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Thank you! I'm a sucker for large species, so R. megaera is my favorite right now. These are the true "Mega mantis." I wish I had the chance to breed them, but the males that were sent to me all died in transit. Deroplatys desiccata is still my overall favorite though! Don't worry about the...

Hopefully the pictures work now!

What site does everyone use to upload images? I've got a photobucket but I hate the site, google photos is much easier to use but I'm having trouble uploading images from it to here.

Back at it after a few years, working on a few spp now with pics attached! Starting to look a little more Mega...5 cm Another Plisto female Top L clockwise: Gongylus gongylodes, Idolomantis diabolica, Deroplatys desiccata, Tenodera aridifolia, Heterochaeta (center), Rhombodera megaera...

I'm in need of a Rhombodera megaera male, either adult or subadult, maybe even pre-sub. I am willing to pay, trade, or split ooths. Please PM me if you do!

These look great!

Welcome to the forum!

Welcome to the forum!

It'll take a little practice but it has saved me so much time over the last 15 years

I wait until the nymphs are on top, since they usually go to the light. I don't leave the cage there, I'll just run my hand 3-4 times under the cage the zip it up. The insects typically go to the top as well

I'll take a net cube with nymphs in it, open the zipper side fully, and drop it over a patch of grass on the lawn. Run your hand over the grass a few times and you'd be surprised how many tiny flies and gnats come out. It takes 10 seconds to feed 50-100 nymphs at a time. I never do fruit fly...

:P Guilty. Deroplatys desiccata because it is large (8-9 cm), slow moving, really 'hits' when it grabs prey, has a very cryptic look (esp for a large species), is long living, and despite being very aggressive towards prey is nearly communal. I also think Blepharopsis mendica is up there...

Congrats! Gongylus do best at high heat and bright lighting. I never witness any of my females mating but they were all fertilized. Gongylus seem to prefer flat surfaces to deposit their oothecae, and one even laid one on my coat years ago! 

Yes that one is an adult female Deroplatys lobata. They're very similar, lobata are 1-2 cm smaller and have that shield shape. Here's a pic of a female desiccata:  The easy way to tell is that the female desiccata has the arrow shape that points towards its backside.

Great pics! Looks like you've got a Deroplatys lobata there in your last post btw.

Need adult male R. megaera. Sale, trades, or ooth splitting acceptable 

Let 'em thin each other out. Mantids with huge hatch rates typically don't have great survival rates anyway.

Poor molting surfaces can result in falls, especially in later instars. Sticks, bark, and other natural surfaces are good options, and foam shelf liner is too. When mantids molt and suspend themselves from the old skin, it can break (this is often the cause for failure of Idolomantis). What they...

Which link?

welcome!