Oh my...

[Arwen9]

I've had my Chinese nymps (L4) for about a week now--three of them to be exact. (Yay GreenOasis)

I had thought I knew their personalities. One male is bold for his size, and the other more cautious but just as aggressive. My lone female, Iris, was very timid and ran away from every insect I offered, except for the teeny, tiny ones. <_<

Well, two days ago she molted perfectly to an L5.

Today, I put in a handful of the teensy crickets and one medium sized was already in her case. Before I could fetch it out, she stalked it and devoured it. The cricket should have been too big for her still.

Guess not.

:blink:

 

[Peter Clausen]

One recurring theme for the new mantis keeper is amazement in how much prey their pet predator can tackle!

 

[Orin]

One of the main arguments against mantids value as pest control agents is prey grow exponentially during a given season while mantids do not. Of course that argument doesn't account for or appreciate the exponential growth of the mantis appetite.

 

[hibiscusmile]

Skinny girls, need more food!

 

[GreenOasis]

She was just "timid" because she was getting ready to shed! Now, she's ready to lay the smack down!

 

[GreenOasis]

OH! Heh, heh...that reminds me. I'm out of flies for the moment so I was having to feed out roaches last night. I accidentally dumped a half-grown Turkistan in with a smallish Limbata male (he's maybe 1" long, the roach a full 1/2" or more!). I thought for sure the little guy would freak out and try to get away, but after the initial shock (much smaller than expected) he did the full-on wrestle to the ground and ate the whole thing! :blink: The roach was half his length and easily 4 x his girth! :blink: I'm just still like :blink: :blink: :blink: !!!

Amazing!

Hey...speaking of roaches, if anyone needs small roach prey for mantids, frogs or whatever, I'm now selling Turkistan egg cases on the website! If your enclosure is pretty moist, they will hatch out fine on their own in there, or, you can put them in a cup with a moist paper towel and they should hatch in 10-20 days! (Careful, they are fast & can climb plastic very well! Make sure to have a tight-fitting lid!) I have noticed that, while most mantids won't eat the roaches that are slow & don't move around much (Dubias), they seem to go after the faster Turkistans & Orangeheads with relish!

 

[Arwen9]

Lol at all of you.

Yeah, it's been almost 4 years since I've had a nymph in the house. I've forgotten what they're capable of, even small as they are.

I think it threw me off so badly because she had been such a chicken before the molt, it was so unexpected for her to go for it.

 

[Arwen9]

She was just "timid" because she was getting ready to shed! Now, she's ready to lay the smack down!

Lol. That sounds right.

I think my bold male, Adir, is getting ready to molt now too. He hasn't eaten since yesterday, but he's very still (Whereas he's usually more active) His abdomen is still swollen and it looks...soft, somehow. If he does, I'm going to need a bigger cricket.

 

[kilopoy]

Haha! This topic is interesting.

But to add to the discussion a little bit, I don't have a mantis... YET. But I'm getting one this spring. So, we'll see how that turns out.

 

[hibiscusmile]

Haha! This topic is interesting.

But to add to the discussion a little bit, I don't have a mantis... YET. But I'm getting one this spring. So, we'll see how that turns out.

Why wait to spring, get a baby now!