About to buy a dozen orchid nymphs. What equipment do I need for them?

[Orin]

i think you should have a glass of water

I find it interesting hobbyists sometimes pick on others for admitting not all their mantids live. Were they to all survive, a single pair of most species in 12-15 generations would exceed the mass of the earth.

 

[KevinsWither]

Not that I keep orchid mantises anymore and don't plan to do so for the foreseeable, but I kept them before and I have to say, they aren't as bad to keep as other mantises despite popular belief. 

The most important thing is giving orchid mantises side vents on the containers. If you don't do that, the stagnant air will induce mold/bacteria that can be fatal for orchid mantises. Orchid mantises will eat red runner cockroaches just fine too, but its ideal to give them flies, butterflies and moths, as well as the occasional honeybee. 

Keeping the humidity up is important but not as important as having side vents on the container. They can be kept at room temperature just fine unless you want to stagger males or increase growth for females. I have kept many orchid mantises this way. Your biggest problem is getting fertile ooths. Because orchid mantises aren't actually too bad to breed, infact I would say it is easier to breed orchid mantises than other praying mantis species based off of breeding process only. Simply when the male and female are old enough, distract the female with food and gently nudge the male from a stick or your finger onto the back of the female mantis. If successful, the male will mount and will start drumming. 

 

[Viceroy]

The most important thing is giving orchid mantises side vents on the containers. If you don't do that, the stagnant air will induce mold/bacteria that can be fatal for orchid mantises. Orchid mantises will eat red runner cockroaches just fine too, but its ideal to give them flies, butterflies and moths, as well as the occasional honeybee.

so do you keep all of these? never looked into keeping feeders, just fruit flies

 

[MrGhostMantis]

so do you keep all of these? never looked into keeping feeders, just fruit flies

If your ghosts were anywhere past L4 this is why they died! You can’t feed a mantis fruit flies all their life!

 

[MrGhostMantis]

To add on, I have a ton of Elmantis right now and they take fruit flies just fine, so that excuse doesn’t help you here.

 

[Viceroy]

what else are you supposed to feed them

 

[Synapze]

what else are you supposed to feed them

Blue bottle flies seem to be one of the best options.

 

[agent A]

Jesus c#ck gobbling Christ!

1: you want to give any mantis a varied diet

2: you want APPROPRIATELY sized prey items

I generally keep on hand a number of things. 2 species of fruitflies, 4 roach species, a cricket species, waxworms, Trichoplusia ni or Spodoptera exigua, houseflies, blue bottleflies, and black soldier flies

most species start off with 1 of 2 fruitfly species. if they start on the bigger guys, they shift over to houseflies in an instar or 2. if they start on the smaller guys, they go to the bigger fruitfly species first

certain species I will also then give really tiny crickets to. Every 6 weeks or so I order (from Ghann's Cricket Farm) a bunch of crickets, 1000 of the 1/16", 1000 of the 1/4", 1000 of the 1/2", and 1000 of the 3/4". I have a lot of hungry mouths to feed. I offer small roaches and then bottleflies to nymphs as they keep getting bigger

Hymenopus shouldn't be fed black soldier flies or crickets, but the other species (to be clear, the 3 moth species I listed I allow to morph into adults before using as food, but my frogs will eat the larval stages) I listed (moths, roaches, flies) are fine

Creobroter can eat all of the above, Otomantis won't really recognize the crickets or roaches as food. I don't recommend non-flying prey for anything in the Empusidae. Odontomantis don't like crickets. But please do better research before impulse buying a LIVING CREATURE! 

 

[Introvertebrate]

Not to hijack the thread, but back on the first page there was some discussion about staggering development.  I realize that male orchids reach maturity a lot quicker.  Is this only an issue with orchids, or does it need to be considered with other mantis species as well?  If I were raising some Pseudocreobotra from birth, would I need to keep the males at a lower temperature, in order to ultimately breed ooth-mates?

 

[agent A]

Not to hijack the thread, but back on the first page there was some discussion about staggering development.  I realize that male orchids reach maturity a lot quicker.  Is this only an issue with orchids, or does it need to be considered with other mantis species as well?  If I were raising some Pseudocreobotra from birth, would I need to keep the males at a lower temperature, in order to ultimately breed ooth-mates?

Theopropus, Pseudoxyops, and most acanthopids need to have staggered development

as for Pseudocreobotra, you will want to feed the females a little more, but drastic measures to speed females up and slow males down aren't necessary

 

[Introvertebrate]

Thanks Alex.  Very informative as usual.

 

[Jessie]

While I do agree agree that maybe orchids wouldn't be the best thing for them.

I do think there is a nice way to say it than some of the comments are coming across.

Everybody makes mistakes and everybody needs to learn and that there is that there is nicer ways to say it too.

 

[agent A]

While I do agree agree that maybe orchids wouldn't be the best thing for them.

I do think there is a nice way to say it than some of the comments are coming across.

Everybody makes mistakes and everybody needs to learn and that there is that there is nicer ways to say it too.

sorry, my vegan bias is making me feel bad for the animals

 

[KevinsWither]

so do you keep all of these? never looked into keeping feeders, just fruit flies

The red runners I used to cultivate. As for the flies they can be ordered online. Banana roaches can be cultivated. As for the rest, while it's not advised to give mantises wild caught prey, some people do and those mantises are fine. The other option is to cultivate those butterflies/moths and those can become quite expensive. In that case look into painted lady butterflies/cabbage butterflies/silk moths.