hcarlton's Mantid Photos

[hcarlton]

I am always taking photos of my hobbies, so best I start one good thread for everyone for now...

The species I've had the most success thus far, a mated female and ooths that have hatched alongside the several that are in various stages of age:

Elmantis sp. by Hawken Carlton, on Flickr

My first mantis species (though only received a week ahead of most of the others); all 3 I believe are males though, so gonna need a female at some point:

Sphodromantis lineola by Hawken Carlton, on Flickr

I have several Heterochaeta at various age too, all doing well:

Heterochaeta orientalis by Hawken Carlton, on Flickr

These grass mantids are my latest species, hatched out and the largest now at L5:

Thesprotia graminis by Hawken Carlton, on Flickr

Turns out this one is actually a female, but I believe a couple of these are about to hit adulthood; their wing buds are starting to get very large:

Mr. Pink (Pseudocreobotra wahlbergii) by Hawken Carlton, on Flickr

 

[Connor]

Some beautiful mantids you got there! I'd be interested in a ooth or some little nymphs of your bark mantis. Maybe we could do a trade? Be prepared for the sphodromantis Lineola. My subadult female is a GIANT. Her tarsa hurt my skin when I hold her lol. My subadult male is a monster as well. He should be an adult any day. Your little Heterochaetas have convinced me to get some too?. I love grass mantis for some reason! Hatching a brunners ooth atm. And P. Walbergii... where to start... not amazing as tiny nymphs but sure is it rewarding when the coloration comes in! I have a around L6 female looking for a male! Bought a group of P. Ocellata because they are just like these guys but smaller. 

You should check out my collection if you want to see some bigger sphodromantis. I will be updating it soon with a whole lot of new molts and ooths.

 

[hcarlton]

If you have a lineola female about the same age as my males I'd be willing to do a trade; not quite sure how to tell but they're either presub or subadult, guessing only a couple molts off of maturity and about 2-3" long when they stretch out. Otherwise, I'm hoping to sell the ooths I have and the nymphs of the Elmantis once I get them molting so I can make back what I've put in so far and maybe expand come next spring to other species (I don't have a huge amount of room, the 3,000 + carnivorous plants I grow are my main time and space consumer). The nymphs are certainly small when they start out:

Elmantis sp. by Hawken Carlton, on Flickr

 

[Connor]

Unfortunately I only have one female and am going to be keeping her for breeding. But it is a very common species so I'm sure you'll find one. Lmk when you are selling the Elemantis, I'd be interested in picking up a small group.

 

[Ocelotbren]

Nice collection, thanks for sharing.

 

[Serle]

Hy & Welcome . I like your family pics........... S

 

[hcarlton]

Some of the Thesprotia are finally big enough that the camera is starting to focus on them, not the background..

Thesprotia graminis by Hawken Carlton, on Flickr

And one of the spinys was feeling prissy, and so made for a good photo shoot

P. wahlbergii by Hawken Carlton, on Flickr

P. wahlbergii by Hawken Carlton, on Flickr

 

[Connor]

Nice. Those grass mantis are sweet! My walbergii always seems to be ready for a photoshoot... sassy girl lol.

 

[PrayingMantisPets]

I cant wait to expand my collection again. Im getting jealous haha. 

 

[hcarlton]

Spiny update; the majority are now at subadult, including the largest female (molted at some point today), but I'm still hoping I can get timing right for both females to have at least one male ready with them.

P. wahlbergii by Hawken Carlton, on Flickr

P. wahlbergii by Hawken Carlton, on Flickr

P. wahlbergii by Hawken Carlton, on Flickr

P. wahlbergii by Hawken Carlton, on Flickr

P. wahlbergii by Hawken Carlton, on Flickr

P. wahlbergii by Hawken Carlton, on Flickr

My two biggest orientalis, both female. Hard to capture, but I found that their inner arms are iris violet

H. oreientalis by Hawken Carlton, on Flickr

H. oreientalis by Hawken Carlton, on Flickr

H. oreientalis by Hawken Carlton, on Flickr

And my biggest S. lineola, "Luciano," just molted to subadult

S. lineola by Hawken Carlton, on Flickr

S. lineola by Hawken Carlton, on Flickr

 

[Okoboji22]

Spiny update; the majority are now at subadult, including the largest female (molted at some point today), but I'm still hoping I can get timing right for both females to have at least one male ready with them.

