Eight Females, No Males

Curiosity · Oct 1, 2020

Okay, this one is going to make me sound a bit like a desperate spinster with Munchausens by proxy. As per the title, I have eight adult female mantises and one juvenile male (L5, maybe). The females are all European; the nymph may not be. Any suggestions as to how I could find a male mantis? I mean, I'm not really prepared to spend half of all the money I have to spend on a bug I can (theoretically) find in my backyard.

Man, I'm doing a terrible job of putting this in words. . .

Any ideas?

MrGhostMantis · Oct 1, 2020

Put a female in a mesh cube outside and let her pheromone call, that should bring in any males that are in your area.

Curiosity · Oct 5, 2020

@MrGhostMantis Tried it. I've been trying for three weeks. No results. Not sure wether that means the females are too young or if it means there aren't any males in the area. . . probably the latter. I've had those females for weeks; they were adults when they were first found.

Tonypace2009 · Oct 12, 2020

Curiosity said:
@MrGhostMantis Tried it. I've been trying for three weeks. No results. Not sure wether that means the females are too young or if it means there aren't any males in the area. . . probably the latter. I've had those females for weeks; they were adults when they were first found.

Could be possible they are all ready mated if you found as adults.

Curiosity · Oct 12, 2020

@Tonypace2009 Yeah, maybe. About three of them were found as adults; one was very obviously pregnant. I'm taking care of her egg in hopes it will hatch. I've also found a couple eggs outside.