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They CAN transfer a spermatophore in that short a time, but yeah most matings are longer and uninterrupted. I think the short connections are a response to her behavior, possibly her not fully cooperating. When this has happened with mine, I don't consider them likely mated unless I see a...

Big species like Chinese often don't "understand" that they're supposed to mate when placed directly on the females' backs. They usually need to go though the process of noticing and approaching her. Have you: 1. Put one or more males in a large net cage and fed them. 2. Left them in there for...

The names "floppy abdomen" and "collapsed abdomen" are flexible - there's no official definition for this kind of thing. That first mantis seems to have starved to death - that kind of thinness is only possible if the gut is completely empty. The second one though, that has what I usually see...

At night they can go that low, but daytime temps should be higher. This is a southern species which prefers to be in the upper 70s to low 80s, especially as nymphs.

Pesticide risk from wild-caught prey is extremely small in most places. If wild moths, flies, grasshoppers, leafhoppers, etc are behaving normally, and the area is not littered with dead/dying insects as if it's been recently sprayed, then you won't see any consequences from wild-caught food...

If all her legs have been tucked close to the body, she was probably "playing dead" from something that startled her. Called thanatosis, this is something a lot of mantises, especially dead leaf mimics, do when they're scared. If she is otherwise eating and moving about normally, that'd be my guess.

I understand that, and fortunately there are many correct ways to keep mantises. The reason I wanted to say anything here is because, for some situations like babies that desiccate quickly in a room with low humidity, going two days without misting can be dangerous. It's good to have a thorough...

I see dents in the eyes of the one that died - to me it looks like they must have been damaged when it fell. The blackness might have been hemolymph clotting in the eyes, which understandably is often fatal. The eyes are always that color on the survivor, rather than changing with light levels...

Pretty sure you know me lol, I'm one of the admins on MM on Facebook. Plenty of very young nymphs will eat the same day as they molt, it's not nearly as physiologically demanding for them. If you want proof, here's one of my R. extensicollis who molted overnight eating a red runner it just...

Budwings tend to be a very hardy and healthy species. They do love to eat though and can fill up a lot, you should feed more than twice a week unless you're feeding very large prey. Your nymph looks like the right size for house and bottle flies, small moths like waxmoths, and young roaches...

If you have many wild mantises in the area and your females are actively calling, this can work. Mantises aren't as effective at broadcasting and following pheromones as moths, for which this technique is awesome, but nearby males will be attracted. Honestly you're probably going to be better...

Misting on the same day as a molt is perfectly fine, especially for young nymphs. Adults of larger species take the longest time to recover, but as long as you don't knock them down with the water, it's not harmful to mist them either. "48 hours after molt" is mainly a rule for those large...

I have one adult and four subadult female Idolomantis and have been searching for months for anyone in the US with males. If you have an older male nymph or adult male, please message me so we can get a real breeding attempt in for this generation.

Interesting, about the warm water. I'm happy that this part of her life ended well! And my goodness, those wing-buds were swollen...

Never seen or heard of a clouded exoskeleton either. I recently got my first P. wahlbergii, and so this is a personally interesting case too... Do you have the equipment for good pictures? A photo of her before would be extra helpful. Also, as is the protocol for health questions, has anything...

Gryllodes sigillatus are smaller, much more agile, chirp more quietly, and are hardier than Acheta domesticus. I like how they look quite a bit, too. Other crickets and cricket-like insects such as Stenopelmatus and mole crickets can make awesome pets, but are not practical as feeders because...

My thought is that this refers to the thread that the neonate hangs by when it hatches from the ootheca, which is a membrane that surrounds the nymph and not silk that they produce. To my knowledge, mantids don't make silk, but silk is sometimes discovered in surprising orders (leaf-rolling...