Stagmomantis limbata (?)

[Deacon]

rbird,

Sorry you lost her but she really was a survivor and you did a fine job getting her so far that she laid a couple of ooths. I hope you get get nymphs.

 

[rbird]

Limbata Ooth hatched today! About 2 dozen so far. My first hatching 

 

[mantisman 230]

Fantastic

 

[CosbyArt]

Congrats on the hatch! It is always nice to see new nymphs

 

[rbird]

Thank you guys it's really cool ha ha!

 

[Sarah K]

Limbata Ooth hatched today! About 2 dozen so far. My first hatching 

Congrats!!!!! Can't wait to see my first hatch! it will probably be Carolina from the ooths I got from Thomas!

 

[CosbyArt]

Congrats!!!!! Can't wait to see my first hatch! it will probably be Carolina from the ooths I got from Thomas!

So far from the Carolina ooths I recently sold/traded/gave away, I have heard of luckily only one that had parasitic wasps (I really hate those wasps), and of one little Carolina nymph hatching from another. Thus they should be ready to make an appearance soon.

 

[rbird]

Sarah, with good luck and hope you'll get some! These little nymphs made my day... small hatch of 29 total.

Day 2: No further hatchlings. 2 casualties. Lots of ff eating last night! (Phew, I don't have springtails.) Today I misted the habitats with a little distilled water.

I split them into 4 homes so they aren't overcrowded; nymphs, ff jumping and running like crazy everywhere. It was quite a circus show...

 

[Starving Always]

Whoo!! I know the EXACT feeling when i myself had my first hatch ever!! it was awesome i had to record it XD i totally agree with them being a circus show. they are super wild and have so much personality. youd be surprised how difficult and how much time i had spend making sure they were safe and well. i split them in 4 containers too!! it was a griffin ooth and it had to hatch over more than 80+. i noticed my nymphs to be super thirsty after they emerge from the ooth until a couple days after, so be sure to mist them LIGHTLY occasionally. best of luck to your baby mantises!! 

involving the stagmomantis sp., i used to find MANY females at this local park in the shrubs. and it was near the basketball court, so there were tall lights, and id find the males flying out and about. in fact, they were the species that got me here today! me, my dad, and mantises helped introduce me to the praying mantis hobby. that was many years ago. i didnt see any (during the fall). i might have to check again as the heat is starting to kick in in Los Angeles. i really hope to see some more at my local park so i can get them for myself and breed in captivity. from what i remember, they were very agressive, can be varied in tan, green, or light green, and have leaf-like wings. 

 

[rbird]

Total 42 so far. 

Yeah! first hatch is especially great. I haven't lost many to escapes or casualties either... "knock on wood."

They're eating both M. ff and D. hydei too (!) a little misting with water.

Doing well at this point.

 

[Hisserdude]

Very cool, it's amazing that you got your female to mate and lay two ootheca in that condition, she really lived her life to the fullest. Hopefully her young will grow nicely for you, and hopefully her deformities were not genetic...

 

[Sarah K]

So far from the Carolina ooths I recently sold/traded/gave away, I have heard of luckily only one that had parasitic wasps (I really hate those wasps), and of one little Carolina nymph hatching from another. Thus they should be ready to make an appearance soon.

One of my Carolina ooths hatched while I was away for 4 days (great timing, right? LOL) 16 so far....I am not sure if it is done yet, but I am still so excited! Thanks CosbyArt!

 

[CosbyArt]

One of my Carolina ooths hatched while I was away for 4 days (great timing, right? LOL) 16 so far....I am not sure if it is done yet, but I am still so excited! Thanks CosbyArt!

Yeah it happens at the worst times typically. Glad to see hear you had some nymphs finally saying hello, your more than welcome.

I've had four Carolina ooths hatch so far, and they had 22, 29, 42, 56 nymphs from each. The large hatch I'm not sure how there was 56 nymphs, as the typical count is 20 to 40 nymphs a ooth - guess it was just a whopper of a ooth.

 

[rbird]

Congrats on all the bugs, it's that time of year! but please start your own thread 

 

[rbird]

Update @ L2 Nymphs: the color lives on!

One of the nymphs is brown/tan like the mother.

Most of the nymphs are a bright Green color like this one. Maybe they'll be more browns in later molts too?

 

[CosbyArt]

Congrats on all the bugs, it's that time of year! but please start your own thread 

Yeah we do tend to get off track too easily on the forum.

Update @ L2 Nymphs: the color lives on!

One of the nymphs is brown/tan like the mother.

Most of the nymphs are a bright Green color like this one. Maybe they'll be more browns in later molts too?

...

