South American Acanthops Nymphs

[Meemee]

Hi everyone,

Okay, so here's the scoop. I brought the ootheca from the Acanthops back from Ecuador last week and it hatched. I'm kind of shocked because I really didn't think it would. I carted it all over Ecuador in a suitcase and then when I got home I stuck it on top of my chameleon's cage (which is nice and warm).

19 nymphs hatched but one drowned in a droplet of water. Of course I didn't have any fruit flies so it was a bit of a scramble to find some (I live in a climate similar to Siberia). Luckily I found some at research facility at the university.

Anyway, can anyone give me tips on how I should look after them? I haven't found much info on the internet and I'm not sure if I should treat these mantises the same as Chinese (other than the obvious temperature and humidity differences)? Do I have to separate them by L2 or 3? I guess you could say this is my plea for help!

By the way, the nymphs are so cute I may have trouble parting with them! I'll try and post a couple of pictures of them in the next day or so.

Thanks!

Meemee

 

[DeShawn]

Moved -

I would seperate them at L2 if you can't do it any sooner. This species is pretty rare in captivity, and I personally would want to keep as many nymphs alive as possible.

As for care, I have only had them once, and I misted them every night before bed, and temps around 75-80°F. The humidity here is around 60%, so they were kept between 60-65%. They did very well, but I ended up with 4 females! Hopefully you have better luck.

 

[Ian]

Congratulations! Hvae never kept this species before, so cannot contribute much to the care of it...would like to see the Acanthops more widely spread in captivity though...make that your task

Cheers,

Ian

 

[Christian]

Hi.

You should give them 25-28°C and 70-100% humidity (70-90% at daytime, 90-100% at night). This is important, otherwise they often die. However, the air circulation has to be assured. Separating them is not as important, but you should do it in this case, as there are only 18 left. You'll need all, so do not give away any of this generation, just ooths laid by these specimens. It's because there are some difficulties in mating the species of this genus, as females are receptive at dawn only and some males do not copulate. So it's important for the moment to have as may specimens as possible. Any surplus ooths will be appreciated by anyone, I suppose, so you will not have a problem of "where to cage all the larvae"...

I write my name in the list for myself....

Regards,

Christian