Metallyticus violaceus consolidated

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petoly

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Metallyticus Violaceus Consolidated.

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I figured I would make one if it's okay with everyone and please add your input so we can shed some light and misinformation on this semi mysterious species.

This guide will be focusing on The Violaceus Species but some of this can be applied to the Splendidus species as well. Just know that Splendidus is much smaller so you will need much smaller food.

Location:

Island of Sumatra in Malaysia. There are rumors out stating that they have also been located in eastern india but those rumors haven't been confirmed

Habitat:

This is a bark dwelling mantis. It lives on the barks of trees and hardly if ever leaves them.

Description:

While less attractive looking than it's cousin Splendidus, the violaceus makes up for it in size. Being around 1 1/2 to 2 inches as an adult. This size also makes it easier to care for in a way. Coloration is very dark, almost black with purplish and/or blue metallic hues. These guys are more roach than mantis. They scurry and stay pretty parallel to the surface they are on. Definitely not slow. Be careful with tank maintenance. if you blink and one moves you might find that it jumped out of your tank and is now under something safely away from you to catch. It is no question that the physiology of this species is completely alien compared to any other mantis species. As such they behave completely differently. They ignore flying prey, and rely on scurrying prey. Instead of walking slowly and mimicking branches in the wind, these guys are little bullets. one minute they are perfectly still, the next second they are at the other side of the tank. They are also able to walk sideways like a c r a b, walk backwards, and rotate themselves 360 degrees. These are very very agile mantids.

Cannibalism:

almost uneard of. These guys seem to have the communialness of a roach although territorial. The babies can also live with the adults as long as the cage is well supplied with food.

Caging:

For a pair use at least a 8X8X12 enclosure. height is important.The cage walls MUST be lined with bark-like material or bark itself. You can also opt to make a cage out of wood and that should work farely nicely. I Prefer using cork bark tile as it is easy to cut to size, has crevices for the food to hide in, and it stimulates the mantis's natural hunting behavior. Not to mention it looks cool. Some people have also used the cork liner you use to line shelves.

For substrate you could use coconut fiber but I just lined the floor with the cork bark. Spray it enough and it maintains humidity. My preference is this because that way timid roach feeders won't burrow in the substrate. Instead they will try to hide in the cracks of the cork bark.

Temperature:

I keep mine at around 85F. 85-90F is a good temperature for them during the day. Night time temps can safely go down to 68F but I wouldn't do more than that.I suspect warmer temps will help induce mating.

Humidity:

During the day I keep them at 50%-80%. 80% at night. Sprits the cage once daily. twice or 3 times if you live in a dry hot area with the AC blasting.

Diet:

It seems the big misconception is that you need to have firebrats or silverfish to feed these guys. I don't believe that is necessary at all. I recommend starting some good roach colonies for them. Depending on size of specimen feed it the appropriately sized roach. Roaches I recommend are Oxyhaloa Duesta (red head roaches) these guys are climbers and don't burrow. Another good roach is the small variety of the banana roach (panchlora nivea) since the adult's bright coloration will catch the eye of the mantis. I have also had great success with the super timid Dubia roach. in fact that's what I have been primarily feeding my guys and they are always fat and plump. I can see firebrats being useful for L1 or the Metallyticus Splendidus, but I believe that the babies of the smaller roaches I mentioned above will also work well if not better. Also less chances of the feeder animal escaping the tank with roaches. Don't expect to observe them in their hunting behaviors very often if at all. These guys are nocturnal. They hardly move during the day. Make sure the tank is well stocked with roaches. I usually have around 30 in there and they last about a week if not more.

Bug_Trader feeds the adults 1/2 inch crickets on top of the roaches. They seem to like them

Tom has had success feeding subadults with fruit flies

Sexing:

Just count the segments like a regular mantis

Breeding:

Still working on that. These guys can be fussy to breed. I suspect it's because of them being communial. The male might get desensitized to the female's pheromones, since they are usually housed together. A separate enclosure and separating them for a few days should solve that problem. Most likely you will not see them breed. They will probably do it at night. With their skittishness it's also pretty unlikely that you can line them up and try to get the male to mount the female like a normal mantis.

A lot of luck is involved. I recommend increasing humidity to 90% and upping the heat. I'd like to hear your input in this section.

