Attracting wild males for breeding?

[ANTdrew]

Hello! I’ve been raising five Carolina mantises this summer from an ooth I found in February. One of the four is a female. My entomologist friend gave me the idea of trying to put her outside in a mesh kind of Malaise trap to call in males via pheromones. Do any of you have experience with this sort of thing? Are there any simple setups I could make to try such a thing?

 

[ANTdrew]

Bumping this up since it got buried by a lot of inane necroposts.

 

[Laura wilson]

Never heard of them either

 

[Tenodera]

If you have many wild mantises in the area and your females are actively calling, this can work. Mantises aren't as effective at broadcasting and following pheromones as moths, for which this technique is awesome, but nearby males will be attracted. Honestly you're probably going to be better off light-trapping the boys though, leaving females outside in net cages creates the possibility that other wild animals will interfere.

 

[ANTdrew]

Ironically, we released the female last week and a male immediately swooped in nearby. Hopefully I’ll spot some ooths in my yard.

 

[Meddle]

Hello! I’ve been raising five Carolina mantises this summer from an ooth I found in February. One of the four is a female. My entomologist friend gave me the idea of trying to put her outside in a mesh kind of Malaise trap to call in males via pheromones. Do any of you have experience with this sort of thing? Are there any simple setups I could make to try such a thing?

 

[Meddle]

I let my European girls wander around on my window screens (indoors) and wild males respond well. They're so fixated on the females across the screen, they don't mind me scooping them up to bring them in for a playdate