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I just take off the lid and use my spritzer bottle to mist the tank and put it real close to the base of each plant and water them like that. Worked fine....the paper towel method seems like a lot of work honestly haha.

Yep, I knew I had it when I was about 13 and at camp. We were all playing outside, there were some bushes outside the windows all along the side of the building. I'm walking on by like all the other kids and I look at the bushes, not for anything in particular, I just looked at them. I saw a...

in 6th grade I caught an adult chinese female from our school sunflower patch. Didn't know much about them at the time, but when she was on my hand she leaned forward, clasped my skin and went to down, she drew a decent amount of blood, hurt like heck. They're stronger than you think. The other...

what was the "shipping accident"?

I'd just take her in and feed her and give her a good rest of her life. She may even be pregnant for all you know. That is assuming shes a female! Rather they die in a comfortable home with lots of food than in the wild, hungry, and susceptible to birds and other animals.

definitely, I just use those basic critter carrier plastic ventilated cages. Does most mantis mating occur at night or dusk or can it happen anytime?

I wonder if it would work to leave their cage outside with the female inside, no way to get out. She'd release her pheromones and attract some mates who would swarm her cage but not get inside. Then you can capture them and breed in captivity. Would that work?

You leave her outside overnight yet can still find her the next morning?! Thats impressive, I'd be scared of losing mine, especially since they can fly.

Been feeding my mantises petsmart crickets since they could even catch them. Haven't had any problems that I could tell were caused by the crickets though. Only thing that ever happened was I fed one of my mantises a pretty black looking cricket, and it threw up some black liquid like from...

This. I've noticed before every molt my mantis will splay its front legs out and do a weird squirming side to side dance. It's different from their swaying motion when they try and immitate a branch when hunting. Once they start doing that they're about to molt. I assume the dance motion is them...

Just looks like a malformed segment...I wouldn't really worry about it. If shes gone 5 molts without any trouble and acts normal, eats fine, then there really shouldn't be an issue. I also wouldn't worry about genetics affecting any offspring...it's a 1 in a million chance of anything happening...

I released a couple hundred into my backyard after they hatched from ooths. Whenever I find one of them I'll get close and it'll flattent itself. Once I get him on my hand they constantly jump off me and try and escape. Yet about a day or 2 of being in their cage and seeing me/being fed, they...

Ah k gocha, yeah I guess it was just the perspective of your photo. Great finds nonetheless!

At least where I am, mantises are very uncommon. Yet at least 100-200 hatch from each ooth. I'd assume since they're pretty rare, and yet a single ooth can introduce a ton of siblings into the same area. Inbreeding occurs on a pretty common basis.

Amazing find! I can't find any mantises where I am in Jersey. Thinking of going on a hike today though in a place I suspect might have some. Quick question though Rick. The picture of the mantis you found near the half eaten grasshopper. How big was it? It looks absolutely HUGE.

Having the same issue. I'll catch brilliant green mantids outside, literally BLINDING neon green. After a couple molts in captivity that green fades to olive. Then in L6 they turn brown. While not racist against the brown ones...I'd be the first to admit green mantids are visually prettier than...

In the wild, I'd assume a mantis wouldn't think twice of getting closer to a larger mammal or bird. But with my captive chinese female. She is always willing to climb all over me. I'll perch her on the lid of her cage and she'll actively come closer to me and try and climb on me. Are they...

Yeah when I came downstairs this morning I saw her like in the first picture I linked. Didn't know if those scrunched up tips were messed up wings or if they had to inflate. Would never have expected them to blow up so fully so I was just checkin! After about an hour though they completely...

So my female chinese mantis just molted and became an adult. I can't really tell if her wings are botched from the molt or she just has to puff them up or something. Never had a mantis get to full size before through molting so not sure what they should look like after a molt. Do the wings...

Youtube "A Plea for Bees" or something like that it's a TEDTalks on what is happening to the bee population and how it's on the decline. It's pretty sad, bees are so important. I never feed my mantises bees just because of how beneficial they are. Also, bumble bees are pretty cute.