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Yes there are a few California members on the forum. ;) If you look here, it is a search for members that have listed their location as California, 125 currently. Those that have not set their member profile location are not shown. For your specific location it is likely a few dozen members...

The hole method seems to come and go with new members. While it does work it is really just busy work that can lead to excess humidity besides ventilation issues. Mesh has to be added for mantids to properly grip their enclosure anyway, so simply replacing a portion of the lid with mesh is just...

@bio25 For ventilation see my habitat thread, it's all been covered...

Great that she molted. Besides her getting back to eating, you won't have to worry anymore. I bet she will love her new habitat too. :D

@ky_mantis Unless you plan on keeping the substrate moist it should be fine. If you do develop excess moisture/humidity adding some holes down low above the substrate will take care of it, and add cross-ventilation.

Nice photo. He definitely isn't giving up on staying concealed. ;)

Hello and welcome to the forum Great story, and glad that you saved the mantis.

Hello Niall and welcome to the forum Sounds like a great start to the hobby, different instars and species too. I started by finding a wild Carolina mantis (Stagmomantis carolina) years ago, but nothing like what you have. Looks like you jumped right into it all from the start. :D The...

@Jessie Advice is the same as any species, read the caresheets - Chinese (Tenodera sinensis), European (Mantis religiosa), and Carolina (Stagmomantis carolina). Regarding what you need is again the same, that is appropriate size containers and feeders. The only advice is even though they are...

A habitat change can take awhile for them to get use to, and honestly some of my pets preferred a cramp but cozy home too. Glad she perked back up and ate a fly. :)

Must be a slow eater, seems the faster they eat the more likely they are to shove about everything in their mouth (well except wings). :D

@proserpina Sadly even if you did find pupae shipping would likely be the same price versus cultures - depending on what shipping method they felt safe using. The old wallet does get a workout getting back into it. I myself got 1500 crickets Wednesday, and fruit flies (Melanogaster and Hydei)...

@hcarlton Well that's understandable, and a good view of the undertaking of the task too. Indeed what can be found on the topic or attempts, has little detail if any follow-up. Speaking of FB that is where I saw at least some of the negative reactions, as I've found little of that on the forum...

@proserpina Nowhere. ;) Seriously though fruit fly pupae is rather rare, the only one that I can think of has the wild flying Melanogaster variety sold here; however, nearly everyone just buys flightless fruit flies in vials/cultures and adds some of the flies (30-50) to new cultures. The...

@proserpina Hello and welcome back, great to hear your doing better. 2017 really was a horrible year for many of us - 2018 can only be better. :)

Hopefully they don't fly too far in your large habitats. ;) I've only had one mantid that would go out of it's way to ensure the proximal end of wings was picked clean, but would not eat the wings either. The mantid would sit there and spin each wing end around in it's mouth before dropping...

Cute, looks like he is waiting for a treat. :D

Really hard to count segments in the photo due to the blur/resolution. I downloaded the photo and tried various things color levels, contrast, lines across the outside segments, etc. In the end nothing seemed to work - the best was to look for the half-circle shadow impressions near the middle...

They do well with them as feeders, even if it is comical. ;) The only time I worried was when they caught the flies, as some flies would buzz their wings so fast my mantids nearly got pulled off their perches. Sorry to hear that, and indeed emerging nymphs that become stuck is heartbreaking...

Great looking adults - Best of luck to you. :)