Very small species?

[riegs22]

Hey is there any species of praying mantis that can be fed on fruit flies its entire life?

perhaps Gambian Spotted Eye Flower Mantis?

I know there are plenty of small species but I was just curious because I wanted to try and make a enclousure that I wouldnt have to worry about getting house flies or crickets

 

[Rick]

I believe so. There is a very tiny micro mantis (cant remember its name) that I was given an ooth too but it never hatched. I find the larger they are the easier they are to keep.

 

[tier]

Hi

The thing is freshly hatched nymphs of really small mantid species like Bolbena hottentotta or Otomantis sp. are too small to feed on fruit flies. Even the smalles Drosophila are too big for them.

But the small species which hatch out more or less big can eat fruit flies within their entire life, yes, right.

regards

 

[riegs22]

What do you guys end up feeding the smaller species as nymphs? the maggots of Fruit Flies?

 

[hibiscusmile]

I keep a few old mel ff cultures, they hatch really tiny flies when it gets old.

 

[Morpheus uk]

Didnt AbBBugin i think their username was, keep them inside a spring tail culture?

 

[Kruszakus]

Not just him - I did that as well - but we had different techniques of breeding springtails, I just used soil with decaying organic matter or coconut fibre, he used soil covered with oath meal like stuff - both concepst worked really well.

My tiny species was Didymocorypha, but Bolbena are a lot smaller - unfortunatelly I was never able to get ahold of them.

 

[ABbuggin]

Yes, I did have some very [SIZE=8pt]small [/SIZE]mantids.

They were Bolbena hottentotta. Adults only reached 15mm, the L1 were 2mm. Although small, they grew VERY fast. I had adults in as little as 6 weeks. :blink: They are one of my favorites, and I really miss them. I will get them again. They are not hard to care for at all, just really tiny, and really fast. lol the nymphs must eat something VERY tiny, because they can not eat fruit flies until L4 (not to worry, they reach L4 in about a 2 weeks). I fed mine springtails (I actually kept them in the spring tail culture). After that, they ate fruit flies, and the adult females would eat bluebottle flies!!!

Here are some pics:

L1 nymph on a US dime

L1 nymph

L1 nymph

life size pic, see the little brown dot on my hand? its a mantis lol

adult pair

adult female

size comparison to a bluebottle fly

And here is my album, where you can find more pics of them (and other sp.)

http://s188.photobucket.com/albums/z254/AB...ntotta/?start=0

 

[tier]

Wow, so fast? Six weeks to adult? Mhh, hearing that forces me to increase temperature a little I guess. Mine need almost 12 weeks kept at around 26°C and 21°C at nighttime. I have to raise temperature and food, I guess

Oh, summer, come soon please

regards

 

[ABbuggin]

Wow, so fast? Six weeks to adult? Mhh, hearing that forces me to increase temperature a little I guess. Mine need almost 12 weeks kept at around 26°C and 21°C at nighttime. I have to raise temperature and food, I guess Oh, summer, come soon please

regards

Yeah, I was quite shocked at how fast they grew. What also surprised me was that they would mate 3 days after shedding to adult...and the ooths would be fertile. :blink:

 

[ismart]

Yeah, I was quite shocked at how fast they grew. What also surprised me was that they would mate 3 days after shedding to adult...and the ooths would be fertile. :blink:

Out of curiosity. How long did they survive after turning adult? And what was ooth incubation time like?

 

[ABbuggin]

The males died shortly afterward, but the females lasted another 6 months or so. :blink:

I believe the ooth incubation time was in the 2-3 week range....little foggy there.

 

[ismart]

The males died shortly afterward, but the females lasted another 6 months or so. :blink: I believe the ooth incubation time was in the 2-3 week range....little foggy there.

Thanks!

 

[ABbuggin]

np

 

[kamakiri]

ABbuggin,

Thanks very mcuh for posting those pictures! I was looking for a small species to keep this year and decided on Gambian SE and Ant mantises. These would have been perfect! What is the common name for the B. hottentotta?

 

[ABbuggin]

ABbuggin,Thanks very mcuh for posting those pictures! I was looking for a small species to keep this year and decided on Gambian SE and Ant mantises. These would have been perfect! What is the common name for the B. hottentotta?

Because they are pretty rare, there is no common name for them. I appropriately call them Micro Mantids.

 

[riegs22]

Yeah thanks for the Info and pictures those are some tiny little guys.

Did you just go outside and try to scoop up some springtails from the soil? or do you have any like strategy, such as leaving apple sauce and viniger to catch them like fruit flies?

 

[hibiscusmile]

hey Abuggin, missed u, where u been? I still have one female alive from the last batch, she is a lonely girl, she is laying ooths, but none are fertile, I have to find them again, they were neat, I used tiny fruit flys to feed them from old cultures, and still just give her hydei to eat each day.

 

[ABbuggin]

Yeah thanks for the Info and pictures those are some tiny little guys. Did you just go outside and try to scoop up some springtails from the soil? or do you have any like strategy, such as leaving apple sauce and viniger to catch them like fruit flies?

I bought a culture for $20 (rip off) and have cultured them since...about a year now.

Rebecca, I've been here browsing, but I've been very busy. I just finished up earning my Eagle Scout.