Deroplatys desiccata or Deroplatys lobata?

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PrayingMantisPets

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I dont know what one to chose from. plus i heard they are very sensitive. Any advise or help?

Thanks,
Cameron Little

 
They are both very picky - my research shows the same temperature and humidity requirements, which are also fairly high (78-86F at 60-80% humidity) which contributes to placing them both in the medium to medium-high difficulty to keep category. Desiccata get bigger and the pronotum are different... that's about the only practical differences I'm aware of.

 
D. lobata males are much smaller comparing to dessicata; so you need to control its growth at earlier stage. I've learned my lesson :(

 
All Deroplatys are pretty much the same size:

http://www.kudlanky.com/soubory/lobata_dessicata_truncata.jpg

You can get bigger specimens especially females if you will feed them extra. As they grow make sure to give them extra space for molting and spray every other day. That's how I keep my D. lobata and D. desiccata.
There's definitely a lot of overlap, but from the (rather dense) scientific literature I've dug up the findings are as follows:

Desiccata - Male 2.56"- 2.76" Female 2.95"- 3.15"

Lobata - Male 1.77" Female 2.56"- 2.76"

Truncata - Male N/A Female 2.56" - 2.76"

I suspect these are mean values so ~10% of subjects were probably outside of these ranges, adding to the overlap one might find.

 
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