your pick?

[ellroy]

I don't really feel that I've kept enough species to be picky but I was really impressed with Creobroter gemmatus. They hunt down their prey and make really interesting captives. I think they are often overlooked in favour of Pseudocreobroter

Cameron-

You can stagger the development of the maggots by keeping some of them chilled (perhaps in the fridge or outside if its cold). They will pupate within a day or 2 at room temp so depending on how many your need you can just warm some more up a few days after the first lot pupate and so on.....can be a bit time consuming but its worth it to keep some of the exotic species that will only eat flying prey. Post some pics when you start your colony :wink:

Alan

 

[Sheldon Johnson]

All i do for food, is go to the local tackel shop ever week and pick up £0.50 of maggots, i put some (the rest go for the other bugs) in a container at the bottom of a tank, then 10 days later they hatch. As long as i get them the sme time every week there is no problem.

Its far easier than feeding them crickets or roahces etc.

 

[nympho]

i only feed bluebottles to my mantids and they seem to really like them. (I cant be bothered to rear crickets). Its cool when they grab them as they fly past; i'm not sure if all mantids are quick enough as ive not kept many types but Gongys are well known for doing this. Idolomantis are pretty good at this too, ive seen mine grab a fly as it flew past behind it, not sure how it did it though!

btw who sells gongy ooths in uk, i don't fancy buying 20 mantids but a colony seems a good idea.

 

[Exotic-Mantis]

underrated: Sybilla sp. : I think they are extremely wild looking, sort of like gongylus G.

Overrated: Popa S. : They are neat looking, but not all that cryptic... (Almost like a stick insect)

 

[Sheldon Johnson]

ME!!!!

I have a rather large colony producing at the moment, but i am keeping all ooths at the moment for my next gen. (My tank can hold 40 adults)

 

[nympho]

I have a rather large colony producing at the moment, but i am keeping all ooths at the moment for my next gen. (My tank can hold 40 adults).

hey thats a big future colony you got planned there, sheldon.

- if you can get, say 300 out of each ooth and each female lays 2 or 3 ooths! :shock: i think you gonna need a bigger cage :wink:

 

[KennethJ78]

Nympho said

hey thats a big future colony you got planned there, sheldon. - if you can get, say 300 out of each ooth and each female lays 2 or 3 ooths! i think you gonna need a bigger cage

Do you seriously have any idea of what you're talking about ???

Gongylus females produce up to 10 ooths, all containing 10 - 35 nymphs..

So where exactly did you read about 300 nymphs per ooth ??? :lol:

Or did I completely misread your topic :wink:

 

[nympho]

I stand corrected...

however, 10 x 35 = 350 young per female = still alot of mantids :wink:

 

[KennethJ78]

lol..

I agree :lol:

 

[macro junkie]

underrated - giant asian..i love these things

over rated - im not to sure. :lol: il tell u in a few months when i have keepted more mantis

 

[Kruszakus]

Over-rated: As I live in Poland - the answer is simple - every single type of Sphodromantis species.

And the uder-rated would be H. Coronatus - when I saw the adult feale, I was blown away - it really is a very beautiful mantis, plus - they are cute at all stages.

 

[macro junkie]

Over-rated: As I live in Poland - the answer is simple - every single type of Sphodromantis species.And the uder-rated would be H. Coronatus - when I saw the adult feale, I was blown away - it really is a very beautiful mantis, plus - they are cute at all stages.

u mean the orhid mantis..i have find a kind person willing to send me one..im going to try and get it a mate..but i cant wait to shoot it with my lens..i ben waiting to shoot these for along time now.

 

[Kruszakus]

I have a regular supply of these mantids nt so far away from my house - lucky me, hehe

BTW - if you find certain species boring, due to lack of movement - check out if they are communal. Cause if I mate my P. Paradoxa - next time I'll keep them together with a horseload of food - otherwise, they don't do nothing.

Soon I should have Phyllovates species - I intend to keep ten of them in one contaier, the rest in separation. Let's see how it will work.

 

[macro junkie]

I have a regular supply of these mantids nt so far away from my house - lucky me, hehe BTW - if you find certain species boring, due to lack of movement - check out if they are communal. Cause if I mate my P. Paradoxa - next time I'll keep them together with a horseload of food - otherwise, they don't do nothing.

Soon I should have Phyllovates species - I intend to keep ten of them in one contaier, the rest in separation. Let's see how it will work.

as long as they look good under a lens im happy.i dont mind if they do nothing..its easier for me that way.u have oots of orchids..lucky swine.

 

[Kruszakus]

Well, orchids are a bit sloppy - but they make up for the lack of action with their looks. Plus, you can impress chicks with them - most of them do not like unsects, but almost all of them love pink :lol:

By the way... The next overrated mantis is D. Lobata - now that is a mantis that does nothing, and does not even look that cool.

 

[randyardvark]

over rated Hymenopus, they arnt actually that cool, and they seem to loose their beautiful pink tinge at adult for a dirty brown/cream, nice mimic and all that but pfft

underated... pseudoempusa pinnapavonis... these havnt really picked up at all, but they are savage, females are absolutely mental, and their threat display is nothing short of awsome, and its possible to get a deep red/purple morph from them, they are practicly bomb proof and love to back flip and will 'happily' jump into threat pose/ play dead for little or no reason. savage

 

[macro junkie]

over rated Hymenopus, they arnt actually that cool, and they seem to loose their beautiful pink tinge at adult for a dirty brown/cream, nice mimic and all that but pfft underated... pseudoempusa pinnapavonis... these havnt really picked up at all, but they are savage, females are absolutely mental, and their threat display is nothing short of awsome, and its possible to get a deep red/purple morph from them, they are practicly bomb proof and love to back flip and will 'happily' jump into threat pose/ play dead for little or no reason. savage

thats good to know cause im breeding these..wopwopwopwop

 

[idolomantis]

underrated - giant asian..i love these thingsover rated - im not to sure. :lol: il tell u in a few months when i have keepted more mantis

giand asiansare defenitly under-rated cuz no1 realize how cute and funny they can be!!!! i love them to :lol:

over rated hmmm i don,t know hmmmm my little nevue is but thats not a mantis (bud somtimes he act like that then he jumpes on me and bites then )