mantisboy
Well-known member
I have not been at this for a very long time, so first and foremost thanks to everybody who responded so quickly to my questions. It's been a couple of weeks now and I just wanted to share a few things I've been doing and seen.
Males: Necessary if you want to breed and do not nearly require the housing cleanings that females do since they hardly eat. Outside of that I find the females are 10 times more interesting. Males are fast movers, but boring in their housings, the males only have 1 thing on their mind (not a bad thing)...mating. Much more prone to flight their high-energy antics require that you keep them in a room that does not have cathedral ceilings if you are going to remove them from their housing. They seem to rely on their antennae for identifying and targeting prey before they strike more so than females. They do not appear to be as aggressive in hunting or stalking. They seem more like opportunists not willing to go too far out of their way for a meal. They seem to eat every 3-4 days and would prefer smaller prey in body size comparisons to females. My females will grab anything 1/2 their size without question, my males will only go after prey that is about 1/4 of their size or smaller.
Females: Truly a joy to own they are fascinating to observe. Their slow gentle movements make them much more inviting to remove from their housings for human interaction. Aggressive hunters they venture throughout their housing to stalk and pursue prey. Unlike males, the females appear to not use their antennae to tap prey for close identification. They will use their antennae when scanning their housing but they seem to rely on their eyesight once prey is located and when closing in on the kill.
Unlike males that seem to use their antennae to check still prey by tapping them, females will use the extended thin tip portion of their forearms and lightly tap a bug that is still to see if it will move...when it does move they strike quickly. Only during mating I have noticed the females antennae will extend straight forward in a parallel fashion when the males go to mount them.
Mantids in general: Interesting and curious little creatures with classic predator/prey characteristics. Their keen eyesight lends to an inquisitive nature and they don't seem to have any noticeable fear of humans. Their antennae can tell you a lot about what going in their heads. Straight up at at 45 degree angle to me signifies that they are in an awaken but restful state, straight out to the sides and drooping down may signify that are not healthy. While pointing forward at a 45 degree angle they appear to be in a very content full rest mode. Frantically flailing around is generally accompanied with body movement and a sign they are highly agitated. Upon striking and while eating they quickly point their antennae back, probably to protect them.
When full with no desire to eat they will fend off feeders with their legs pushing them away, sometimes lightly striking them with their forearms. As solitary creatures they don't like it when other insects touch them and will often relocate to avoid any interaction with them. When hungry they are constantly scanning their housing looking for movement.
Breeding: An easy task that folks should do without fear or hesitation. It only requires a large storage tote and something in the center, anything will do, something to enable the female to position herself for mating to take place. My initial fear was that an all-out instant brawl would occur leaving me with a dead male and a failure at mating. This wasn't the case at all. Simply set up the tote and place the male inside, give him a minute or two to settle down. Then place the female about a foot or less away and he will respond quickly to any movement of the female. Both my females saw the males, were not aggressive and almost sensed (pheremones ???) that mating was going to occur as they walked by the male and waited. 1 male went right to business, while my other was more tentative so I connected 2 straws together and blew on him a few times, after 3-4 minutes he finally pursued and mounted the female. In both cases the males simply disconnected, moved to the other side of the tote while the females stayed stoic and never moved. I fed both females just prior to mating, which probably helped.
Housings: I clean the male housings once every 2-3 weeks, females every 3-4 days. I rinse them out with hot water only, thoroughly dry them and let sit in the sunlight for about a 1/2 hour. All housings get new dry substate, I reuse the same sticks for the males, 1 per housing at a 45 degree angle, no leafs. But take fresh 1/2 inch branch clippings and leave 3-4 leafs attached for the females. I place about an inch of substrate and position the sticks/branch clippings at a 45 degree angle in the shape of an X, that extend across the housing about 2 inches from the top or lid. Prior to returning them back into their housing I lightly spray the substrate, too much water seems to induce mold to grow quickly. The leafs serve as food to feed the Hoppers to munch on, while I toss pieces of leaf on the flooring of the male housing.
Misting: Males get misted directly every other day, they fuss for a minute or two then settle down. Females I place on a house plant daily and mist 3 or 4 times about a foot above them so that it gently lands onto them. I take tap water, boil it for 20 minutes to remove any chlorine etc. then let it cool to room temp, before putting it in a clean misting bottle.
Ooths: ???? Don't know about them...maybe soon though
Feeding: I leave 2 or 3 small 1 inch hoppers in with the males at all times. They hardly eat, so over-eating is out of the question. Before mating I would leave 1 or 2, 2 inch Hoppers with the ladies, directly after mating I just leave 1, 1 inch hopper and clip it's back legs. Both of my girls ate right after mating and as they have plumped up over the last week I leave their housings empty and feed them 1 time a day. I wait until they are up and actively looking around their housing before I feed them so they can rest undisturbed.
