I hope mine start eating soon. When I put a few fruit flies in there last night they were scared of them. It was kinda funny watching them shrink back when the flies got near them.
OH NO!!!! I just looked and the other egg hatched overnight. There are now 200+ in there. I was hoping that I could get the first ones out of there before the other egg hatched. I don't know how I'm going to get any out of there now without 50 of them escaping. I guess I should have put the eggs in seperate containers.
[This message has been edited by Dough19 (edited 03-03-2005).]
Try to make some clear space when you try to move some of them. They tend not to run like other bugs when they DO escape, and they will climb on stuff if it is placed in front of them... In a few days, a LOT of 'em will be dead or in the bellies of their siblings. Talk about tough love!
Anyone else have their egg cases hatch? For those that did, how are the little buggers doing? One is left from my batch, he's gettin FAT from the fruitflies...
We left for the weekend, and when we came home last night; we had tons of those little critters. I started giving up hope of them hatching. I guess I was wrong.
We left for the weekend, and when we came home last night; we had tons of those little critters. I started giving up hope of them hatching. I guess I was wrong.
Cool.
Heh, Yeah, it's a pretty wild thing seeing them all in there all of a sudden...
Make sure you spray them a little.
Good luck!
-FR
[This message has been edited by FieroRumor (edited 03-14-2005).]
I remember very clearly, I was a boy of about 5 or maybe 6, I would catch a mantis by picking him up lightly behind the head. Most of the time they did not mind this. One day, one turned his head completely around and chomped the he77 out of my thumb, and it hurt like he77. Last time I ever did that.
One more mantis story. I was about 7 or 8, and we had a dachsund mix dog, and he was barking his head off. Went to investigate, and a large mantis was in the "Karate Kid" position. Standing on hind legs with front legs in the air. It was a Mexican stand-off. The dog (weighed about 25 lbs at the time I think), was being held off by a mantis with a body weight of 3 or 4 grams maybe. I rescued the mantis and ended the impasse. This dog would fight bulldogs bigger than himself, and win. But the mantis psyched him out.
Most likely, they will hatch, it depends on when it was laid, and the temp in yer room. Also, it wouldn't hurt to spray 'em every now and then (just keep up humidity a little)
I remember very clearly, I was a boy of about 5 or maybe 6, I would catch a mantis by picking him up lightly behind the head. Most of the time they did not mind this. One day, one turned his head completely around and chomped the he77 out of my thumb, and it hurt like he77. Last time I ever did that.
One more mantis story. I was about 7 or 8, and we had a dachsund mix dog, and he was barking his head off. Went to investigate, and a large mantis was in the "Karate Kid" position. Standing on hind legs with front legs in the air. It was a Mexican stand-off. The dog (weighed about 25 lbs at the time I think), was being held off by a mantis with a body weight of 3 or 4 grams maybe. I rescued the mantis and ended the impasse. This dog would fight bulldogs bigger than himself, and win. But the mantis psyched him out.
This was in Texas Panhandle in the early '60's.
Cool stories! The one you picked up was probably a female...the males tend to freeze when ya pick 'em up like that.
Yeah, me either. Set mine up last Friday. I'm going out of town for 4 days and am hoping like crazy they don't hatch while I'm gone. That would suck...just have to prepare the habitat the best I can I s'poze.
A friend of mine had his hatch, then he went away for four days..he came home, and they all passed away... They probably dried up, or it got too hot in the apt...
[This message has been edited by FieroRumor (edited 03-16-2005).]
I just don't get it. I have sat on them each night after I got home, sprayed them with water ( spring water at that) I even read a few stories to them yet .....still no little ones
I think I will go steel an chicken egg and see which one comes first !
Im still waiting to see some action, Ill post pics when the madness begins. I cant wait, everyday I come home and hope their running around, patience young grasshopper... I mean little mantis
A few of mine are now molting. Hopefully they will start eating each other soon. They eat like maniacs. Mark
Very cool! If they have molted, that means they probably ate one or more of their siblings. Now, They should be bigger, and will be "king of the mountain"
yeah, they tend to eat like CRAZY.
I bought fruitflies from NYworms.co, and I now have about 1,000 flies! and only ONE mantis! (till the others hatch - I found one different type of egg case, should be interesting)
look (fruitflies):
Just make sure there is a little moisture in there, they can get stuck in "mid molt". are they molting upside-down?
Here are a few updated pics of "Stinky" :
Glad to hear you are doing well with yer little buggers...
(and for those of you that have egg cases, and they didn't hatch yet, don't worry, they SHOULD...)
[This message has been edited by FieroRumor (edited 04-06-2005).]
Well i think that one of those parasitic wasp things must have come out of one of the oothacae. It didn't last very long in the cage though. One of the larger manti ate it right away. That is what it gets for running around the cage likt it owns the place. He He Oh and the canabilism has started. Most are molting either upside down or on the side of the cage. There were one or two out of the 10-12 that didn't make it. Mark
Great! Glad to hear things are going well so far! It's interesting that the wasp came out after the mantids..they usually come out first, and fly off... maybe keeping the ooth indoors, the mantids adapt to the temp faster....
