Search results

Cosmic, I have kept, reared, and breed: Mantis religiosa religiosa Stagmomantis californica Stagmomantis carolina Tenodera sinensis They were kept at around 65° F at night and up to 80° F during the day. The light cycle was typically 14 hours day and 10 hours night. Mantis religiosa...

You have no basis to conclude this. Exogenous rhythms are quite important to maintain for animal health and well being. Just because there have been no specific scientific experiments in this area in regards to mantids does not mean that are somehow magically different than other animals. Scott

Peter, I guess that depends on your definition of "just fine" and "room temperature". If you view room temperature as about 72° F and just fine means they will survive, then you are right in most cases. But do most people keep their rooms at 72° or more all the time? Not at my house. 60° F at...

ABbuggin, Hang in there!!! Scott

Orin, Do you realize how ridiculous that sounds? Dr. Yager is far more experienced at raising mantids than you or anyone else here. He has probably forgotten more about raising mantids than you or anyone else here will ever know. Yet you dismiss his text saying it is "anecdotal guestimates"...

Orin, My "opinion" has a lot of science behind it for animals in general. Specific to mantids, here are some quotes form the Rearing and Breeding Mantids chapter of The Praying Mantids: "A consistent daily light cycle is critical for the well being of all animals." "There is anecdotal...

The only animals that might not have a problem with constant daylight are some blind animals or those that live near the arctic circle. Insects that are used to a day/night photoperiod should not be exposed to constant light if you want them to live a normal life span and reproduce. Such a...

harryallard, What environmental conditions were you keeping him under? What temperature day and night? Humidity levels? Photoperiod? Ventilation? Scott

As long as it doesn't involve a girlfriend or tons of money, my wife doesn't mind any of my hobbies.... Scott

PhilinYuma, My point was that keepers should take care to provide appropriate temperature, humidity, and photoperiod for their mantids. One shouldn't keep mantids at the same temperature all the time. They shouldn't be exposed to light 24 hours a day. Putting them on top of an appliance may...

Katnapper, No, I don't think you are paranoid at all. I think you should be concerned with day/night temperatures, the humidity, and the photoperiod to which you expose your tropical mantids. Local species are less of an issue. But, for best results with local and tropical species, you should...

Rebecca, Room temperature doesn't work well for tropical species if the temperature drops into the low 60's and high 50's F at night, does it? And I was referring to people that don't want their mantids on top of their appliances...it can look a little tacky. What then? Should heat come from...

Let's say you don't have a TV, VCR, freezer, etc. to put your mantid enclosures on. What do you use then? Do you use a heat source from the bottom or side? What kind of heat source? Do you use incandescent or fluorescent lights? The former provide heat while the latter does not. But, if you...

Rick, What do you use to keep tropical mantids at appropriate temperature and humidity levels? How would you do this if you lived in a colder area than the southeast (USA). Scott

A "pooter" is more often called an aspirator here in the US. This is a nice kit: Aspirator Kit I like glass better than plastic because I can see through it much better. The smaller apertures work better for small insects. Obviously you would need larger apertures for larger insects. But I...

jplelito's data tells us that Stagmomantis limbata does not have an obligatory diapause. So that gives us more data to work from. What it does not tell us is what environmental cues are evaluated by S. limbata embryos to determine if diapause will be entered. I wish I had a couple of those...

There is a member here, jplelito, that is working on his PhD in entomology. He told me that in his lab, he has two environmental regulated chambers that he keeps Stagmomantis limbata oothecae in and they hatch in approximately 5-7 weeks after being laid. The temperature in both chambers is 80 to...

I too am glad the election is over. The results are not what I wanted either but I am hopeful that Obama will not be all bad. If he follows through on his campaign promise of change, maybe the changes won't be all bad. I do think that his election is an important historic milestone that I did...

Orin, What Christian wrote substantially agrees with my posit that diapause in Stagmomantis limbata is photoperiod induced and is terminated by a chilling period. But there are no experiment data to support that claim specific to S. limbata. Starting with my very first post in this thread, I...

Christian, Thank you for posting that information. Scott