Yup, yet another mantis thread :)

[larry]

Here's my Ghost Mantis - Phyllocrania paradoxa. I think he/she is L2/L3.

 

[Sig]

That is an amazing camouflage.

 

[mass]

That thing is gnarly looking!!

 

[MasterGrower]

nice! they're probably L3

 

[swords]

Cool shots Larry! I gotta try to get mine out of their dens where I can get up close with a camera. Mine are content to stay in their enclosures even if I leave the "lids" (front side) off for an hour or more they stay put! LOL

Anyway, here's my dark sub-adult male ghost getting his first meal after his molt a couple days ago:

I don't usually feed crickets but I don't have any BB flies hatched today and he needed something. He tore that cricket up!

 

[Est]

Fantastic! I'm loving this recent trend of mantis pictures and discussion.

 

[h.embass]

That is truely one of a kind living creature. The camouflage is really great and well designed to catch and fool its prey. I'm sure this one has a long lifespan as it already has a good surviving asset. Camouflage is just one of the great things a creature can have. Its dual purpose of making a creature safe from predators and for fooling prey makes it a dual purpose.

 

[swords]

What does the mantis eat?

They will eat most types of appropriately sized insects but the ghost, flower and violin mantids prefer flying things as they do not generally stalk their prey but wait for it to fly by and then snatch it out of the air.

Although if you have a fan blowing near their terrariums (which I do to dispell the heat from the T5 HO lighting) they will react to the breeze and start moving around a lot more and catch crickets since crickets climb plants and twigs they get into "arms reach". Anything that stays on the bottom of the tank will likely not get eaten cos I've almost never seen my mantids on the moss, 99% of the time they are upside down on twigs and plants. It's not good to center their diet around crickets but they work fine in a pinch if you don't have any moths or flies. My Blue Bottle Fly pupae is a month old+ now so the hatching rates are sucking (new pupae will be here Thursday) but I have various sized crickets to feed my Anole that I can dip into.

 

[Lil Stinkpot]

I just hatched my first ooth (something local I caught, most likely a CA species or one of the "hardware store" varieties). Once I can proove I can keep tbese alive, I really, really want to try a ghost.

 

[swords]

Awesome! How many would you guess hatched? Have you got fruit flies for em or are you just gonna let them eat their population down to manageable numbers?

Post some pics if you ever get your camera dried out! LOL

 

[Lil Stinkpot]

Awesome! How many would you guess hatched? Have you got fruit flies for em or are you just gonna let them eat their population down to manageable numbers?

Post some pics if you ever get your camera dried out! LOL

They were just starting the hatch, so I saw about two dozen zipping about the crabitat/LL terra (hey, it's warm and humid- a great hatch chamber!). We have the ootheca in a new critter keeper, just to keep them corralled, and I'll round up the rest when I get home.

Dory got a tube of D. hydei FF.

I'll also take the camera apart, and look for what's jamming up the lenses. Hopefully it's just dirt, and not the motors themselves. I need a new camera!!!