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I raised a bunch of nymphs last year, and got kind of burned out on mantis keeping for a while. Now I'd like to have just one big female, as a pet to watch, care for and take pictures of. Older instars are preferable, and she needs to be a species that gets big enough to be fed pet store...

My male R. valida is absolutely oblivious to mating. I've tried a couple of times, and he has shown zero interest in my female. I've gone about it every way I can think of short of chopping off his head, which I really don't want to do as he's the sweetest mantis I've ever kept. I've tried...

So I mated my first mantises a few days ago- I actually saw some movement outside, and thinking it was a grasshopper or a moth, went to catch it as a treat for my big female Rhombo. However, to my delight, I found a healthy adult male S. carolina! After I had him caught, I was about to go back...

Hey guys. I was wondering what to expect when some of my females get older, so I searched youtube, and found absolutley nothing about calling behaviour or what it looks like when females release pheromones to attract a male. I've read that they'll wiggle their abdomen up and down, or curl it...

Has anyone tried breeding S. carolinas before? I have a healthy adult female who's getting old enough to breed and a very handsome male who just molted perfectly. I raised the female from the ooth and I'm hoping to have another generation from her. The male I found while on a rainy day walk- I...

One of my T. sinesis males molted from a very dumb place and ended up with his wings stuck to a wall and his legs stuck in the molt. I got the legs out in one piece but he is overall severely disfigured. Do I freeze him? He can't climb but his raptorials seem to have come out ok. I definitely...

So I was feeding my mantises and when I got to my adult male M. caffra that I got 3 days ago. He was lying on his back, twitching his body, but mostly the raptorials. Upon closer inspection, the last section of his abdomen is very dark. I noticed it was a tad dark before, but he was very active...

So my dad "taught" me how to use his big fancy camera (he put it in program mode and told me to play with the zoom and focus) and I took some pictures of the mantises I got for my birthday! M. caffra adult female M. caffra adult male who refused to stay still R. valida L8 female And...

So breeding my own crickets instead of buying them has always appealed to me. After talking to my mom about it, she said it was ok for me to try! She's been paying for the crickets, as she preferred me taking care of bugs to playing video games like I used to, and it would cost us nearly twenty...

I wanted to take some pictures of a Paraphidippus aurantius I've been raising, but I've never handled a spider before. How would I go about doing this so she wouldn't escape or bite me, and so I could still get some nice, clear photos? My parents will probably freak out and not let me keep...

Hello again. This time I'm back with one of my L5 Chinese nymphs. She, I think, didn't eat for three days and then I shoved some cricket guts in her face, which she took and held on her own while she was eating. Now, she's eating, but she's spent all her time since her last molt on the bottom of...

Is this lil guy an assassin bug, or is it something else that eats plants and is better off as mantis food? He's yet to eat a fruit fly, but I just caught him so he might just be stressed. He's drinking LOTS of water with his cool foldy straw mouth thing. Sorry for the bad pictures, I used the...

I'd like to find a good website to get crickets from, since my mantises are getting to the size where crickets are a good sized meal. For the past couple of weeks, I've been feeding crickets from Petsmart without issue, but I've heard so many horror stories about crickets bought in store that...

When I was feeding today, I noticed this odd black thing on the eye of one of my L3 Carolina nymphs. It's still eating very well, a fly just landed on it's bum and it plucked it up and is munching away. Is there anything I can do to make the spot go away, or does anyone have any theories to what...

Hello all! I've lately been wondering about what container I should use for my Chinese nymphs. Most of them are almost 5cm (a bit under 2 in.) long, and by the 3x length, 2x width rule, need an upgrade from the 32 oz. deli cups they're currently living in. I have 50 of them, so a large Kritter...

Hey guys! So I caught one of my chinese molting to L5 today, which is odd for me as I don't usually have the time to watch them. I watched him cone out and he seemed to do it just fine. However, when I took a closer look, he appears to be bleeding from an eye! Is this blood, or just part of...

I'm back again with another question with my fruit fly cultures. I bought flightless melanogaster flies a while back and they worked well once I got used to tapping and catching them. However, over the last couple of weeks their hopping has progressed into proficient flying. I can just put them...

I have a couple mantises that molted to L3 badly and thus have a leg that's sort of hook shaped. Do i just feed and care for them normally, or do I do something else? I think I read a post that said to amputate deformed legs, but I don't know about that and I wanted to ask to be sure that...

Hey, guys! I found this little guy in the window of my mom's convertable. I managed to get him/her into one of my mantis cups and I misted the side and added a few D. melanogaster. He/she was hungry, the top of the car had been closed for a couple of days, and almost immediatley after taking a...

My melanogaster cultures seem to be fine other than the fact that they are super smelly. It nauseates me every time I go to feed or even just have them on the table next to me, closed! Is there anything I can do about this, or is it something I'll have to learn to deal with? And how substantial...