Found a mantis

[kiethcox]

I was walking up my stairs and I spot a small preying mantis on the wall ahead of me. I grab a cup that my roaches had been shipped to me in. I guess it's a 32 ounce cup. I put a few sticks in it and put in the mantis. I'm not sure what kind it is, about 4 cm and brown and I'm in central Texas. My camera is very bad at macro shots.

It flew around my kitchen before getting it back into the cup and the lid on. I'm assuming that this means it's a male in its last instar. Would this be right?

I dropped in a small mealworm and he went to the bottom and tried picking it up but couldn't. Then climbed up to the top. I found an even smaller mealworm to drop in that he hasn't gone after. Went out and grabbed a moth that apparently was too big for him, he kept moving out of its way instead of eating it. There's a much smaller spider up on the wall that's got an even bigger moth that it's eating. I currently have no flies and nearest pet store is an hour away.

Should I just release it or is there a way to get smaller flying insects? I had the outdoor light on and all I found were the moths.

Thanks

 

[Rick]

Does sound like a male of one of the stagmomantis species. Woudl be adult if it is flying. Moths are good food as well as flies for one of those. You don't need a macro picture of it to help us determine what it is. Just a regular pic.

 

[hibiscusmile]

If you give it time he will be ok, they do love moths. He is just shy right now, in a day he will get over it.

 

[Mantida]

If you give it time he will be ok, they do love moths. He is just shy right now, in a day he will get over it.

Yes, it usually takes them a while to get used to an invisible wall. Fresh captured wild mantids usually claw at the glass vigorously for about a day or two until they get settled down. When this stops he'll most likely take food.

 

[kiethcox]

Yes, it usually takes them a while to get used to an invisible wall. Fresh captured wild mantids usually claw at the glass vigorously for about a day or two until they get settled down. When this stops he'll most likely take food.

Thanks. I didn't see him claw at the side any. Up the stick and onto the ceiling. I can't see one of the 3 mealworms I had in there. Not sure if I just overlooked him or the mantis ate him. Such a tiny head, hard to imagine him eating a moth. I'll give it a few days and throw another one in.

 

[kiethcox]

I've thrown in two small moths that keep running around the lid of the cup passing in front of him and he hasn't made a move to snag one yet. They're not flying but running. I think I'm going to have to release him since he won't eat.

 

[Mantis Keeper]

Quick question about the mantis. You said brown and only four centimeters. Does it look like the stereotypical mantis in every other way, or does it happen to look like a twig and have really tiny grasping claws?

 

[kiethcox]

I've tried taking photos but my camera won't catch it. It's not good at focusing on small things. Everything is really blurry. I had looked up for Texas insects and the body outline looks like Litaneutria minor but it is solid brown instead of bark markings and is bigger. I could easily be wrong. What are you thinking it might be so I can look it up? Thanks

 

[kiethcox]

I found this one on Wikipedia which says it's an Australian Praying Mantis

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:Austral...ying_Mantis.jpg

 

[Mantis Keeper]

Judging by your location and you saying it looks like the one in the picture, I'm going to say it's Thesprotia graminis, the grass mantid. The males like to fly a lot, but the females don't even have wings. I recomend feeding them large fruitflies and small moths, those worked for me.

 

[yen_saw]

Keithcox, if the pic above is what you have, it looks like Bactromantis sp., but if the mantis has a longer hind portion of pronotum compared to the front. It is then Thesprotia graminis. The later is more common as far as i can see in SE of Texas. T. graminis is about 5-6 cm while Bactromantis is 2-3 cm smaller.

 

[kiethcox]

Keithcox, if the pic above is what you have, it looks like Bactromantis sp., but if the mantis has a longer hind portion of pronotum compared to the front. It is then Thesprotia graminis. The later is more common as far as i can see in SE of Texas. T. graminis is about 5-6 cm while Bactromantis is 2-3 cm smaller.

Sorry Yen, I find that confusing. The actual posted pic is the one I have. I'm not sure what pronotum is. I tried two small bugs that were flying around the light at night and a small moth (bigger than him though) I released him back into the house since the bugs aren't coming out with the cold front that came in and I didn't want to release him outside to the cold. It's getting below 50 at night here. What's it like down there in houston?

 

[yen_saw]

Sorry Yen, I find that confusing. The actual posted pic is the one I have. I'm not sure what pronotum is. I tried two small bugs that were flying around the light at night and a small moth (bigger than him though) I released him back into the house since the bugs aren't coming out with the cold front that came in and I didn't want to release him outside to the cold. It's getting below 50 at night here. What's it like down there in houston?

Ah sorry, i thought the pic was from some other website :lol:

Pronotum is the middle section of the mantis. It is an adult male. Oligonicella sp. = Bactromantis sp., maybe O. mexicana or O. scudderi. He is probably about 3-4 cm?

http://www.tolweb.org/Bactromantis/12838

We have a cold front started yesterday, it was about 49F yesterday night.

 

[kiethcox]

He was about 4cm long. I'm going to have to order some flies when I get the #9's and/or the orchid mantids.

 

[Rick]

He was about 4cm long. I'm going to have to order some flies when I get the #9's and/or the orchid mantids.

Get your food insects BEFORE you get the mantids. Always a smart move.

 

[kiethcox]

Get your food insects BEFORE you get the mantids. Always a smart move.

Since this one was found in the house I couldn't quite do that. But when I order a mantis it wouldn't work to order flies at the same time, in the same shipment? I'm just checking. I live about an hour from the nearest pet shop and I really hate ordering online due to high shipping prices. I haven't looked at how much flies cost with shipping though. Maybe it's not so bad. Thanks

 

[Rick]

Since this one was found in the house I couldn't quite do that. But when I order a mantis it wouldn't work to order flies at the same time, in the same shipment? I'm just checking. I live about an hour from the nearest pet shop and I really hate ordering online due to high shipping prices. I haven't looked at how much flies cost with shipping though. Maybe it's not so bad. Thanks

Well the problem is if you need fruit flies and you buy some at the time of the mantis purchase you will use up the flies before they can make more. So it's best to get a couple fly cultures going before you get the mantids. If you're using other flies then you need to give about a week before the pupae turn into flies Always best to have the food going before the mantis comes home. I order all my stuff online as it is cheaper even with the shipping.

 

[bubforever]

I myself wound not want to keep a wild mantis only cause in my area mantids are hard to find (trust me i searched all summer). But if you want to i aint gonna stop you. As for the food, you were right about waiting at night for moths and other small insects to go to the bright object in the sky aka a lightbulb. But like rick said try to make a few cultures of fruit flys as soon as possible.

 

[kiethcox]

I myself wound not want to keep a wild mantis only cause in my area mantids are hard to find (trust me i searched all summer). But if you want to i aint gonna stop you. As for the food, you were right about waiting at night for moths and other small insects to go to the bright object in the sky aka a lightbulb. But like rick said try to make a few cultures of fruit flys as soon as possible.

I had just happened to see him on the wall inside my house. It's the first I've seen in a long time.

I've got to research on how to keep and breed fruitflies. I'm thinking my dad is likely to have a fit. We have a problem with flying fruit flies in the summer taking over the house. I'm not sure which of the two species to get.