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Jared185

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Hi all,

This is my first post and I'm also a noob when it comes to mantis keeping though I'm not new to keeping insects. Now I've wanted a mantis for forever but I never pulled the trigger on one as of yet. With that said I didn't know it but my wife ordered 2 Chinese mantis egg cases and I have been doing some research to get ready for them to come in. I know how to hatch them making sure they don't dry hanging the egg cases upside down a branch etc. but my questions are this. I

1. I'd rather have 2 individual mantis but my wife did this without my knowledge and we can't send egg cases back to breeder once they get here so my question is what can I do with the other babies until spring comes?

2. I want to keep 2 of the praying mantis how do I determine which 2 are the healthiest and that I should keep?

3. My local pet store can't get in small enough insects so my local pet store said I should feed them raw hamburger meet on a string until they are large enough to eat normal feeder crickets is this ok?(Since my identity theft I don't order online anymore)

4. What substrate should I use in their aquarium I have a 20gal and a 10gal for the mantis to go into.

5) any other recommendations would be great

Sorry for all the questions on this post. and thanks for any and all replies

 
You can keep the two ooths, egg sacks, in the veggie crisper part of your fridge til spring. You dont want to deal with 300+ babies at once!

There are nice members here who can sell you afew babies for you to start with. That is best.

 
Jared185 said:
Hi all,

This is my first post and I'm also a noob when it comes to mantis keeping though I'm not new to keeping insects. Now I've wanted a mantis for forever but I never pulled the trigger on one as of yet. With that said I didn't know it but my wife ordered 2 Chinese mantis egg cases and I have been doing some research to get ready for them to come in. I know how to hatch them making sure they don't dry hanging the egg cases upside down a branch etc. but my questions are this. I

1. I'd rather have 2 individual mantis but my wife did this without my knowledge and we can't send egg cases back to breeder once they get here so my question is what can I do with the other babies until spring comes?

2. I want to keep 2 of the praying mantis how do I determine which 2 are the healthiest and that I should keep?

3. My local pet store can't get in small enough insects so my local pet store said I should feed them raw hamburger meet on a string until they are large enough to eat normal feeder crickets is this ok?(Since my identity theft I don't order online anymore)

4. What substrate should I use in their aquarium I have a 20gal and a 10gal for the mantis to go into.

5) any other recommendations would be great

Sorry for all the questions on this post. and thanks for any and all replies
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Welcome Jared. I also encourage you to make a general introduction in the intro forum.

But to answer your questions:

1. I assume you're in the US. Since you wanted a couple mantids instead of a couple ooths in this case you could give away the ooths to someone who wants them or just destroy them. Chinese mantids are not native to the US and I encourage you to not release them. Frankly they aren't really worth much so selling may not be worth the trouble. I doubt the person you purchased them from actually bred them as Chinese ooths are easily found. But if you want to hatch them I recommend putting them into a container large enough to contain hundreds of nymphs (5 or 10 gallon aquarium or any large container). Keep in mind you will need an enclosure that will also keep melanogaster fruit flies from escaping. Think very fine mesh. You can easily make your own. If you don't want these to hatch now you can just place into a paper bag and put into the crisper drawer of the fridge. Or if you're in a place that is cold in winter you can place outside.

2. If you hatch these Chinese mantids I suggest just keeping all of the nymphs together in the hatching container (this is why you want something large enough). Most will randomly die and others will be eaten by their siblings. Once you get down to a few you can separate them into smaller individual enclosures (e.g., 32 oz insect cups). Out of a given ooth you will be hard-pressed to even raise 10 of these to adulthood. Once you get down to a manageable number (you decide) these should be the strongest and best to keep.

3. I suggest simply ordering fruit fly cultures online. They are cheap and easy to do. I like these guys: http://www.buyfruitflies.com/ The suggesting to feed hamburger is just silly as you won't be able to hand-feed so many tiny nymphs. Just saw you said you won't order online. Well in that case this hobby may be a bit difficult to get involved in. Most of your big box pet stores (petco, petsmart, etc) carry fruit fly cultures. You might also try other local pet stores that are not chains.

4. In this case I would recommend sphagnum moss. It is sometimes called orchid moss at places like Lowe's or home depot. Add about a half inch to the bottom and keep slightly damp. Paper towels are another good option that is cheap but I wouldn't use it for such tiny nymphs as some will surely get trapped under it.

