Orchid Mantis (Hymenopus Coronatus)
- Thread starter Jenn
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OGIGA
Dead Leaf Mantis
Wonderful pictures!
monster
Member
holy prettyness :shock:
is that little black & red guy an orchid as well? reminds me of the headhunters on felix the cat: the movie :lol:
is that little black & red guy an orchid as well? reminds me of the headhunters on felix the cat: the movie :lol:
OGIGA
Dead Leaf Mantis
Yeah, orchids look like little devils when they hatch.
Way.Of.The.Mantis
Well-known member
Those things are beeeeautiful!! How many hatched?
Ben.M
Well-known member
Brill pics 
monster
Member
crazy. so you have a black guy one day, white the next? nothing in between? wow, now that i would like to see!
wuwu
Well-known member
nice pics jenn! i might get some orchids again just to photograph them.
Jenn,
Thanks! Orchid mantids often become pink if left exposed to one of two (or both) things: 1. red/purple/pink colors covering a large part of their view (I've done this before by wrapping red construction paper around their enclosure - but it doesn't always work as well for each mantid - some are better than others) or 2. really high humidity (I am talking 85-100% here) seems to bring out a natural, pale shade of pink in almost all of the females exposed to it. Male orchid mantids tend to be white, or if they do turn pink, it's usually at the subadult stage, and then they go white/brown when they molt to adult anyway. At least that has been my experience...
Thanks! Orchid mantids often become pink if left exposed to one of two (or both) things: 1. red/purple/pink colors covering a large part of their view (I've done this before by wrapping red construction paper around their enclosure - but it doesn't always work as well for each mantid - some are better than others) or 2. really high humidity (I am talking 85-100% here) seems to bring out a natural, pale shade of pink in almost all of the females exposed to it. Male orchid mantids tend to be white, or if they do turn pink, it's usually at the subadult stage, and then they go white/brown when they molt to adult anyway. At least that has been my experience...
Very nice pics Jon. Glad to see the orchids are doing well for you. Very pink subadult female you got there :shock:
Thanks Yen!
You've probably raised more orchids than anyone on the planet, so, do they ever stay pink as adults? All the pictures I've ever seen indicate a white colored adult mantid, for the most part, and the few I managed to grow to adulthood last year were all white as well.
You've probably raised more orchids than anyone on the planet, so, do they ever stay pink as adults? All the pictures I've ever seen indicate a white colored adult mantid, for the most part, and the few I managed to grow to adulthood last year were all white as well.
Unfortunately no i only see pink color adult female in first 10 minutes after molting. In most cases, they will turn into white color almost immediately after molting into adult. Probably it is the best way for them to camouflage well with the flower - with white and brown color - to avoid being an obvious target in the wild.
i only see pink color adult female in first 10 minutes after molting. In most cases, they will turn into white color almost immediately after molting into adult. Probably it is the best way for them to camouflage well with the flower - with white and brown color - to avoid being an obvious target in the wild.
OGIGA
Dead Leaf Mantis
Great pictures. Mine is nowhere near that pink. In fact, she's pretty much all white as subadult.
