Question about finding mantids in the wild

[csliv36]

Hello all,

I currently live very close to a city. Technically, I'm within city limits. I used to live about 30 miles north of the city, and I would see a handful of mantids each summer, without even looking for them. Now, I've been looking, and I cant find any! I've even walked through the parks and such. Does anybody have any tips on attracting them, or where to look? I have a female Chinese mantis, and I think it would be awesome to find a male to breed them. I would let the babies go in one of the big parks down here, and hopefully start new generations of them!

 

[CosbyArt]

Hello all,

I currently live very close to a city. Technically, I'm within city limits. I used to live about 30 miles north of the city, and I would see a handful of mantids each summer, without even looking for them. Now, I've been looking, and I cant find any! I've even walked through the parks and such. Does anybody have any tips on attracting them, or where to look? I have a female Chinese mantis, and I think it would be awesome to find a male to breed them. I would let the babies go in one of the big parks down here, and hopefully start new generations of them!

If it is a low/no chemical spray park area there are mantids even if you can't find them - if you see others insects, there are mantids too. Best times for me to find them has been usually right before noon, as they are actively looking for food, and right before sunset. Look in over grown field areas and such, anywhere there are plenty of grasshoppers/butterflies/and such in sunny areas. Seems sunny days I find more too as they are more active than cloudy or raining days.

In my town, although it is technically a city, I find mantids most in ivy covered brick and concrete walls, and ivy chainlink fences. Once again if you see insects you are likely to find a mantid too. I have also found two mantids about 10-12 feet off the ground in the tree in my backyard (with me on a ladder of course), and once in the rose bush. Just check any low bushes besides buildings too, as I have found 3 like that lately.

The trick to find your female a male is to place her outside, in a net enclosure (or well ventilated habitat) by your door at night with the porch light on. If she is an adult and ready to mate she will release pheromones attracting any males in the area - and has been done successfully by several members here.

In regards to releasing Chinese mantids especially it isn't recommended as it will affect the local mantis population. For example if you release Chinese mantids in Carolina or European mantids area they will take over and likely destroy the other species population. As Chinese mantids are naturalized, and not a native species, many keepers feel releasing any Chinese mantids is a horrible deed. This of course applies to their ooths even more so as they will hatch out much more mantids than anyone has on hand to release.

 

[MantidBro]

i always find mantids in sunny fields, any place where the sun has access to... Any place with lots of prey, like grasshoppers. If there is water near by thats a plus. They like bushes and long grass

 

[Rick]

Overgrown fields, meadows, fencelines, etc are the places to look. It doesn't matter if you're in a city or not. If you go into a weedy area and see a lot of other insects you should be able to find mantids there. I do think if sometimes takes some practice to see them unless they are just sitting out in the open.

If all else fails you could also try to look around lights at night but I usually don't have much luck doing this. You may also try sweep netting.

 

[csliv36]

Thank you all for the input!

CosbyArt, about releasing them into the wild, that's interesting. I was under the impression that I was able to because I only ever see Chinese mantids in my area. But I definitely won't do it thanks to your advice!

 

[CosbyArt]

Thank you all for the input!

CosbyArt, about releasing them into the wild, that's interesting. I was under the impression that I was able to because I only ever see Chinese mantids in my area. But I definitely won't do it thanks to your advice!

Indeed some people do release them, specifically in their own yards (which they will leave typically though, as most people don't have enough insects to support their numbers). A common species people release is the Carolina (Stagmomantis carolina) as it is a native to the US, and helps rebuild their population levels. The Chinese mantid however, some keepers act like they actively search out and destroy the mantid and their ooths whenever they find them (and I bet a few do), as they are naturalized/introduced species.

Me personally I prefer to find Carolina mantids as they are a favorite, but I like catching Chinese mantids too. A mantid is a mantid right

 

[Vespertino]

Another resource is co-workers with good eye-sight! One of mine, who knows I'm new to the mantis hobby, spotted a Carolina in a playground near my office today- she said it looked like "two of them" or that "one was molting" but this late in the season I had the feeling it was male+female pair mating. And it was! The key word is "was", he was already half eaten down to the thorax. I'm not 100% sure if they mated successfully since I wasn't there to see it, but I scooped her up in a solo cup (covered with a clean coffee filter and rubber band) and brought her home, hoping for fertile ooths. She doesn't trust me yet but she seems to be adjusting, took some honey and an insect fed to her by tweezers.

I have three females at home, one just layed her first infertile ooth (she hasn't been mated), so I'm putting them on my front doorstep tonight and hope I see a few males. thanks for sharing that advice, I would have never thought of that. I have them all placed in a row, hoping their collective pheromones will increase the chances.

Although I'm worried as I released some into the wild and have concerned some might be their siblings.

 

[CosbyArt]

Another resource is co-workers with good eye-sight! One of mine, who knows I'm new to the mantis hobby, spotted a Carolina in a playground near my office today- she said it looked like "two of them" or that "one was molting" but this late in the season I had the feeling it was male+female pair mating. And it was! The key word is "was", he was already half eaten down to the thorax. I'm not 100% sure if they mated successfully since I wasn't there to see it, but I scooped her up in a solo cup (covered with a clean coffee filter and rubber band) and brought her home, hoping for fertile ooths. She doesn't trust me yet but she seems to be adjusting, took some honey and an insect fed to her by tweezers.

