Idolo eats adult male Ghost (video)

[Precarious]

My favorite male Ghost was killed by his brother. First time I've seen any aggressive behavior from a male. By the time I intervened it was too late. He'd eaten through his back to the point there was only a thin strip of carapace connecting the upper body to the abdomen.

Rather than watch him twitch for hours I gave his body to the Idolos.

Music by Precarious

 

[Idolofreak]

So sad.

 

[angelofdeathzz]

I hate when that happens! But in the end it's better than throwing in the trash.

 

[Mex_Ghost]

I love to see how Idolomantis eat, those big bites

 

[Precarious]

I love to see how Idolomantis eat, those big bites

I've got some extreme closeup photos of them eating. I'll try to get them posted.

 

[The_American]

Why do they eat eachother? I thought Ghost mantises didn't cannibalise. I have 4 L2-L3 Ghost sharing a terrarium. Will they eat eachother?

 

[Precarious]

Why do they eat eachother? I thought Ghost mantises didn't cannibalise. I have 4 L2-L3 Ghost sharing a terrarium. Will they eat eachother?

Ghosts are not 100% communal, but close enough. If you start out with 10 L1 nymphs you should end up with at least one adult pair, cannibalism or not. But sometimes they will eat each other even if given plenty of food. There is no predicting it.

The females get aggressive as they mature. They are more likely to cannibalize. Since the males are smaller than the females they are generally the ones that get eaten. I always separate the sexes after around L3-L4. Very easy to sex them. If you've only got 4 and you want to breed them I'd suggest separating the sexes.

The males are nearly never aggressive. I was totally shocked by this incident today. Especially an adult eating another. I'd seen that with females but this is the first time I've seen it with males. I'd been keeping 2 males in with a single female for nearly a month now and this was the first sign of conflict. This particular female is not aggressive at all.

 

[sporeworld]

Man. She loves that ficus!

 

[Precarious]

Man. She loves that ficus!

They all do. $15 well spent.

 

[patrickfraser]

Did his brother bite off more than he could chew?

Lion's signature says that if you kill it, you must eat it. why the intervention? Low on blue bottles?

Just kidding. I always love your posts. Keep it up.

 

[Ryan.M]

It happens I guess! I started out with 5 ghosts 2 weeks ago and now I'm down to 4

There was a nymph who, although was eating like the rest, didn't seem to want to molt out of L2. Some of the others were already fresh L4's, so I wasn't surprised when I saw his/her remnants on the floor the next morning. Oh well, as long as I'm left with a breeding pair I'm happy! :lol: