Mantis Size

minomantis · Jul 30, 2013

What does the size of a mantis depend on? Genetics, how much food it eats, how slow it can process the food to use every bit of it for nutrients? A combination of all of them or solely one? I'm just curious!

BugLover · Jul 30, 2013

It depends on the species, temp, and how much food

OctoberRainne · Jul 30, 2013

I think temperature and growth rate really make the impact on their size,outside of their genetic make up,the warmer it is as long as its not beyond what they can tolerate the more rapidly they eat and molt,and there is less time in between,so less time for them to store food and stretch out/expand in length between molting. Good meals definitely help breed some bigger ones but only if they have a decent space between molts,they go really quick from L1-L4,and then it slows down allowing for more gorging time,some mantids don't do so well super heavy and with molting though,but all those factors really do contribute to their adult proportions

ScienceGirl · Jul 30, 2013

Getting enough food is key. Otherwise they may be starved of nutrients.

A successful molt allows a mantis to get larger by puffing itself up with air before it dries.

The genes and traits passed down to them is also critical. If its parents were smaller or larger than normal, there is a good chance that that mantis will also follow suit. It can, however, take on the traits of previous generations and not look anything like the parents.

Temperature doesn't affect growth as much as rate of growth. The higher the temperature, the higher the mantis' metabolism, and the greater the need for food. It will eat more and grow faster.

agent A · Jul 30, 2013

it seems that lower temps to slow metabolism enough to allow for more food consumption, food variety to give more nutrients, and constant feeding to keep the skin stretchy are the best ways to get a mantis to grow big