MANTIDBRO'S IDOLO EXPERIENCE
Temperature: 80F - 95F
Humidity: 70% - 80%
Prey They Prefer: Fruit flies (L1), Blue Bottle Flies/House flies, moths, grasshoppers, darkling beetles (L2 and up), Dubai roaches (boiled to kill bacteria and then hand-fed in bits and pieces).
* I've tried feeding mine bees before... one of the bees bit the Idolo's claw and wouldn't let go! I haven't used them since.*
Prey You Shouldn't Risk Feeding Them: Crickets!! A lot of mantids can't seem to handle the bad bacteria on them, and will become sick (vomiting) before dying. Some may survive the sickness if given honey and water.
TIP: Idolos are hard to feed. They are picky. if you run out of food by Winter, it's a good idea to freeze some prey that they enjoy in the freezer. Try teaching them to be hand-fed as young as possible. Patience is key when teaching them how to be hand-fed.
MOLTING
Molting Time-Table (days):
Female:
L1-L2: 14
L2-L3: 13
L3-L4: 11
L4-L5: 15
L5-L6: 18
L6-L7: 26
L7-L8: 43
L8-Adult: 65
Male:
L1-L2: 17
L2-L3: 18
L3-L4: 11
L4-L5: 16
L5-L6: 25
L6-L7: 31
L7-Adult: 44
*It very much depends on how much they are fed.*
Successful Molting Surface For L1-L5: Molts have been very successful using gauze bandage.
Successful Molting Surface For L5-L7: Drawer liner works very well for when they're older and bigger/heavier. I use this exact type.
* Safety nets are useful for molts past L6. They seem to have trouble without one. I align the sides of their containers with drawer liner and/or Polyester Cargo Mesh.*
Successful Molting Surface For L7-Adult: Polyester Dive Mesh/Polyester Cargo Mesh (the netted material found in swim shorts). This has worked so well that a female actually held onto the exuvia (shed skin) with two of her feet after molting and the exuvia didn't fall. They get an incredible grip on this material. You can use this material through out their entire lives as opposed to switching from material to material.
TIP: Long enclosures are a good idea, but wide ones aren't as helpful. It seems that once they get bigger and heavier, it's better to have them in narrow enclosures for their molt. I align the walls of their molting enclosure with polyester cargo mesh and/or drawer liner, so that once they're ready to pull away from the exuvia that they'd been hanging from, it's much easier.
Example:
See how he uses the wall of the enclosure before hanging upside down from the top? It helps lessen the chance of them falling once trying to transition from hanging from the exuvia to gripping a surface.
Issues I've Run Into:
Heat lamps placed directly above the mantid can cause problems. One of my Idolos mismolted from L5 - L6 because of this. He lost the walking hairs (the hooks used for gripping/molting) on two of his feet because they got stuck in the exuvia because he molted right underneath the heat lamp and the heat lamp dried up his feet. The mantis below ended up having to be put down because he fell during his next molt due to the absence of those walking hairs. Here you can see, what NOT to do:
My first adult female Idolomantis diabolica (Baline):
My First Adult Male Idolomantis diabolica (Heterodox):
To Be Continued (Breeding).