"Stinky" JUST molted again! I Think this is his third time now:
[This message has been edited by FieroRumor (edited 03-23-2005).]
I hadn't set up a habitat yet when mine arrived, so I put the cases outside until I could come up with something suitable. I set up a 5 gallon aquarium a couple of weeks ago and put one of the cases in there. As of yet, still waiting for them to hatch. Nothing yet....
I'm not a daddy yet either. When revin's hatch and mine hatch, I am going to take my champion to Austin to fight his... and then we will see who can raise the best Texas Mantis!
I'm not a daddy yet either. When revin's hatch and mine hatch, I am going to take my champion to Austin to fight his... and then we will see who can raise the best Texas Mantis!
LOL The Chinese used to have "Mantis Fights" in a similiar way to **** fighting.
It would make for an interesting video. I'd make sure your top dawg is a female - they grow larger, and are a LOT tougher then the males. You may want to crazy-glue x-acto blades on their front claws too.
edit : And have "frickin lasers" on their heads!
[This message has been edited by FieroRumor (edited 03-24-2005).]
mine popped out yesterday. i don't which of the three cases hatched but my GOD!!! I have hundreds of the little buggers in there! i hope it was all three that hatched. i'm amazed that they all come out at the same time. pretty cool. i tried to get pics but they all come out blurry. POS cam of mine. i'll try again though.
mine popped out yesterday. i don't which of the three cases hatched but my GOD!!! I have hundreds of the little buggers in there! i hope it was all three that hatched. i'm amazed that they all come out at the same time. pretty cool. i tried to get pics but they all come out blurry. POS cam of mine. i'll try again though.
Heh, I betcha only ONE of them hatched. You can kinda tell if they hatched from the case if there is some little thingies hanging off the OOTH.
Yeah, they ARE hard to take pics of. even with a macro lens.
AAHHHHHH THE BLOOD AHHHHHH, ANGEL OF DEATH!!!!! man these guys are monsters, i had a pod hatch this week, and they just started eating each other yesturday, i thought that was cool, but woke up today and another pod hatched, yah i have them all in a big tank, more of a battle setting, and damn now theres 4 guys eating on the glass, i just saw one head pop clean off and hang by the antenna, while the other dude is sucking him dry, ooooOOOOooweeeeeee, my pics dont do these guys justice, i need batteries for it, but i got some footage on my video camera, good stuff. I gotta try to give the other 2 pods away, and buy them some flies this week. Its funny, one of my roomates cant even look at them, shes freaked, and my other buddy ate one of the little guys, hahah, ive seen him eat bigger bugs though. ha Im thinking about naming the survivor "Mantits" but its still being decided.
It's kinda sad watching them munch on each other, but that is pretty much what happens in the wild.
Nice enclosure! lots of stick for 'em to run around in... (Don't frget to mist 'em a bit!)
Get the fruitflies from NYworms.com 12 bucks for a LARGE container of flies. Resist the urge to feed them right away, wait till you see little maggots in the bottom of the fruitfly container,(so the culture is established) THEN feed the mantisds the adults. within two weeks, you'll have about 800 fruitflies, then dump in a bunch...
(they go from wiggly worm, little hard liookin thing (pupae) then adult in less then two weeks...)
Happy to see that they hatched. Tell your friend to stop watching "fear factor"...
[This message has been edited by FieroRumor (edited 03-27-2005).]
Man! Glad I only decided to hatch one pod in captivity. Not so sure I want to witness the apparent carnage that's about to ensue. I ordered my fruit flies about a month ago from nyflies and my culture is just going crazy by now. I'm hoping these matids will hatch soon 'cause I need to make room in the fruitfly container! I need something to eat some of these flies! I have this odd feeling that my guys will be hatching pretty soon too.
Man! Glad I only decided to hatch one pod in captivity. Not so sure I want to witness the apparent carnage that's about to ensue. I ordered my fruit flies about a month ago from nyflies and my culture is just going crazy by now. I'm hoping these matids will hatch soon 'cause I need to make room in the fruitfly container! I need something to eat some of these flies! I have this odd feeling that my guys will be hatching pretty soon too.
LOL yeah, It's downright creepy ---> if you leave the culture in a dark place for awhile, then take them into the light...they all start crawling upwards... *shivers*
One of mine is molting again!!!??? It has only been a week since the last time they molted. The one that molted is practically twice the size of the others now. It looks like I will finally get down to my targeted 10 manti before transfering them into two seperate cages. This big one could probably eat 1-2 kin per day. I really need to get some pics. I tried once, but like stated above, they are really hard to take pics of. -Mark
It was kinda funny watching them shrink back when the flies got near them. 
I started giving up hope of them hatching. I guess I was wrong. 
