Hello everyone!
I am Amanda, an elementary nature science teacher and a wanna-be entomologist
in Southwest Washington state. (Near Oregon border) I have always been fascinated by mantids, but never came across them in the wild where I have lived despite my intense explorations.
We have a large open grass field across the street from our new house where my children spend hours and hours with nets and buckets collecting insects and frogs. They have now brought home 3 European mantises, (or I believe them to be, anyway) which have been given a tall 7 gallon aquarium of their own next to my Pacific Chorus frogs and Garter snake terrariums. Currently all 3 mantises are in the same cage. We've been keeping 2 together in the cage for the previous 2 weeks, and they seem to get along great. Today, we added the 3rd, and seem to be having some problems.
So, since I see all the knowledge everyone here has on the species, I have a few questions. But first, a little history:
The first 2 we found appear to be nymphs (no wings) and female. (6 segments, if I am counting right, from the bottom of the abdomen to the last set of legs.) Our new guy appears to be just that - a guy - and an adult. He has long wings and flies. Both my females have been great eaters. We feed them grasshoppers and craneflies that my children collect from the same field that the mantises were found in. No spray. I WAS misting them daily, but a small amount of standing moisture was accumulating on the bottom of the tank, and one of the females seemed to get caught in it, so I placed a paper towel on the bottom of the tank, and have been misting every other day.
When we introduced the male, the females began arching their abdomens and appear to be quite aggressive to the male, who keeps trying to approach them, especially when they are eating. He has made them drop their lunch a few times and had a little "slap fight" with one of the females. I thought since the females were still nymphs, that he wouldn't try anything...
So on to my questions...
1) Should I be separating the male from the girls? Is there a possibility of a fatality?
2) Am I right that the females cannot mate until they are adults?
3) Are they in the right sized terrarium?
4) Is there anything I am doing that I shouldn't and vise versa?
5) How many molts do Europeans go through, and how can I tell how old my nymphs are?
Thanks in advance for taking the time to read/answer. I have pictures of all 3 if that would be helpful.
I am Amanda, an elementary nature science teacher and a wanna-be entomologist
in Southwest Washington state. (Near Oregon border) I have always been fascinated by mantids, but never came across them in the wild where I have lived despite my intense explorations.We have a large open grass field across the street from our new house where my children spend hours and hours with nets and buckets collecting insects and frogs. They have now brought home 3 European mantises, (or I believe them to be, anyway) which have been given a tall 7 gallon aquarium of their own next to my Pacific Chorus frogs and Garter snake terrariums. Currently all 3 mantises are in the same cage. We've been keeping 2 together in the cage for the previous 2 weeks, and they seem to get along great. Today, we added the 3rd, and seem to be having some problems.
So, since I see all the knowledge everyone here has on the species, I have a few questions. But first, a little history:
The first 2 we found appear to be nymphs (no wings) and female. (6 segments, if I am counting right, from the bottom of the abdomen to the last set of legs.) Our new guy appears to be just that - a guy - and an adult. He has long wings and flies. Both my females have been great eaters. We feed them grasshoppers and craneflies that my children collect from the same field that the mantises were found in. No spray. I WAS misting them daily, but a small amount of standing moisture was accumulating on the bottom of the tank, and one of the females seemed to get caught in it, so I placed a paper towel on the bottom of the tank, and have been misting every other day.
When we introduced the male, the females began arching their abdomens and appear to be quite aggressive to the male, who keeps trying to approach them, especially when they are eating. He has made them drop their lunch a few times and had a little "slap fight" with one of the females. I thought since the females were still nymphs, that he wouldn't try anything...
So on to my questions...
1) Should I be separating the male from the girls? Is there a possibility of a fatality?
2) Am I right that the females cannot mate until they are adults?
3) Are they in the right sized terrarium?
4) Is there anything I am doing that I shouldn't and vise versa?
5) How many molts do Europeans go through, and how can I tell how old my nymphs are?
Thanks in advance for taking the time to read/answer. I have pictures of all 3 if that would be helpful.
