Toxodera sp.

[khabirun]

Waddup guys, here are some pics of the T.beieri and S.porioni, the Toxodera fimbriata however died while we were on our way back from Cameron, it died cause of some black liquid stuff coming out of his abdomen. It's been more than a week and the other 2 are fine, especially the beieri, wish us luck that she'll reach adulthood safe and sound.

Toxodera beieri and Stenotoxodera porioni, very interesting species of mantids, it's true what the aboriginals said about how they must be hanging in order to eat, I've tried giving them food while they're up on their enclosure, they'll just throw the food away. These mantids sure got attitude, but i tried something else, giving them food while hanging under the cover of their enclosure, they didn't waste any time, they snatch it straight away from my tweezers and start raping the mealworm lol. Here are some pics

T.beieri

S.porioni

tbc...

 

[khabirun]

cont'd..

Enjoy, more pictures will come soon.

 

[ABbuggin]

I see they don't mind tackling large prey. The male reminds me of my Sybilla, pretosia.

 

[Emile.Wilson]

That's amazing, good luck with em' and keep us posted on how they are doing.

 

[sufistic]

I see they don't mind tackling large prey. The male reminds me of my Sybilla, pretosia.

They're actually quite skittish when it comes to tackling larger prey. Only chance of them eating these superworms is when we hand-feed them.

That's amazing, good luck with em' and keep us posted on how they are doing.

Many thanks and will do.

 

[Rick]

Great pics. Thanks for sharing.

 

[Katnapper]

It's very nice to have pics and information about them from someone who is actually keeping them. Keep up the good work, and best of luck with them!

 

[sufistic]

It's very nice to have pics and information about them from someone who is actually keeping them. Keep up the good work, and best of luck with them!

Yup. We used to read up a lot of info from people who've never actually reared these. I used to hear this and that about certain types of S.E. Asia mantids and where to locate them and it turns out that people would almost always give us info that's inaccurate.

 

[Opivy]

Wow, craziest looking bug I've ever seen.

 

[sbugir]

Is there a reason as to why they have to eat upside down :huh: ?

 

[sufistic]

Wow, craziest looking bug I've ever seen.

True. Its docile nature totally contradicts how radical it looks.

Is there a reason as to why they have to eat upside down :huh: ?

From what we observed, they'd hang upside down at a certain spot 100% of the time. As we all know, almost all mantids like to do that, but these Toxos practically spend their entire lives upside down without moving at all. It seems that they're made to prey on insects that moves around on the ground surface.

 

[yen_saw]

wow nice! Thanks for sharing the pic Khabirun, there are so few pics for this type of mantis shown around on net so it is great that this forum got to see many of them here.

So they accept hand feed food then. Not too timid as I first thought. They do alright with meal worms?

 

[sufistic]

wow nice! Thanks for sharing the pic Khabirun, there are so few pics for this type of mantis shown around on net so it is great that this forum got to see many of them here. So they accept hand feed food then. Not too timid as I first thought. They do alright with meal worms?

So far so good Yen. We wanna try crickets but the ones being sold here don't come in small sizes.

 

[Katnapper]

So far so good Yen. We wanna try crickets but the ones being sold here don't come in small sizes.

Cut the crickets in half and hand feed.

 

[sufistic]

Cut the crickets in half and hand feed.

I wanted to do that but my brother (khabirun) has cricket-phobia. He's afraid it'll kill the Toxos.

 

[yeatzee]

I wanted to do that but my brother (khabirun) has cricket-phobia. He's afraid it'll kill the Toxos.

A cut in half cricket killing the Toxodera sp.? Thats a pretty hardcore cricket :mellow:

 

[Fisherman_Brazil]

Great! just great!

 

[sufistic]

A cut in half cricket killing the Toxodera sp.? Thats a pretty hardcore cricket :mellow:

LOL. He's more worried whether or not the crickets are diseased.

Great! just great!

Thanks.

 

[khabirun]

LOL. He's more worried whether or not the crickets are diseased.

Yea pretty much it, i don't mind feeding the toxos crickets, if i have about 50 of them, its just, its a risk i don't wanna take, I've had my fair share of deaths because of crickets, whole months of nice wild caught stuff, then bam! they're dead when i started giving them crickets (gut loaded with honey and pollen) when i didn't have time to go hunt food for them. So i guess I'll just stick to meal worms on weekdays, and wild caught stuff on weekends.