I have three females at home, one just layed her first infertile ooth (she hasn't been mated), so I'm putting them on my front doorstep tonight and hope I see a few males. thanks for sharing that advice, I would have never thought of that. I have them all placed in a row, hoping their collective pheromones will increase the chances.

Although I'm worried as I released some into the wild and have concerned some might be their siblings.

Nice, seems to be a good trick. I use a variation myself, my sisters and their yards. Glad you caught her, and made a secure habitat till you got home. it seems many wild caught mantids take about 24 hours to adjust, although I have a few females that still tend to be noisy looking for a way to get back out.

The trick has been the only source for some members to find elusive males. I originally read about it too on the forum from another member, Saebjorn9 in this topic, but it seems to be one of the common knowledge details that has been around for a long time and not contributed to anyone. Let me know if you get your male, it may take a few attempts though to get one.

Inbreeding in mantids doesn't seem to be a concern and some breeder stock is made of many generations of inbreeding. Peter mentions it on his site here, "While inbreeding is an issue for many insects, I've seen no clear evidence of it in mantises.". Can't say I've heard of issues from inbreeding, although if new "blood" from another male can be introduced it can't hurt.

 

[Vespertino]

I didn't catch any males yesterday so I'll keep trying. I also tried during the day; there's an overgrown area not far from where my co-worker found the female where I put the enclosures around. Sadly that didn't work, but I will keep trying. One of my girls laid a sterile ooth the other day, it looked so tidy and perfect it was a shame no babies will come from it.

 

[CosbyArt]

I didn't catch any males yesterday so I'll keep trying. I also tried during the day; there's an overgrown area not far from where my co-worker found the female where I put the enclosures around. Sadly that didn't work, but I will keep trying. One of my girls laid a sterile ooth the other day, it looked so tidy and perfect it was a shame no babies with come from it.

That is a shame about the infertile ooth, and your luck so far. I've been searching for males myself as I only have one male, and several adult females (and even more sub-adult females). If I find several and you still need one I'll shoot you a PM.

 

[Vespertino]

Thanks! Likewise if I get lucky and find a ton of eligible carolina males hovering around my ladies cages.

So far, still zero. I live two houses over from a greenbelt area in my HOA with a creek running through it, I would have thought I'd at least see one male.

And the mantis my co-worker found mysteriously passed on yesterday, very sudden, I'm not sure what happened.

 

[Rick]

What kind of habitat is the greenbelt area? If it is forested I wouldn't expect to find a lot of mantids there, if any.

This is the kind of place you want. A weedy power line cut. When you walk into these areas this time of year the weeds explode with grasshoppers. Mantids are all over in these kind of places.

 

[Vespertino]

Thanks so much Rick! That photo cleared up a lot as far as what to look for. Unfortunately my greenbelt area is wooded-ish and any grass areas are occasionally mowed (damn HOA). However the overgrown area next to the parking lot near my office has an area that resembles that habitat, albeit a much smaller chunk of land. I'll be recruiting my co-workers to join me in a little bug hunt, since they seem to have taken a liking to the mantids and don't want the girls to pass on before finding a few boyfriends. As we speak one of the girls is laying a sterile ooth.

There was one day where I left the girls out in their enclosures next to an overgrown area, didn't catch any eligible bachelors but there were a frightening amount of ants all over the place. Since there are fire ants around here I was worried they might attack the girls, who would be helpless in their enclosure, so I haven't put them back outside like that. I bought a net and will try sweeping the grassy area and hope I get lucky.

 

[CosbyArt]

Best of luck, hopefully your co-workers will pull through and find some mantids again.

 

[Rick]

Thanks so much Rick! That photo cleared up a lot as far as what to look for. Unfortunately my greenbelt area is wooded-ish and any grass areas are occasionally mowed (damn HOA). However the overgrown area next to the parking lot near my office has an area that resembles that habitat, albeit a much smaller chunk of land. I'll be recruiting my co-workers to join me in a little bug hunt, since they seem to have taken a liking to the mantids and don't want the girls to pass on before finding a few boyfriends. As we speak one of the girls is laying a sterile ooth.

There was one day where I left the girls out in their enclosures next to an overgrown area, didn't catch any eligible bachelors but there were a frightening amount of ants all over the place. Since there are fire ants around here I was worried they might attack the girls, who would be helpless in their enclosure, so I haven't put them back outside like that. I bought a net and will try sweeping the grassy area and hope I get lucky.

I don't have much luck sweep netting except for the occasional Brunner's mantis. This time of year mantids are adults and are at their most active. If the habitat is right you should be able to just spot them by eye.

 

[Vespertino]

Thought I'd report back, I went looking for mantids twice in areas with long grass and shrubs but didn't find a single one. Plenty of grasshoppers and bees, but no mantids. Both times I was outside around noon. As far as I know the properties aren't being sprayed. I'll have to try a different location, maybe I'll have better luck somewhere else.