Search results

I hear you.  Chinese mantises are pretty easy going as nymphs. Big enough to eat fruit flies right out of the gate.  I've been working at figuring out Carolina and European hatchlings for a while.  If you can get them to eat aphids and/or really small gnats (or even baby house spiders emerged...

Don't feel too bad.  I had two female Carolina's last fall.  Both mated with more than one male.  Ended up with 8 ooths.  Stored the ooths in my garage during the winter to keep them out of extreme temps.  Kept them in a ventilated container and misted every couple weeks when it got dry.  Made...

Didn't respond earlier as I just got back from a vacation.  The ooth is the bigger than anything I've ever seen.  She was a voracious eater in the week or two prior to laying.  Not sure if it had anything to do with it, but she'd recently been eating 3-5 June bugs a day.  They were flying...

Here's my female Sphodromantis gastrica after laying a SERIOUS ooth this morning.  Gotta be the biggest I've seen when it comes to body size:ooth size ratio.  Bet she's just a bit tired now!

That's cool.  Nice looking specimen.  I love when the Chinese mantises show up really bright green like that.  After years of releasing these guys in my neighborhood, there's still something really neat about finding them out and about as they mature.  Great to know they're "doing their...

Seriously a neat looking species, and definitely one of the most unusual in N. America I bet!  Never even heard of 'em before until I looked it up.  I could totally see how it would blend in with the bark and lichen in the FL.  Great photos.

I ordered feeders last fall with mantisplace.com and had some great orders of blue bottle and house flies.  For some reason, I decided to shop around elsewhere this winter and had a rough stretch with few flies. So I went back to mantisplace a couple weeks ago and put in a small order of FF and...

Just keep them however you normally do.  Keep an eye on them and make sure the sick/dying aren't more than what you usually see. Of course, any that you see in that category...remove immediately.  The 2-3 day observation period is just a precaution to hopefully get rid of some the crickets that...

Lots of varied opinions on an exclusive cricket diet on this forum.  Personally, I had TERRIBLE luck with getting good fly cultures this winter.  I won't get into that...but I did manage to become a regular at my local PetSmart buying freaking crickets all winter.  6-8 mantises...all bigger than...

Same problem with roaches (red runners) here!  Three of the "bigger" species (H. venosa, S. lineola, S. gastrica), and they're all pretty hit or miss with their willingness to hunt and capture a roach unless it's offered with tweezers. And even then, it's about 50/50. I'm positive it's not a...

Those are super cool looking!  Never seen one before!

Good to know.  Sooner than I thought. 

Thanks Shady!  I've got them on thin layer of eco earth.  I typically don't dampen it too much, because I worry about mold/mildew.  In the meantime they do seem to be eating the cricket gel for water.  Good point on the dog food.  I'll get rid of that and substitute with some fresh fruit.  From...

So I've got 3 adult H. venosas.  One really cool bluish, green male, and 2 females (golden phase - half green and half gold actually).  Female 1 ~  3 weeks old and starts calling.  I paired them up and he was hooked up in no time.  Female was well fed and not aggressive at all.  4-5 hours later...

I recently purchased 2 dozen red runner roaches. I have several adults now (two female H. venosas that have been mated) and on S. lineola.  Heard good things about working roaches in as a good high-protein feeder for adults so I made the purchase (Turkish red runners).  Here's the question, they...

I know!  I'm still bummed every time I think about "the one that got away." It was a beast.  There seem to be some bigger than average females I find in a field/community garden next to my house...so maybe her bloodline is still alive.  Just glad my story didn't end with me falling off my...

I've never seen a T. augustipennis in N. IL, but I agree on the other two (T. sinensis and the European mantises). The females just aren't built to fly...or not very long at least. Only one legit exception to that observation.  A few years ago, late summer, I noticed a Chinese mantis way up...

Excellent.  Have an IKEA not far from my house.  Thanks!

That's a really neat greenhouse type enclosure (for the cups).  I could really use something like that for mine.  I keep mine in the basement with a couple heat lamps (on timers).  Typical of a basement in the winter, I struggle with low humidity and a pretty big temperature drop at night. ...

My thoughts as well.  Hatch size and nymph "hardiness" seem to benefit from ooth diapause....at least for species living in regions that experience wide seasonal temperature shifts.  I also agree with the difficulty raising European mantis nymphs.  Hands-down the most challenging nymphs I've...