My first nymph raised to adulthood

[SoylentGreen]

Here's Ripley , one of 10 nymphs who hatched from my first wild carolina mantis' ootheca, molting to adulthood. Old hat stuff for most of you guys but new to me. Been keeping an eye on him as he already had his bud wings and got to watch the molt from start to finish. Cool watching the wings inflate. Battery died out so didn't get shots of wings after fully inflated. Sorry the pic.s aren't any better, best I could do with this cheapo Nikon L10.

 

[CosbyArt]

Congrats, it is a exciting experience no matter how many times you see it.

As you never know how they will turn out, as molting is such a major event for them. I've had several of mine molt to adults lately and if I can catch it happening I'll pull out my Nikon D80 and fire off 25 to a couple hundred shots during the process.

 

[Jay]

Congrats! Did the wings turn out good in the end?

It is amazing the difference in abdomen shape between Stagmomantis males and females. The females are so stocky!

 

[mantisman 230]

Well done on your first, Ive had 4 mantids hit adult in two days xD

 

[SoylentGreen]

Thanks guys. Yeah Jay, the wings turned out looking in fine shape. Seen him flitter them a couple of times to either help dry them out or perhaps wanting to try them out. I'm not taking him out of cage for that reason, I've read that the males are really flighty. Funny his mother was green and he turned out brown, Guess it could be due to all the brown in his environment. I just found another wild one, hanging out just outside my patio door, probably around an L5 and female. Hopefully I'll be able to mate them, we'll see. I prefer the females due to their more robust look also.