Not sure of instar or sex

[RebelleSinner]

I have 2 Chinese mantis (Boots and Pants) I don’t know how many molts they’ve been through (they’ve had one here since arriving) and I believe I have 2 females but would appreciate more experienced eyes having a peek...so much easier to count segments in my SFM and Ghost. This is Pants 

 

[RebelleSinner]

This is Boots 

 

[hysteresis]

The belly shot would've bee great but was taken dark, so not enough detail comes through.

Short antennae so maybe female.

Also, maybe smaller count of segments with last one largish.

 

[RebelleSinner]

That’s not a lack of light/detail in the pic; Pants ‘segments’ actually look like that irl kinda smoothed/blended together. Super hard to count I can try for another angle but they do look like that lol

 

[RebelleSinner]

That’s a little better

 

[RebelleSinner]

Boots belly 

 

[RebelleSinner]

Leafy’s heiny; I think Leafy is female?

 

[RebelleSinner]

Spot’s heiney; I think spots is a boy but only because Spots is so much smaller than Buggy 

 

[RebelleSinner]

Buggy’s heiny; I suspect Buggy is female. 

 

[Graceface]

Boots and Pants both look male to me, but I could be wrong. 

Ghosts are easy to sex because they have visible differences other than counting segments. The crown, aka their funky hat, is different for males VS females. I can kinda see Leafy's crown as well as the segments, and I think she is female. 

I am lost with Buggy and Spot

 

[Mantis Lady]

cute pose

I think Leafy is a female

If i am right: Boots is male. Pants is I think a male too.

The spinies I dont know, but they are cute.

 

[RebelleSinner]

Fun stuff lol I appreciate everyone’s eyes. I’m pretty stumped with Buggy and Spot myself I was more confident before taking these pics lol

 

[RebelleSinner]

see I thought Leafy’s crown was kinda skinny but I have no other experience to compare it too lol I think I may be misremembering read info because I’m often wrong looking through old posts unless they’re adults

 

[Graceface]

Sounds confusing, but Ghosts are super easy to tell apart

Below are a couple info graphics I found online (not my images). They should help show you the difference between male and female easily

 

[RebelleSinner]

Practice makes perfect ty for sharing that; I should have paid more attention to the wide heiney instead of trying to guess if the crown was ‘skinny’ or not. I agree I think Leafy is female but I was leaning male before lol

 

[River Dane]

I agree I think both Boots and Pants are male. 

Your ghost looks female to me based on what I can see of the crown in the pic, but I don’t have much experience with ghosts.

spots looks like he’s maybe L3, and probably somewhere around 2-3 molts behind Buggy. Spots might not be able to be sexed yet.

It’s always fun to sex nymphs! Unfortunately the only way to know for sure is to give them time.

 

[RebelleSinner]

I’m awful at sexing fish too except for Bettas lol birds and mammles I got it tho 

 

[RebelleSinner]

I agree I think both Boots and Pants are male. 

Your ghost looks female to me based on what I can see of the crown in the pic, but I don’t have much experience with ghosts.

spots looks like he’s maybe L3, and probably somewhere around 2-3 molts behind Buggy. 

It’s always fun to sex nymphs! Unfortunately the only way to know for sure is to give them time.

I think y’all are right about Boots and Pants and I remembered it backwards lol (still trying to spot the ‘cup’ shape at the end of the segments but my eyes aren’t skilled enough yet). Spots and Buggy were the same size (I assume same instar I got them from the same place but that is an assumption) and Buggy really out paced Spots in growth after their last molt...I did assume they are the same age tho and that may not be true 

 

[MantisGirl13]

For the spinys, I need clearer pics of the end of the abdomen (side view pls). For the others, I agree with everyone else. Boots and Pants are male, Leafy is female. I think that Buggy is female, but I need a clearer pic. 

- MantisGirl13