Breeding colour morphs

[Mantidfinatic13]

Hi everyone,

I was wondering if there was a way to breed specific mantid colour morphs.I know that in many species of mantids there are colour morphs (most commonly green and brown) but is there a way to specifically breed the colours you are after? I have some green orthodera which are almost always green however there have actually been quite a few records of people finding brown and even a stunning golden colour. I have experienced that sometimes if you put in specific coloured leaves they will change to that colour to blend in, e.g putting in dead (brown) leaves and seeing my mantids change to a brown colour. But is this the case with all species?

thanks

 

[MantisGirl13]

I am actually doing an experiment to answer this question with ghost mantids. I don't know if my results will apply to every species though, although they might.

- MantisGirl13

 

[Mantidfinatic13]

Will you be putting specific colour plants or something else (e.g humidity)

 

[MrGhostMantis]

Will you be putting specific colour plants or something else (e.g humidity)

Yes she is.

 

[MantisGirl13]

Will you be putting specific colour plants or something else (e.g humidity)

I will be testing a variety of environmental factors. You can get more information at themantisgirl.wordpress.com

- MantisGirl13

 

[Mantidfinatic13]

will def check it out

 

[Hatsuneko]

I'm on my 4th generation of breeding for black ghosts, and at this point, almost all of them end up dark browns, dark reds, black, grays. 

 

[hibiscusmile]

Nice. got pics?

 

[Hatsuneko]

These are some of my generation 3 females.  I am going to have to take some photos of the nymphs and adolescents from generation 4.  Currently, they all just look "dark" in my zoomed out photos of the communities.

I provided MantisGirl13's experiment with ghosts from a black female, and she reports that they aren't lightening up like the others from other colored ghost females. It appears to be the case for all of generation 4.