Help a Teacher w/Ghost Mantids class project - Seattle area

[jindarose]

I'm a middle school science teacher and my 6th grade class is raising 9 (now only 8, sadly) Ghost Mantises in the classroom.  

I raised mantises as a kid in Maine (we caught them in the field) and I'm sure they were part of why I became a science teacher!  I would like to connect with other mantids fans in the area, so please get in touch.  (Note:  I am new to online forums (fora?) so please be patient.

I've raised Chinese mantises in the classroom before, however they "expired" before school got out.  I need some info on life span of these guys - Phyllocrania paradoxa_ we got them in Nov 2015 as 3-4th instar.  Almost all have wings at this point, maybe 2 are still sub adult.  We were surprised to find an ootheca in one of the cages earlier this week (immaculate conception?  Pseudo egg case?  dry run?)

My basic question is whether  I need to plan for mantis care after school gets out in June?          

• I think I could find a few students willing to adopt a mantis pet.  The kids are getting pretty good about handling the flies, cleaning cages, etc.,
  
• However, I feel I need to have a reliable information so I can tell students and their folks at home just what to expect when caring for a mantid.  (Plus I need to know in case I end up caring for 8 mantises !)
  

Any advice or ideas from experienced mantid fans would be greatly appreciated.

Sincerely,

Jinda R.

Middle School Science Teacher

Redmond, WA

 

[Rick]

Welcome. 

Fortunately it seems this is a forgiving species. In regards to your ootheca, mantids lay ooths whether they have mated or not so if your females have not mated the oothecae will not hatch. If you have managed to raise these mantids to adult then you should already know how to care for them unless I am missing something. 

 

[jindarose]

Thanks for the reply, Rick.  I guess we have been successful in raising them so far!  The trick has been training the kids...and figuring out how to manage the flies hatching, etc.

But I'm thinking ahead to June and needing to find homes for them over the summer.  Do you have some idea how long these guys live in captivity?  (I've seen estimates of 8 - 18 months.)  We live in a  diverse area and some families are a bit uncomfortable with the idea of an insect pet.    So, I want to pull together an overview of what is required and how long a commitment this might be.  

JInda

BTW:  I love your little bug crawling around.

 

[MantisGalore]

Welcome to our forum! We are delighted to have you   !

 

[prslaughter]

Hi, that's so cool, we never had a school project like that when I was a kid!  I would have loved that.

In your shoes I would err on the side of caution and assume your phyllocrania paradoxas will live on the long side.  The longest I have had one live was close to 18 months, so assume with proper care they will live that long.  I have read many times over that this species is not as cannibalistic as others, but my own experience has been different (I have had females eat males trying to mate with them; my opinion is that the females don't always realize the males are not attacking them while landing on their backs to mate--hence, the ladies freak out, grab the male they think is attacking, take a bite and realize how tasty he is. . . .).  If you have managed to keep them fed and happy up to this point, whatever you're doing is working and you can keep it up.  I have managed to keep Ghosts for several generations and I just love how docile and pretty they are.  They seem to prefer flies but I also feed mine small crickets, as well as cockroaches (which I also keep), which helps keep my roach populations from exploding too much (my Ghosts have had help with this from other mantis species I have kept, obviously!). 

There are care sheets for different species available here also, check those out for reliable info! 

I can understand parents feeling iffy about kids having a pet insect, mine were the same way with my youthful obsession with entomology as a child.  You probably are already aware that this beautiful species is native to Madagascar and parts of Africa; their natural habitat is nothing like you find anywhere else.  Odds are that even should one manage to escape, it couldn't survive more than a few days (if it did, it would consume all the pest insects in the vicinity it could catch, which may convince a reluctant parent that it would not be such a bad pet after all).  Since they don't have the longer lifespan of other pets, parents would not be forced to tolerate them for more than a few months, and they don't take up much space or cost a lot of money for food and care.  There are no large piles or puddles of waste to clean up (or litter boxes), big bags of food to carry, hours to dedicate to exercising or training, costly vet visits, or holes to dig in the backyard when they finally pass.  As long as their small space doesn't become cluttered with too many droppings and pieces of dropped food, there's no smell, no noise, no mad scrabble to escape whenever their containers are opened, and no biting.  They can't sting.  As long as people are careful, they don't mind gentle handling, or they can happily stay in their small space for a lifetime without developing behavior problems. 

Today I still keep insects and my mother, who is not a fan of my hobby and is glad they aren't in her house (mostly the roaches), actually doesn't mind when I bring my Ghosts along for a visit.  She calls them the "bugs that look like lace doily pieces" and watches me feed them drops of honey from toothpicks as a treat.  She likes them much better than my iguana!

 

[hibiscusmile]

Hello Jindarose, I see you came to the right place. I sent u a message on the ooth this am, and will be sending you some handouts for your information and your students too. you can copy them and hand them out, I usually only send in a school package, but I can see you are serious on learning abut them. What age is your classroom again? I also have some fun word puzzles and a quiz for the students.

 

[jindarose]

The Grade 6 QUEST Science Class of Redmond Middle School ​

proudly announces that, ​

after carefully arranged marriages  :wub:​

3 of our Lady Ghost Mantises have presented ootheca ! :clap:​

These may be fertilized ootheca and every class member eagerly awaits our new status as "GrandMantises" ​

 ​

Thank you, MantidForum Friends, for sharing your wisdom and experience in supporting us in our Classroom Mantis Adventure.  

Most sincerely,

JindaRose

 

[LAME]

This is awesome, we need a lot more of this on the forum!

Nice job on the class project. I really find it neat that people are taking our hobby into the classrooms.

 

[Osfigueroajr]

This is amazing.  I too would have liked a science project such as this when I was a child.  Great job and welcome to the forum.