2 Questions for You Pros out there

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markdneck

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I love this Mantid hobby! I have a couple young grandchildren (their father is a marine biologist) who are getting real educational value through helping me. Great way to spend the Summer for a young kid!! The costs are low compared to other hobbies and Mantids don't bite (important to my wife!) Here is what I want to know;

1. An almost grown Mantid, can I feed a large cricket once a day or is every other day sufficient?

2. Now that I am good at misting and feeding, if I want to try hatching an oothaca like the ones they sell in the nursery, how do I stick it on to the branch in the cage or to the side of the cage? And when the tiny nymphs are born, what do they eat?

Thanks in advance for any and all help

 
ok I may not be a pro but I looked at the other posts and read sutff online.

For your first question,

1. Praying Mantids eat as much as they can and some of them don't know when to stop. If you have an adult mantis larger than the cricket then I think you're suppose to feed it 2 times a day...i think, i'm not sure(correct me if im wrong which I think I am.)

Ootheca

2. If you have a branch or something like that in the enclosure they will build their ooths on it themselves. There are other methods of hanging ooths too, but lets wait for the experts to come :)

When your nymphs hatch they should be fed immedialty to prevent cannabalism. Most of the posts I seen suggest flightless fruitflies. You can get them at a few pet stores.

Good Luck :wink:

 
I feed my bugs everyother day if theyre bigger, daily if theyre nymphs. I know I may be overfeeding but I still toss a few FF's in to the little guys, if they arent hungry they wont eat em.

As for one big cricket everyother day, that should be fine.

For the ooth, just get some glue and put it on the back or bottom of the ooth (make sure it's the bottom and not the top!) then just get a branch, put the glue on the back of the ooth, hold them together for a minute and voila!

Some people pierce them and hang them but I prefer the glue method. Less chance of piercing a few nymphs and drying out the ooth (in my opinion)

 
I don't know how many people out here would think I'm a pro, but for the food, just give them a couple crickets every other day.

For the ooth, if it doesn't already come with a stick, then hot glue it to one. Other than that, act like it was a mantis.

 
A good way to glue an ooth to a stick is with super glue. Apply the glue to the ooth. Stick the ooth to the stick. Spray the glue with water. The water cures the superglue immediately. This eliminates the risks of using pins or hot glue.

 
and Mantids don't bite (important to my wife!)
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I don't know about the two questions (I'm not a pro), but I have heard that mantises do actually bite. None of my mantises have ever bitten me, so I don't know how much it hurt or how common it is.

http://www.mantidforum.com/forum/viewtopic...;highlight=bite

And a friend of mine got scratched pretty badly on the finger by a mantis's claws. It was a full grown wild caught mantis though.

 
A good way to glue an ooth to a stick is with super glue. Apply the glue to the ooth. Stick the ooth to the stick. Spray the glue with water. The water cures the superglue immediately. This eliminates the risks of using pins or hot glue.
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Someone mentioned this before... superglue might have chemicals that may harm an ootheca. Just be careful that you apply the glue safely away from the eggs.

 
True, super glue does have some nasty chemicals in it. However, spraying the glue with water causes the glue to cure immediately. Thus, exposure is very limited. But you should always try to put the glue on a section close to the rear side edge.

 
I love this Mantid hobby! I have a couple young grandchildren (their father is a marine biologist) who are getting real educational value through helping me. Great way to spend the Summer for a young kid!! The costs are low compared to other hobbies and Mantids don't bite (important to my wife!) Here is what I want to know;1. An almost grown Mantid, can I feed a large cricket once a day or is every other day sufficient?

2. Now that I am good at misting and feeding, if I want to try hatching an oothaca like the ones they sell in the nursery, how do I stick it on to the branch in the cage or to the side of the cage? And when the tiny nymphs are born, what do they eat?

Thanks in advance for any and all help
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1) Large mantis can survive well without food, a large cricket once every other day will not starve your mantis. If you want to keep the full grown mantis with longer life span, feed them only 1 large crickets 2-3 times a week, and keep them at 70F with misting. This only work for tropical species not desert species. If you are going to hurry up the ootheca production (mated female), feed her lot of food and kep her warm 85-90F.

2) you can stick the ootheca on the branch glued to the cage or directly on the side of the cage. Just make sure the seam is facing down and nothing obstruct hatchling on its way out. Also make sure no water droplets at the cage bottom and the slope of the container wall is not too steep where hatchling might get stcuk on the wall during hatch out (especially for ootheca glued directly to the side of the wall).

 

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