Phyllocrania paradoxa made it to adulthood

[Elo500]

I have successfully raised my first Ghost Mantid from L3 to adult. I wanted to thank the forum for all the help and information. I learned a lot from just searching and reading posts here. This Ghost was very easy to raise. Started him in fruit flies until they were too small then moved on the houseflies then to small crickets. It even ate earthworms on occasion. Here are some pics and info.

I bought this guy back on February from Mantid_mike as an L2 (thanks Mike!), it hatched 1/29

molt log:

L3a 2/25

L4 3/15

L5 4/2

L6 4/27

L7 5/2

Wings 6/23

blurry adult pic....



Here is the enclosure I built from a Walmart container. Added screening and feeding hole/sponge. Also used drywall tape on sides for traction.



Thanks to everyone for their assistance!

 

[Paradoxica]

Congrats!

 

[sally]

Great job! Are you sure it is a he? Instill have a hard time sexing ghosts sometimes even with the crest differences....

 

[ShieldMantid1997]

Looks like a female

 

[Nicolas]

Congrats!

 

[Paradoxica]

Definitely female, but i always catch myself calling everything "He" without thinking about it.

 

[Ranitomeya]

I would get rid of the drywall tape. I've handled the stuff before and it can be sticky on more than just the side that's stuck to something. You don't want her to get stuck on it later on when her tarsi are more prone to getting broken off.

 

[gripen]

Congrats! Just a little nit-picky thing though, L8 is not the same as adult because L stands for larva and an adult is not a larva.

 

[Elo500]

Never tried to figure out the gender. So female? It sprouted wings so that's the end of molting right? Sorry I called it L8 guess you're right she is no longer an L.

 

[mantid_mike]

Hey, I must have missed this thread. Congrats!

I'm glad you have successfully raised one of my babies to adult. That is indeed a female, 100% sure. Do you have any more ghosts?