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
Yep, that sounds right... They molt when they get large enough to do it... That sucker will QUICKLY eat the rest of 'em up.
Oh, a quick "update" shot of "Stinky": Stinky vs Spider. Spider lost.
[This message has been edited by FieroRumor (edited 03-28-2005).]
How are you guys doing with yer mantid experiments? Hopefully, more of yours have hatched! I was doing my homework online, and just looked at Stinky..That little piggy is molting AGAIN! (I believe this is number 4or 5 ) He USUALLY gets a little bigger with each molt, but this last molt, he's almost TWICE the size he was this morning! and his little wing buds can be seen now.
Here he is, hanging out, waiting till he hardens (He hangs upside down, his skin splits, he slooooowly comes out, all soft and squishy, then chills out till he dries. it's cool watching him wave his legs around, and watching him "test" his new appendages.
Mantids can grow back a lost arm after they molt. They can also "get stuck" during a molt (usually because the air isn't humid enough), and then they croak. Stinky seems to be doing well when he molts though.
Hope you guys are enjoying yer wacky little dudes...
-FieroRumor
[This message has been edited by FieroRumor (edited 04-02-2005).]
I will give it two more weeks then I will remove the cases from their hiding place and put them outside where hopefully they will hatch. Its good to see Stinky doing well. Kevin
Well, Mine popped this weekend. Closest I can figure is sometime early Sunday morning. I swear there's only about 50 of them though. (I only put one case in the tank, putting the rest outside when it starts to get warm) They've been eating and pretty active. I've only actually witnessed one munching on a fly, but I can only figure they've all been chowin' down, since the fly population dropped radically over a period of a couple of hours. Let the carnage begin!
Sometimes, some pop out at one time, and then some more pop out a few days/weeks later. Other times, they all have a friggin' pop-out party!
I had two more cases, one chines (that you all have ) and one "European" one I found.(I never raised any of that type before, should be interesting) They both popped out around the same time., and The European ones are HALF the size of the Chinese. talk about tiny! At first, I was all "Awww, look how cute!" Then, I was like "Why am I seeing little mantids on TOP of their tank?!?!" The little European ones were so small, they could crawl THROUGH the hinges on the tank! I caught the little buggers, and plugged those tiny tiny slits. DANG! Glad I was home at the time.
Both sets of babies started eating the first day, I was a little surprised about that. I think I'll end up with 4 mantids this year. Two Chinese, and Two European. Stinky is waaay too big to keep with the little ones, he'd eat most of them in one day,
I need to run out and buy another little tank and see if Stinky is ready for a big ole' cricket.
Well, you were right again. Last night a whole new batch of 'em popped out of the egg case. Last night there were maybe 75 at most, this morning, there was just no chance of countin g them. They were swarming. I have them in a 5 gallon tall aquarium...they were everywhere. And when I threw in a bunch of fruit flies it was a feeding-frenzy, they were running around and hopping all over trying to catch a breakfast treat. I hope it stays warm, I'm going to have to let some of these go pretty soon, cause there just ain't near enough room for all of 'em. I had no idea what I was getting into. They are fascinating to watch though. Now I need to get the other egg cases out in the pastures....
(I originally wrote a more lengthy post, but my browser crapped out right before I hit "send")
Wow, this Mantis is different then the others i have kept. "Stinky" is a Chicken! Here is Stinky, after he saw a cricket.
Note, his butt is curled, and his front claws are folded back, and OUTWARD. That's "Eeeek! a mouse!", not the stance of a predator hunting its lunch. There were two crickets in there, and when he saw the second one, something finally 'clicked', and he went into a more pedatory stance (arms brought inward, butt uncurled)
THERE ya go - THAT"s the "mantis stance". He watches his lunch crawl by...
He flips around...and then....
SNAGGGG!
He's STILL a Chicken though.
Counting his belly segments, it looks like "he" may be a "she"..
[This message has been edited by FieroRumor (edited 04-06-2005).]
