Attracting a Male European Mantis

[Xenomantis]

I'd like to breed my female M.religiosa with a male so that I know that any ooths she lays will be fertile. Problem is, I don't have a male European mantis in my possesion.

Do you guys have any tips on where would be the best places to find male Europeans or strategies for attracting them? Thanks for taking the time to read this!

 

[Rick]

Just like any mantis go out where they're found. Find a weedy meadow or overgrown lot or even a fence line grown over with weeds and vines. Places with a lot of grasshoppers and other food. I personally have an eye for mantids and just walk slowly looking into the weeds and find them. Or you can sweep a large net through the underbrush.

 

[Peter Clausen]

If you caught your female locally, you can bet there are males around as well. The very best way to find a male mantis is to visit that gas station on the edge of town...you know, the one with the bright lights. Go there a few hours after the sun goes down and then hit it up again a few hours later. Go every night. I'd recommend you take your female in with you each time you go. Show her to the gas station attendants and tell them you'll give them five bucks if they can find you one like it. Give 'em your phone number if you trust them or your email address, or just stop by every night.

While you're there, get as close to the lights as possible. The lowest lights at the edge of the property are good bets. Check the extremities of bushes that approach the lights. Mantises flock to lights because other bugs do too...mmmoths! Also, the ladies tend to like a candlelight.

That's dedication, huh? Now go out and make that mantis yours!

Also, any rest stops are great places to find bugs too!

Really, any rural buildings with mercury vapor lights (the white ones, not the yellowish orange ones) will do!

You wanted a male...

...with my advice, you will soon have so many you can start your own mantis dating service!

Peter

 

[Xenomantis]

Thanks guys!

I really appreciate the advice! And now I know exactly where to look. (My dad had found my female at his workplace which is an hours drive from our house, so I wasn't sure which habitat was best to find them in)

 

[Xenomantis]

Update- *twitch* ARGH!!!! Fate mocks me!

I found the perfect place to search right next to my school. It's probably where Jewel came from. Anyway...

I've searched for a cumulative of 5 hours (in 45 minute increments on my off-time), and have found ALMOST no sign of mantids. Then, just as I was getting ready to go back to school, I spotted a familiar shape. Could it be? Could it really be? I hurried over, extremely excited. Even if it weren't a male European, I'd be happy for the day. I crouched down, looking at the little shape, my heart crashing. It is only a discarded exoskeleton still clinging to the weed that its former occupant had decided to shed it on.

ARGH!!!! It is indeed FROM a mantis, but no mantis. It is semi-encouraging because I'm pretty sure it was from a male, but frustrating at the same time. Now I'm sorry I didn't have the common sense to take a picture anyway. *sigh*

 

[Rick]

I know the feeling as lately I have been searching for a s. carolina male with no luck. I have searched the areas around me that contain mantids with no luck. I have done the street light thing and even set a female outside all day in a net cage in hopes of attracting a male. None of it worked. Luckily a member here local to me found one. For some reason he is only subadult (in Oct!) so I will still have to wait on him to mature.

 

[Xenomantis]

I know the feeling as lately I have been searching for a s. carolina male with no luck. I have searched the areas around me that contain mantids with no luck. I have done the street light thing and even set a female outside all day in a net cage in hopes of attracting a male. None of it worked. Luckily a member here local to me found one. For some reason he is only subadult (in Oct!) so I will still have to wait on him to mature.

Congratulations!

 

[critterguy]

chances are pretty good your female has already mated so even if you fail to find a male don't despair.

 

[Xenomantis]

chances are pretty good your female has already mated so even if you fail to find a male don't despair.

Thanks

I'll try not to be too discouraged. ^_^

 

[Xenomantis]

Update- *sigh* Plenty of interesting creatures, but no mantids.

So far I've found in that single weedy lot five species of ladybugs, eight species of grasshoppers, three species of moths, five species of butterflies, two species of spider, two species of damselfly/dragonfly, several unidentified insects, and one scorpion. :blink:

I've decided to also try a new approach. Every day for the next week I'll go walking outside with one of my European females in my hands to try and get the pheramones into the air. I'll also keep one of our white lights on at night to try and attract a male aswell. Hopefully, this will help with my quest. Once again, thanks for all the great tips guys!

 

[Mantida]

Have you tried putting your female outside in a cage for one night? Her pheremones probably will attract a male in the area.

 

[Xenomantis]

Have you tried putting your female outside in a cage for one night? Her pheremones probably will attract a male in the area.

Not yet, But I think I'll be having more luck after today.

My mom and I went out looking for mantids and found two European females. Since I'm still a rookie to the hobby and I have so many already, mom asked me to release them into the yard. One went and immediately settled into a spot onto the oak. The other... Well, she just wouldn't go. :blink: I tried three times to release her (far away from the other female), and all three times she found a way to get back onto me (usually jumping and latching onto the back of my shirt as I was walking away). So, we made her a terrarium out of one of mom's old plant terrarium container. She's officially mom's and goes by the name Cutie.

But, still, the other female, who we've nicknamed Emerald, has made herself quite at home in the yard and will probably be noticed by any and all male European Mantids in the area.

Note- European mantids are the most common mantids in the area and Emerald was wild-caught near my house.