Greetings from Texas!

[Vespertino]

Hi Everyone,

Glad to be here. I have always liked mantids, but never owned an outdoor space of my own until last year. Long story short, a little baby Carolina Mantis decided to make it's home in my garden and I watched her grow up. Sadly she didn't leave behind an ootheca (or none that I could find) so I ordered some ootheca and will be hatching them once the weather warms up. One mantis in my garden isn't enough

I've never raised mantids before, so I'm here for information on how to hatch them. I'll be releasing most into my yard, but I might keep a couple as pets if I can convince my spouse

-Vespertino

 

[PrayingMantisPets]

Welcome!

 

[LAME]

Welcome to the forum buddy!

Keeping and raising mantids as pets is easy and honestly in my own opinion... A lot cleaner than a lot of other pets I could list lol

 

[CosbyArt]

Hello Vespertino and welcome to the forum

I had a Carolina as well, my first pet mantis, she just died just a few hours ago. She was a great pet and if you can talk your spouse into it they will make a wonderful pet.

 

[happy1892]

Welcome! What species are you releasing in your garden?

 

[Rick]

Welcome

 

[Ralphys_Mantids]

Welcome!

 

[dmina]

Let your wife see all the pictures of the babies... she will fall in love...

Welcome to the group... We hope to hear from you...

 

[hibiscusmile]

welcome Texas

 

[sally]

Welcome

 

[Vespertino]

Thanks for the warm welcome

happy1892 - Stagmomantis carolina, they're one of the common species around here. Initially, I bought ootheca from a local organic gardening shop, but discovered they were Chinese mantis ootheca. Not the end of the world since they're naturalized, but I prefered something native so I went on ebay and found some Carolina ooths for sale and bought some. I'm not planning on releasing the chinese mantids, but I'm looking for a good home for those chinese ooths. I'm hoping there may be some peeps at the office interested in hatching and keeping the babies as pets, but there's no assurance they won't release some into the wild since you'll get a 100+ mantids from a Chinese ooth.

dmina - It's hubs who needs convincing since I'm the wife He's a bit OCD with things, it's even irritating to him when I have tomato seedlings growing on the floor of the living room (the only place in the house with southern light). He's OK with me hatching the ooths indoors for a delayed outdoor release, but reserving a few as pets might be too much for him to handle.

 

[Vespertino]

Here's a pic of "Harvey" just chillin' on my cucumber plant last spring, she's the only mantis I found in the garden. Unfortunately I named her before I knew enough to identify a female from a male. By the time I knew better the she had the name far too long to change it.

 

[CosbyArt]

Perhaps Harvey was just a alternative spelling of Harley, or just a nickname for Harleen (Like Harley Quinn)

Nice photo. Appears she was a sub-adult in that one as she doesn't have her wings. Oddly enough she seems to share another trait with Susanna (my recent mantis) the short left antenna.

Best of luck with the hubs - having problems with tomato plants you might be in for some trouble. Especially as you'll have to keep feeders for your mantis too (fruit flies for the baby nymphs, and crickets or roaches for the rest).

Let us know how it goes for you though. There are some part-time mantis owners here that have them outside only, not the best option if you want one inside, but a option.

 

[Vespertino]

Yeah I'm a bit short on space, I am hoping to switch to a fluorescent lighting setup on a shelf for the tomato seedlings. At the very least it will keep them neat, tidy, and off the floor. That will give me more space for the fruit flies, although if any get loose the hubs might get a little miffed.

Oh, I didn' t know that mantids sometimes just have one short antenna. Now I feel a bit better, I was worried that Harvey may have lost it in a struggle with some difficult prey. Here's another pic of her with wings, the short antenna is what made me realize I only had one, lonely, little mantis in the yard and I probably wasn't seeing different mantids of the same family. I will absolutely keep y'all posted. I'll probably be around asking for all sorts of advice.

Susanna does look so much like her, though I don't know what happened to Harvey or when she passed on. I'm so happy that you were able to spend those last few moments with Susanna, it must be nice to have that closure. Hubs caught a final sighting snapshot of Harvey in the mid fall and it looked like she had some tan stains on her limbs. I'm wondering if that was a sign she was nearing her time. I wish she'd left me an ooth, I very carefully scanned the dead branches of my tomato plants (she seemed to like hanging out there) but didn't find any. Since I didn't see any other mantids it's quite possible that she didn't get a chance to mate. I refuse to spray pesticides in my yard unless it's an absolute neccessity, but I doubt my neighbors do the same. It wouldn't shock me if my crummy postage stamp in the HOA was the only one that wasn't poisonous to beneficials. I certainly had more than enough pests for them to eat

 

[dmina]

Thanks for the warm welcome

dmina - It's hubs who needs convincing since I'm the wife He's a bit OCD with things, it's even irritating to him when I have tomato seedlings growing on the floor of the living room (the only place in the house with southern light). He's OK with me hatching the ooths indoors for a delayed outdoor release, but reserving a few as pets might be too much for him to handle.

Sorry for the assumption.... That is why it starts with a$$... I didn't mean to insult... I have the same prob... with my hub... I feel you.. but... he is learning how to go with the flow... or meals get scarce around here...LOL just kidding... Welcome to the group... Pictures are great... thanks for sharing!

 

[Vespertino]

Oh no worries, I didn't take it the wrong way. I realized in hindsight I didn't have my gender on my profile. I like your bargaining chip with the meals to get your hubs to cooperate I may have to employ that tactic, bwahaha.

 

[dmina]

You gotta do, what you gotta do!

 

[CosbyArt]

Yeah she is a Carolina mantis for sure.

Even if she didn't mate she would still lay ooths as if she did. It is also possible a male flew into your backyard for mating and flew off again afterwards.

I remember seeing very few if any mantises at times where we lived through the years, but whenever a porch light is flipped on at night there would be upwards of 8 mantises catching bugs at the light after a few hours of being on. Males will fly anywhere they want and disappear again.

I haven't found any ooths in branches, I always find them on flat surfaces from about a foot to 4 feet from the ground. They will lay them on bricks (often inbetween the bricks on the mortar, wooden fences, and such. Often it is upside-down so look on the bottom edge of fence support beams, the top stone cap around stairs (the bottom of the stone), etc.

I'd recommend taking another look, as she should have laid ooths somewhere.

 

[MantisMan223]

Welcome!