My first pet mantis

[Obsidian]

I recently got two spiny flower mantis nymphs. This is vlad, freshly molted. He looks a bit like a ant now but he will change into a beautiful green and white beastie.
excuse the bad quality, its hard to zoom in on something so small.

 

[SaltedFig]

Awesome!

I've seen wild green ones, and the occasional brown one with leaf-looking adornments, but never one with spikes.

What does vlad eat?

 

[Obsidian]

There are all kinds, weird shapes and colors. I'm getting a orchid mantis later this year, waiting for it to warm up for shipping.

Right now he is eating fruit flies and tiny mealworms. When he is adult, I'll feed house flies and other similar sized flying insects along with red runner roaches.

 

[SunRiseArts]

Cute!

 

[dibbles]

He's so tiny. Post more pictures as he grows and gets his grown up colors.

 

[cmzaha]

Congratulations Obsidian, they are so cute. My daughter has a couple of Spiny Flower Mantis. I am hoping to bring home a new Dead Leaf to put in my empty tank since my Bud Wing passed on. I miss having a Mantis to look at while on the computer. I will warn you that the Orchids are very hard to raise. You think they are doing great then they drop dead. We were never able to get a pair bred. They proved to be the most fragile to raise, and they are not cheap. Bud Wings are really neat as are the Dead Leaf. Do you know they like to eat honey off a toothpick?

 

[Cellador]

How cool! I had no idea you could (and people do) keep mantises as pets. Such beautiful and interesting creatures.

 

[Lin19687]

So cute !
I saw a Mantis outside last year but I have chickens so I don't think he is around much anymore.
They are so cool!

 

[Obsidian]

Thanks, I will post growth pics as we go

I know orchids are touchy. I had actually decided not to get one but my daughter went out and bought me a fancy glass reptarium and all the goodies to go with so I can at least try to raise a orchid.

I may also get some ghosts, not a for sure thing though. My daughter bought a ooth, its her first so we'll see how she does with it. I want to try a communal enclosure. Tried it once with tarantulas and it worked out well.

 

[BrewerGeorge]

I have also never heard of keeping them as pets.

Do you handle these things once they're grown, or are they more like fish? How long do they live?

 

[Obsidian]

I've never had a grown but I do plan to handle them. They are fairly small, not like the wild ones you find. Some are really big though, my daughter has a couple that can reach 8+ inches as adults.
They have a short life span, generally 6-12 months.

 

[cmzaha]

We tried a communal with the Ghost ooth that hatched. Out of at least 75 2 survived. They grew well. What are you keeping the babies in? We found small deli cups with a screened top works the best for rearing any of them them transfer them to Repti terrariums with lights after they are adults. My daughter still has a couple of Giant Africans but you cannot handle them. They bite big . By the way they are a tremendous amount of work, it worked for my daughter because she is home 99% of the time, but even she found she could not keep up with raising them, so only has a few now. Preparing cups transferring, feeding and watering hundreds of the little creatures is a full time job. Plus the cost of ordering bugs to feed them. Some pics of my setup and my Mantis Daisy. I could not find any pics of Ghostie. If you look hard will see Daisy, my Budwing, and Autumn holding Daisy.

Autumn holding Daisy, Daisy holding stick eating honey, Daisy in her tank and my setup
.

 

[Obsidian]

Right now they are in 6oz cups with screen lids. Still not sure what I'll keep them in when adults. I've been looking at screen butterfly habitats but I don't really care for how they look.

I hear ya on raising babies. I used to breed tarantulas, it was a lot of work when I had around 125 slings in individual pill bottles. I don't know how people do it with hundred of babies at a time.

Not sure if DD is planning on separating the ghost babies or if she is going to keep them together. I don't really want any but she is a bit concerned about caring for so many so I figured I can take a few.
I have FF cultures going of both small & large and I'm trying to get a colony of red runners going. I really do not want to deal with hatching large flies.

Daisy was really cool, thats not a species I've seen before but I really don't know much about mantids or the different kinds. I'm more of a spider gal, they live much longer but I do like having bugs I can handle.

the other ones DD has are Rhombodera of some kind

 

[cmzaha]

Wish we were in the same State and I would take a few Ghosties off her hands. The Ghostie was my favorite and did lay a viable Ooth but they were one of them she tried keeping communal. We found the Bud Wing the most adaptable to handling. Her wings were displayed because she was irritated at the moment, but never bit. Autumn agitated her to get her to open her wings but, of course, that is not advisable to do often. Nope did not work, but the strongest survive.
, I HATE spiders they are my absolute nemisis. and I would guess raising them is similar to keeping mantis. Are the tarantulas cannibalistic?

I was not trying to hijack your thread so hope you forgive me

 

[cmzaha]

Sorry I gave you some wrong info. It is the Ghosties that can live together, it is the bud wings that we had which annihilated each other. But it does make for stronger mantis. I was thinking our babies were the Ghosties, but my daughter corrected me, my son in law ruined 3 Ghostie ooths and it was the Bud Wings that we had hatch. Daisy's babies and we still have a few. My daughter has a Dead Leaf that is almonst 1.5 yrs old. That is old....

 

[Obsidian]

No worries about hijacking, I'm always happy to talk tarantulas and bugs.

Yes, tarantulas are cannibalistic. There are a few communal species, I had a female Holothele incei so I breed her and raised the babies together.
They are a dwarf species and only lay 50 or so eggs at a time. I put 10 together, sold the rest.

I suppose raising them is like mantids. Females try to eat the males during mating so you have to be careful.
Babies have to be separated after first molt into pill bottles. Fed and watered every other day.

I have baby pics but won't share them unless you want to see them. They are very tiny when hatched.

If DD ooth hatches, there will probably be extra. She only wants to keep a few and will most likely sell some. If so, I'll get a couple and send your way.

 

[cmzaha]

No worries about hijacking, I'm always happy to talk tarantulas and bugs.

Yes, tarantulas are cannibalistic. There are a few communal species, I had a female Holothele incei so I breed her and raised the babies together.
They are a dwarf species and only lay 50 or so eggs at a time. I put 10 together, sold the rest.

I suppose raising them is like mantids. Females try to eat the males during mating so you have to be careful.
Babies have to be separated after first molt into pill bottles. Fed and watered every other day.

I have baby pics but won't share them unless you want to see them. They are very tiny when hatched.

If DD ooth hatches, there will probably be extra. She only wants to keep a few and will most likely sell some. If so, I'll get a couple and send your way.

Sure I would like to see the baby pics. Actually Tarantulas do no creep me out like ordinary house spiders. Once in the desert I saw little tiny black cotton balls that were kinda getting blown around in the wind, upon inspection there were little tiny tarantulas. At least I guessed they were. One tarantula that we have in our hills get fairly sizable and are black fuzzy guys. I am sure you know what type they are.

Taking care of the baby mantis is the same so as you know lots of work. I remember in the past you mentioned raising tarantulas.

If DD ends up with any extras I would gladly pay shipping. The Ghosties are my favorite although I did like the Budwing I did not take her out, Autumn did. I did take out my Ghostie.

 

[Obsidian]

I'm not a huge fan of house spiders either though I do really like jumpers. This is a egg sack from a trinidad olive. You leave the sack with mom for a few weeks, she turns it so babies don't stick together. You take it from her a few days before it hatches and open it, then babies are placed in a hammock until their first molt.

 

[cmzaha]

I might have nightmares after all. They are really translucent I see when newborns how long before they get darker like the last pic?

 

[Obsidian]

Its been a long time, I can't remember exactly but it seemed like it was around a month. Kept warm and given extra food will get them growing faster so they can be sold quicker.