P. wahlbergii by Hawken Carlton, on Flickr

P. wahlbergii by Hawken Carlton, on Flickr

P. wahlbergii by Hawken Carlton, on Flickr

P. wahlbergii by Hawken Carlton, on Flickr

P. wahlbergii by Hawken Carlton, on Flickr

P. wahlbergii by Hawken Carlton, on Flickr

My two biggest orientalis, both female. Hard to capture, but I found that their inner arms are iris violet

H. oreientalis by Hawken Carlton, on Flickr

H. oreientalis by Hawken Carlton, on Flickr

H. oreientalis by Hawken Carlton, on Flickr

And my biggest S. lineola, "Luciano," just molted to subadult

S. lineola by Hawken Carlton, on Flickr

S. lineola by Hawken Carlton, on Flickr

That one spiny flower is beautiful with the soft pink on it. Also how big is that lineola?

 

[hcarlton]

Most of the spinys have a touch of pink, two of them are particularly hot pink though. That lineola is probably 3" long stretched out, longer if the legs are included.

On an unrelated note, because I see people doing this in a lot of forums: is there a reason the entire set of photos has to be copied over in a quote?

 

[Connor]

Your mantis are looking good! 

And about quoting pictures... I never do it. Seems like it clutters up a page and takes up a lot of space. I usually just regularly respond with out anything if I’m talking to the person who wrote the post. If it’s a big post with a lot of people I like to just tag them. For example if this wasn’t your post but I wanted to respond to you I would tag @hcarlton. This is my opinion on the matter.

 

[Ocelotbren]

Those are some nice pictures, and the colors on the wahlbergiis are amazing!

 

[Okoboji22]

Yeah sorry about the page cluttering with the quoting, it's a force of habit

 

[hcarlton]

3rd male Elmantis to mature, and the last of the original ones I received to do so; they don't last long, but the females just keep going...I hope I can pair him with both of the females between when he reproductively matures and the short period after when they seem to pass, but on the other hand I'm already getting ooths all over. Currently have 2, and a bunch of nymphs still listed for sale too.

Elmantis sp. male by Hawken Carlton, on Flickr

Elmantis sp. male by Hawken Carlton, on Flickr

And, new arrivals! Hierodula membranacea ooth now incubating, and ordered 3, but got 4 of these today:

Rhombodera basalis by Hawken Carlton, on Flickr

Rhombodera basalis by Hawken Carlton, on Flickr

Rhombodera basalis by Hawken Carlton, on Flickr

I love how the newly molted one is blue

Rhombodera basalis by Hawken Carlton, on Flickr

And I caved and preordered a couple orchid nymphs to arrive in a couple weeks; they should do well in my greenhouse (kept in containers, I won't let them freely wander among the 3,000 carnivorous plants I have  ) and hopefully I can look toward breeding them eventually.

 

[Connor]

Awesome looking mantis! Congrats on another male making to adulthood. Hopefully he can do his job. The new arrivals are looking good!

 

[hcarlton]

Mr. Pink molted to adult today! He's well ahead of either female, sadly (the other males had better have more decent timing ) so he probably won't get a chance to mate, unless males of this species last a while, but he's more than worth keeping just for looks of course. An just because he's my first...

Pseudocreobotra wahlbergii "Mr. Pink" by Hawken Carlton, on Flickr

Pseudocreobotra wahlbergii "Mr. Pink" by Hawken Carlton, on Flickr

Pseudocreobotra wahlbergii "Mr. Pink" by Hawken Carlton, on Flickr

Pseudocreobotra wahlbergii "Mr. Pink" by Hawken Carlton, on Flickr

Pseudocreobotra wahlbergii "Mr. Pink" by Hawken Carlton, on Flickr

 

[Connor]

Wow he’s beautiful! Too bad he’s so ahead of the females