Ashlee's Collection Thread

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ashleenicole

ashleenicole

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Joined
Apr 28, 2016
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Location
Texas
Since I'm finally starting to kind of get the hang of my new camera, I decided to start a collection thread to share pics of my little group. I have a much smaller collection than a lot of members here, mainly because most of my extra space for animals is taken up by my tarantulas and my corn snake. As far as mantids go, I currently keep...

  • 1 adult female Rhombodera extensicollis (Ridley)
  • 1 adult female Prohierodula picta (Elf)
  • 1 unsexed Phyllocrania paradoxa (Marfa)
  • 1 unsexed Popa spurca (Tripod)
  • 1 unsexed Hymenopus coronatus (Petal)
I wanted to start with a few photos of my P. picta, Elf. This girl was an early Christmas gift from my husband, and she has been a joy to watch grow. She is a total beauty, but I'm a little disappointed that she never displays her wings for me. I've seen them once since she molted a few months ago.  <_<  Hopefully after we get moved into our new place I'll have more time to take photos of the rest of my babies! 

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ashleenicole said:
Since I'm finally starting to kind of get the hang of my new camera, I decided to start a collection thread to share pics of my little group. I have a much smaller collection than a lot of members here, mainly because most of my extra space for animals is taken up by my tarantulas and my corn snake. As far as mantids go, I currently keep...

  • 1 adult female Rhombodera extensicollis (Ridley)
  • 1 adult female Prohierodula picta (Elf)
  • 1 unsexed Phyllocrania paradoxa (Marfa)
  • 4 unsexed Popa spurca (Oak, Willow, Cypress, & Tripod)
  • 1 unsexed Hymenopus coronatus (Petal)
I wanted to start with a few photos of my P. picta, Elf. This girl was an early Christmas gift from my husband, and she has been a joy to watch grow. She is a total beauty, but I'm a little disappointed that she never displays her wings for me. I've seen them once since she molted a few months ago.  <_<  Hopefully after we get moved into our new place I'll have more time to take photos of the rest of my babies! 

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very pretty, such intense eyes!

 
Thank you both! We have been so busy trying to move that I haven't been able to get new photos of anyone, but we have had a few exciting molts! Marfa (ghost mantis) molted to a subadult recently, and my orchid also had another great molt. I'm starting to think the orchid mantis may be male, because he currently has a brown collar. I haven't really been able to count his segments yet, he is incredibly flighty and won't sit still long enough for me to get a good look at him under the loupe. :rolleyes:

 
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I wanted to update this thread with a picture of my little orchid mantis, who I think is male. He is a stunner, but he is so fast and flighty that he's a bit hard to get photos of! 

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Finally got a decent picture of my little Popa spurca, Tripod. This little one was a freebie with another order and came to me missing a leg. He has completely regenerated the missing leg now, but the name just kind of stuck. :)

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Thanks, everyone! My mantids are all doing well right now. Ridley, my adult female R.  extensicollis, looks like she may lay her second infertile ooth for me soon. We've had her about 10 months now. Elf has been mature for about 2 months now, but has still not given me an ooth. She looks very full right now though, so I'm trying to cut back on how much she eats and just hope for the best. Marfa is still a subadult, and Petal is presub if I'm correct. I've lost count of how many molts Tripod has had, but I'm going to see if I can sex him or her later today.  ^_^

 
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Here is a picture of my oldest girl, Ridley. This photo is from a few months ago, she has started to decline a bit recently and I try not to bother her too much. In other news, my orchid molted into a subadult the other day! I'm so surprised at how small he still is. 

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ashleenicole said:
Here is a picture of my oldest girl, Ridley. This photo is from a few months ago, she has started to decline a bit recently and I try not to bother her too much. In other news, my orchid molted into a subadult the other day! I'm so surprised at how small he still is. 

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Awww....she is beautiful! It is so sad when they start getting older, and start declining. One of my old wandering violin girls is getting so old she cannot catch her own flies now. I had to start hand-feeding her yesterday. It makes me sad watching her try so hard to catch the flies over and over again, but just can't do it. :(

 
Sarah K said:
Awww....she is beautiful! It is so sad when they start getting older, and start declining. One of my old wandering violin girls is getting so old she cannot catch her own flies now. I had to start hand-feeding her yesterday. It makes me sad watching her try so hard to catch the flies over and over again, but just can't do it. :(
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Thank you! And yes, it's breaking my heart. I've been hand feeding her for a while now, her vision seems really bad and she has had a hard time finding food on her own. I've found this to be the only downside to keeping mantids, they have such short lifespans and I get really attached to them so fast. :(

 
I finally got a few shots of Marfa, but I'm not really happy with them. For some reason she has been my hardest mantis to photograph! Either way, here she is. :)  I think she will be having her final molt soon, her wingbuds are really swollen today and she has been refusing food. 

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She looks like a pretty girl! I understand what you are saying about photographing the ghosts though. For some reason they are the hardest species to get good pictures of! That is why I haven't added my ghost girls to my collection thread yet!

 
Coyote said:
Nice pictures, what specie is this ? phyllocrania paradoxa ?
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Thank you! And yes, she is a ghost mantis. :)

Sarah K said:
She looks like a pretty girl! I understand what you are saying about photographing the ghosts though. For some reason they are the hardest species to get good pictures of! That is why I haven't added my ghost girls to my collection thread yet!
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She just completed her final molt the other day and is looking amazing! I'm hoping now that she's a bit larger I'll be able to get some good photos of her. I'm giving her a few more days to recover and hopefully start eating again before I try. :)  I thought my orchid mantis would be the hardest to photograph since he is so very small and so all over the place, but he has actually been a lot easier than Marfa to get nice shots of. 

 
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