Im afraid to look too! lol. But i feel like i gotta make sure they are okay! i worry intensely with every molt too
Alexander's Mantids: 2012 - Present
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November 28th
Unfortunately, Brahma (adult female Hierodula xishaensis) killed Chip (the male) when I tried breeding them for the 9th time. They really weren't very good at breeding! The male had a really hard time focusing, I swear he had a severe case of ADHD. I'd know, I have it too LOL. But every time he actually jumped on and grabbed ahold of her, he'd try inserting but then while trying to insert, he'd go and take a bite of her wing! Like he forgot he was trying to mate and thought he was holding onto something just to eat it. RIP little dumb dumb...
And over night, my little female Phyllocrania paradoxa unexpected died. I found her at the bottom of her container! I have no idea what happened. I just know that she was odd with food, and was taking a really long time to molt. I didn't expect her to die though, she didn't seem to be THAT unhealthy...
RIP girl!! Now I just have a male. I've never had an adult male so it will be fun at least, even if I can't breed the species.
November 29th
The male Idolomantis diabolica molted to adulthood! I'm stoked. He made it! I used drawer liner instead of polyester mesh fabric for him because for some reason, his back feet kept slipping off that surface. So I used the drawer liner instead, which the feet didn't slip from. So now I have an adult male and an adult female and should be able to breed soon if all goes well!
Big fluffy antennae! I can't wait to see him when his colors come in!
And here is Baline, her colors are almost 100% now!
And I had my sister name my little Idolos.
#1 (female) is now "Willow".
#3 (female) is now "Anastasia".
#5 (female) is now "Shiloh".
#6 (male) is now "Buddha".
Unfortunately, Brahma (adult female Hierodula xishaensis) killed Chip (the male) when I tried breeding them for the 9th time. They really weren't very good at breeding! The male had a really hard time focusing, I swear he had a severe case of ADHD. I'd know, I have it too LOL. But every time he actually jumped on and grabbed ahold of her, he'd try inserting but then while trying to insert, he'd go and take a bite of her wing! Like he forgot he was trying to mate and thought he was holding onto something just to eat it. RIP little dumb dumb...
And over night, my little female Phyllocrania paradoxa unexpected died. I found her at the bottom of her container! I have no idea what happened. I just know that she was odd with food, and was taking a really long time to molt. I didn't expect her to die though, she didn't seem to be THAT unhealthy...
RIP girl!! Now I just have a male. I've never had an adult male so it will be fun at least, even if I can't breed the species.November 29th
The male Idolomantis diabolica molted to adulthood! I'm stoked. He made it! I used drawer liner instead of polyester mesh fabric for him because for some reason, his back feet kept slipping off that surface. So I used the drawer liner instead, which the feet didn't slip from. So now I have an adult male and an adult female and should be able to breed soon if all goes well!
Big fluffy antennae! I can't wait to see him when his colors come in!
And here is Baline, her colors are almost 100% now!
And I had my sister name my little Idolos.
#1 (female) is now "Willow".
#3 (female) is now "Anastasia".
#5 (female) is now "Shiloh".
#6 (male) is now "Buddha".
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Sticky
Well-known member
I am so sorry about chip!
Sticky
Well-known member
Yes he was. They really know how to get into your heart!
Thank you!
Yes, theres always one out of the group thats #1 for me. I hate when any of my mantids die but those #1 babies are the worst! Right now my favorite is Baline. Shes a gentle giant! and a beautiful one at that.
December 3rd
Peter (male Griffin Mantis) reached L7!
December 4th
Silver (male Heterochaeta hatchling) reached what looks to be L7!
Shiloh (#5, female Idolomantis) reached L5... I think? I'm starting to think I'm really bad at counting molts! Lol... Might be L4.
Anastasia (#3, female Idolomantis) reached L6 I think. Another "I think". She looks to be at L5 so I'm confused! Either way, she molted, lol.
December 7th
And Galactica (male Heterochaeta hatchling) reached adulthood! Kamakiri, a female, reached adulthood about a month ago. So she is ready as soon as he is. That'd be awesome to be able to breed both Heterochaeta and Idolos!
Side note, I've been putting the Idolos together. The female (Baline) shows no aggression, the male (Heterodox) did pose at her once though. She has started calling a couple days ago, but he hasn't made any abdominal movements yet. I figure by 2 weeks into adulthood he will be ready, same as Baline.
Peter (male Griffin Mantis) reached L7!
December 4th
Silver (male Heterochaeta hatchling) reached what looks to be L7!
Shiloh (#5, female Idolomantis) reached L5... I think? I'm starting to think I'm really bad at counting molts! Lol... Might be L4.
Anastasia (#3, female Idolomantis) reached L6 I think. Another "I think". She looks to be at L5 so I'm confused! Either way, she molted, lol.
