Idolomantis Consolidated

[angelofdeathzz]

Very nice !!!

I got my first adult female last night so slowing down my males is working out perfectly, I now have one adult of each sex with many more to come any day now of both sexes, timing is everything unless you have 50 quadrillion Idolo's which I don't, wish I had more time to get some pics but working 10-12 hours a day the last few weeks has limited my free time fun. But I will get some soon of the adults and there molting chambers that I put together...

If nothing is done to prevent it almost all the males will try to mature first, and the females need three+ weeks at adult to even think about mating, I've talked to many Idolo veterans on this.

Here's to wishing all the best of luck to those who are trying this beautiful species. And to Mark for making this thread and helping me out so much!

 

[Precarious]

Correction: 4 for 4. 4th adult molted tonight.

And no females yet??? Females need a month as adult before breeding.

Nice photos!

 

[sporeworld]

Ha! He was crawling all over the boy, and you could tell he was annoyed. Finally, the little guy tickled a foot the wrong way, and got launched about 2 feet away! It was pretty funny. Nymph is fine.

 

[sporeworld]

And no females yet??? Females need a month as adult before breeding.

Nice photos!

So I heard. No, no females, but a grip of them are allllllmost ready.

I'm not that concerned, though, as I have others males still a molt behind the females. So even if these guys are just window dressing, I'm thrilled. I'm still taking that advice and slowing them down, but nothing dramatic or risky.

Oh, and both threw threat poses at me (which I giggled at, then ignored) and parade them around the office. They stopped and just enjoyed the rest of the day. But I did get to hear the clicking noise. It was awesome!

 

[sporeworld]

Very nice !!!

I got my first adult female last night

Congratulations!!! What was your humidity / temp for the female during the days before the molt...?

 

[angelofdeathzz]

Congratulations!!! What was your humidity / temp for the female during the days before the molt...?

I try to keep it 90/90 during the day, and 72-75 temp and 95-100% RH at night for the females and 76-78 day temp and same RH for the males, I guess I shouldn't say try as I'm a stickler for getting it right this time, I'll spare no dread to get it done all the way to hatching ooth's.

Call me arrogant but I'm Very Happy with all my planning and cage designs, seems to be all working out in spades, well so far?

Your shear numbers will get it done for you for sure, not that your doing anything wrong at all, but the masses will give you a decisive edge on most of us, not to mention all the walking art forms you'll have.

 

[PhilinYuma]

O.K. Idolo experts. Enough fun. Here's a Newbie No No Note for other new and ambitious but totally clueless Idolo keepers. I was surprised to find that although my L1s had grown considerably, I found no cast skins and I didn't know that they change color when they molt to L2! :angry: I sent out twenty L1s, by mistake, to an experienced friend, who has since set me straight, and lost over a third of them, even though they were in individual 2oz pots. Ironically, although I am against sending out L1s, I sent a bunch of another species to a friend who lives much further away, all in one pot with excelsior, and they did fine. Are baby elephants that fragile too?

Now, of course, all the remaining nymphs from that batch are at L2 and smirking at me.

 

[angelofdeathzz]

Phil Phil Phil, you live and learn even at your age and generous mind set. L2 and L3 will be a glorious much loved purple with pink hues, then you know you have L4's when they go tan, no more color changes till adult and that may be the Great Mantis Goddess (BbHN) best trick she ever did, simply beautiful!!! I'm surprised Jus didn't fill you in more?

 

[PhilinYuma]

Phil Phil Phil, you live and learn even at your age and generous mind set. L2 and L3 will be a glorious much loved purple with pink hues, then you know you have L4's when they go tan, no more color changes till adult and that may be the Great Mantis Goddess (BbHN) best trick she ever did, simply beautiful!!! I'm surprised Jus didn't fill you in more?

Probably didn't realize I was that ignorant!

 

[sporeworld]

Yeah, and "ignorant", as you (the wordsmith) know, is a good word to use. Now that you know, no more ignorance.

I've begun shipping all my idolos in empty (no excelsior) containers, that are 100% lined. No matter what direction they get bounced around, they can get a new handhold. Even excelsior can crush or tangle them, however unlikely. But nymphs recover well from a short fall.

Also, watch the rim of the container, as they try to wedge through it and can get stuck. I put a sheet of screen over the top, and THEN closed the lid. This eliminated the rim entirely.