You don't need to keep the ooths wet but mist them once or twice a week with a simple spray bottle. There is no need to soak things. I would go ahead and set up the hatching tank how you want and just put the ooths in there now.

 
Thanks for input guys I appreciate it. What do you mean by most will randomly die. Are mantids that hard to raise to adulthood? also the guy at the pet shop said that when he fed them hamburger meat he put a string through clumps of meat and hung it from the ceiling and they would come to the string and eat until full or until the meat was gone

 
Jared185 said:
Thanks for input guys I appreciate it. What do you mean by most will randomly die. Are mantids that hard to raise to adulthood? also the guy at the pet shop said that when he fed them hamburger meat he put a string through clumps of meat and hung it from the ceiling and they would come to the string and eat until full or until the meat was gone
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Despite how common they are, Chinese mantids are not the easiest to raise and many of the young nymphs just drop dead.

I wouldn't listen to much the pet shop guy is telling you......

 
Ok thanks for more information I thought the Chinese mantis was pretty easy to raise. So I have a place to put the babies when they hatch I have a 20gal fish tank and a 55 gallon fish tank that are empty also have a 5 gallon. So I just need 2 of the ones to that hatch to survive tho I'd like to keep as many alive as possible so I can give some to a friend and the rest out in my garden we have a ton of pest bugs. So is leaving them all together in a cage the best way to figure out which ones are healthier and have a better chance at survival or should I separate them all in small cups

 
I'd put them in the 5 gallon, and if as Rick said, if you aren't looking to go online for these guys, it's pretty much impossible to raise them. Go strongest of the strong until they moult, (or until you see fit) then move them into separate containers.

 
I have some Double Shield babies I can send you. They are a big mantis and are eating Bluebottle flies. They are easier to take care of than 400 babies!

 
Jared185 said:
Ok thanks for more information I thought the Chinese mantis was pretty easy to raise. So I have a place to put the babies when they hatch I have a 20gal fish tank and a 55 gallon fish tank that are empty also have a 5 gallon. So I just need 2 of the ones to that hatch to survive tho I'd like to keep as many alive as possible so I can give some to a friend and the rest out in my garden we have a ton of pest bugs. So is leaving them all together in a cage the best way to figure out which ones are healthier and have a better chance at survival or should I separate them all in small cups
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A 55 gallon is way too large. The problem with having too large of an enclosure is that he mantids have trouble finding enough food and you end up having to use many more feeders. A 20 gallon is a also a bit on the large side. A 10 would probably work best but go with the 20 if you have it. The problem will be making a lid in which fruit flies cannot escape. You can buy fine mesh and lay that over the top and then set a screen aquarium lid on top. Feeding will still be a bit difficult though when fruit flies are involved.

I would encourage you not release any of them.

Yes, leaving them together is the best method for that species. You could separate them but that would mean you could have 1,000 individual containers where most are going to die anyways. I doubt you want the time commitment or hassle of trying to feed that many individuals.

 
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thanks guys for all the information. I won't release them in going to try to give the ones in good health away maybe just give them to the pet store. I can order some wingless fruit flys on Amazon (which I trust) for 10-15 dollars. And if I use my 5 gallon aquarium I could stretch some panty hose across the top. So I'm going to leave all the babies together when they hatch. Got a couple questions tho

1. Do I need to feed them during this time, bc I know they eat each other. I guess what I'm asking is will they even go for the flies or focus on eating each other?

2. When should I order the culture I know from what I've read that it usually takes a month for them to hatch and most of the cultures say the cultures will start in 10-14 days. Should I wait till about a week after I get the eggs Or order it now. I won't get the Ooths till the 2nd of December

 
Jared185 said:
thanks guys for all the information. I won't release them in going to try to give the ones in good health away maybe just give them to the pet store. I can order some wingless fruit flys on Amazon (which I trust) for 10-15 dollars. And if I use my 5 gallon aquarium I could stretch some panty hose across the top. So I'm going to leave all the babies together when they hatch. Got a couple questions tho

1. Do I need to feed them during this time, bc I know they eat each other. I guess what I'm asking is will they even go for the flies or focus on eating each other?

