Joe's Mantis Updates

[JoeCapricorn]

I am so excited, I just had to post about this! 3 out of 4 of my baby Sphodromantises have molted successfully to L3! Keep in mind, these 4 babies are the first 4 mantises I have ever owned that were shipped and captive bred. All others were Chinese except for one which was a European and all were wild and born in Pennsylvania.

The only thing is, Fortune molted successfully but one of his antennae is mostly missing and the remaining piece is a near circular curl. Angel molted, previously had shorter left antenna, now it seems he has both complete antennae (both have that distinctive curve at the end) but one is still shorter than the other (I understand that it may take more than one molt to heal a damaged antennae) - my question is, will Fortune's curled and shortened antennae be able to grow back in successive molts? Anything I can do to help (if at all)?

Kit is the third to molt to L3, he is virtually perfect. Meek is the only one in L2, when he arrived he was still L1, and he molted a couple days later.

I'll probably post replies to this thread with further updates on my mantises, if that's okie... :3

 

[sufistic]

I am so excited, I just had to post about this! 3 out of 4 of my baby Sphodromantises have molted successfully to L3! Keep in mind, these 4 babies are the first 4 mantises I have ever owned that were shipped and captive bred. All others were Chinese except for one which was a European and all were wild and born in Pennsylvania. The only thing is, Fortune molted successfully but one of his antennae is mostly missing and the remaining piece is a near circular curl. Angel molted, previously had shorter left antenna, now it seems he has both complete antennae (both have that distinctive curve at the end) but one is still shorter than the other (I understand that it may take more than one molt to heal a damaged antennae) - my question is, will Fortune's curled and shortened antennae be able to grow back in successive molts? Anything I can do to help (if at all)?

Kit is the third to molt to L3, he is virtually perfect. Meek is the only one in L2, when he arrived he was still L1, and he molted a couple days later.

I'll probably post replies to this thread with further updates on my mantises, if that's okie... :3

Congrats! A little bit of mismolt here and there is perfectly normal but can usually be avoided.

 

[Katnapper]

Congrats! A little bit of mismolt here and there is perfectly normal but can usually be avoided.

+1, Joe. Maybe a little more misting/humidity might help. And updating this thread with future happenings is a great idea!

 

[sufistic]

+1, Joe. Maybe a little more misting/humidity might help. And updating this thread with future happenings is a great idea!

This. More misting/humidity/ventilation/space. Sharing experiences are great for learning from one another.

 

[revmdn]

Where in Pa are you?

 

[Ntsees]

...will Fortune's curled and shortened antennae be able to grow back in successive molts?

Yes. Since it's still in the early instar stage, if it makes it to adulthood, both antennae should be the same length in the end.

 

[JoeCapricorn]

Where in Pa are you?

Berks County

 

[JoeCapricorn]

Meek molted to L3 today, he was sort of the "runt" of the 4 because of being a few days behind the rest in molting times, but he is perfectly healthy and doing well!

How long do Monarch butterflies typically live? I have had a pet Monarch since 4 weeks ago when I found her in a parking lot missing a wing. Her name is Valentine because her other forewing fell off soon after I took her home. She's still doing well, which is remarkable, considering I did not expect her to live past a week... and it's been 4 weeks since I found her as of tomorrow (I found her on a Monday).

I finally figured out names for my grasshoppers. The melanoplus differentialis grasshopper that I found in my yard and decided to keep as a pet has been named Apple. The two male Eastern Lubbers are OJ (for Orange Juice) and Pear. The two females are Nectarine and Apricot. I know, it's a little fruity, but these names have stuck! ^_^

OJ is the brightest colored of the lubbers, Pear has a greenish tint, Nectarine (who, because I am an avid player of Elder Scrolls games, I have already mistakenly referred to as Nerevarine... if you played Morrowind you'll get the reference) is the largest of the lubbers and Apricot is somewhat of a misfit - her middle left and hind left feet are the only two feet she really has... so she can't climb very well. She's also darker colored and seems to be older than the others.

The lubbers are in couples... it's Pear and Apricot and OJ and Nectarine.

 

[JoeCapricorn]

Some sad news and some happy news today.

First the sad, OJ, one of the male lubbers was found dead today. Cause is presumed to be old age, males live shorter than females, right? Pear, his tankmate is doing well and doesn't seem to have any sort of afflictions. Apricot and Nectarine (the females) are also in good health.

Happy news...

Fortune molted successfully to L4 today. His left antenna which was shortened and curled is now straight although still significantly shorter than his right antenna. However, the end has the same curl at the end as his right antenna. His true gender is still unknown, but I think I counted 8 segments to his abdomen. Is it still possible that he might still turn out to be a she?

Going by how the others molted, Kit and Angel should follow suit soon with Meek molting a few days later.

The funny thing is, I fed all of the mantises today and noticed that Fortune completely ignored his fruit fly, so I took the fruit fly out knowing about the fasting before molting. I've been sitting at my desk all day with the mantises right next to my keyboard and he molted and not once did I notice! Hah, I was so busy with school work.

 

[sbugir]

Congrats

BTW, I love the names of the lubbers. Hee, fruit

 

[JoeCapricorn]

Angel joined the L4 party! He molted successfully just right now. This time I could watch the process unfold. He is still pale white and just finished... everything looks A OK!

 

[Katnapper]

Glad to hear it, Joe.

 

[JoeCapricorn]

Kit molted the day after Angel and Fortune did. Meek molted today. Meek just now caught his first fruit fly as an L4

I've started feeding the 4th instars two D. hydei a day and giving them extra when I go away. Now, I'm in a little bit of a tricky situation...

