Gonatista grisea UPDATE!!!

[Scruffy Aphid Herder]

Here is the Mantis I had in the jar. I moved her into a more spacious home

Questions:

Should I split all 4 into their own separate tanks?

I've bought small sized crickets and small mealworms(about 1/4 to 1/2 the mantids size).

I just recently put them in but none of them seem interested in eating any. Should I be feeding something else to them?

 

[Mime454]

They're so beautiful. Anyone know what instar they are? Sub?

 

[Scruffy Aphid Herder]

I'm only guessing but, this one in particular looks to be about in the L3 to L4 area. But I would also like to know for sure what stage she's in.

 

[agent A]

I'm only guessing but, this one in particular looks to be about in the L3 to L4 area. But I would also like to know for sure what stage she's in.

that's wayyy too big to be L4

 

[grob]

Nice catch!

I would split them up into their own cages. That way you can keep track of who eats what, and make sure one doesn't eat the other one.

Here's what I keep my two in:



The left is a 32oz plastic storage container from the dollar store.

In the wild I think Gonatista spend most, if not their entire life on the trunks of small vertical trees. Andrew and others have used this design and the mantids seem to like it. They spend most of their time on the log, and when startled they can run to the backside of the log as they would in the wild.

The "log cage" may be overkill, they may be fine without it, but it seems to work well.

For cages in general I found this post from bug trader really helpful http://mantidforum.net/forums/index.php?showtopic=28467 I do the same thing for my smaller cages but add a few screened windows in the side and some furniture, and a foam plugged hole for "blow darting" flies in. Malakyoma has a great youtube video on building containers too.

The two I caught took a long time to settle down and eat, like at least a week. Watch their abdomens. When they are flat, they could eat something, when they are plump they may be full.

I've seen them eat small roaches, houseflys and blue bottle flies, but usually they eat when I’m not looking. I'll put a blue bottle fly in when I go to work and in the evening it's gone, and their abdomen is a little fatter. Usually they are on the log side away from me hiding.

Be sure to search this forum for "Gonatista", there are a lot of great posts from AndrewNisip about these.

And I see you have dirt in the bottom of the terrarium. While that's a beautiful terrarium, it makes it hard to see what they've eaten and makes it hard to clean the cage, in my opinion. You may want to go with just paper towels on the bottom and mist the cages a couple of times a day. Ventilation is important.

They all look nice and healthy. Enjoy!

 

[Scruffy Aphid Herder]

How can you tell the size ? I haven't compared it to anything :blink:

 

[Scruffy Aphid Herder]

Nice catch!

I would split them up into their own cages. That way you can keep track of who eats what, and make sure one doesn't eat the other one.

Here's what I keep my two in:

cages.jpg

The left is a 32oz plastic storage container from the dollar store.

In the wild I think Gonatista spend most, if not their entire life on the trunks of small vertical trees. Andrew and others have used this design and the mantids seem to like it. They spend most of their time on the log, and when startled they can run to the backside of the log as they would in the wild.

The "log cage" may be overkill, they may be fine without it, but it seems to work well.

For cages in general I found this post from bug trader really helpful http://mantidforum.net/forums/index.php?showtopic=28467 I do the same thing for my smaller cages but add a few screened windows in the side and some furniture, and a foam plugged hole for "blow darting" flies in. Malakyoma has a great youtube video on building containers too.

The two I caught took a long time to settle down and eat, like at least a week. Watch their abdomens. When they are flat, they could eat something, when they are plump they may be full.

I've seen them eat small roaches, houseflys and blue bottle flies, but usually they eat when I’m not looking. I'll put a blue bottle fly in when I go to work and in the evening it's gone, and their abdomen is a little fatter. Usually they are on the log side away from me hiding.

Be sure to search this forum for "Gonatista", there are a lot of great posts from AndrewNisip about these.

And I see you have dirt in the bottom of the terrarium. While that's a beautiful terrarium, it makes it hard to see what they've eaten and makes it hard to clean the cage, in my opinion. You may want to go with just paper towels on the bottom and mist the cages a couple of times a day. Ventilation is important.

They all look nice and healthy. Enjoy!

In the tank that has the 3 mantids, I have a mix of dirt and moss, the one above it just wet moss under fine gravel.

 

[Mime454]

How can you tell the size ? I haven't compared it to anything :blink:

Ty definitely look over an inch long. These are tiny mantids so they look to be at least presub. Plus, look at how big the wing buds are.

 

[Scruffy Aphid Herder]

Ty definitely look over an inch long. These are tiny mantids so they look to be at least presub. Plus, look at how big the wing buds are.

Lets see; the mantis in the above picture is pretty tame, let me take a picture with something to compare her with.

WAIT, is it a her ? am I correct on gender at least ?

 

[Scruffy Aphid Herder]

BTW thanks rob for the info on where to go for these guys

 

[Mime454]

I've never had these, but I think I count 8 segments, so by my judgement, he's male.

 

[Scruffy Aphid Herder]

Ok, here's one with measurement and some play around shots.

 

[mantid_mike]

They look sub-adult to me...and you've caught some really beautiful specimens. Hopefully my cousin is able to catch me a few up in Orlando.

 

[grob]

BTW thanks rob for the info on where to go for these guys

No problem! Now that you know what to look for you will see them all over. They seem fairly common, I've found them in four locations, one being a very unnatural, landscaped entrance to a "gated community".

 

[aNisip]

In the last three pics( the first one of the three) is a pre sub male...can you get shots of the other two like that first pic in the last set of three? And yup! I honestly think the log cage is the best setup for these guys...out of all the mantids in the hobby, this is basically as close you can get to their natural habitat...

If I were you, I'd get rid of the dirt (as aesthetically pleasing as it seems) its prime mold and fungi substrate once the mantises excrement sits it the moistened soil...and being in a glass terrarium, there won't be enough ventilation at the bottom to inhibit these biological detriments.... if you have any ?'s feel free to PM me....

All the best,

Andrew