Mantid Madness!

[Grey Moss]

The tall, pointed eyes make it look like they're wearing horn rimmed glasses.

 

[hcarlton]

Now that I think about it, I know where my thoughts about them always looking like they're disappointed in you comes from: the pointy glasses of those sassy aunts or old mothers in cartoons and movies that are never satisfied with the accomplishments of their relatives.

 

[swords]

LOL "Cats Eye Glasses"

 

[DragonsEye]

Wonder if keeping the males at a lower temp would slow down their metabolism and thus their aging buying time for the female to mature?

 

[hcarlton]

Yes, but then you run the risk of sterilizing them by not keeping them at a proper rate of development. I assume you're referring to the orchids here.

 

[hcarlton]

My biggest grass mantids keep getting fatter now, but they don't seem to want to molt again...
Thesprotia graminis by Hawken Carlton, on Flickr
In contrast to their appearance, my two heaviest, the S. lineola
Luciano by Hawken Carlton, on Flickr
Luciano by Hawken Carlton, on Flickr
Desi by Hawken Carlton, on Flickr
Desi by Hawken Carlton, on Flickr
And the Hierodula nymphs are starting to molt, so I can start selling them; forgot to photograph before I put the fruit flies in the container here so I was forced to do so through the foggy side
H. membranacea by Hawken Carlton, on Flickr
H. membranacea by Hawken Carlton, on Flickr

 

[hcarlton]

Big shield mantis "Blue" starting to show his shield
Rhombodera basalis by Hawken Carlton, on Flickr
Rhombodera basalis by Hawken Carlton, on Flickr
Rhombodera basalis by Hawken Carlton, on Flickr
And a whole lotta babies. Anyone want one?
Hierodula membranacea by Hawken Carlton, on Flickr
Hierodula membranacea by Hawken Carlton, on Flickr
Hierodula membranacea by Hawken Carlton, on Flickr
Hierodula membranacea by Hawken Carlton, on Flickr
Hierodula membranacea by Hawken Carlton, on Flickr
And spiny female 2 is now the pink one
P. wahlbergii female 2 by Hawken Carlton, on Flickr

 

[hcarlton]

Two special molts yesterday: One, my first female spiny flower!
Pseudocreobotra wahlbergii by Hawken Carlton, on Flickr
Pseudocreobotra wahlbergii by Hawken Carlton, on Flickr
Pseudocreobotra wahlbergii by Hawken Carlton, on Flickr

As of today she's already darkened quite a bit

Two, big lined mantis "Luciano." Decided to dry himself out near the bottom of his tank though, and his wings are now bent funky
Shadow of what was:
S. lineola molt by Hawken Carlton, on Flickr
And the lug now:
Sphodromantis lineola by Hawken Carlton, on Flickr

Also couple days ago, got an ooth from one of the grass mantids. Supposedly they are often parthenogenetic (despite having males in the species), so we'll see in a few weeks if I get a hatch.

 

[hcarlton]

Petalbutt 1, female orchid
Hymenopus coronatus by Hawken Carlton, on Flickr
Petalbutt 2 is pinker, and most likely also female
Hymenopus coronatus by Hawken Carlton, on Flickr
Spiny female 2 is adult! That makes 3, and the other males should be along shortly...then I can hopefully mate them and get eggs
Pseudocreobotra wahlbergii by Hawken Carlton, on Flickr
Pseudocreobotra wahlbergii by Hawken Carlton, on Flickr
I really wish that eyespot kept the coral color
Pseudocreobotra wahlbergii by Hawken Carlton, on Flickr
Pseudocreobotra wahlbergii by Hawken Carlton, on Flickr
The Giant Asian nymphs are now ranging from L3-L5, and I am running out of room (and reliable food) for them...anybody want a couple?
Hierodula membranacea by Hawken Carlton, on Flickr
Desi's adult! His wings are properly folded too...and he's turning into the same kind of curious pain in the butt that Luciano was when younger...
Sphodromantis lineola by Hawken Carlton, on Flickr
Sphodromantis lineola by Hawken Carlton, on Flickr
Crazy mantis ruining my photos...
Sphodromantis lineola by Hawken Carlton, on Flickr
Sphodromantis lineola by Hawken Carlton, on Flickr
Smallest of the sticks, newly molted
Heterochaeta orientalis by Hawken Carlton, on Flickr
And the last of the bigger females also molted. That's 4 now at either presub or subadult (if the former, good grief are they going to get huge!), though one of the other 2 females had a fall while molting and may not make it...
Heterochaeta orientalis by Hawken Carlton, on Flickr
Heterochaeta orientalis by Hawken Carlton, on Flickr

 

[hcarlton]

New adult male; should have at least one at the right age to pair with the females
P. wahlbergii by Hawken Carlton, on Flickr
P. wahlbergii by Hawken Carlton, on Flickr
2 Shields at L7
Rhombodera basalis by Hawken Carlton, on Flickr
Rhombodera basalis by Hawken Carlton, on Flickr

 

[hcarlton]

Petalbutt 1 now at L6, eating multiple flies at a time and fully white...
H. coronatus by Hawken Carlton, on FlickrH. coronatus by Hawken Carlton, on Flickr
H. coronatus by Hawken Carlton, on Flickr

And oh so many of these guys...a lot are reaching L6, and will soon outgrow most of the containers I could keep them in...
H. membranacea by Hawken Carlton, on Flickr