"Stinky" is brown, and has two small black marks on his/her arms. Anyone else 's little critters have similiar markings? I think Manty only had one on each arm...
[This message has been edited by FieroRumor (edited 04-06-2005).]
I mowed the meadows this past weekend and actually did find some egg cases. I wondered though, how do you know a *new* egg case from an *old* egg case? I couldn't really tell. Although I know that I did run over at least one that was new....kinda broke my heart after all of this. I'm pretty sure all the ones I have are *new*...maybe one is *old*.
Oh yeah, btw, it doesn't appear as thouhg they move very far away from the places where they're hatched...or maybe it was just coincidence, but all the egg cases seem to be within about a 1000 square foot area....kind of odd when there's roughly 4.5 acres of meadow to lay eggs in.....
[This message has been edited by Taijiguy (edited 04-11-2005).]
I am the proud father of 100 chinese cannibals. The wife is not very happy though
One of my four cases has popped. I misted the containers... and have a feeding question...
Rumor, will they eat dead critters? Like dead gnats or mosquitos?.. or must it be live prey?
Congrats! Yeah, it needs to move, they rarely, if ever, will pick up their food once they drop it, too. If you order the fruitflies from nyworms.com, you will end up with a million flies. Also, they should start to nibble on each other after a few days. Be careful when ya mist, if the drops are too big, the mantids get stuck on the sides and bottom of the tank...yeccch!
Stinky is gettin' BIG. He's still a bit skitish of the crickets though. I have about 50 in another tank, two europeans in a third, and two europeans in a fourth (I'd like to end up with four lil' guys).
Glad to hear yours hatched. Imagine when the others hatch! For some reason, wives don't seem to like 9 million critters in their house...
quote
how do you know a *new* egg case from an *old* egg case? I couldn't really tell. Although I know that I did run over at least one that was new....kinda broke my heart after all of this. I'm pretty sure all the ones I have are *new*...maybe one is *old*.
It is hard to tell, unless you cut one open (which I don't recommend). The "old" ones may look a bit "older" if you compare them, and another thing to look at is what they are attached to. If it is a tree, it may be old or new. If it is on a plant that only lives one year, it is probably new.
And not every "new" Ootheca contains fertilized eggs.
[This message has been edited by FieroRumor (edited 04-12-2005).]
One of mine is finally eating crickets now. I put a few in there last night, along with a piece of banana so they wouldn't try to eat the manti. They were very scared of them last night. Just a few minuites ago I saw that one of them is eating one. I'm kinda glad because I am running out of flies and I don't want to have to buy another thing of flies since they are so big that they need to eat 10 to get any real amount of food. Crickets are more expensive at 0.09 a piece, but I won't have to feed them as often. Right now, I am down to 6 manti. I am going to try to identify males and females soon and then seperate them into two tanks. Maybe then I can post some video of some mantis sex -Mark
One of mine is finally eating crickets now. I put a few in there last night, along with a piece of banana so they wouldn't try to eat the manti. They were very scared of them last night. Just a few minuites ago I saw that one of them is eating one. I'm kinda glad because I am running out of flies and I don't want to have to buy another thing of flies since they are so big that they need to eat 10 to get any real amount of food. Crickets are more expensive at 0.09 a piece, but I won't have to feed them as often. Right now, I am down to 6 manti. I am going to try to identify males and females soon and then seperate them into two tanks. Maybe then I can post some video of some mantis sex -Mark
Sounds great! Tyr to snap a pic or two if ya can! Crickets really only munch on a molting mantis, so as long as the mantids have a place they can hang (like the top) that the crickets can get to, it should be ok.
Mineare all molting now, some right now. Amazing since they're only a couple of weeks old. My little ones are getting so big *snif* they grow so fast...*snif-snif* I'm thinking I'll turn some of these loose now that they're getting bigger. Kind of sillt to leave them all confined and have them eat each other when I could set them free and more would survive. Should be plenty to eat in our yard right about now....