2. When should I order the culture I know from what I've read that it usually takes a month for them to hatch and most of the cultures say the cultures will start in 10-14 days. Should I wait till about a week after I get the eggs Or order it now. I won't get the Ooths till the 2nd of December
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Expensive fruit flies!

Panty hose should work. Great idea.

Yes, you need to feed them. They will eat one another to some degree but they need to be fed.

Fruit flies are easy. Typically I make my own cultures after purchasing an initial group of adult flies and medium. I like to use 32 oz insect cups as they make nice large cultures. They do take a bit of time to get going though so order them about when you order the ooths.

You know Jared I am curious as to how much you're paying for these ooths. I would happily send you some for the cost of shipping (~$6).

 
Jared185 said:
thanks guys for all the information. I won't release them in going to try to give the ones in good health away maybe just give them to the pet store. I can order some wingless fruit flys on Amazon (which I trust) for 10-15 dollars. And if I use my 5 gallon aquarium I could stretch some panty hose across the top. So I'm going to leave all the babies together when they hatch.
Click to expand...
You might want to consider picking up one of the net popup cages (typically sold as butterfly cages). You can get a nice large rectangle cage for $10-$15 dollars or so and they are great for rearing nymphs in groups. The thing with a tank is the nymphs can only shed from the top and most prefer the screening of the lid versus the slippery glass. With the net cages you get netting on the sides along with the ceiling resulting in more easy to cling to surfaces and thus usable space for the nymphs.

Although this species will cannibalize, like most mantises they don't actually want to have anything to do with their siblings. If left to their own devices they would happily spread out. When you keep large numbers of nymphs together you will get this tense strange standoff where everyone tries their best to find their own little space and the cage will get this eerie stillness because moving in any direction will put them in contact with other mantises, which is a dangerous proposition.

This species is super active. They love to crawl and hop, but that will only result in stress when surrounded by their own siblings. Rick is right when he says a lot are just going to drop from these conditions.To be honest if I was looking to cull the majority of the nymphs I would probably pick out 10-20 robust ones and freeze the rest rather than wait for the majority to die off battle royale style.

 
Krissim Klaw said:
You might want to consider picking up one of the net popup cages (typically sold as butterfly cages). You can get a nice large rectangle cage for $10-$15 dollars or so and they are great for rearing nymphs in groups. The thing with a tank is the nymphs can only shed from the top and most prefer the screening of the lid versus the slippery glass. With the net cages you get netting on the sides along with the ceiling resulting in more easy to cling to surfaces and thus usable space for the nymphs.

Although this species will cannibalize, like most mantises they don't actually want to have anything to do with their siblings. If left to their own devices they would happily spread out. When you keep large numbers of nymphs together you will get this tense strange standoff where everyone tries their best to find their own little space and the cage will get this eerie stillness because moving in any direction will put them in contact with other mantises, which is a dangerous proposition.

This species is super active. They love to crawl and hop, but that will only result in stress when surrounded by their own siblings. Rick is right when he says a lot are just going to drop from these conditions.To be honest if I was looking to cull the majority of the nymphs I would probably pick out 10-20 robust ones and freeze the rest rather than wait for the majority to die off battle royale style.
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Man that's brutal. When I hatch ooths I give all of them a chance, usually meaning I have a ton of chinese nymphs derping around my room in their own little enclosures. :)

 
Ghost_Keeper said:
Man that's brutal. When I hatch ooths I give all of them a chance, usually meaning I have a ton of chinese nymphs derping around my room in their own little enclosures. :)
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Yah I'm too much of a bleeding heart to wait for 100 plus nymphs to wheedle down to only 2-3 living ones. I'm not against communal setups in the early instar nymphs, but usually people start separating/trading them off after the first shedding. Sadly there isn't much demand for Chinese nymphs though. When it comes to that species you can easily get multiple oothecae for less than it would cost to try and ship a few living nymphs.

 
Thanks guys, I paid 10 bucks for my Ooths. Also I would like to keep them all alive I have a friend that helped with everything and we bought some small cups to keep the nymphs individually. about 200 cups and cut the center of the lid and replaced it with screening in order to vent. I don't want to kill them I already have a bunch of people wanting the young once there ready so I've got a lot given away if they survive. But I'm going to choose mine first after that I'll just have to do the best I can to keep the others alive as well. I thought about getting dividers for the 55gal and using it to split the nymphs up. As much as possible if I have to many for the cups.

 

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