Is there anything to pay attention to when raising the Hymenopus coronatus ?

[happy1892]

I just had a female L4 Orchid mantis nymph molt to L5 without any misting or drink since she turned L4. I have had two other female L4 nymphs molt without any water until the day before molting to L5. I knew they were getting close to molting because they refused food to eat. I have been feeding them D. hydei fruit flies regularly and so that is a way they can stay hydrated enough to molt without problems. This could be dangerous in dryer climates though, because they could get dehydrated easily without misting or drinking.

 

[agent A]

I just had a female L4 Orchid mantis nymph molt to L5 without any misting or drink since she turned L4. I have had two other female L4 nymphs molt without any water until the day before molting to L5. I knew they were getting close to molting because they refused food to eat. I have been feeding them D. hydei fruit flies regularly and so that is a way they can stay hydrated enough to molt without problems. This could be dangerous in dryer climates though, because they could get dehydrated easily without misting or drinking.

still on D. hydei at that instar? mine get houseflies at i3

 

[happy1892]

still on D. hydei at that instar? mine get houseflies at i3

Yes. I have given them Blue bottle flies a few times and they take those. But I have plenty of D. hydei so I am using those.

And with the males it could be better to feed regularly D. hydei when trying to slow them down in growth because it will not fill them up too quickly feeding smaller D. hydei than with houseflies, and so will keep them from growing as fast and still keep them hydrated without misting. I will try to mist them before they molt though incase they get too dehydrated and mismolt.

 

[hibiscusmile]

Sorry, you are starving thoses mantis. They need bigger food. You can feed the males every other day, but get rid of the hydei.

 

[agent A]

honestly I think one big mistake we make with these guys is we starve males too much and that leads to fertility issues
I generally just get nymphs of different ages (apart by like 2 or 3 months) to pair the younger males up with the older females, and if it works, their offspring with those initial younger females
feeding males tiny meals isn't gonna do them any good.

 

[hibiscusmile]

Sorry Happy, my post was a little harsh, you are trying to do what everyone does and I should of been nicer I apologize.

 

[happy1892]

Sorry Happy, my post was a little harsh, you are trying to do what everyone does and I should of been nicer I apologize.

No, that is okay. I didn't know that feeding little to slow the males down would be bad for their health. I appreciate the warning. I actually am just starting to feed the males more regularly now because I have the females maturing faster than I expected at higher temperature and plenty of food. I hope the males are okay, or recover after some molts to be healthy without any problems such as the infertility that agent A mentioned.

Just a day or two after molting the L5 female nymphs didn't take D. hydei as well so I gave them Blue bottle flies to get them started eating then. But afterwards they would eat a whole lot of D. hydei fruit flies till they were very plump.

 

[happy1892]

I just had a female L4 Orchid mantis nymph molt to L5 without any misting or drink since she turned L4. I have had two other female L4 nymphs molt without any water until the day before molting to L5. I knew they were getting close to molting because they refused food to eat. I have been feeding them D. hydei fruit flies regularly and so that is a way they can stay hydrated enough to molt without problems. This could be dangerous in dryer climates though, because they could get dehydrated easily without misting or drinking.

I kept the females at a constant temperature of about 82F. I have had P. wahlbergii nymphs mis-molt consistently every time the temperature would jump up about 10F in a day. So I made sure to not have the temperature get any warmer than what the Orchid mantis females were used to when they were getting close to molting. I even would lower the temperature a couple degrees or more when I noticed they were getting close to molting.

 

[hibiscusmile]

No, that is okay. I didn't know that feeding little to slow the males down would be bad for their health. I appreciate the warning. I actually am just starting to feed the males more regularly now because I have the females maturing faster than I expected at higher temperature and plenty of food. I hope the males are okay, or recover after some molts to be healthy without any problems such as the infertility that agent A mentioned.

Just a day or two after molting the L5 female nymphs didn't take D. hydei as well so I gave them Blue bottle flies to get them started eating then. But afterwards they would eat a whole lot of D. hydei fruit flies till they were very plump.

Haha go figure