Firenkyo's Mantids

[Firenkyo]

Sorry for being totally dead on this forum - college........
But I have good news! Minty just had his final molt a couple days ago! I took some pictures of him today since his exoskeleton should be fully hardened. He's already taking advantage of being able to fly

Aaand I got another mantis! I'm trying to figure out a way to edit my post to name it "Firenkyo's Mantids" or something.

This one is a ghost mantis! Not sure of a name for them or the sex yet (leaning towards female??? But the crest is also a little more crooked than the reference pictures??).

 

[_anthonyj0hn]

The ghost is a female. You can tell by the crown

 

[Montana_Mantids]

Sorry for the late reply, but so excited about you getting your first mantis to adult! That is a really big achievement. Your lovely ghost if a female as Anthony said. Great job!

Alex

 

[Mystymantis]

Love Minty he is so cute! Beautiful female Ghost mantis. Great job in raising your mantis to adulthood!

 

[Mantis Lady]

Gratz on the adulthood of Minty. He looks beautiful.
Did you name your ghost yet?

 

[Firenkyo]

Gratz on the adulthood of Minty. He looks beautiful.
Did you name your ghost yet?

I did! I decided on Cilantro as her name because she looks a lot like a wilted piece of it lol. She molted a few weeks ago and is looking fairly green! It's cool to see the differences between her and Minty - she's a lot more curious and active!

Bonus pictures of Minty

 

[Firenkyo]

Figured out how to take pictures under my microscope!

 

[ANTdrew]

I too have a C. gemmatus at the moment. Judging from this thread it looks like mine is a male as well? Any thoughts?
I named this one Thursday, and I ordered it from roachcrossing.com

 

[Firenkyo]

I too have a C. gemmatus at the moment. Judging from this thread it looks like mine is a male as well? Any thoughts?
I named this one Thursday, and I ordered it from roachcrossing.com

Based on what Montana Mantids told me he does look like a male!

Any reason for the name Thursday? It's a really neat name!

 

[ANTdrew]

All the mantises we’ve kept either hatched on a Thursday or arrived in the mail on a Thursday.

 

[Firenkyo]

All the mantises we’ve kept either hatched on a Thursday or arrived in the mail on a Thursday.

Solid reasoning! I've been giving mine plant-themed names so far! Started with Minty and Lentil, and now Cilantro. Not sure what I'll name my next one ... (Or even what kind I'll get!)

 

[Firenkyo]

Unfortunately I will be spamming like..every one of my threads with microscope pictures now.

Here's the old molts of Minty and Cilantro under the microscope! I thought one of Cilantro's eyes looked a little weird when I got her, and it looks like it was damaged in her old molt with some of it missing. She seems fine on this molt, though!

Their raptors. I think the left is Cilantro's and the right is Minty's. Look at all those spikes!

 

[Firenkyo]

Cilantro has molted! She was in premolt for about 3 weeks (where I was constantly glancing at her and thinking she'd molt any minute), and in the 2 hours I was away taking my organic chemistry final she molted.

It's really cool to see how green she got! She was much more brown when I first got her (in i5 I think)

 

[Firenkyo]

Took some more microscope pictures of them before heading home for break, too! Minty posed and Cilantro pretended to be a moving leaf.

Didn't get too many clear pictures because she was wiggling, but it's cool to see the marbled pattern in her eyes!

 

[Firenkyo]

And finally some videos! Just realized you could take them with my microscope.

Look at her antennae go!

Minty getting a drink

Cilantro being a great leaf but a bad model

Minty cleaning himself

 

[Firenkyo]

Finally saw Minty's defense posture, sorry I spooked you little buddy! Very pretty wings though

 

[Firenkyo]

Minty has unfortunately passed away
He was a very pretty boy and a great first mantis, and I'm glad I got the chance to keep him! Here are my first and last pics of him. I think I'll try to pin him - not sure if I want to go for a spread wing display or try to make one that looks like he's eating a fly.

 

[cometmoth]

very sorry for your loss. you clearly loved minty. minty had a good life and was lucky to have such a good keeper

 

[ANTdrew]

RIP Minty!

 

[Firenkyo]

Cilantro chilling in her enclosure! I've been having a hard time keeping any plants in it alive, but she mostly hangs around the top anyways.