collinchang635
Well-known member
What is a desert mantid? How fierce is it and how big does it grow until? Can someone give a short description about this mantid?
Desert Mantid?
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Peter Clausen
Well-known member
Could you be a little more specific about which mantis you are referring to? Lots of mantises live in the desert and could therefore be called Desert Mantises.
Maybe you could share your source for wherever you came across the term Desert Mantis. That might help.
Maybe you could share your source for wherever you came across the term Desert Mantis. That might help.
Morpheus uk
Well-known member
Cant remember how to spell it but eremphi-somthing?
Eremiaphila?
Those are about 60 species of 3-5 cm, stout, tan to grey colored, longlegged, bachypterous desert or semi-desert runners that are rather aggressive and need temperatures about 35-60°C by day. Ooths are laid into the ground, nymphs hatch when triggered by moisture. Don't support fruit flies, have to be fed with firebrats, beetles, ants etc.
Those are about 60 species of 3-5 cm, stout, tan to grey colored, longlegged, bachypterous desert or semi-desert runners that are rather aggressive and need temperatures about 35-60°C by day. Ooths are laid into the ground, nymphs hatch when triggered by moisture. Don't support fruit flies, have to be fed with firebrats, beetles, ants etc.
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i never got round to breeding this species as i ended up with an adult female and no males back in 2002. Out of interest, how would you know when a female has laid an ootheca? because i wouldnt trust leaving the aggressive mother in with her newly hatched offsprings!
idolomantis
Well-known member
well i noticed that when there done laying, there paper thin insteed of fat. my ameles was a little fatty. i saw my ameles being paper thin the other day. i looked around and found an ooth.
i know how an ootheca looks like, but Eremiaphila is different to other mantis. Eremiaphila oothecae are not "paper thin", please stick to the topic and not answer with irrelevant answers. These are ground dwellers, they moult on the ground and lay on the ground. I want to know whether this species laid on the surface of the sand or bury their ootheca in the sand.
i think idolomantis meant the females abdomen, in which case that may be a good way of telling (a sudden decrease in abdomen size). im pretty sure they lay them inside the sand, so as to where exactly the ootheca is would be a different question 
i guess it wouldnt be so deeply buried so if you suspected one had been laid you could brush off the top layer of sand until you found it somewhere, just a guess though.
i guess it wouldnt be so deeply buried so if you suspected one had been laid you could brush off the top layer of sand until you found it somewhere, just a guess though.
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idolomantis
Well-known member
i DID mean the females abdomen <_< i found that pretty obvious.
ofcourse the ooths doesnt resize.
ofcourse the ooths doesnt resize.
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idolomantis
Well-known member
it,s okay
The ooths are buried into the soil. Usually, you need an humidity gradient, so the female can choose the best place. I would leave the ooths there in place and remove the female after several ooths. The young hatch usually after a good moisture increase, and you also can synchronize the ooths somewhat by controlling humidity, but this requires some experience.
Just wanna share some pics of this species. I too end up with only adult females. I fed them both fire brates and fruit flies.
The ootheca from this species hatched 1 or 2 nymphs every other day for weeks.
The ootheca from this species hatched 1 or 2 nymphs every other day for weeks.
ah i miss them so much! they were almost like keeping some type of predatory beetle as opposed to a mantis. i mean i know they still moulted etc but their looks and behaviour were so removed from other mantids, very refreshing and interesting!
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mantidsandgeckos
Well-known member
Are those big things oothecas?
collinchang635
Well-known member
So I suppose they are really fun to keep? They are really ferocious right? Are they really fast runners? Very active? I may buy this species. BTW what is a firebrat? Out of these mantids, which ones would you rate the most fun to keep:
African Mantid
Giant Asian Mantid
Desert Mantid
African Mantid
Giant Asian Mantid
Desert Mantid
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Yep, it is covered with sand.
They are fun to keep but need lot of effort. THis species needs plenty of floor space and cannot climb smooth surface but capable of jumping, also needing high temperature of 40-50C(smaller nymphs required less heat) to stay healthy. Very aggressive towards food and move very fast as you mentioned. FIrebrat appear to be like silver fish (book worm).
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