Great to see they are doing fine.

Regarding color it is said to be related to their moisture level, and decorations in their habitats. Although in all honestly it seems to be more hit and miss on coloring as I have both in the same setup myself.

With my Stagmomantis carolina nymphs they all tend to be brown as nymphs and slowly change over to green near adults, but I've found some wild colors on wild captured ones as seen in my mantid thread (near black females and interesting color variations, unlike anything I have seen in captivity).

 

[rbird]

Sold and gave away a bunch so others can enjoy (and make my life simpler!) Down to 9 nymphs at this point.

With a future 2nd generation breeding season in mind I will pare them down to only females once their sex is determined. I hopefully can attract males locally again.+

Regarding color it is said to be related to their moisture level, and decorations in their habitats. Although in all honestly it seems to be more hit and miss on coloring as I have both in the same setup myself.

With my Stagmomantis carolina nymphs they all tend to be brown as nymphs and slowly change over to green near adults, but I've found some wild colors on wild captured ones as seen in my mantid thread (near black females and interesting color variations, unlike anything I have seen in captivity).

I wonder what the color change is for, in terms of survival? and does it depend on the time of year? 

I'm looking forward to any 2nd generation coloring surprises... we'll see and WOW those are really amazing colors on the wild Carolina's Thomas. 

 

[CosbyArt]

Sold and gave away a bunch so others can enjoy (and make my life simpler!) Down to 9 nymphs at this point.

With a future 2nd generation breeding season in mind I will pare them down to only females once their sex is determined. I hopefully can attract males locally again.+

I wonder what the color change is for, in terms of survival? and does it depend on the time of year? 

I'm looking forward to any 2nd generation coloring surprises... we'll see and WOW those are really amazing colors on the wild Carolina's Thomas. 

Always nice to cull the hatch down to a manageable level when possible.

Good idea to get more local male mantids if needed, can make the task easier as you are not having to worry about their aging/molting together and such. I would imagine the color changing is a forum of camouflage to better hide from potential predators, or to make it easier to sneak up on prey. Regarding the time of year affecting color I'm not really sure, but as they do tend to take on their local coloring if they don't molt to adults until late fall I imagine it would change their coloring compared to ones that molted earlier in the fall (when there were colorful leaves).

Thanks, yeah some of them were really unique in their coloring. I was surprised at the different ones I collect all from my small front yard. The ooths have been spread to many other members here, and I've had some hatch lately, so I'm hoping to see if anyone gets some unique mantid coloration as they age.

 

[rbird]

Well I was disappointed that all my remaining S. Limbata Nymphs died and therefore my generational hopes were dashed. Not finding or having any mantids all summer. I finally got smart and put the word out to my friends to keep an eye open for Mantids before the season is over! They came through with flying colors! What took me so long to ask them? I might still get Ooths this season?

First, was this large green S. Limbata female found about Nov. 4, 2016 in Los Angeles. I suspect at this time of year she would be Gravid but she appeared thin to me? Maybe she already laid her Ooths? She wasn't very active and I couldn't get her to eat so after about 5 days I let her go.

Then, a friend in Charleston, North Carolina found a Stagmomantis Carolina. She wouldn't ship it to me in SoCal for fear of it dying! Arrgh! Close but no mantid for me! It's another beauty just the same.

Finally, was this S. Limbata beauty found in a friends garden on Nov. 11, 2016 in Los Angeles. She's perfect looking and eating like crazy. I am not sure if she is Gravid? but she's fairly plump so I'm hopeful. I left her outside for a couple of days in a ventilated habitat but no luck attracting males yet.

It's starting to get fairly cool at night (for Los Angeles at least!) in the 50's so I'm bringing her in. Hope she is gravid and they are fertilized? I'll post more info.and pics. Whatever happens she's a great looking Limbata in Camo colors too!

Seems it's late in the season around here? We'll see what happens.

She really is the perfect specimen. I can find no faults with her. Look at that wing detail... 

 

[CosbyArt]

@rbird Glad to see you found a way to find even more of them, glad your friends aren't too sacred to capture them (it happens haha).

The first female was not gravid, and was in between ooths. How many ooths she had left if any though is hard to say.

Shipping with the freezing temps in the midwest and surrounding areas this time of year can be rough, especially for someone who has not done it before (and wouldn't have the heat packs on hand). Too bad though she wasn't willing to dig a bit into how to do it properly, and ship her then.

Your last female is indeed gravid and should be laying within the next 3-4 days at most. Hard to tell with the angle in the photos with her wings, but her shadow really shows off her abdomen making it obvious. So best of luck with the ooths she will be laying for you.