Hi all. I joined this forum a while ago to learn about caring for Mantids. Living in Australia , with strict quarantine laws finding Mantids or ooths in the wild is the only way to start.
I do a lot of macro photography and was surprised it took me a full summer to find my first one. About 3 weeks ago found a female so brought her home and into a small tank with some foam in the bottom and some small branches. First few days I fed her a bush cockroach that I found outside and a couple of moths. Then I got some small crickets from a pet shop and she's been eating them since. For about the first week she just grabbed whatever I put near her (using some tweezers) and devoured it. Then I had my first food rejection - he had a couple of stabs at the cricket then ran away from it. I was pretty surprised - had not seen her move like that before. Since then it's been a mixture of going straight for the cricket or freaking out and running around the tank.
I'm guessing the first week hunger was keeping her passive , now her belly is full this may be normal behaviour. I'm feeding about 1 small cricket a day for 2-3 days then no food for 1 day.
Two days ago I noticed she has laid 2 ooths. Largest one is around 10mm x 15mm and appears to be laid correctly - ie vertical. The 2nd ooth is a bit smaller and is sideways. Hopefully they are fertile. (I'll have to get some fruit fly cultures going just in case they hatch)
Here's a pic of of this morning's feed:
(First time linking an image, hope this works..)
Other photos of the Mantis and the ooths here:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/12185187@N00/...57594198861943/
I do a lot of macro photography and was surprised it took me a full summer to find my first one. About 3 weeks ago found a female so brought her home and into a small tank with some foam in the bottom and some small branches. First few days I fed her a bush cockroach that I found outside and a couple of moths. Then I got some small crickets from a pet shop and she's been eating them since. For about the first week she just grabbed whatever I put near her (using some tweezers) and devoured it. Then I had my first food rejection - he had a couple of stabs at the cricket then ran away from it. I was pretty surprised - had not seen her move like that before. Since then it's been a mixture of going straight for the cricket or freaking out and running around the tank.
I'm guessing the first week hunger was keeping her passive , now her belly is full this may be normal behaviour. I'm feeding about 1 small cricket a day for 2-3 days then no food for 1 day.
Two days ago I noticed she has laid 2 ooths. Largest one is around 10mm x 15mm and appears to be laid correctly - ie vertical. The 2nd ooth is a bit smaller and is sideways. Hopefully they are fertile. (I'll have to get some fruit fly cultures going just in case they hatch)
Here's a pic of of this morning's feed:
(First time linking an image, hope this works..)
Other photos of the Mantis and the ooths here:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/12185187@N00/...57594198861943/