Idolomantis Consolidated

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So i have a kinda random breeding question... It's one i have yet see and am just a wee bit concerned about their bulkier size and sometimes clumsy tendencies.

So i was wondering what positions the females most often took before the male would show interest and/or pounce(examples; hanging from the ceiling, Standing upright as-if standing on the ground,). I am just wondering how I may want to introduce her to him. It is looking like my male will be about 5 weeks into adulthood when she starts calling, so the fewer attempts(if I get any) it takes for him connect, the happier I shall be.

Also very sorry I could not be more articulate with my question, but i have a dying wireless keyboard and no batteries in site. If it is too confusing I will try and clarify when i have mo power, and less urge to beat my keyboard.

 
She will hang horizontally with the tip of her abdomen twitching up and down(calling), then if all is right he will start to walk in fast circles around the top of the enclosure/her and seem very wound up till he makes his move, but I did have a male jump on the female as soon as he saw her once, he literally jumped from my hand right to her back and you could tell his switch was ON!

 
How much should I be feeding my subadults? I was going by the way their abdomens looked, but I woke up this morning to one of the females devouring the male... :(

 
very cool on the hatch

I am super excite right now. So last night my female was lookin like she needed some lovins. Giving buddy those over her shoulder looks, wavin her moneymaker around like she just don't care. Even attracted all 4 of my free range male chinese? They where hangin very near her enclosure. Kinda caught me off guard as she is still only 14 days from her adult molt. So I figured I'd let him have a shot at her before i pulled him outta the room to avoid that pheromone saturation beez. Well I came in to turn on the light this morning and bam, he's connected.

Even more craziness is the conditions. Yesterday they were at no more then 80-85 degrees and 30-50% humidity, and last night when he made his move with it was about 75 with 70% humidity. Although until yesterday (light burned out)they where getting 93-98 for daytime temps and 75-80 at night. Humidity was 30-40 during the day and 70-90+ at night.

Also these are the only 2 idolos I've had( got them at 3rd instar). Technically i had a 3rd but she died the night I received her. And after realizing I could actually raise these little turds, no-one had anymore. I feel pretty darn lucky getting a connection

Anyhow here is apic
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Super sorry to hear that Chiv. I basically just fed mine until they refused more. They seem to do pretty good at knowing when enough is enough. I wonder if it might have started out as a territorial issue and the male got a little too persistent. And again I sorry for your loss

 
Hats off to both Steve and Mirk! I've been waiting a long time now to see some success out there, and bam here it is! :sorcerer:

Sub and adult Idolo can eat more BB's than most people think, they are piggies! 6-10 a day each is totally in the norm, a couple each per day in a grouped enclosure will spell trouble sooner or later, sorry Chivalry... :(

 
Chivalry said:
Seriously, you should see their big ole booties... I can't imagine they were hungry. Just ticked off, I guess.
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I've seen 100's of Idolo come and go, a fight over food is one thing but they don't eat each other over a grudge or temper tantrum, it was something else you need to address.

 
Got another connection today. Still no ooth yet.

Conditions for the past 24 hours have been temps between 74-84 with humidity running 42-75. Currently it is 80 with 67% humidity. The previous mating had fairly identical temp and humidity. It just took place in the morning. Makes me wonder if the high temps are truly that necessary, as both of my matings have happened during drops in daily highs. Normal temps for me are 90+ in the day and around 80-75 at night, with humidity around 30-50+ during the day and 70-90+ at night.

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I'm sure this has been answered on this thread before but 48 pages is a lot to sift through :/

I have three idolomantis L2 nymphs in one of hibiscusmile's medium hexagon enclosures. When will I need to separate them? Thank you for your time!

 
Emckenzie24 said:
I'm sure this has been answered on this thread before but 48 pages is a lot to sift through :/

I have three idolomantis L2 nymphs in one of hibiscusmile's medium hexagon enclosures. When will I need to separate them? Thank you for your time!
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Technically, you never have to separate them. Incidence of cannibalism is very low with this species given enough space and food, but it's more likely to happen in early instars than later. You may want to separate by sex once that becomes possible so you can speed the females. And it's good to separate adults by sex to prevent males becoming less sensitive to the female's pheromones.

 
I have 6 in an exo-terra small/low (18x18x12) with Yen's carpet liner ceiling, they're in the process of molting to L4 (4 of the 6 were molted as of this morning) and have been in there together since L1. There's always been plenty of HF in there and I haven't lost any yet.

 
Precarious said:
Technically, you never have to separate them. Incidence of cannibalism is very low with this species given enough space and food, but it's more likely to happen in early instars than later. You may want to separate by sex once that becomes possible so you can speed the females. And it's good to separate adults by sex to prevent males becoming less sensitive to the female's pheromones.
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I would like to add that at later stages near adulthood, it's a good idea to keep lower numbers together. There is risk of a cage/tank mate bumping into a fellow molting mate. Which usually isn't a good thing.
 
brancsikia339 said:
My male is very old and weak. He can barely stand on his own and can't really crawl.. The male is also (I have no idea why) Missing one of his feet (Not full leg, just foot). He doesn't walk flatfoot, either. He doesn't use the gripping pads on his feet and the only thing he can climb on is couch. I don't know how i could possibly mate them. He can't even climb the cage walls to get to her, let alone mount her and mate her.
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One of my males is also missing a foot. It seems this species is very prone to it. Even if kept loose on a plant it can happen over time. But there are a few things that increase the probability. If they feel confined they will rampage and end up losing feet. Also if you keep them in a net cage sometimes the feet get stuck and end up pulled off. This also happens with the feet on the ends of their raptors.

 
With some people it's 50/50 and with others its much better like 90/10, depends on your care and preparation, the first time with them is almost always harder than after you have some experience. And with this Mega thread it should be even easier to have success, something I didn't have when I started with them long ago, they were just a pipe dream and no one even dared try them, spare Yen of course.

 
Almost all of my final molts happened at night or early morning so mist very well before the lights go off, and have plenty of good molting surfaces, I Iike branches with the bark still on, but some people like the "carpet liner" material, in the end they just need something they can sink their claws deeply into so when they climb back up the old shed it holds in place like a self made ladder.

 
I might add, with breeding this particular species It helps to have more than one male, and those should be put far away from the females for 2-3 days prior to any mating attempt to decrease the pheromone saturation(many species benefit from this) they build up, then heated for a few hours to 95-98 to help stimulate them(they will move around alot) now its time to put in a cooler female 75-80 in the enclosure with the males(hot) mist around the cage but not too much on them directly, add 20-30 BB's and watch the show unfold, well if the stars are aliened anyway?

 
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