new mantis collector's collection

[Jesskb]

Hey everyone, I wanted to share my beginning mantis collection with you guys. I've learned so much from this site and it's pointed me in the right direction in what I think will be a long lasting hobby for me.

I currently have seven ghost mantis that I bought from Yen that are at about L3-L4

I also have a male and a female Chinese mantis that I caught locally behind my apartment in Michigan:

Female:

Male:

Overly big container for Chinese I built a divider using two report protectors and hot glue. Also the back is a hermit crab climbing sheet that is really great for mantises I think.

seven ghost deli cups on my shelf:

The area around my apartment is a good hunting ground for mantids. In total in the last few days I've seen 3x sub adult chinese males, 1x chinese adult female, and an ooth from last year. once you get an eye for them it's pretty fun to see how many you can find Right now I'm feeding the chinese mantises grasshoppers and moths caught outside. The ghosts are eating the smaller wingless fruit-flies but it takes a lot to fill them up, I have some bigger flies coming in the mail. One question I have is : do blue bottle flies or housefly pupae stink? Do they make a huge ruckus buzzing about in a container?

thanks for looking!

-Jesse

 

[LauraMG]

Very nice! I wish there was such good hunting around my house! I'd have more mantids than I do...

And fly pupae does have an odor to it, but between the fridge and the bottle they are in to hatch I rarely ever actually smell them without intentionally sticking my face in the bottle! And they don't make a lot of noise, but there is a little and the more that hatch out the louder it is!

 

[massaman]

where abouts in michigan are you seems there is no chinese in my area I use to live in Saginaw and now live in Sanford but there is a few chinese now cause I had released 5 ooths worth of chinese and so I think the population will grow a little.

 

[Ghostie]

Welcome! Cool collection!

 

[hibiscusmile]

They don't smell hardly at all if u add some sawdust to the mix!

 

[Jesskb]

Thanks for the advice and welcomes guys I think I might get some house flies for my ghosts.

I went out for my nightly grasshopper wrangle and found THREE more Chinese females, and one male all within twenty minutes. That brings my count up to 4 males and 4 females. It had just rained here and the male I found had his wings really messed up I don't know if it was just the rain, or maybe he got caught in the rain during or just after a molt? Anyone know if that would clear up? If not I might go back and bring him home. I've only kept the two Chinese that I posted the pics of, but with so many out there I might decide to acquire a couple more. I had planned on breeding my two that I already had and then releasing the ooth outside, so maybe I'll breed two pairs or something.

Massaman, I go to college in Ann Arbor. Maybe you're too far north for the Chinese? I used to live in Jackson and I only rarely found Chinese, most were European and that's just one county over. Now I wish I could find a European Ann Arbor is a pretty progressive community and there are lots and lots of gardens around so I think maybe people are buying Chinese ooths and that could explain the large population? I gave up looking in bushes and trees for mantids, I've found most of mine on the ground in larger clumps of tall dry grass or near small bushes in the middle of the grass. I also always go out in the evening between 7-8 when it's not so hot outside. I found those four today right after it rained, maybe they were easier to see because they were moving to higher ground to "air" out? It might be worth a try to look after rains. Another thing I do is I have a butterfly net and I use the stick end and kinda disturb the grass clumps as I go, scaring the mantids into moving lol I just watch my step really cafefully because I'm terrified of stepping on one

 

[Ghostie]

They don't smell hardly at all if u add some sawdust to the mix!

Ah yes, your pupae don't stink! haha

They do after the hatch of flies dies off though.

A group of flies themselves can kinda get some odors going too. :blink: