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That’s a male completing his life cycle. These are seasonal creatures.

Ironically, we released the female last week and a male immediately swooped in nearby. Hopefully I’ll spot some ooths in my yard.

A week without food is fine for a healthy mantis. I say feed them heavily before you go, but also leave a few pupae in there. Hydration may be more of an issue.

Patch kits

Go to Home Depot and get some window screen patch kits. The glue on the back of them is heat activated, so you can stick them on anything using a hair dryer.

While it’s still hot out, get a blacklight bulb from Amazon and shine it on a white sheet at night. You’ll get tons of flying food for your mantises.

I can answer my own question now. I figured out the easiest way to get them out. We put a clear bag over the trap while my boy holds down the edges of the bag. When I lift the funnel, they all fly up into the bag. Then I chill them.

Bumping this up since it got buried by a lot of inane necroposts.

Hello! I’ve been raising five Carolina mantises this summer from an ooth I found in February. One of the four is a female. My entomologist friend gave me the idea of trying to put her outside in a mesh kind of Malaise trap to call in males via pheromones. Do any of you have experience with this...

Many of my students have BAD syndrome.

Yes, a blacklight will attract significantly more bugs than a standard bulb. I use mine mainly to attract ant queens, but all sorts of insects show up. Unfortunately, mountain mint only blooms in the summer, but, it is extremely easy to grow. Plant wisely because it can spread like crazy...

Ghost mantises are super cool and very easy to raise for beginners.

Have you tried black lighting for moths? You can get cheap bulbs on Amazon and shine them on a white sheet to attract all sorts of nocturnal insects. If you can plant mountain mint, you’ll get tons of solitary bees that are probably less aggressive than honey bees. I would harvest sparingly...

Yeah, I think the pantyhose is blocking odors.

Raccoons stole my first trap. The second one I made with pantyhose separating the trap chamber from the bait is not attracting anything but ants. Ughhh

Would a design like this work?

I made a funnel trap with an old water bottle and some canned cat food. Does anyone have an easy way to harvest the flies out of the trap?

How do you keep birds and squirrels from eating them all???

Cut a piece of broom straw and stick bug pieces on the end. Wiggle it in front of your mantis.

Keep an ant colony. The best thing about them is they do not need live prey. Plus a colony can live for years and years.