Jinx
Well-known member
Not that anybody cares, but I'm back with a few stories/questions. Unfortunately my time in Houston was cut short, and it put my mantis hobby on hold. I'll try to keep this short, as I'm sure no one wants to read my rambling.
Good News:
All of my L2/L3 mantids made it to adulthood. I also managed to get my Phyllocrania Paradoxa to breed, which resulted in 6 beautiful nymphs. My female Ghost is still living on strong. She's nice and fat and very wasteful with her food. I let her stay in her cage unless I'm cleaning it, and she doesn't seem to want to crawl around on me like she did when she was younger.
Unfortunate News:
During one of my many moves over the past months, Vicious(Ghost Mantis) ate the head of his brother, Amidamaru. I ran out of containers and had to pair them up. I made sure to feed them well before hand, but I guess Vicious was still hungry. I knew the "communal species" thing was a load, but it still sucks. Now I have proof that they are a tolerant species at best.
My H. Majuscula grew up big and fat. She was extremely clumsy and didn't like to move around too much. I would sometimes take her out, but she would often just chill ontop of my head, or flutter over to the window curtains and chill the day away. One day when I was at work, I got a text stating she was on the floor and not moving. By the time I got home, she smelt really bad and her bad side was leaking. When cleaning her cage out, I found what appeared to be the start of an ootheca on the side of the wall. Could she have died from falling while laying an ooth?
While breeding my last male Ghost with the only female I had, I had kept their cages close together. While doing so, the male stopped eating all-together. I tired flies, crickets, grasshoppers and anything I could catch in the garden, but he just refused to eat anything. He eventually died from what I can only assume to be starvation. I guess males stop eating when they smell the female pheromones? We were living in close quarters at the time, so I didn't have many places I could keep the mantids.
Out of the 6 nymphs I managed to get from Vicious, only one survived. One of my favorites had EXTREMELY long antennae. While moulting, it looked like they got caught and he dried in an awkward position. I ended up freezing the little guy. Made me super sad. The others seemed to just simply die, despite me feeding them every day. The last one is still going strong. He's much more active than the others were, and will often hunt down his food rather than just wait for a fruit fly to cross his path.
From here on out:
I hope to get mote Phyllocrania Paradoxa and try breeding again now that I'm in a better spot to do so. I have lots of room, and the place we moved into had tons of fish tanks in it (weird, right?). I'm going to give some other species a shot too, but I absolutely fell in love with my Ghosts. Finding them has been a different story. Everybody seems to be out of stock, or asking a bit more than I expected to pay.
My daughter loves helping me feed and care for my insects, and I hope to make this a life-long hobby.
Good News:
All of my L2/L3 mantids made it to adulthood. I also managed to get my Phyllocrania Paradoxa to breed, which resulted in 6 beautiful nymphs. My female Ghost is still living on strong. She's nice and fat and very wasteful with her food. I let her stay in her cage unless I'm cleaning it, and she doesn't seem to want to crawl around on me like she did when she was younger.
Unfortunate News:
During one of my many moves over the past months, Vicious(Ghost Mantis) ate the head of his brother, Amidamaru. I ran out of containers and had to pair them up. I made sure to feed them well before hand, but I guess Vicious was still hungry. I knew the "communal species" thing was a load, but it still sucks. Now I have proof that they are a tolerant species at best.
My H. Majuscula grew up big and fat. She was extremely clumsy and didn't like to move around too much. I would sometimes take her out, but she would often just chill ontop of my head, or flutter over to the window curtains and chill the day away. One day when I was at work, I got a text stating she was on the floor and not moving. By the time I got home, she smelt really bad and her bad side was leaking. When cleaning her cage out, I found what appeared to be the start of an ootheca on the side of the wall. Could she have died from falling while laying an ooth?
While breeding my last male Ghost with the only female I had, I had kept their cages close together. While doing so, the male stopped eating all-together. I tired flies, crickets, grasshoppers and anything I could catch in the garden, but he just refused to eat anything. He eventually died from what I can only assume to be starvation. I guess males stop eating when they smell the female pheromones? We were living in close quarters at the time, so I didn't have many places I could keep the mantids.
Out of the 6 nymphs I managed to get from Vicious, only one survived. One of my favorites had EXTREMELY long antennae. While moulting, it looked like they got caught and he dried in an awkward position. I ended up freezing the little guy. Made me super sad. The others seemed to just simply die, despite me feeding them every day. The last one is still going strong. He's much more active than the others were, and will often hunt down his food rather than just wait for a fruit fly to cross his path.
From here on out:
I hope to get mote Phyllocrania Paradoxa and try breeding again now that I'm in a better spot to do so. I have lots of room, and the place we moved into had tons of fish tanks in it (weird, right?). I'm going to give some other species a shot too, but I absolutely fell in love with my Ghosts. Finding them has been a different story. Everybody seems to be out of stock, or asking a bit more than I expected to pay.
My daughter loves helping me feed and care for my insects, and I hope to make this a life-long hobby.
