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I keep most of my mantids at room temp and they breed fine at these temps. There are species that will require more warmth but as said above start with an easy sp to begin with, african or asian sp are good starters.

Great job. These are very creative and attractive set-ups and shows a real passion for keeping mantids :)

I keep my crixs just in a tank with some loo rolls and egg cartons at room temp. Very rarely needs cleaning out completly, just changing the egg cartons ect every week or so. Your crixs will be healthier if you feed them a more varied diet. Carrot, Apple, greens, wheatabix, fish flakes ect. Just...

Its a nice idea but I don't think the tank you've described would be suitable for Mantids (too big, not secure enough, contains hazards!), a picture would be good :) The best advice I can give you is to get a couple of mantids as "practice" to begin with. Keep them in their own seperate...

I always wait at least 4 weeks Some pairs longer depending on how they react to one another. In my experience by waiting this amount of time I have lost fewer males because the females seem less inclined to attack a mate and the males mount the females more readily and with less hesitation. I...

The best advice I have been given was to wait 4-5 weeks as adults before attempting to mate. Try placing your male on a surface (I use blinds in my bug room or curtains) and give him a few mintues to settle in one spot. Then intoduce the well fed female a couple of inches infront of him. He...

Yes, I have about 30 nymphs. They are a small agressive mantid that in the early nymphal stages look like ants. They move very quickly, I have been keeping mine at room temperature spraying every other day and have had very few losses. There is excellent info on Yens web site.

Removing hatchlings straight away after leaving the ooth can be quite stressful for the nymphs, its best to house them all together in their own container, feed 2 days after they hatch and keep feeding from then on. Wait until they have shed to 2nd instar and then start seperating them.

I am 100% with Ben. The mantid will deal with the leg on its own you don't have to get involved, infact it will do more harm if you do.

No mom probably won't eat the nymphs because they are too small and to be honest the ooth should be kept in the same environment (humidity and temp) for hatching. But you need to work out how you are going to feed and seperate the nymphs without them escaping. Also, wopuld it put the female...

Pre-molt a mantid is at a very delicate stage. As you have seen it will move very slowly if made to so best to leave them alone to molt in peace. I've heard another instance quite recently where a person thought there mantid was dying and had put it out ready to take to the freezer but came...

I don't think she preferes the newly molted crix. I doubt she can recognise they are newly molted by sight. Its probably coincidence that she takes them. As long as the mantid doesn't have a paper thin abdomen theres nothing to worry about. Offer her a variety of different foods of different...

I often have molting problems with the chinese mantids. As long as you are giving the mantid plenty of room to molt, 3 times its body length is ideal, and spraying reguarly to mantain the humidity then thats all you can do. The rest is up to nature.

Mantids will loose alot of blood if you cut them and can't develop scar tissue. If the mantid has an infection in its leg it will deal with it himself without your intervention. Still I'm glad its ok a few weeks later.

I'm not sure about the spray coating, never heard of that one. Is it an option to put a mesh in between the tank and the lid that is too fine for the mantid to crawl through? I understand that you don't want the mantid to be singed on a bulb, I wouldn't worry about the long drop though, unless...

I've fed flies hunny without them getting stuck in it. I put out a small dish with a blob of hunny and they feed from it without getting stuck.

If the mantid fell half way through the molt and had not completely shed its old skin try and replace it back on a purch so it can finish the molt. If you try and do this and the mantid is to weak to attach to the purch then its not looking good. If it had completly shed its skin and then fell...

It certainly doesn't sound very nice, but I doubt the maggots will hurt you mantid in anyway, might be quite nutrtious. :)

Many of my mantids eat half meals, espeacially adult males, its not unusual. How do you force a mantid to eat? :? You shouldn't have to try and do that, they eat when they are ready. Lack of appetite is not always a sign that the mantid is on its way out. 8)

If the mantid has eaten D. Hydei before it will eat them again. A hungry mantid will eat when its ready 8) Theres no reason for you to remove the fruit fly even if the orchid is coming up to a molt, it won't endanger the nymph. Nymphs do molt quickly to the 2nd instar, it may only eat a...