General Chinese mantis questions

[keri]

Hi all, just looking for some personal experiences (I;m getting confused by all the caresheets)

How big of cages do you keep your adult chinese mantis in? Aquariums or is there something large enough that you can get creative with at the dollar store?

How often do you feed them? Multiple prey items?

How long do they actually live once they reach adulthood?

When are they sexable? Some of mine have got to be L4 or 5 or so by now I would think. (I lost track - they are growing at different rates, some are litterally half the zsize of others, are those the males?)

Thank you!!!

 

[d3xxer]

Hi all, just looking for some personal experiences (I;m getting confused by all the caresheets)

How big of cages do you keep your adult chinese mantis in? Aquariums or is there something large enough that you can get creative with at the dollar store?

How often do you feed them? Multiple prey items?

How long do they actually live once they reach adulthood?

When are they sexable? Some of mine have got to be L4 or 5 or so by now I would think. (I lost track - they are growing at different rates, some are litterally half the zsize of others, are those the males?)

Thank you!!!

Hi I have those, so i keep them in aquariums like 30cmx20cmx40cm for 10cm mantid and it seems ok. What about feeding i give them turkish roaches crickets bees flyes. I rather prefer giving them multiple smaller victim cus of theirs kinda weak raptoral arms. Theirs lifespan is close to one zear but it depends on many variables like food temperature humidity and stressing life

I hope this will help

 

[Rick]

I keep mantids that size in those small 2.5 gal mini aquariums with screen lids. The tanks come iwth glass dividers so you can house three in one tank. That is enough room I feed them every other day just like all other mantids. THey can eat about anything;crickets, flies, moths, roaches, etc. You can feed one item or you can vary it. Variety is always best for any animal if you can do it.

 

[chrisnoahdana]

You can keep one in the lil plastic pal containers they sell in petco 12x6 with some moss or bark on the bottom . with a few branches large enough to crawl on at this point you wanna seperate them all you can use deli cups and lids mantisplace has them for sale cheap a few bucks for a bunch males are smaller you can count the segments underneath males have (6-7) females have (5-6) food(crickets)flys,and any small insects that fly about good luck , if you like working with mantids there are many more wonderfull types to choose from

 

[keri]

Thanks guys!!

I have aad them all in separate tall smoothie-cups since L2 or so. It's looking a little small for the biggest ones.

Next question: What should I charge for L5 or so nymphs? I'm guessing it's not a whole lot but they are well-established and healthy and I've had a couple people asking about them. I have never seen one for sale here.

 

[PhilinYuma]

Thanks guys!!

I have aad them all in separate tall smoothie-cups since L2 or so. It's looking a little small for the biggest ones.

Next question: What should I charge for L5 or so nymphs? I'm guessing it's not a whole lot but they are well-established and healthy and I've had a couple people asking about them. I have never seen one for sale here.

1) The rule of thumb for the height of a mantis jail enclosure is 3X the length of the mantis.

2) "They're $7.50 each, but since you are a friend/acquaintance and I know that you'll take good care of them, I'll let you have three for $15.00"

 

[keri]

Thanks Phil

 

[Chief Tom]

I wouldn't feed them roaches. Roaches and flies carry worms and other disgusting parasites and diseases. I would stick with crickets and moths. I keep mine in mini aquariums with screen lids. Good luck Keri!

 

[hibiscusmile]

If your roaches and flies are captive bred and kept lab style as most here do, then they are ok to feed to your mantis, I do mine, I do not let them out, hubby would shoot me

, so they are contained and clean. I guess

 

[PhilinYuma]

If your roaches and flies are captive bred and kept lab style as most here do, then they are ok to feed to your mantis, I do mine, I do not let them out, hubby would shoot me

, so they are contained and clean. I guess

+1 Insects bred at home for mantids, herps and frogs are fed and raised better than many third world kids.

All insects in the wild are subject to parasites, including crix and grasshoppers:

http://curezone.com/forums/fm.asp?i=963537

 

[hibiscusmile]

OH Phil, I can't look at another parasite, will start to dream about them, thanks buddy

 

[keri]

Ewwwwww.... Up in Yellowknife every summer we would go swimming in the lake and would occasionally encounter one of these super long horsehair worms.... I knew they didn't bite but I had not idea where they came from! Usually we would just keep them in a bucket and gross out our parents 'till it was time to go home lol.

 

[Ghozt]

I dont feed mine crickets anymore. My mantids mysteriously die when they eat them. I think its how the crickets are kept in the pet store. I seen some bins at petstores that are gross and smelly ! So unless you are breeding your crickets/roaches... Dont do it ! Thats why I use flies from Rebeca @ mantisplace. Its so i control the flies when they are hatched and i powder cover them with a lot of blends you can get off the internet. Also got a blend from rebeca as well. Thats what i narrowed my options to... I also just posted a big thing on things i feed my veriety of mantids, and what i dont feed them.

All this talk making me hungry.... :blink:

 

[Chief Tom]

Bred in captivity or not I'm not feeding my mantids filthy cockroaches. Spiders and cockroaches are disgusting (just my opinion). True about all wild caught insects- I once saw a worm come out of a grasshoppers eye when I was kid. It was HIDEOUS!