Care of adult males...

[cat_h]

What is the best way to keep a male mantid alive as long as possible? Seems a shame that they die so quick.

I read advice that to slow the progression of a male through the instars you can try keeping them cooler and fed less than females. Seems counterintuitive for an adult though or does it still hold true?

Would love to hear if anyone has a particular strategy that they use or whether it's just random chance.

Thanks!

Cat

 

[Jessie]

I think you feed them less to.

 

[GingerC]

Mantids and other insects are cold blooded; therefore keeping them cool slows their metabolism, making them require less food and grow and age more slowly. Keeping males cool and cutting back on food is about the only thing you can do to make them live longer, but they can actually live quite a while with some luck- my male giant Asian mantis died this morning and his final molt was six months ago!