Chinese Mantis Group Enclosure?

[avn]

Ok so I have been paying more attention to mantis personality and the difference is remarkable! So are consistently a lot more active than others and some are a lot more willing to stand on my hand than others who are always jumping away.

I've been doing a system where whenever I open a cage and a mantis runs onto my hand, I put it in a new cage... A more prestigious cage.   The ones in the highest cage (have run onto my hand a few times each) are a lot more interactive and will stand on my hand and eat out of my hand.

 I think these are the ones I'll keep. I've already given some of them names. 

 

[CosbyArt]

Glad to see you found some keepers from your hatch. It is odd how they can stand out from the others, but they tend to develop personalities. I'd be interested to see what the insect psychology books say, but at prices of $50-$200 for each book used on Amazon on the topic I haven't bothered to get one.

The only trick I learned on picking out names is to find name lists like this one. It lists the top 100 names for girls, they have them for boys as well. That way I am not using the same one twice very quickly, and I don't have problems deciding on one.

 

[avn]

I got a bunch of molts now! 

I was searching a lot for how long it would take for them to molt for the first time. So: 

For or the record, my Chinese mantis nymphs hatched  between 17 and 18 April and they went through their first molt from 2-3 May.   So that's 14-15 days later. 

During that time I fed them probably 1-2 fruit flies per day. I would have fed more but my colonies weren't mature when they hatched. I bought another colony the day they hatched but it was a fresh one... A fruit fly colony ramps up on 12 days which is about as long as the mantises are in their first instar.

i estimated I started with around 120 from my ootheca. I now have about 50. Survival rate of 40%... 

Lessons I learned:

- have fruit fly colonies ready to go when your ooth hatches. These take about two to three weeks to ramp up, so prepare for that. If it's an emergency, buy an already producing culture, don't buy a newly made one.

- petco sells cultures from "the fruit fly company". They produce really well, but they put them on the shelves the day they make them, instead of waiting for them to start making new flies. You can tell a culture is making new flies if it has pupae all over the walls.

- Home made fruit fly colonies are fine but the mashed potatoe recipe is semiliquid, which means you can't turn the culture and shake it to get the flies out. Commercial fruit flie mediums have an advantage here.

- mold doesn't seem to hurt fruit fly colonies! But it does make them even grosser. 

- mantids nymphs need lots of space but don't make a really decorated terrarium initially.  Keep it simple with a paper towel floor and some simple furniture. In a decorated cage it's harder for them to find food and harder for you to see the mantises and see if any die.

-mantises have different personalities! Some are more skiddish of you, some are less.

- NEVER USE TAPE, even for external things you think the mantises won't go on. They will get everywhere and anywhere. It's really easy to have an up corned corner of duct tape that kills a bunch of mantises.

- an ooth is a LOT of mantises. If you're new to this hobby, consider just getting one mantis. It's been fun having an ooth to nurture but it's also been a lot of stress. 

- causes of preventable mortality - 

-- stuck to tape: 3

-- tangled in hot glue strand: 1 

-- Escaped- Unknown... Maybe like 20.  

 

[CosbyArt]

...

- Home made fruit fly colonies are fine but the mashed potatoe recipe is semiliquid, which means you can't turn the culture and shake it to get the flies out. Commercial fruit flie mediums have an advantage here.

...

Glad the nymphs molted and you learned from it, bound to happen.

Regarding the homemade/DIY fruit fly medium it can be made as thick of a paste as needed (even like concrete) - just vary the amount of water.

I tend to make mine a thick goop as the adult flies can safely walk on it without getting stuck or drowning in the medium/food that has too much water. Also as mentioned there are many other variations that can be used to control mold and what goes in the medium, take a look at this FF recipe list for plenty of tips. Personally my mix works just as well as the store bought variety at a fraction of the cost (and without the unnecessary additives they have for the benefit of frogs or reptiles that eat the flies, which are not needed for mantids).

 

[avn]

I got my first l3's today, some 27 days after they originally hatched. Interestingly I found an escapee in my room today and it was still l1. Maybe if they don't get much food they really will delay molting.

Anyway, the l3's seem hungrier for mantisflesh than the l2's. Time for individual nymph cups

 

[avn]

 

[avn]

I've got them mostly in individual habitats. It's a lot of habitats though.  at some

point I should figure out how many mantises I want to really keep.  I have 16 habitats now and it seems like I'll never bond with this many mantises... I've been thinking I would release them but it feels pretty weird to release them after raising them for so long...

 

[CosbyArt]

Good, great to hear you got them separated. Don't worry 16 isn't anything, as I've had well over 70 a few times when hatching ooths, not counting my adults which at times range near 50. Although I admit I'm like you in that regard, I like about half-dozen or so that way I can get them tamed and as true pets rather than having a mini-zoo.

If you don't want to release the excess nymphs you can place a ad in the classifieds to sell them off, or simply run it as free to a good home ad with members covering shipping costs if you want to ensure they get adopted.

 

[Kara S]

Thanks for this topic. I was wondering about my African Mantis, George. He/she (3rdinstar) has not let me touch it or get on a stick I am holding or take food directly from me. He just sways at me and will not break gaze with me, even to eat (although I have caught him looking away for a millisecond to grab the ff. I thought I was doing something wrong, but it seems he is just an a**hole. Just kidding.

 

[kmjack123]

Looks good. I have one just just molted into the L2 stage. It hatched around November 7. I went to the dollar store and got one of their containers and poked about 7 holes on top and on the sides wrapped the sides of the inside of the container with paper towel and put a couple sprays of water on it to get it moist to get humidity in the tank and put a popsicle stick in it. It molted to the side of the container last night. 

Congrats