Charoozz's Mantis Collection

[Charoozz520]

Hello Everyone!

Charles here. 

I started keeping mantises about 10 years ago, but with college/moving and everything in between I didn't have the time or resources to keep up with my love for this hobby.
The past few years I have been working with/breeding various species of Geckos and Dart Frogs but decided its time to get back into these beautiful insects.

Well this is the start of my beautiful collection and boy am I already addicted  

Two day old mature Female Wahlbergii:
I was lucky enough to see her through her entire molting process! Unfortunately, even with my monitoring it appears she mismolted and is missing the tarsals on two of her legs but hopefully she pulls through.

Here she is almost done with her molt you can see that her legs are shorter on one side compare to the other  :

Today:

And the subadult male which I hope to mate her with:

One of the two pseudoxyops perpulchra I picked up (I can't wait for them to grow their wings):

Also have two Creobroter spp. but they are so tiny it is hard to get the camera to focus. Will try again later for some pictures.

Anyways I hope to use this thread as a way to keep track of my progress  

 

[Graceface]

Cute mantids! Hopefully your female Wahlbergii will be just fine and be able to breed

 

[Mantis Lady]

nice pics. i hope your female Wahlbergii find to get used to her handicap and can mate later.

 

[hysteresis]

Nice mantises. Isnt this hobby great!

 

[Charoozz520]

Thanks everyone  she's a champ, even without the use of two of her legs shes still holding onto the top of her cage, I am just worry that the weight of the male might be too much for her so I am going to have to position her safely before I try to mate her in a few weeks.

This hobby is amazing, I am learning so much about the different species and wanting a lot of them! My next goal is to build custom bio-active enclosures for my future adult females  

 

[MantisGirl13]

Beautiful mantids! I wish you luck with breeding the spinys! 

Btw, I think the pseudoxyops perpulchra will be adult very soon! Those wingbuds look really swelled.

- MantisGirl13

 

[Charoozz520]

Beautiful mantids! I wish you luck with breeding the spinys! 

Btw, I think the pseudoxyops perpulchra will be adult very soon! Those wingbuds look really swelled.

- MantisGirl13

Thank You! That girl actually did molt while I was at work into a beautiful subadult I think, so one more to go! The other isn't far behind, she's been refusing food so I think she is going to molt any day now.

 

[Charoozz520]

Okay I will admit I am addicted...because Mantis Mayhem!

I finally got a good picture of the creobroter spp.

And as for the new arrivals, how could I resist getting these cute little babies:

11 L2 Ghost Mantis Nymphs (Thank you Jaywo), boy they are active! I had these guys when I first started keeping mantises years ago and I did not remember them being so active. Makes it very hard to open the lid to spray and feed them. So the pictures will have to be just them in their containers for now

And 3 L3 Phyllovates chlorophaea (Thanks for the extra Yen!) I was super worried as when I open the package it was cold and they were not moving at all but they all seemed to have recovered and munching on hydeis:

Finally 4 L3 Spiny Flowers (Yen also sent an extra but looks like the other 4 got hungry and ate their sibling)

 

[MantisGirl13]

@Charoozz520 Welcome to the addiction!  

it is easiest if you separate the ghosts sooner than later, because they do love to eat a freshly molted sibling! 

- MantisGirl13

 

[Charoozz520]

@Charoozz520 Welcome to the addiction!  

it is easiest if you separate the ghosts sooner than later, because they do love to eat a freshly molted sibling! 

- MantisGirl13

Ahhh I will have to go get more containers then, I was under the impression they were communal and I just need to separate them when I can sex them. 

 

[MantisGirl13]

@Charoozz520

No mantis is truly communal, which I have learned the hard way. Trust me, I've learned from experience, sadly!

- MantisGirl13

 

[Jaywo]

My ghost seem ok together but it is a hit or miss. I had 5 in a container that was great until adulthood. Then again I had another container of 5 and one female was just really adamant about having the cage to herself. Unfortuantely,  she achieved this overnight and she was just L/4.

I find that the nymphs do ok together.

 

[MantisGirl13]

I had 5 L4s go to 2 in a very large cage overnight because some female decided she was boss! I also have lost several due to cannibalism after molting.

- MantisGirl13

 

[Charoozz520]

@Jaywo thanks again for these babies! They are so adorable! 

@MantisGirl13 well base on the stories from both of you, I will be separating them into either individual containers or 2 in each container tonight. 

 

[MantisGirl13]

@Jaywo thanks again for these babies! They are so adorable! 

@MantisGirl13 well base on the stories from both of you, I will be separating them into either individual containers or 2 in each container tonight. 

Good idea!

- MantisGirl13

 

[Mantis Lady]

I had 5 L4s go to 2 in a very large cage overnight because some female decided she was boss! I also have lost several due to cannibalism after molting.

- MantisGirl13

Good that I put my ghosts in diferents cups when I got them

 

[Charoozz520]

I safely separated the Ghost into individual/pair containers. That was a pain as they just kept crawling all over my hand! But everyone is safe

The two Creobroter joined the molting party and decided to molt at the same time last night!

I think one is now a subadult and the other is one molt behind, hopefully I can find a male for these lovely ladies:

 

[Mantis Lady]

gratz on the molts

 

[hysteresis]

Beautiful!