Help with Instar ID

-db- · Jul 7, 2014

Hello All,

Found a baby Chinese mantis in early June in PA. He was about the size of my fingernail. First 2 pics show his size compared to a fruit fly and a 5 year old's hand. He has molted 3 times since then and can now easily eat house flys and small grasshoppers. Second 2 pics are after the 3 molts and show his size compared to a small grasshopper and my son's (5 yr old) hand.

I'm thinking he molted once already before I got him which would make him in his 4th or 5th?? Does that sound right?

Thanks for any input!

Aryia · Jul 7, 2014

He looks about L5 to me.

LAME · Jul 8, 2014

Nah, he still looks small. My Chinese has molted 4 times now since I found him and he's definitely bigger. I'll post a photo of Echo's growth sometime today and msg you. There's others pix of him up in my gallery but I haven't put any up since he molted (4th of July )

he looks L3 - L4