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Nice info on the wasps. I've yet to run in to any but I don't hatch out that many wild ooths. The current ooths I am planning to incubate are all from my girl so they should be pretty clean. Is there a certain time-frame range you have found is good to wait before putting a freshly laid ootheca...

Your post actually came at a perfect time since I've been thinking about overwintering some oothecae for the first time. I've heard similar things about the Carolina mantis ooths so I thought it would be fun to try some in the fridge and let the others just hatch out and see how it effects their...

There is a good chance she is getting ready to molt, but it could also be from lack of hunger. She looks really plump in the video. I suggest bringing down the feeding level a notch as overly plump nymphs are at a greater risk during molts.

Highly, highly unlikely anything will hatch out of the jumbled mass. The eggs that are exposed will dry out and die. Meanwhile any of the eggs covered in foam won't be able to hatch out without properly formed escape slits in the ootheca. A lot of mantises will choose the walls/screening over...

You know this was one of the nicest/most detailed posts I've seen in response to someone asking how to overwinter mantises in a fridge. Usually the responses people give on this topic are rather vague and it is refreshing to see someone taking the time to go into specifics, especially on...

Hahaha, I was mostly joking about using them to try and lure in mantises, but let me know how your experiment works. Please though if you catch any don't tell the mantises you got the idea from me. If it ever gets back to my mantises I'm peddling fake butterflies I will be in big trouble. :P

Careful, falling in love with a mantis is a dangerous proposition. ;)

Why go to the mantises when you can have the mantises come to you?

12 hours is rather quick to start introducing prey. I would suggest waiting at least 24 hours after a molt before feeding. Mantises are often rather placid directly after a molt and many will ignore prey. I doubt the camera flash damaged his eyes, but would suggest being careful about startling...

I was going to say there is no way I would ever leave a male trapped in such a small enclosed space unless you were there supervising/able to easily intervene. Interesting idea about trying something narrow to sort of guide the female during the initial introduction though. I've found setting...

I wanted to share some photos of my boy Aether who is a Stagmomantis carolina. The early portion of his life was fairly normal. He grew at the same rate as his siblings. When he should have been shedding to sub-adult however he instead shed to adulthood, skipping a shedding. In addition to being...

With the whole Zika virus scare going around a lot of areas are increasing the usage of large scale spraying of pesticides typically by trucks or aerial dumps. Often the spraying is done at dusk/night to "minimize" targeting other beneficial insects but some places also do them during the day...

Yep normal . . . well as normal as a mantis can be. =p Her movements are a bit jerkier than usual because glass is slick and it isn't as easy to get a solid footing. Outside of that she is merely trying to figure out what sorcery is preventing her from crawling to you.

Looks like natural coloring to me. Nothing to worry about. Looks like a happy, plump, little nymph. :)

Congrats on the healthy shedding! =3 Where you start counting doesn't change how many segments the mantis actually has altogether. If you look at the source for the photo on keepinginsects.com the author does specify the correct number, 6 to 8 in their notes but mentions they choose not to...

It is 6 for females and 8 for males. For some reason the person that numbered the segments in the photos decided not to number the 1st segment in-between where the legs end and where the 2nd one (the segment they have listed as 1) is.

I would actually consider that hearty for a male mantis. Some males (seems to vary some by species) tend to overindulge if food is offered daily and it can make it hard for them to twist their abdomen and make a successful connection.) I would suggest removing them from the enclosure for a...

From the photo he seems to be trying. Are the males hearty eaters by any chance?

Hahaha love it!

No he is definitely an adult. The upper set of wings came in perfect, nice and straight and neatly folded. They are noticeably short well above his rear. The lower set of wings look like they might have been slightly larger and thus got a little flared to the sides trying to fit under the upper...