[frogparty]

Posing in the unfinished highland lamasi viv. NO FROGS IN THERE!!!!! But it makes a cool place to take some pics
Acanthops sp. South american dead leaf mimic from French Guyana to Colombia
This is my L6 female

Ghost mantis- Madagascar/Asian dead leaf mantis L6 female

 

[hydrophyte]

Nice! Please post more.

I can't keep frogs anytime soon, but I might start a small collection of mantids.

 

[Pumilo]

Love the ghost! He looks like some kind of specter of death!

 

[eos]

Great looking mantids... Post some more

 

[thedude]

Nice! I've always wanted some mantid species. Keep the pics coming.

 

[jckee1]

What is the life expectancy for these guys?
Jim

 

[frogface]

Oh great! Now I'm going to have to get mantids. Where will I put them?

 

[Sticky Fingers]

Sweet! Can we get a fts too?

 

[dtfleming]

Yes, I would like to see how the vivs are setup for them.

 

[Grrrit]

I've been planning on getting some ghosts, very cool critters indeed! Maybe one day an orchid mantis of the opportunity presents itself.

 

[Gnarly]

These are awesome. I need one. More pictures please.

 

[ZookeeperDoug]

These are awesome! They look like they are really small and you could keep them in a nano viv?

 

[frogparty]

They aren't full size yet but yes you could keep them in a nano

 

[motydesign]

dont waste the money on a nano... just buy a rack of 5.5 gal tanks and go from there. i would love to do mantises, however i cant figure out the food. blue bottle seems the only thing worthy and its a LOT (not money)to culture.
Frogparty, what are your plans for feeding after they are done with FFs?

 

[Pumilo]

I'm curious as to what kind of bugs you feed these guys. Is there a need to culture new types of (bigger) bugs or can you feed them with the same fruit flies and isopods we already culture?

edit: Looks like Moty beat me to it.

 

[dtfleming]

I saw ff when young then roaches, moths and house flies.

 

[motydesign]

great minds think alike doug

I saw ff when young then roaches, moths and house flies.

depends on the sp. some really only want to take flying prey.

 

[frogparty]

They are off ff's and eating crickets and houseflies. I buy housefly pupae and just hatch them out. I think I pay $5 for 500 do it's pretty cheap, and if fed the adults live for a
month and there isn't any smell. I know a few people on here have dubias too and they love a little dubia nymph. The orchid mantis really prefer flying food, or at least the movement of fluttering wings. There is no need to supplement their feeders beyond gutloadi g crickets, but there's a lot to be said for dusting with a little bee pollen because the mantids eat a lot of bees in nature and apparently there's some evidence that fecundity and ootheca size increases. I know a breeder who has a beehive just for this purpose. I will just catch some bees this summer.
They really are awesome, and their requirements are so much more simple than darts

 

[WeeNe858]

Do you know of any locals who breed these mantis? I have a nano orchid tank that needs an occupant.

 

[frogparty]

I do. I have ootheca of Creobroter pictipipennis (indian flower) Pseudocreobotra wahlbergii (spiny flower) and Oxyopsis gracilis (south american green) incubating now. I have stock of Ghosts, orchids, and dead leaf acanthops too young to breed yet, but soon. If you want some now, I can direct you to someone in so cal or to a good retailer