Identification help please

[chrisstpeter]

Hi, so a few days ago I caught three mantis nymphs, but I have no idea what species they might be. I live in southeastern Virginia. These guys are so cool! And they already have their own personalities... two of them like to hang on the ceiling of their enclosure, but one of them is always hiding out in the fake grass. Their names are "Teeny" (named by my 4 y/o daughter, "Crowbar" (he's mine, and so named because my daughter calls them "prying" mantises), and my wife's "Charlotte" (Or Charles if it turns out to be a male). I was very excited to watch them go after Mels for the first time! I'm including pictures, so hopefully someone here can ID them, but unfortunately I can't find my real camera, and my cell phone seems to have some issues focusing extremely close up, so... /shrug . Thanks everyone!

 

[aNisip]

Stagmomantis carolina...if all three of them are the same as what is pictured in the last one (on your finger tip) and the second one (on your hand) then they are all Stagmomantis carolina Nice find ! The one on your finger is L1, but not too sure abt the others, maybe L2?

All the best,

Andrew

 

[ScienceGirl]

Aww, very cute. Good luck with them!

 

[Rick]

S. carolina. Most mantids go for the ceiling of their enclosures. You may want to hot glue some screen or some bark or something up there for them. They will eat one another if kept together.

 

[chrisstpeter]

Thanks for the fast replies everyone! This coming Friday when I get paid, I'm going to gather materials to make some more suitable/ separate enclosures. In the meantime, I'm hoping that keeping them well fed will keep them from cannibalizing (so far so good, and it's day 5). I put in more mels than I had meant to (I didn't slow them down by sticking them in the fridge/ freezer, and probably 30 or so that were on the underside of the lid hopped straight into the mantis enclosure), and they have yet to eat them all. This beta tank is all I happened to have on hand.

 

[aNisip]

Just be sure to not make their individual enclosures not too big...you want to make sure that they can still get their food... (it can easily come to them and vis versa)...and like Rick said be sure to put some bark or mesh up top...or add some sticks to the top...

 

[chrisstpeter]

Ok. Now for my next question... I've done some "research" (read: googled it and didn't go past the second page of results, lol), and I can't seem to find a consensus: what is the biggest mantis species? Once I get some experience under my belt I'd like to eventually get into raising various different types, but I think once I get a good handle on it I'd like for my first exotic species to be the biggest one. Personally I like the prettier ones, like orchids and so forth, but trying to get my daughter into it (and she is already very fascinated), I think bigger would be better. I know Tenodera sinensis get fairly large, and what I have found so far seems to suggest that Hierodula is the largest genus, but I can't pinpoint which species is the biggest. And by biggest I mean longest length. Thanks!

 

[Nicolas]

Hierodulas are very cool and fun to watch mantids. They usually get about 4 inches in length, and eat almost anything they can kill. Including their mates.. >

 

[Crazy4mantis]

Ok. Now for my next question... I've done some "research" (read: googled it and didn't go past the second page of results, lol), and I can't seem to find a consensus: what is the biggest mantis species? Once I get some experience under my belt I'd like to eventually get into raising various different types, but I think once I get a good handle on it I'd like for my first exotic species to be the biggest one. Personally I like the prettier ones, like orchids and so forth, but trying to get my daughter into it (and she is already very fascinated), I think bigger would be better. I know Tenodera sinensis get fairly large, and what I have found so far seems to suggest that Hierodula is the largest genus, but I can't pinpoint which species is the biggest. And by biggest I mean longest length. Thanks!

ischnomantis gigas is the world's largest mantis (at 7 in. I believe), but they are not in culture.

hierodula membranacea is very large for a captive mantis and are pretty easy to care for (and, like before mentioned, they eat like crazy). also, they are easy to acquire.

females of any species are larger than males. on some it is not by much, but on some species like orchids the males are 1/3 the length of the female. also females are much fatter than males, and eat more.

 

[thalassarche]

Of the commonly available mantises that are easy to care for, I'd agree with the votes for Hierodula membranacea being the biggest that fits those criteria. I believe Heterochaeta is bigger but is difficult to keep in culture whereas Hierodulas are often offered. I have six H. membranacea and five H. majuscula (which gets to be quite large too) and they're definitely a lot of fun.

You just need to remember that for molting, especially that final molt to adult, mantises need to have plenty of vertical room and a solid grip on a perch or the top of the cage: a good rule of thumb is for the container to be as tall as three times the mantis's length to give them plenty of room to safely molt. So for a big mantis, that can be more challenging than for smaller species like ghosts.

 

[patrickfraser]

Sphodromantis also are a larger species The largest one, I think, is Sphodromatis viridis. I keep lineolas, "blue flash", and viridis.