pizzuti
Well-known member
To introduce myself...
I'm in Boulder, Colorado. I used to catch and raise praying mantids as a kid (M. religiosa) and bring them to school. I don't think I've ever come across anything but the European variety here, but I've found S. carolina on trips in New Mexico and California. After a 6-year break from raising insects, I caught a mantid this summer (a female M. religiosa, brown) and am raising it, and have become interested in mantids again.
I don't know the names of anything I used to observe raising mantids in middle school but I've been browsing this forum and am glad to see that other people have observed the same things (i.e. that they don't eat for a few days before moulting, that their wings will harden improperly if there isn't space, that you can keep the female from cannibalizing the male if you supply her with crickets while they're mating, etc... .) I'm interested in working with some different varieties, especially if I can get them on a different cycle that allows me to keep them in the winter when all the local species are dead.
I'm in Boulder, Colorado. I used to catch and raise praying mantids as a kid (M. religiosa) and bring them to school. I don't think I've ever come across anything but the European variety here, but I've found S. carolina on trips in New Mexico and California. After a 6-year break from raising insects, I caught a mantid this summer (a female M. religiosa, brown) and am raising it, and have become interested in mantids again.
I don't know the names of anything I used to observe raising mantids in middle school but I've been browsing this forum and am glad to see that other people have observed the same things (i.e. that they don't eat for a few days before moulting, that their wings will harden improperly if there isn't space, that you can keep the female from cannibalizing the male if you supply her with crickets while they're mating, etc... .) I'm interested in working with some different varieties, especially if I can get them on a different cycle that allows me to keep them in the winter when all the local species are dead.
