ago and continue to maintain a population in New...

Hey there EOS, welcome to the forum. And Mantis Whisper-I live in NJ as well (Bergen County). I PMed you awhile ago asking about the legal issues (if any) surrounding Ghost Mantids in NJ; I guess my PM disappeared into the ether. I raise Chinese Mantids as well; they seem to be pretty common...

What's difficult about European? Given the climate they live in it would seem like they would be easier since they could live at room temp.