Why are T. sinensis so hard to raise?

[Katnapper]

I've seen several comments that T. sinensis are difficult to raise and have high mortality rates. Can you please tell me why? Any specific tips for this species also appreciated. Thank you!

 

[Rick]

Wish I knew. Out of an ooth I always ended up with at least a few adults. I don't keep these anymore though.

 

[hibiscusmile]

Yea lately a poor breeder is lucky to end up with a dozen! Maybe the natural day light and wind has something to do with it, or maybe cause they are too close together in containers, or maybe cause we dont mist morning and night, like outside, or maybe cause they are just sickly babies :blink:

 

[Orin]

1. They often do not hatch or hatch poorly (those that make it past the first two days aren't difficult to rear).

2. They are longer and have a wider legspan than most species so if the cage type is imperfect there will be many mismolts in later instars.

 

[shorty]

Perhaps this happens in the wild as well. They hatch anywhere from fifty to four-hundred nymphs so it may be insurance that there will be some that make it to adulthood. I don't know for sure though because this seems to be a hardy species that survives in many climates across the world.

 

[eaglewarrior]

I don't think that they are hard to raise, but they can easily die when you forget to take care of them. Put them two or three in a cage before L3 maybe better.

 

[kamakiri]

I'm surprised that 'hard to raise' is the consensus here.

Orin does have a good point about them being longer than most breeds. They do require lots of headroom for molting.

That said, I do suspect they have a greater need for ambient humidity. Perhaps in dry climates they should be kept in containers that are more closed.

 

[The_Asa]

I don't find them too hard to raise. They are simply "harder" than the typical beginner species. Although they do have quite a few unknown deaths.

 

[Sk8erkho7]

They were my first species and the species which got me started rearing mantids!!! Back in 2004 my nephew caught a wayward female attached the door frame of our building. There were neighbourhood kids tossing rocks at her. :angry: he stepped up and prodded her into a paper bag and took her upstairs. After having her for a few weeks she began to lay ooths all over the lid. She laid six huge ooths before she finally passed away. A few weeks later he came home from school to find that one of the ooths hatched out and there were as many as 150-200 little babies pouncing all around his room. :blink: He freaked out and grabbed the lid and took it outside to the dumpster. :wacko: He just laid it there and hoped that the cold weather would just stop them from hatching out and the few that clanged to the lid would soon fall off to sleep due to the cold. My little dude (youngest nephew) and I ran out and grabbed the lid and bought it back into the house. I then jumped on my computer and searched for a site which would help me how to care for them. I found Mantis Kingdom first and De Shawn referred me here. And the rest is history!! Here I am four years later still at it!! Only this is the first time in four years that we have absolutely No babies to care for as the last of my wide arms died of old age last month!!

When I had T. Sinensis I had a few problems like bad molts, and cannibalism at first but after a while I got the hang of it and they were a joy to have around!!! Really funny things we remember from those maybe 500 babies over a one year period. Yes, I lost a lot to cannibalism but then I started ding things like keeping the tank totally full of feeders and setting up a terrarium type environment for them. It seemed that the more leaves and branches and so on in the tank the less contact they came to with each other and then they would be so pudgy they probably could not even move let alone chase down one of their own for food. But, before that they were really funny trying to snatch food from each other even when the food was one of themselves!!!! :huh:

Anyway, if you run into problems there are more than enough post to help you out and i have even reached out and pm'ed members for help!!! you would be surprise who is willing to help at a moment's notice. Many late nights members have helped my out of tight spots with my mantids until finally I began to figure things out on my own. I even have success with breeding my first Gambian Spotted eye, which was easy for a first try!!!

So, now I am looking for more little babies to care for as my nephews are wondering how long it's going to take!! I'm working on it!!!!

Cheers!!

Khori

 

[Borya]

Are they harder to keep than M.religiosa?

 

[ismart]

Are they harder to keep than M.religiosa?

In my experience, M. religiosa is harder to rasie than T. sinensis

 

[The_Asa]

In my experience, M. religiosa is harder to rasie than T. sinensis

+1

 

[Krissim Klaw]

Hard to keep, I always thought they were extremely easy keepers?

They do love to run, hop and scurry around a lot more than many other mantis species, so perhaps the little confines of deli cups often used to mass raise them doesn't agree with their sense of adventure.