December 7th
And Galactica (male Heterochaeta hatchling) reached adulthood! Kamakiri, a female, reached adulthood about a month ago. So she is ready as soon as he is. That'd be awesome to be able to breed both Heterochaeta and Idolos!
Side note, I've been putting the Idolos together. The female (Baline) shows no aggression, the male (Heterodox) did pose at her once though. She has started calling a couple days ago, but he hasn't made any abdominal movements yet. I figure by 2 weeks into adulthood he will be ready, same as Baline.
Danny.
Well-known member
Congrats on the Idolos bro! I'm sure they will breed for you.
December 9th
Joy (adult female Mantis relgiosa) passed away... RIP girl!
December 10th
Amico (original female Heterochaeta sp) reached adulthood! So now I have 2 adult females and an adult male. Amico didn't have a perfect molt. She chose a very bad spot to molt, she started having issues, so I removed her from the container and taped her to my shelf. She then was able to molt freely. Her only issue is that her wings are kinda funky looking, she was hanging completely upside down after the molt, which I realized causes the wings to inflate in that position (pointing straight down, rather than lying flat against the back, as they would have dried if she had been vertical). But she survived and is perfect otherwise!
December 16th
Buddha (#6 male Idolomantis) reached L5!
And my dad took a photo today... figured I'd share, haha.
And here's my Idolo's breeding cage. Wild, big, hot, humid. Waiting on the little guy to make his move! She's been calling and calling, once a day if not more. And he started doing movements with his abdomen, but I'm not sure if he's becoming interested, or if he's doing something else. When he usually does it, he either poops or squirts out some juice, but the times he does it for no apparent reason confuses me. Is he adjusting something, is he becoming interested in mating? He hasn't made a move yet so I don't know. Maybe he's just starting to warm up. I started separating them during the day and putting him in only at night, to sort of shock him when he sees her. I don't want him to be too used to seeing her, I'm not sure if that might desensitize him sort of, and make him not become excited by her.
Well that's all for now!
Joy (adult female Mantis relgiosa) passed away... RIP girl!
December 10th
Amico (original female Heterochaeta sp) reached adulthood! So now I have 2 adult females and an adult male. Amico didn't have a perfect molt. She chose a very bad spot to molt, she started having issues, so I removed her from the container and taped her to my shelf. She then was able to molt freely. Her only issue is that her wings are kinda funky looking, she was hanging completely upside down after the molt, which I realized causes the wings to inflate in that position (pointing straight down, rather than lying flat against the back, as they would have dried if she had been vertical). But she survived and is perfect otherwise!
December 16th
Buddha (#6 male Idolomantis) reached L5!
And my dad took a photo today... figured I'd share, haha.
And here's my Idolo's breeding cage. Wild, big, hot, humid. Waiting on the little guy to make his move! She's been calling and calling, once a day if not more. And he started doing movements with his abdomen, but I'm not sure if he's becoming interested, or if he's doing something else. When he usually does it, he either poops or squirts out some juice, but the times he does it for no apparent reason confuses me. Is he adjusting something, is he becoming interested in mating? He hasn't made a move yet so I don't know. Maybe he's just starting to warm up. I started separating them during the day and putting him in only at night, to sort of shock him when he sees her. I don't want him to be too used to seeing her, I'm not sure if that might desensitize him sort of, and make him not become excited by her.
Well that's all for now!
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Hey guys! Well I never showed you guys my mantid wall, so I figured I would! It's gonna take a few separate posts, lots of photos, lol.
Here is the full wall:
Idolomantis diabolica exuviae, female on the left and the male's last molt on the right:
Kaz's wings, adult male Stagmomantis carolina:
LAME gave me this guy when he was about half way to adulthood.
GriM, female Pnigomantis medioconstricta, LAME also sent me her, at L5, for my birthday. She arrived to him frozen, and once he warmed her up, she came back to life! Which is why he named her GriM. It's a perfect name. She's still alive:
My first mantids ever! Stagmomantis limbata females, Majesty and S.I.R. I at first thought S.I.R. was male, but then found out she was female, so her name then stood for "Silvia Irwin Reynolds", lol.
Tenodera angustipennis:
TBC on a different post, too many photos.
Here is the full wall:
Idolomantis diabolica exuviae, female on the left and the male's last molt on the right:
Kaz's wings, adult male Stagmomantis carolina:
LAME gave me this guy when he was about half way to adulthood.
GriM, female Pnigomantis medioconstricta, LAME also sent me her, at L5, for my birthday. She arrived to him frozen, and once he warmed her up, she came back to life! Which is why he named her GriM. It's a perfect name. She's still alive:
My first mantids ever! Stagmomantis limbata females, Majesty and S.I.R. I at first thought S.I.R. was male, but then found out she was female, so her name then stood for "Silvia Irwin Reynolds", lol.
