Nymph Escaped in House - Any Tips?

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Try a large clear container with flies in it somewhere that the mantis could get to it from anywhere.

Also check corners. For some reason lots of inverts tend to show up there.

 
The worst part is that he escaped INSIDE the house. At least if he had escaped OUTSIDE, he could survive to adulthood and have a party.

 
Even if you never find him, he'll probably have just as good of a chance of surviving to adulthood. Like I said, I've found mine a long time after losing them, and I've also found them eating spiders or moths that have gotten into the house. Maybe he'll have less of a food source, but if you eliminate the possibility of predation you'll realize his chances are pretty good. These little guys will surprise you with their ability to find prey anywhere. One time I saw a mantis run about two feet toward a fly that had landed and actually catch it. So I wouldn't worry too much about him. He'll probably turn up eventually. In the meantime, go catch another mantis. Then when you find this one and you already have another one, maybe your parents will let you have both of them! :D

~Wolfie

 
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Even if you never find him, he'll probably have just as good of a chance of surviving to adulthood. Like I said, I've found mine a long time after losing them, and I've also found them eating spiders or moths that have gotten into the house. Maybe he'll have less of a food source, but if you eliminate the possibility of predation you'll realize his chances are pretty good. These little guys will surprise you with their ability to find prey anywhere. One time I saw a mantis run about two feet toward a fly that had landed and actually catch it. So I wouldn't worry too much about him. He'll probably turn up eventually. In the meantime, go catch another mantis. Then when you find this one and you already have another one, maybe your parents will let you have both of them! :D

~Wolfie
Haha! Yes! I hope he survives... Or maybe I'll just find a wahlbergii, orchid, or ghost ootheca online and hatch it... I'll say I found it in the field. :shifty: :innocent:

 
Haha! Yes! I hope he survives... Or maybe I'll just find a wahlbergii, orchid, or ghost ootheca online and hatch it... I'll say I found it in the field. :shifty: :innocent:
Lol! I wonder if your parents would believe that! :lol: Has your T. sinensis ooth hatched yet?

 
Lol! I wonder if your parents would believe that! :lol: Has your T. sinensis ooth hatched yet?
I wonder if they would too... Maybe they've forgotten my "the Chinese (tenodera sinensis) and European (mantis religiosa) are not native to our region, but they have found it as a suitable place because of its climate" and "did you know there are regulations about releasing specific exotic species in the US?" talks. I'd probably be allowed to keep a handful...but I'd be told to let the others live their natural lives outside! XD What fun that'd be.

Since I got honey bees, I can't purchase exotic mantids yet (hopefully this agreement will end during the school year?). Another thing is that I like to keep "in-season" mantids because there are free food sources available outside. I was also hoping that my costs could be cut a little bit by selling nymphs and ooths and doing trades, but my mom also didn't want me to sell and ship mantids to buyers because they could end up unhappy and stuff... Anything nice to tell her about shipping mantids and buyers being unhappy, guys? :p

EDIT: No hatch yet on the ootheca.

 
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Hopefully your parents will let you sell mantids eventually. It's pretty rare for a buyer to be unhappy. My mom won't let me do it because she doesn't want to constantly have to be sending packages. I have to convince her that I wouldn't have to ship them out the same day.

By the way, I had my S. limbata nymph Kian out on a plant while I was uploading photos, and next thing I knew he was gone. I looked everywhere but I can't find him. So, you're not alone any more. I hope that both of our mantids will show up!

~Wolfie

 
Hopefully your parents will let you sell mantids eventually. It's pretty rare for a buyer to be unhappy. My mom won't let me do it because she doesn't want to constantly have to be sending packages. I have to convince her that I wouldn't have to ship them out the same day.

By the way, I had my S. limbata nymph Kian out on a plant while I was uploading photos, and next thing I knew he was gone. I looked everywhere but I can't find him. So, you're not alone any more. I hope that both of our mantids will show up!

~Wolfie
My male nymph had been free-ranging on a flower outside last week. I didn't see him a first, but he had slinked down to the base of the plant. He also liked to perch upside-down under the cone flower... I tried to tell him that he'd never catch anything that way, but he said it worked as a nice shade umbrella. :D

Was the plant inside the house, or outside of it? Inside, you'd have a better chance of finding the nymph, but outside, they can survive, grow up, and possibly be recaptured at a late instar.

 
Inside. I'm probably going to be cleaning up this room later on today, so hopefully I'll find him. I think mantids do sometimes use flowers as umbrellas - I've seen them doing that a lot! :)

Where did you get your T. sinensis ooth? I haven't had much luck with store-bought oothecae. :(

 
Inside. I'm probably going to be cleaning up this room later on today, so hopefully I'll find him. I think mantids do sometimes use flowers as umbrellas - I've seen them doing that a lot! :)

Where did you get your T. sinensis ooth? I haven't had much luck with store-bought oothecae. :(
I got the ootheca at our local garden store... When we bought an ootheca years ago it hatched, so now I've had a 50% success rate. (BTW, I'm in Chat now if you or anyone else wants to join me. :) )

 
Good news! I just found Kian! He was on the exact same plant that I had left him on. I checked that plant over and over and he was definitely not on it before, so he must have returned! Maybe your little nymph will come back to his container. You never know! What was his name, by the way?

 
Good news! I just found Kian! He was on the exact same plant that I had left him on. I checked that plant over and over and he was definitely not on it before, so he must have returned! Maybe your little nymph will come back to his container. You never know! What was his name, by the way?
Oh good! Well, you know nymphs . . . they possess incredible speed and elusive hiding powers. :D

I never named him, didn't want to commit to anything while I was still meeting him and finding out "who he was". lol

 
How long did you have him before he ran away? :)
A week or two, I think... He molted while I had him. He was quite a bit larger than I remembered, and sure enough, there was his exuvia! That's when I could tell for sure that he had 7 segments.

I prefer larger mantids to smaller ones. Easier to find, and ever since I was little I'd sometimes play with my adults, pretending I was a distinguished princess, and they my peregrine falcons. :lol: I also prefer, if I'm keeping captive mantids that I can't release outside, to keep ones that look more exotic and beautiful... Personal preference. :)

 
What's strange is that he was in there - stalking grasshoppers, then getting whacked by jumping grasshoppers, then giving up and searching for a way out... His container was set to the side, and the next time I looked, he had vanished. The feeding hole is a rectangle - 2cmx1.5cm, but I never cut off the top part, so it works like a hinge. It was tiled inwards at about 25 degrees. So somehow he slipped out, but is nowhere to be found... UGH! :unsure: :no:

Remind me again how you all have confidence to let your mantids free-range on plants in the house?? :huh:
How big were the hoppers? You don't think they ate him do you? Do hoppers eat insects?

 
How big were the hoppers? You don't think they ate him do you? Do hoppers eat insects?
Nooo, the grasshoppers didn't eat him. The night before he got loose, I watched him eat a large grasshopper that was about an inch long. Then the next evening, the night when he got loose, I put in two smaller grasshoppers for him to eat. They were less than an inch long. The cage was sitting in one spot, then it got moved to another spot when he was just about to catch one... Next time I looked, which was probably just a couple minutes later, he was gone.

Still no luck... :no:

 
Try a large clear container with flies in it somewhere that the mantis could get to it from anywhere.

Also check corners. For some reason lots of inverts tend to show up there.
Do you mean a container that the mantis could get into to eat? If there were holes in the container for the mantis to get it, the flies would be out in mere minutes...

But what do you guys think of using it as a lure? Think the nymph would go to a buzzing fly in a clear container?

 
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