Phyllovates chlorophaea (Texas Unicorn), Parasphendale agrionina (Budwing), and Blepharopsis mendica

[twolfe]

I've mostly been photographing nymphs lately but here's one of my female Budwing a few weeks before she died.

And one of my Texas Unicorn nymphs that fell way behind its siblings and is still not an adult

And one of my female Texas Unicorns laying her first ooth

And finally a b. Mendica ooth hatching. (When I glued the ooths to the lid of the container, I didn't have photography in mind. And my flash started to act up around the time there were a lot more hanging from the ooth. So, I only took a few shots.)

 

[agent A]

Awesome!!! Is the Texan ooth fertile?

 

[twolfe]

Awesome!!! Is the Texan ooth fertile?

I hope the ooth is fertile. I've mated three females but only two of them have laid ooths.

 

[dragon]

Wow, that girl was chubby before she died!

Neat uni's!

 

[twolfe]

Wow, that girl was chubby before she died!

Yes, she was. I got two adult females to photograph and not mate. She did lay a couple of infertile ooths in the beginning but then stopped.

 

[Precarious]

Holy cr@p that Budwing got FAT! Is that one of the girls I gave you?

All great photos!

Great job on the Mendicas! You kicked my butt on that species, and it looks like you beat me on the Unicorns too. Are you selling nymphs?

 

[agent A]

Yeah I agree about the budwing, the male I had (who died at L5 back in 2009) ate until his abdomen could barely move or be held up straight, then I over misted him and he got an infection , but if he got as fat as I saw him get, I can only imagine the scale of a female

 

[twolfe]

Holy cr@p that Budwing got FAT! Is that one of the girls I gave you?

All great photos!

Great job on the Mendicas! You kicked my butt on that species, and it looks like you beat me on the Unicorns too. Are you selling nymphs?

Yes, that was one of the female budwings I got from you as an adult in the summer. She was really bloated towards the end even though she wasn't eating much. She was a big eater in the beginning and then would get thin after she'd lay an ooth. But the last month her appetite decreased, and she only ate one bb fly a day and she stopped laying ooths. Once she stopped eating, I put her in the freezer. That was the end of October. She outlived her sister by several weeks. She was the only mantid that ever struck me and drew blood. But she was so trusting in the end. I was actually sad when I had to put her in the freezer.

I am selling b. Mendica nymphs. The nymphs from the first two ooths have been reserved. A friend and I are incubating more ooths.

 

[agent A]

I had a male P.wahlbergii draw blood from me once, I still have his preserved body in my collection, good times

Tammy wat I wanna know is how do u get the photos to look so natural without disturbing the mantis? The p wahlbergii molt photos and the Texan laying ooth photos r on an isolated stick that appears to be outside, how do u do that? Its so cool!!!

 

[twolfe]

I had a male P.wahlbergii draw blood from me once, I still have his preserved body in my collection, good times

Tammy wat I wanna know is how do u get the photos to look so natural without disturbing the mantis? The p wahlbergii molt photos and the Texan laying ooth photos r on an isolated stick that appears to be outside, how do u do that? Its so cool!!!

I can't imagine a p. wahlbergii drawing blood. However, I have noticed that they have quite the grip.

Most of my photos are taken indoors but outside of the mantid enclosures. (I have actually brought some nymphs outside and tried photographing them outdoors in the summer.) I use backdrops for the background. For the Texas Unicorn that was laying an ooth -- I waited until it looked like she was almost done and then I just slowly took the stick out of the enclosure and rested the ends of sticks on something so that it was quite stable. Then I left her alone for a few minutes. I came back and she was continuing to do her business, and I took a few photos. I really didn't want to disturb her so I only took about 10 altogether.

With the p. wahlbergii, I could tell ahead of time that it was going to molt and moved it to the dried up plant and waited. Tonight I noticed my last two were going to molt, but I wasn't in the mood to photograph the same thing. I am watching the very last one to see how she does.

 

[agent A]

Very awesome, yesterday I was photographing my C.pictipennis and was messing around with AV, TV, and ISO, though in a bit confused as to wat those r, AV makes the pic very bright, I will post those pics later