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i cant really think what could be wrong, sorry. are you feeding them as much as they will eat? are they warm enough? are there enough appropriate branches for them to lay on? these questions probably arent relevant (mantids will lay on the lid/mesh if nowhere else is available for example) i'm...

the female next to the ruler is really old, i will see if any of my current batch are any bigger tomorrow. if they are it will probably be marginal. as for moults, females moult 7 times, males moult 6 times.

so idolomantis is a wuss? :P :rolleyes: ;)

the first is normal, they turn progressively more tan and then brown as the weeks go on. the second females ooth is not normal behaviour, is she well fed? what do you feed her? it sounds like something a VERY old female would do.

when the females are alive and well fed, the abdomen extends out from under the wings for another 10mm or so.

some species are more skittish than others. and regardless of species, hungry mantids tend to be more skittish and flighty than well fed mantids. also males tend to be a bit more nervous than females. (all of this is in general).

honeybees, not mantids.

if by "loose skin around her" you mean the mantis is still inside the old skin then it is a complete goner. moults are usually very quick affairs, fifteen minutes or so. any more than this usually means there is a problem, and a problem moulting is usually fatal, there is no "saving" to be done...

colur is dependent on too many other things such as humidity, background and type of light to be able to "breed for" any certain colour. i'm not even sure if genetics comes into it at all. as for size, i think this may have alot more to do with nutrition (and maybe other factors) than with...

yes, i try to keep all my mantids as well fed as possible (especially mated females, and excluding of course males that i am trying to slow down). maybe it has something to do with the fact she is being kept in a container with one other mated female and one adult male? my girlfriend supposed...

it is small compared to some other species ootheca (only about 1cm main body length) and slightly small compared to the norm with this species, but i have never had a g.gongylodes ootheca longer than about 2cm (main body length, minus the foam and that spike thing they end it with). EDIT...

got my first ooth on monday, very happy :lol: :D

while the two things you mention are no guarantees of an iminent moult (sometimes mantids will be very inactive and refuse food when well fed or at lower temperatures), the photo you posted of your p.wahlbergii suggests it is indeed close to moulting. the temperature you keep it at depends on...

if sufficient food is provided along with the higher temp then yes they will grow quicker. at the moment i use a a couple of heatmats. one under my g.gongylodes and one under my idolmantis, both are on 24/7 and just to keep the base temp and night temp up a bit higher than room temps. i would...

if you think photobucket somehow distorts or compresses your pics, you might want to try flickr, its also free and useful.

i'm no expert but unless you have a really good flash that you can control and is made for macro type stuff then it often ends up making the shot very washed out. try taking some with no flash, depending on how much light is around you may get some blur but even just one desk lamp should be fine...

the number of segments on the underside of the abdomen, as with all mantids. females have 6, males have more (i think these have 8). also males have longer antennae. in female adults, the abdomen extends slightly further than either side of the wings (in adult males there is no abodmen visible...

nevermind.

no way! :o :o :lol: i had no idea. i should look it up. though i live in london so any endangered species probably won't be found here <_< :(

just to make myself clear, i was not in any way berating the feeding of cicadas to mantids, i just just pointing out the pathos in the situation. if we had cicadas here in the uk i would feed them to my mantids in a heartbeat! they look nice and chunky :D