Idolomantis Consolidated

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I don't think I posted this when it happened (bad phone quality). It's my staff watching some Idolos tear into a hawk moth. (Short video below). Caution - the girls swear a bit.

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Hey all,

I am going to get some of the green hoppers that this guy keeps telling me what the idolo eat out in Tanzania. Hopefully they will make it here.. lol

 
Sporeworld - I would replace those vines with bio - vines or some sort of twigs with much more scratchy surfaces. Smooth surfaces aren't so good.

 
Sporeworld - I would replace those vines with bio - vines or some sort of twigs with much more scratchy surfaces. Smooth surfaces aren't so good.
Yeah - by the 18th cage, I was stretching the limits of my vine inventory. The vine picture there is a long vine with nicks and bumps and lots of little branches and leaves. So it worked, but not my favorite. I had about 70 feet of BioVines at the peak of my Idolo army, plus all the sponge-walks. But it's all in bagged storage now.

 
I am going to get some of the green hoppers that this guy keeps telling me what the idolo eat out in Tanzania. Hopefully they will make it here.. lol
That's interesting. Very few of mine would eat a Katydid, without great coaxing. Is your friend referring to the mature/flying stage of the hopper? I can see them going for them in mid-flight.

 
Whew. I started reading this thread when I got my single idolomantis a few weeks ago and finally finished, much wiser for the read! MANY thanks.

In the meantime Mal has molted once. Yen had L2 on him when I got him but one molt later there is no pink.... L3 or 4 now?

Also, I had an idea and I'm wondering what you experts think... What about a sushi mat for either lid lining or safety net?

He (I think hes a he) is currently in a cork lined deli cup but this week for my birthday I'm getting a Zoo Med 12 x 12 x 18 enclosure. Big enough for a mantis man cave/bachelor pad?

One more time. Thanks all for taking the fear out of keeping one of these guys for a noob like me. (and thanks of course to Yen for the adventure!)

 
Also, I had an idea and I'm wondering what you experts think... What about a sushi mat for either lid lining or safety net?
That would work great so long as the weave isn't too tight. I use a bamboo mat covering the back wall in one of mine. Similar idea. Just make sure it doesn't get too moist or they can grow mold.

 
well sorry for the double post but here goes nottin. my L2-L3s dont seem to care for BBs. whats up with that? they shouldnt devourer BBs at that stage right? my L5-L6s LOVE BBs like you would not imagine. they only eat the heads though...

 
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gripen said:
a big plus 1! i have never ever had any falls while moulting with these guys using "nature sticksTM" as a gripping surface. getting stuck mid moult though is a big problem for me.
That usually means the RH was to low, when you see one that looks like its setting up to molt(legs stretched out long and chalky skin) make sure to mist the enclosure well at night before the lights go out as that's when 90% of them molt, but never mist them directly mid molt or they may freak and fall.

 
well sorry for the double post but here goes nottin. my L2-L3s dont seem to care for BBs. whats up with that? they shouldnt devourer BBs at that stage right? my L5-L6s LOVE BBs like you would not imagine. they only eat the heads though...
I feed L1-3 house flies and or FF's for 2 reasons, 1) they eat the whole thing so theres not to much mess/waste, 2) if they eat large prey(almost as big as them) they tend to think there cage mates are on the menu as well, not good if you keep them in groups.

 
yeah i need better humidity. i can get 65% right now but just last night i watched one mismoult. what is your view on the BB situation?

 
angelofdeathzz said:
It's turning into a Idolo Nation around here, which is a good thing for everyone!

I've said before and I'll probably say it again "the sticks outside are free and are what they molt on in the wild" :p
well I have 2 Idolos that just molted to L4 this morning.

I personaly use dead or dying ficus branches. the sticks outside might be free, but my ficus branches are just as free and in my house.

I also love that when they dry out they are extra wrinkly and have lots of nooks and grooves in them.

I also like to add live plants to some of my cages and pothos and ficus are the two favorites. I get my small and large ficus trees from LLLReptile dot com. perfiect sizes for my chameleons and mantids.

Harry

 
+++++++++OMG++++++++++++

HEADLINE: CRICKET-FED IDOLO PRODUCED FERTILE OOTH!!!!!!

OH - maaaaaaaan!!! I just got back from a trip, sprayed my (slightly dry -20%rh) ooth and KA-POWIE!!! Out pops a beautiful baby Idolo!!!! Only one so far, but still... very exciting!

Just to be clear - this female ate nothing but crickets for 2 months leading up to the laying of this ooth. AND it was her last ooth before passing. Ooth was kept at very low humidity (20-35% on average, with daily spikes to maybe 55%). High temps of about 100f, low to about 80f.

Of course, now I have to go hustle up fruit flies (sigh) but all in all - pretty good day!!!

 
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turns out these guys are impossible to sex!! my 2 L5ish idolos turned out to be a perfect pair! i thought they were 2 females for ages! also the male is a dark burgundy. is that an unusual color because he is darker than any of the photos of idolos i have seen. to fallow up on that point i had a female who was a grey black color with green highlights which was totally amazing! i have never seen a color like that before.

 
Yes, but not burgandy? that would be a first for me. :)

They can get darker if to cold same with some Gongy I've noticed, like the one in the link you posted.

 
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turns out these guys are impossible to sex!! my 2 L5ish idolos turned out to be a perfect pair! i thought they were 2 females for ages! also the male is a dark burgundy. is that an unusual color because he is darker than any of the photos of idolos i have seen. to fallow up on that point i had a female who was a grey black color with green highlights which was totally amazing! i have never seen a color like that before.
I find them pretty impossible to accurately sex until around L5, and then only by the tiny extra abdominal fin on the underside of the last segment of males (Thanks to Yen for that clue). By L6 you can tell by the antennae.

Color variation is normal. Not completely common but I've had quite a few. I already posted the pale L3 with purple/pink stripes. I have one now that is an ashy white with green that I have to get pics of.

And here are 2 sisters from the first batch last year...

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gripen said:
Nice! i just bought an exo-terra thingy for mine. they love the big net cage but i can only get the humidity up to 70% so i have to get a REALLY expensive glass terrarium for them :( picky little buggers...
You'd probably have to leave the net cage behind eventually - just for molting purposes. You could attach (glue or sew-in) a molting grid to the top of your net cage, to save a few bucks.

 
Chivalry said:
I'd love to hear more info on how you're doing that rigging :)
that's easy. I rig it more or less how I do my chameleon cages if needed.

I hot glue, cut up plastic bags to the outside of the cage. then the inside is lined on the bottom with paper towel. the same for two sides of the inside of the cage. I use the plastic window of the cage as a window so that gives me 3 sides that help lock in the humidity. only the top, bottom and the door is open. but remember that the bottom is at least lined with paper towel and is above another cage also helping add humidity to the lower cage.

oh, and I woke up to 1 more good L4 nymph today. so that's just one more to go.

as someone who is freashly back into the hobbie, I'm convinced that my L4 that has the bad rear leg fell due to having some BB flys in the cage overnight. this is something that I normaly never do but forgot how important it is to not have food in the cage/tub at night when any mantids are molting. it could also be the reason I had a bad mismolt and couldn't help him, but that case looks like my room just had bad humidity levels for that one night and it just couldn't free both of it's claws.

Harry

 
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