I have two that are all brown, and two that are brown with green legs. I'll try to borrow my neighbors dig camera and get a few pictures. I almost have them weened off of the fruit flies and only eating crickets now. I'm having trouble trying to figure out what sex they are though. Some of the websites you posted talks about it, but doesn't give a good enough description of where you need to start counting the segments. Do you have any help?? I'm really trying to end up with a male and female if possible. Thanks, Mark
I just get a continual kick out of this thread. It may be the only one I will ever put on my favorites list from O/T. That picture of Stinky is fantastico!
I posted earlier in this thread about my childhood experiences with the mantids of the Texas Panhandle. I also kept horned toads ("horny toads"), back when they were plentiful. I have not seen one in years.
Also had a tarantula once. It made me so mad when kids would kill them, because they were gentle and friendly, if not the best looking of creatures.
Reminds of that old song from the early seventies by Jim Stafford...."I Don't Like Spiders or Snakes"
I just get a continual kick out of this thread. It may be the only one I will ever put on my favorites list from O/T. That picture of Stinky is fantastico!
Glad ya like it...he was actually hanging upside down in that one!
I only have one left, he ate the rest. I thought the 10 Gal tank was big enough for a dozen of them, I was wrong on that one. Mine is about 2 inches in length and has a brownish color to him, I will be letting him go in a few weeks when it stops snowing here and the weather gets warmer.
Mine hateched last night and were running around like xarzy this morning! Then within an hour they all just died!??? I dont get it kinda bummed and sad for the lil mantys! I dont get it theres air its a clean tank and it wasnt hot or cold it was like 73 degrees??? And they had water on the edges!
Mine hateched last night and were running around like xarzy this morning! Then within an hour they all just died!??? I dont get it kinda bummed and sad for the lil mantys! I dont get it theres air its a clean tank and it wasnt hot or cold it was like 73 degrees??? And they had water on the edges!
That's VERY sad, not sure why that hapenned to you - I have heard about this sort of thing, and have seen that sometimes, a lot just hatch, then die shortly afterwoods... You had air-holes, right? I hope more hatch out for you - I'll ask my Mantis-buddies what might have been the cause of that mass-death.
[This message has been edited by FieroRumor (edited 06-08-2005).]
So how tolerant are these guys to temperatures? I'm thinking about setting some of mine free, but it does still get a bit chilly at nights, low 30's maybe. Don't want to set them free to keep them from eating each other, only to condemn them to freeze to death...
So how tolerant are these guys to temperatures? I'm thinking about setting some of mine free, but it does still get a bit chilly at nights, low 30's maybe. Don't want to set them free to keep them from eating each other, only to condemn them to freeze to death...
Ugh. Guess I better wait a while then. I need to divide them up I guess. Only about a dozen or so left from my original batch. Some of these suckers are getting pretty big.
Ugh. Guess I better wait a while then. I need to divide them up I guess. Only about a dozen or so left from my original batch. Some of these suckers are getting pretty big.
Figure out how many you want to end up with, then separate them into that many containers. They'll do the rest...
Well my bugs finally hatched over the weekend. I only have about fifty, that number has been fluctuating as some dissapear and others continue to emerge. I got some flies today (finally) and was wondering how long does it take before they start to munch on those? Nymphs will eat chicken by the way. Who needs television I can spend hours watching the fun going on in the mantis habitat. Kevin
Nothing really "new" related to "Stinky". But I went to the Bronz zoo over the weekend, and when I signed up as a member, they gave me a tee-shirt... :
Heh, perhaps I spoke to soon about nothing happening ---> it appears that she may molt now:
I think this is the molt where she will actually unfurl her wings. (Cool, Now I have something to watch while I work on my 10-page paper for school... )
[This message has been edited by FieroRumor (edited 06-08-2005).]
That sucker will QUICKLY eat the rest of 'em up. 
and his little wing buds can be seen now. 
"Why am I seeing little mantids on TOP of their tank?!?!" The little European ones were so small, they could crawl THROUGH the hinges on the tank! I caught the little buggers, and plugged those tiny tiny slits. DANG! Glad I was home at the time. 
