These are my t. sinensis. There are many like them, but these are mine.
A friend bought an ooth from Home Depot for his garden, and kindly kept a few for me because he knew I wanted to try to raise some.
Three-day-old nymphs, April 10th:
I started out with six, but one died the first day, and I lost another to mismolt the day after that, leaving me with four. I quickly moved them into individual enclosures to eliminate the risk of cannibalism (and to prevent further mismolts). I just used stuff I had around the house; some small mason jars, cotton fabric, and plastic fish plants, with moist paper towels for humidity. New homes, April 16th (still at L1):
The rest survived their first molt! Here they are at L2, around April 22nd:
And they just hit L3 a few days ago!
Munchin' flies:
As a first-time mantid owner, I do have some behavior questions, maybe some more experienced invert peeps can help explain? Sometimes the little dudes sit perfectly still at the bottom of their container in a "superman" pose, arms outstretched straight ahead and body rigid. First time I saw one doing that, I thought the little guy was dead and opened the jar to check on him--only for him to leap out and run around the table, arms still superman stiff. I thought I'd messed up and interrupted a molt so I got him back in his jar ASAP, but no molt happened for another five days. I've noticed the others doing it too; am I doing something wrong or is this normal mantid behavior? If so, what are they doing?
A friend bought an ooth from Home Depot for his garden, and kindly kept a few for me because he knew I wanted to try to raise some.
Three-day-old nymphs, April 10th:
I started out with six, but one died the first day, and I lost another to mismolt the day after that, leaving me with four. I quickly moved them into individual enclosures to eliminate the risk of cannibalism (and to prevent further mismolts). I just used stuff I had around the house; some small mason jars, cotton fabric, and plastic fish plants, with moist paper towels for humidity. New homes, April 16th (still at L1):
The rest survived their first molt! Here they are at L2, around April 22nd:
And they just hit L3 a few days ago!
Munchin' flies:
As a first-time mantid owner, I do have some behavior questions, maybe some more experienced invert peeps can help explain? Sometimes the little dudes sit perfectly still at the bottom of their container in a "superman" pose, arms outstretched straight ahead and body rigid. First time I saw one doing that, I thought the little guy was dead and opened the jar to check on him--only for him to leap out and run around the table, arms still superman stiff. I thought I'd messed up and interrupted a molt so I got him back in his jar ASAP, but no molt happened for another five days. I've noticed the others doing it too; am I doing something wrong or is this normal mantid behavior? If so, what are they doing?
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