How to sex mantids?

[Thylacine]

I was just wondering if there is an easy way to tell what sex they are. I have two subadult Chinese mantids and was curious as to what they were.

 

[13ollox]

Easy answer ! look underneath the mantid . females will have 6 segments on her abdomen ( the end part of the mantid ) and males will have 8 . also the shape of the abdomen . females is generally fat and curvy while males is straighter and thinner . then you have the budwings . males have bigger wing buds and females have smaller ones . also males shed less times than females which mean there generally smaller !

Neil

 

[Thylacine]

Great advice, thanks a lot. Turns out my guess as to one being male and one being female was right! My female just bent back her hindleg during her last molt though... How many molts should they go through? They both just reached L7 and just got wing buds. I thought that by L7 or L8 they would be adults.

 

[13ollox]

they do go through 7-8 moults generally . however different species have different moulting times. your females back leg should be fine if she still uses it . take a look at mine

http://i51.photobucket.com/albums/f380/13ollox/PIC00564.jpg

im hoping he will survive his next moult into adulthood .

is your female the same size as your male ? if that is the case she will have 2 moults left till adulthood !

Neil

 

[Thylacine]

Yes, they are both the same size. My mantid's leg is much worse than yours. It is bent back. Should I try to bend it forward and hope it molts right or should I snip it?

http://pg.photos.yahoo.com/ph/msagro82/det...jpg&.src=ph

 

[13ollox]

i cant see the pic . as it says i need to log in :? even though i dont have an account ! if she is using it i wudnt do anything . they sometimes straighten as they go along about a week after the initial shed . i wudnt just go and snip it now . if its still bad in a week then i would ask this question again and wait for other forum members to answer . i dont like going around snipping there limbs off when they still use them .

if she is the same size as the male then she isnt subadult . she is sub-sub adult . she looks like she has wing buds , but they are her beggening ones , not her actualy ones ( i thought my giant asian female was subadult because she had wing buds but then she shed again and had bigger ones ) another well to tell is look at the wing buds themselfs . if they have like littly veins it means sub . if not . sub sub . hope this helps

Neil

 

[Thylacine]

Try the picture again, basically it is bent back straight up. Its not the joint, but right at the "knee" joint and looks like it might be pinched from the bend... Thanks for the help.

 

[Ian]

Please, this question has come up time and time again, use the search feature before posting...don't want to clog up the board with the same questions

 

[13ollox]

picture works now . it is quite bad but i wouldnt lop it off . if you did i doubt it would grow back in time for adulthood . does she hang ok upside down ? as thats whats going to be the problem when she moults ! if she is fine upside down let her be . if not come back and i'll try think of an alternative !

Neil

 

[Thylacine]

She seems fine on the side of the tank right now, but when I fed her yesterday (a live bee) she had trouble and fell off. She was right at the bottom, at least, so she kept feeding.

 

[13ollox]

if you want to you can snip of her leg just after it bends . however this will mean she has only one back leg to moult from . which is more dangerous that having 1.5 legs ( 1.5 legs because it aint as usefull as a back leg although its better than nothing being there if you understand what im trying to get at ) if she was smaller then yea i would say snip it . but as she is sub sub adult then i personally wouldnt . but its up to you in the end ! maybe if you helped her out while feeding untill her next moult . for example making the pray easy to catch by snipping something off like a wing or two or a back leg ( if its a cricket or other jumpy thing ) and placing it in front of her untill she catches it herself without it pulling around too much which could dislodge your mantis and make it fall down !

Neil

 

[Rick]

Should be no need to count segments on adult mantids. On many species the sexes are much different in appearance. The females have a wider abdomen that ends in kind of a "hook". The males are smaller and much more petite and the end of their abdomens ends in an upturned scoop shape. Only time I need to count segments is on nymphs.