How many times do they molt?

[MantidLover21]

How many molts until adulthood for chinese mantids? I think mine may be around L5. L6 at the most, L4 at the least. It's hard to keep track, they molt so often! But they are only a little over an inch long....they're big, fat, and healthy, and get a ton to eat, but I thought they only molted like 8 or so times, so I'm a little confused. When will they be adults? They don't have wings or wing buds.

 

[happy1892]

If the mantis is only about an inch long then he is probably L4.

 

[MantidLover21]

Okay. And they are both boys, so they won't get as big, right?

 

[angelofdeathzz]

Males can get almost as long but are much thinner than females depending on the exact species you have, the wing buds will be easy to spot 2 molts away from adult and very large with only one molt left. You should be able to find a adult female here when the time comes if you want a shot at breeding them?

 

[MantidLover21]

Okay, thanks! I do think I want to try breeding them but I *think* that I have at least one female, who is only L2, so I should be good.

 

[happy1892]

Adult male Chinese Mantids are about 15mm shorter than the females and that is not a little bit shorter.

 

[angelofdeathzz]

Just for the record happy1892 I used to raise and breed Chinese and over half of the males I had were close in length(but yes they were shorter) as the females, this one though it is hard to tell from the pic is just 3-4mm shorter than this huge female, but as you know there are a few different strands here in the USA so it all depends...

 

[happy1892]

Wow! They are about the same size! I have never seen that before. Do you know how long the female and male were? It would be unusual if the female was longer or shorter than 95mm long and it would be unusual if the male was less than 70mm in length. I have seen females that were about 94.5mm long and I have seen females 96mm long.

 

[angelofdeathzz]

I did measure her since she was so big but none of the males, and believe it or not she was 4.75 inches which is 120mm so I'll guess the male was 110-112mm, which is more than the 3-4mm smaller I thought earlier so you did get me there, lol.

Keep in mind Chinese are in almost every state and they can and wiil vary a great deal from region to region, some people have said they've had 6 inch monsters, but I would need to see the proof on that one?

Thanks, now you've got me missing my Chinese!

 

[happy1892]

OH MY! Are they bigger because it is very hot in the summer? You should have taken a picture of her straightened out beside a ruler! <_< I believe you anyway.

I did measure her since she was so big but none of the males, and believe it or not she was 4.75 inches which is 120mm so I'll guess the male was 110-112mm, which is more than the 3-4mm smaller I thought earlier so you did get me there, lol.

Keep in mind Chinese are in almost every state and they can and wiil vary a great deal from region to region, some people have said they've had 6 inch monsters, but I would need to see the proof on that one?

Thanks, now you've got me missing my Chinese!