ladygigi
Well-known member
I had one nymph from the first hatch molt from 2nd Instar to 3rd today. :clap:
My second ooth hatch now totals 17 new nymphs.
I had spotted a baby cricket in the terrarium the other day so I became rather frantic to get them separated out as I became afraid that the crickets would feed on them. I am now seeing a few of them (crickets) in the terrarium also of varying sizes, but all quite small thus indicating that one of the crickets I fed Tartan also left a legacy behind. :huh: Now that the nymphs have been removed I've been trying to catch some of them (crickets) to use as feeders for my babies. Especially now that my L2's are turning into L3's, the little FF's aren't doing it for them anymore. I'm also in the process of getting some Hydei, BBF's, and HF's. The Mels are fine of course for this new batch, but really getting old for the first hatch. These crickets, some of them, are smaller than the small ones you get at PetSmart. I know my L3 could handle one.
Additionally, some type of fly has also 'hatched' in the terrarium. It is larger than the Mels but smaller than BBF's or HF's. It is kind of square with a striped wing. I've also been trying very hard to capture some of them to feed my L2's. I think my 2nd Instars would thoroughly enjoy them. There's not an over abundance of them, but a few. The bark on top of the coconut substrate is making it very hard to catch both the flies and the crickets as it provides somewhat of a shelter for them to get under and hide. h34r: I've been thinking of removing the bark taking care not to take any of the flies and/or crickets with it.
Skittles on the other hand has me quite concerned as he/she is not eating. I have been giving it BBF's everyday as well as misting it, but it just isn't going for it. I really want to get one of the bigger crickets out of the terrarium and give it to him. I don't really know what else to do. I have him in a very large terrarium by himself with a coconut substrate. Thus he has plenty of room, plus I have given him sticks to climb and etc. I've been monitoring the temp and it's been staying right around 80 degrees F. I have not seen any indication from it that it's preparing to molt. I.e. it's not hanging at all, it just walks around the top of the screen. I failed to get another pic of Skittles today so that we could work on better identifying it. I will have more of a chance to do that tomorrow. (Today was a rather busy day and time was kind of short.)
Thus I have 1 Unknown L4, 1 Iris Oratoria L3, 9 Iris Oratoria L2's, and 17 Iris Oratoria L1's for a total of 28 mantids. For someone that got into this on accident, or by chance, I've sure jumped in with both feet! :clown:
My second ooth hatch now totals 17 new nymphs.
I had spotted a baby cricket in the terrarium the other day so I became rather frantic to get them separated out as I became afraid that the crickets would feed on them. I am now seeing a few of them (crickets) in the terrarium also of varying sizes, but all quite small thus indicating that one of the crickets I fed Tartan also left a legacy behind. :huh: Now that the nymphs have been removed I've been trying to catch some of them (crickets) to use as feeders for my babies. Especially now that my L2's are turning into L3's, the little FF's aren't doing it for them anymore. I'm also in the process of getting some Hydei, BBF's, and HF's. The Mels are fine of course for this new batch, but really getting old for the first hatch. These crickets, some of them, are smaller than the small ones you get at PetSmart. I know my L3 could handle one.Additionally, some type of fly has also 'hatched' in the terrarium.
It is larger than the Mels but smaller than BBF's or HF's. It is kind of square with a striped wing. I've also been trying very hard to capture some of them to feed my L2's. I think my 2nd Instars would thoroughly enjoy them. There's not an over abundance of them, but a few. The bark on top of the coconut substrate is making it very hard to catch both the flies and the crickets as it provides somewhat of a shelter for them to get under and hide. h34r: I've been thinking of removing the bark taking care not to take any of the flies and/or crickets with it.Skittles on the other hand has me quite concerned as he/she is not eating.
I have been giving it BBF's everyday as well as misting it, but it just isn't going for it. I really want to get one of the bigger crickets out of the terrarium and give it to him. I don't really know what else to do. I have him in a very large terrarium by himself with a coconut substrate. Thus he has plenty of room, plus I have given him sticks to climb and etc. I've been monitoring the temp and it's been staying right around 80 degrees F. I have not seen any indication from it that it's preparing to molt. I.e. it's not hanging at all, it just walks around the top of the screen. I failed to get another pic of Skittles today so that we could work on better identifying it. I will have more of a chance to do that tomorrow. (Today was a rather busy day and time was kind of short.)Thus I have 1 Unknown L4, 1 Iris Oratoria L3, 9 Iris Oratoria L2's, and 17 Iris Oratoria L1's for a total of 28 mantids.
For someone that got into this on accident, or by chance, I've sure jumped in with both feet! :clown: 