If this is rambling...sorry I just wanted to share
Males: Necessary if you want to breed and do not nearly require the housing cleanings that females do since they hardly eat. Outside of that I find the females are 10 times more interesting. Males are fast movers, but boring in their housings, the males only have 1 thing on their mind (not a bad thing)...mating. Much more prone to flight their high-energy antics require that you keep them in a room that does not have cathedral ceilings if you are going to remove them from their housing. They seem to rely on their antennae for identifying and targeting prey before they strike more so than females. They do not appear to be as aggressive in hunting or stalking. They seem more like opportunists not willing to go too far out of their way for a meal. They seem to eat every 3-4 days and would prefer smaller prey in body size comparisons to females. My females will grab anything 1/2 their size without question, my males will only go after prey that is about 1/4 of their size or smaller.
Females: Truly a joy to own they are fascinating to observe. Their slow gentle movements make them much more inviting to remove from their housings for human interaction. Aggressive hunters they venture throughout their housing to stalk and pursue prey. Unlike males, the females appear to not use their antennae to tap prey for close identification. They will use their antennae when scanning their housing but they seem to rely on their eyesight once prey is located and when closing in on the kill.
Unlike males that seem to use their antennae to check still prey by tapping them, females will use the extended thin tip portion of their forearms and lightly tap a bug that is still to see if it will move...when it does move they strike quickly. Only during mating I have noticed the females antennae will extend straight forward in a parallel fashion when the males go to mount them.
Mantids in general: Interesting and curious little creatures with classic predator/prey characteristics. Their keen eyesight lends to an inquisitive nature and they don't seem to have any noticeable fear of humans. Their antennae can tell you a lot about what going in their heads. Straight up at at 45 degree angle to me signifies that they are in an awaken but restful state, straight out to the sides and drooping down may signify that are not healthy. While pointing forward at a 45 degree angle they appear to be in a very content full rest mode. Frantically flailing around is generally accompanied with body movement and a sign they are highly agitated. Upon striking and while eating they quickly point their antennae back, probably to protect them.
When full with no desire to eat they will fend off feeders with their legs pushing them away, sometimes lightly striking them with their forearms. As solitary creatures they don't like it when other insects touch them and will often relocate to avoid any interaction with them. When hungry they are constantly scanning their housing looking for movement.
Breeding: An easy task that folks should do without fear or hesitation. It only requires a large storage tote and something in the center, anything will do, something to enable the female to position herself for mating to take place. My initial fear was that an all-out instant brawl would occur leaving me with a dead male and a failure at mating. This wasn't the case at all. Simply set up the tote and place the male inside, give him a minute or two to settle down. Then place the female about a foot or less away and he will respond quickly to any movement of the female. Both my females saw the males, were not aggressive and almost sensed (pheremones ???) that mating was going to occur as they walked by the male and waited. 1 male went right to business, while my other was more tentative so I connected 2 straws together and blew on him a few times, after 3-4 minutes he finally pursued and mounted the female. In both cases the males simply disconnected, moved to the other side of the tote while the females stayed stoic and never moved. I fed both females just prior to mating, which probably helped.
Housings: I clean the male housings once every 2-3 weeks, females every 3-4 days. I rinse them out with hot water only, thoroughly dry them and let sit in the sunlight for about a 1/2 hour. All housings get new dry substate, I reuse the same sticks for the males, 1 per housing at a 45 degree angle, no leafs. But take fresh 1/2 inch branch clippings and leave 3-4 leafs attached for the females. I place about an inch of substrate and position the sticks/branch clippings at a 45 degree angle in the shape of an X, that extend across the housing about 2 inches from the top or lid. Prior to returning them back into their housing I lightly spray the substrate, too much water seems to induce mold to grow quickly. The leafs serve as food to feed the Hoppers to munch on, while I toss pieces of leaf on the flooring of the male housing.
Misting: Males get misted directly every other day, they fuss for a minute or two then settle down. Females I place on a house plant daily and mist 3 or 4 times about a foot above them so that it gently lands onto them. I take tap water, boil it for 20 minutes to remove any chlorine etc. then let it cool to room temp, before putting it in a clean misting bottle.
Ooths: ???? Don't know about them...maybe soon though
Feeding: I leave 2 or 3 small 1 inch hoppers in with the males at all times. They hardly eat, so over-eating is out of the question. Before mating I would leave 1 or 2, 2 inch Hoppers with the ladies, directly after mating I just leave 1, 1 inch hopper and clip it's back legs. Both of my girls ate right after mating and as they have plumped up over the last week I leave their housings empty and feed them 1 time a day. I wait until they are up and actively looking around their housing before I feed them so they can rest undisturbed.
If this is rambling...sorry I just wanted to share
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