Ootheca laying:

I have observed my gravid female over a few days. I have observed that the female seems to actively search with her abdomen for an optimum spot to lay her ooth. It appears she is looking for the perfect crack or crevice in the bark for her to lay an ooth so it's farely well hidden. Barks with mediumish deep cracks Are recommended in my book, but probably not necessary. I feel this may simulate her natural environment a bit better. and the deeper cracks might stimulate her to lay an ooth, increasing chances. Cork bark did it for me.

I hope this sheds some light. Please don't rag on me if something seems wrong to you. Just let me know what you do. This is how I care for mine and they are doing just fine, so for me it works. Let's hear some other opinions =)

 
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Awesome thread. Hope others can contribute. I'm interested though, if the nymphs can live with adults, do they not consider nymphs food? They actually distinguish non mantis food from smaller (edible) mantids?

 
I'm sure they would if they are hungry enough. but yeah I'm told they leave them alone. I would still separate them to be on the safe side. I personally believe these guys are the missing link of roach to mantis evolution. They have more of the behavioral actions of a roach. Roaches don't eat their young. Even the ones that would eat a live animal or other insects. I believe the metallyticus kept this trait.

 
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So cool!! B) I'm very intrigued by these guys. I thought they looked very roach-like... I find it fascinating that they have roach-like behavior, too. I wish you good luck with breeding these guys.

 
I'm sure they would if they are hungry enough. but yeah I'm told they leave them alone. I would still separate them to be on the safe side. I personally believe these guys are the missing link of roach to mantis evolution. They have more of the behavioral actions of a roach. Roaches don't eat their young. Even the ones that would eat a live animal or other insects. I believe the metallyticus kept this trait.
I find that very interesting. I wonder where these guys are placed in the phylogeny.

 
Interesting piece of text, thanks. I have two pairs of M. violacea. I feed them firebrats, but I coincidently found out they like buffalo worms too. In the near future I'll try to breed roaches to expand the food choice.

 
this just happened =)

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hoefully my female will follow suit soon. she's fat and due for a molt.

at this point I'm contemplating putting him in a separate enclosure for possible more successful breeding. Any thoughts on this?

Interesting Rick I have no idea what to think of that honestly lol .

 
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I have no experience with these but I would separate them just in case the male gets desensitized. Awesome pics man. The cast looks like that of a roach.

 
Ive kept mine seperate all along just for hopes that there would be a stronger breeding response. As much as I agree with you on the roach nymph feeding I keep getting messages on the importance of firebrats so Ive started using them as well. They seem to trigger a different feeding response.

 
i'd like to be enlightened by the importance of firebrats. they wouldn't even find firebrats out in the wild...what kind of food would mimic firebrats in their natural habitat? the only thing I can think of really is roaches and other scurrying creatures living on bark. so why not feed it roaches? I agree that not any roach will work, but there are species of non burying roaches that work perfectly well. maybe it's a nutritious reason? maybe the firebrats have a similar nutrition to that of their natural prey in their environment? but are they really that sensitive to nutrition? according to mine, no they live just fine. I even observed a preference to roaches over firebrats with mine. if anyone has any information about the importance of firebrats please let me know so I can change the info. for now I just think they are good for lower instars, but I'm going to use fruitflies and see if they do the trick

 
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For breeding, you could leave the male in there, take the female out for about a week and then introduce her back in with him, so he feels like it is his territory, sort of the opppsite method to desense-itizng males...but this could work for this roach-like specie (but whentwhen they are of breeding age) ...and my two cents about the firebrats: just like the nivea's color trigger response, maybe the firebrats' appearance triggers something...

All the best,

Andrew

 
I like the concept Andrew, but if my eyes weren't deceiving me, the female seemed to be more territorial than the male. not sure. I think I will try your way though.

 
I like the concept Andrew, but if my eyes weren't deceiving me, the female seemed to be more territorial than the male. not sure. I think I will try your way though.
It is just a hunch...like that is how many lizards (pet) are mated, because it gives the male a terriotry that he can calll his and then a female violaceus just 'happened' to wander into his territory ;) ....it is how many matings happen in the wild with territorial animals (to some degree, i kno :) ) so you could always give it a shot for this territorial mantis...

All the best,

Andrew

 

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