All of the mantises will probably be alright in their current containers at least through L5. However, I am concerned for Meek. Meek's container that he came in is about half the volume and 3/4ths the width of the other containers. He came as a smaller 1st instar baby and was the runt of the bunch (He's grown strong, not a bent antennae or broken foot to be found)

What I may do is I may upgrade one of the other mantids to a larger container when they hit L5. Kit, Fortune and Angel will be L5 days before Meek molts to L5. What I can do is I can swap one of the large mantises with a slightly bigger container, say a 32 oz jar. I might even wash out the D. melanogaster culture which at this point is still producing flies, but only about 5 or so a week and I hardly use them any more since at this point they are bite sized and may even be too small for the mantises to grab... actually, let's test that theory! Nope, not too small to grab, but 3 bites and they are gone! It's a 32 ounce jar, has a metal screen on the top and would be a perfect Mantis house. Then I can move Meek to one of the medium sized containers.

I can see at around L5 or L6 I'll start feeding the mantises small crickets. I have plenty of Kritter Keepers (I got a bunch of new ones for them in the first place not knowing how small they really would be ^_^ ).

Also, in related news... My mom and I, along with my mantises and my lubbly lubbers are all taking a trip down to Alabama. I'm going to pack my buddies in a box with a heat pack to prevent them from getting too cold during the trip. Where do I get heat packs and how hot do they get?

 

[batsofchaos]

Heat packs can be ordered online or picked up from most pet shops that sell herps (my local Petco has them). They get to something like 100-130 F on their surface, so they can safely warm a box for the 40 hours they last, and you can carry extras if needed for a longer trip.

 

[JoeCapricorn]

Angel beat everyone else to the L5 stage, molted perfectly.

It appears Angel is indeed a male. How many molts will a male S. centralis go through before becoming an adult?

I suspect the other three may also all be male. This is ok, I didn't plan on breeding them in the first place.

I am also currently in Alabama. A few weeks ago, my male lubber grasshopper OJ died. Yesterday, the other male Pear died. I now only have the two girls Apricot and Nectarine.

Everyone arrived in Alabama safe and cozy. I got body-warmer packs that kept the grasshoppers' cages at 75 degrees even though outside it was as low as 28, with a small box containing all of the mantises and fruit flies underneath Pear's cage. The trip back to Pennsylvania will be this Saturday morning.

Apricot and Nectarine are doing well. They are both strong and active and have good reflexes, which I test every so often to see how they are doing. I've kept them hidden in the hotel room (the hotel has a No Pets policy, they don't even know about them!) where they've been kept at 65-73 degrees, lately 65 because my mom complains a lot when the room gets too warm.

The mantises are doing great. I had to switch back to D. melanogaster because I didn't have time to get to PetSmart... just PetCo (which has D. melanogaster, but PetSmart has D. hydei) - this was no problem since this time their fruit fly cultures were in great condition and the flies themselves were almost as large as the D. hydei. The mantises' bellies have been full for the entire trip! It took Angel about 20 days to reach L5, so Fortune and Kit aren't too far behind. I am concerned about Meek, because he is always a few days behind and may molt in transit to Pennsylvania. I have them packed sitting upright and packed tight, so this may not be too much of a problem... if Meek still doesn't molt by the time we leave, I'll check him every once in a while during the first leg of the trip, and just hold my breath during the later half (which will be in a colder area).

 

[JoeCapricorn]

I arrived home safely from Alabama, along with all of my mantises. Kit and Fortune still haven't molted, neither has Meek. Angel beat them all to L5 by a few days now. At least now, I won't have to worry about them molting in transit ^_^

 

[JoeCapricorn]

I got new containers, the small round Ziploc twist top containers. I was kinda desperate for something better for my babies since they were outgrowing their current containers (Angel out grew his, which was originally Meek's container since I switched the two of them to give Meek more room to molt to L5)

They love them! Also, I upgraded their food... to small crickets. Fortune had one, finished nearly the entire thing and is as plump as Santa Claus. I never saw a mantis so fat before, except for gravid female Chinese mantises... they were huge, but geeze, Fortune really would anger Jenny Craig at this point!

I actually tried to keep him from overeating because the cricket might've been a bit too much (it wasn't)... and he did NOT want to let go... he was like "MIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIINE!!!!" so I let him have the rest of the cricket.

Angel and Kit are on their first crickets as well. Kit grabbed his cricket and started eating it from the hind legs and the cricket just clung to the paper towel as if nothing was happening. It tried hopping, but just ended up making Kit "rock out" if you know what I mean.

Also, I'm getting new babies! 3 baby Giant Asians from Peter. I thought about getting some sub-adults from Massaman (I really want to see how big these fellas get!) but I have enjoyed raising the African mantises so much I wanted to see how Giant Asians grow up as well.

And if I happen to receive a male and female pair of the Giant Asians, I might even try my hand at breeding them. Who knows? :3

And right now, Fortune is sitting on my computer screen chasing my mouse cursor. I swear, I am never going to tire of this!

 

[MantidLord]

And right now, Fortune is sitting on my computer screen chasing my mouse cursor. I swear, I am never going to tire of this!

Hahaha :lol: I love it when I finally get to upgrade a mantid's food to crix. It's like a big event when they can finally take a cricket and stop feasting on ffs. Good job and best of luck.

 

[Katnapper]

Sounds like you are doing good with them, Joe! Good luck with your Giant Asians too.