Tenodera angustipennis:
TBC on a different post, too many photos.
Popa spurca females:
They both reached adulthood and laid infertile oothecae.
7 molts for females.
Close up of the ootheca.
The exuviae of my Parasphendale species. I always thought they were agrionina, but they may have been affinis. Not sure.
9 molts for females, males have 8 molts.
Vegranis' wings. She lived the longest of all my mantids to this date. Almost 13 months.
Male Parasphendale sp. wings. Different than the females'.
Kek-Tor, I wasn't able to bring him to adulthood unfortunately. He mismolted on his last molt while I was at a party. I need to try this species again!
My mantid calendar! All the info on it usually involves my mantids, naturally, lol.
TBC on the next post!
They both reached adulthood and laid infertile oothecae.
7 molts for females.
Close up of the ootheca.
The exuviae of my Parasphendale species. I always thought they were agrionina, but they may have been affinis. Not sure.
9 molts for females, males have 8 molts.
Vegranis' wings. She lived the longest of all my mantids to this date. Almost 13 months.
Male Parasphendale sp. wings. Different than the females'.
Kek-Tor, I wasn't able to bring him to adulthood unfortunately. He mismolted on his last molt while I was at a party. I need to try this species again!
My mantid calendar! All the info on it usually involves my mantids, naturally, lol.
TBC on the next post!
Tenodera sinensis... out of all species, I've owned these the most. My first one was Keek, she is the mantids in all the photos below lol. I need more photos.
My first Phyllocrania paradoxa... they were my second mantids:
The female's exuviae and wings. Kent-Lok! She was such a sweet mantid.
Deroplatys lobata:
Platysil was mated with and laid fertile oothecae. She was a sweet mantid.
Phyllovates chlorophaea, Vates:
She laid one infertile ootheca.
Her wings.
Mantis religiosa, Joy... she passed just recently. The under-wings are, like, see-through:
The exuviae of my female Heterochaeta sp... 10 molts! The most molts I'd ever seen a mantid have:
And that's all folks! I still need photos for the mantids I don't have photos of but this is what I have so far.
My first Phyllocrania paradoxa... they were my second mantids:
The female's exuviae and wings. Kent-Lok! She was such a sweet mantid.
Deroplatys lobata:
Platysil was mated with and laid fertile oothecae. She was a sweet mantid.
Phyllovates chlorophaea, Vates:
She laid one infertile ootheca.
Her wings.
Mantis religiosa, Joy... she passed just recently. The under-wings are, like, see-through:
The exuviae of my female Heterochaeta sp... 10 molts! The most molts I'd ever seen a mantid have:
And that's all folks! I still need photos for the mantids I don't have photos of but this is what I have so far.
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December 20th
Willow (female Idolo) reached L5. Turns out I've been counting wrong the whole time. No way my girls are at L6, they're too small, and look just like my older Idolos did at L5.
December 21st
Peter (Griffinii) molted again! He's either a pre-sub or a sub.
And Tacca (female Idolomantis) reached adulthood at last!
Unfortunately my male Idolo (Heterodox) is doing horribly at this whole mating business. He's tried only 4 times and every time, he either falls off her back when she thrashes about, or he lets go. It's really disappointing. I've worked so hard at raising them to adulthood, and I finally did it, have an adult male and adult female who molted at perfect times. But I can't mate them because he's a downright fool! He is a beautiful specimen, don't get me wrong. It's amazing just to own an adult male Idolomantis, but it's frustrating too. I honestly have lost hope, given up on them mating. She ended up attacking him and he lost two legs. If he can't even hold on when he's got all his legs, how will he hold on now? Sad... hoping I can somehow get another male before it's too late. Tacca just reached adulthood so I have time. Please let me know if you have a sub/adult male.
Willow (female Idolo) reached L5. Turns out I've been counting wrong the whole time. No way my girls are at L6, they're too small, and look just like my older Idolos did at L5.
December 21st
Peter (Griffinii) molted again! He's either a pre-sub or a sub.
And Tacca (female Idolomantis) reached adulthood at last!
Unfortunately my male Idolo (Heterodox) is doing horribly at this whole mating business. He's tried only 4 times and every time, he either falls off her back when she thrashes about, or he lets go. It's really disappointing. I've worked so hard at raising them to adulthood, and I finally did it, have an adult male and adult female who molted at perfect times. But I can't mate them because he's a downright fool! He is a beautiful specimen, don't get me wrong. It's amazing just to own an adult male Idolomantis, but it's frustrating too. I honestly have lost hope, given up on them mating. She ended up attacking him and he lost two legs. If he can't even hold on when he's got all his legs, how will he hold on now? Sad... hoping I can somehow get another male before it's too late. Tacca just reached adulthood so I have time. Please let me know if you have a sub/adult male.