 

[hcarlton]

Most of the membs still alive (I've had a sudden increase in the number of cannibalisms recently...) are now L5 and up, meaning I can finally sex the majority of them. A pair of the browner ones:
H. membranacea by Hawken Carlton, on Flickr
H. membranacea by Hawken Carlton, on Flickr
And 3 of 4 shields are at L8; only one more molt before adult, and then I can breed and hopefully sell them too.
R. basalis female 1 by Hawken Carlton, on Flickr
Skittish female was not happy about me moving her into a bigger house.
R. basalis female 1 by Hawken Carlton, on Flickr
R. basalis female 2 by Hawken Carlton, on Flickr
Aren't they adorable?
R. basalis female 2 by Hawken Carlton, on Flickr
R. basalis "Blue" by Hawken Carlton, on Flickr
R. basalis "Blue" by Hawken Carlton, on Flickr
Still the smallest, but she's catching up...
H. orientalis by Hawken Carlton, on Flickr
And of course, the two orchids are looking ever lovely
Petalbutt 2 by Hawken Carlton, on Flickr
Petalbutt 2 by Hawken Carlton, on Flickr
Petalbutt 1 by Hawken Carlton, on Flickr

 

[hcarlton]

Lots of variety among the Giant Asians
H. membranacea by Hawken Carlton, on Flickr
H. membranacea by Hawken Carlton, on Flickr
H. membranacea by Hawken Carlton, on Flickr
Both of the R. basalis females now subadult; hopefully only a couple weeks before they're mature, a month or two before I can get them mating
R. basalis L9 female by Hawken Carlton, on Flickr
R. basalis L9 female by Hawken Carlton, on Flickr
Both big female sticks now subadult too
H. orientalis by Hawken Carlton, on Flickr
Hand for scale; they are huge!
H. orientalis by Hawken Carlton, on Flickr
2nd generation adult bark mantids
Elmantis sp. female by Hawken Carlton, on Flickr
Elmantis sp. male by Hawken Carlton, on Flickr
And Petalbutt 1 disregarding my personal bubble.
Petalbutt 1 by Hawken Carlton, on Flickr

 

[hcarlton]

Both male Shields are now adults...this one is a lot more adventurous than Blue is
R. basalis by Hawken Carlton, on Flickr
R. basalis by Hawken Carlton, on Flickr
He had a thing for being on camera. Like, literally, on the camera
R. basalis by Hawken Carlton, on Flickr
R. basalis by Hawken Carlton, on Flickr
And being up close and personal
R. basalis by Hawken Carlton, on Flickr
"Shhh...you are substrate and do not speak"
R. basalis by Hawken Carlton, on Flickr

 

[hcarlton]

Wow, didn't realize I forgot to post about this girl here:
H. coronatus by Hawken Carlton, on Flickr
Yep, she's adult! Now for the battle to find a male...
H. coronatus by Hawken Carlton, on Flickr
H. coronatus by Hawken Carlton, on Flickr

Meanwhile, the females of the Giant Asians are still a little behind...
H. membranacea by Hawken Carlton, on Flickr
But I have nearly the full complement of colors in adult males! Just waiting on the pink ones...anybody want an adult Giant Asian mantis?
H. membranacea by Hawken Carlton, on Flickr
H. membranacea by Hawken Carlton, on Flickr
H. membranacea by Hawken Carlton, on Flickr
H. membranacea by Hawken Carlton, on Flickr
H. membranacea by Hawken Carlton, on Flickr

 

[hcarlton]

Been a while since I updated in here; the Giant Asian females are finally maturing, so in a couple weeks I'll choose one to try and mate with (I don't need to mate them all, since I don't need thousands and I can't bring myself to throw unwanted ooths away...and they don't sell quickly enough it seems)
H. membranacea by Hawken Carlton, on Flickr
H. membranacea by Hawken Carlton, on Flickr
The third generation of Elmantis are growing fast, and I once again have too many nymphs (from the same problem as noted above)
Elmantis sp. by Hawken Carlton, on Flickr
Found a European mantis outside that should soon be large enough for me to determine the sex; now I just need a mate
Mantis religiosa by Hawken Carlton, on Flickr
2nd generation of grass mantis, parthenogenetically produced as I had no males.
Thesprotia graminis by Hawken Carlton, on Flickr
This is perhaps the most exciting though: orchid mantis egg case! Hopefully in about a month and a half I'll have a hundred or so baby orchids running around.
H. coronatus ooth by Hawken Carlton, on Flickr

 

[adnedarn]

How the heck have I missed this??! So cool man, congrats on the successes you've had. And thanks for sharing it with us!

 

[hcarlton]

Success continues too; don't have the picture up yet, but the Giant Asian Shield female that I managed to mate (before she chomped the surviving male, ruining my chances for the second female) just laid her first ooth too.

 

[adnedarn]

Nice! I thought the females HAD to chop the male.... or is that not true?

 

[hcarlton]

100% untrue; females will only eat the males if they haven't been fed enough to keep them sated. There are exceptions, like particularly aggressive Elmantis females that seem intent on chewing up simply anything that goes in their containers no matter how much they're fed, but then that's not them specifically targeting the males... the orchid male has actually been riding around on the female's back for the past 2 weeks without incident, their natural behavior.