Edit: Hope that didn't come off as inflamatory. I'm ignorant of 80% of what you (Phil) write! I have to google most of the historical posts!

 

[sporeworld]

Thanks. 2 updates:

1. My first female of this round molted. She seems healthy, but her wings aren't quite right. She's not perfectly straight either, making me think either she dried awkward, or fell and got back up. I'll keep watching her, but the way her wings are ruffled, she looks too tempting to be in with others after she dries. (Edit: 3 days later, she's doing fine. Eatting plenty and looking grumpy).

2. There's this phenomena that we've started calling "The Dripping Death". We've discussed it on the forum before. It starts with one claw hanging limp, but everything else seems fine. A day or so later, the other claw limps as well. Soon, the whole mantid starts sagging and barely hanging on. 3 or 4 days later, the mantis will be dead - probably still hanging on by a stubborn claw.

It was suggested in earlier discussions, that this might be molt related (I think Phil called it) and I think that's about right. As far as I can tell, it's not contagious, and seems untreatable. I still remove them from the others, and I'm too squeamish to feed them to others, even if I thought it would do no harm. Let me know if anyone has had a mantis pull out of this.

 

[bravado]

Sporeworld: What is that grid inside of your enclosures that your Idolomantises hang from? I've been encrafting matrices of birch twigs but I dread doing it again -- too involved. Your synthetic alternative looks very nice; that male looks to have had no problem remaining firmly planted during molt, even through the flip!

 

[sporeworld]

It's nylon Carpet Liner - available at JoAnn Fabrics, Home Depot, Lowes, etc. You can also just use shelf liner that I've seen at CVS, Target, even the dollar store.

For the insides of the cage, stick to everyone (else's) advice and go with twigs. Once my army has passed through to adult, I'll be more inclined to make different recommendations.

 

[d17oug18]

I use bamboo sticks, they look good, ergonomic, and cheap. I use them for almost anything!

 

[sporeworld]

Update: One ooth has been spacing out the nymphs - about 3 at a time, about 3 days apart. very odd. This has SOME corrolation to the hudity schedule of completely soaking, then letting dry. This is WAY fuzzy matj/logic, but I took a page from Phil and started soak/dry cycles, instead of daily misting. And it SEEMS (huge emphasis on SEEMS), to have an effect. I don't have any kind of numbers to do any real research. But seems noteworthy.

 

[sporeworld]

Two more females molted today. I can see the need to reposition a lot in my enclosures. She had trouble getting comfortable while inflating her wings. She wanted to hang from 2 legs and her claws, and let the other 2 legs dangle. But she'd try to get a grip with those back legs every few minutes. I moved the equivalent of a foot stool under her, and she finally relaxed. I'll try to post pics tonight.

Her sister is in the cage right next to her (they molted about 4 hours apart). I put her in an all stick enclosure as a comparison (happy, now!?!). I need to get some sleep, so I won't be around for her full inflate (or the flip), but I'll keep y'all posted.

 

[sporeworld]

Very funny.

So, two very healthy female molts. They look great! And what an emotional rollercoaster!

Here's a few pics of GIRL 1...

She had her back to the glass, which was good. I got paranoid about the fern, and added another branch, but it wasn't necessary.

Here she is inflating her wings, same as the boys did.

Here she is fully inflated. She stayed in essentially this position for about 3 hours.

And... done!

Girl 1

 

[sporeworld]

Here's Girl 2 early in the molt.

Her enclosure is all oak branches, but I got a little paranoid, and added sponges to the bottom, just in case. She didn't need them.

Here's Girl 2's perilous grip on the tippy-tip=tip of an acorn. Terrifying!

Here she is after climbing back up the skin and getting repositioned...

Girl 2 beginning to inflate her wings...

Girl 2 - Molt complete!

 

[ShieldMantid1997]

My "first class" species is Sino but Idolos r close behind!

 

[sporeworld]

Update:

One of my females that molted to adult 2 days ago, is limp and nearly lifeless today, for no apparent cause. No cuts, bruises or abrasions. She didn't fall. Humidity was above 50%, temp between 72-75f.

The only thing I can point to, is that she was in with live (cut) plants (California Wild Oak). No other suspects.

She had not begun eating yet (I usually see that around day 3), and her colors were just starting to come in.

Her sister, that molted a few hours before her, but is in an artificial enclosure shows no sign of lethargy.

I'm positive she won't improve, and I'll freeze her in a few hours.

Has anyone seen this before...?