aus / nz mantid final molt

Got back from holiday to find one of our aus / nz mantids has had his final molt. He's pretty big though he doesnt seem to have been able to form his wings properly.

hes a beauty!

Beautiful specimen! That's a female, by the way.

Reminds me a bit of my H. grandis that I had a couple summers ago. She was massive, and had some bad problems with her final molt. Went on to live another five months, though.

IHeartMantids wrote:

Beautiful specimen! That's a female, by the way.

Reminds me a bit of my H. grandis that I had a couple summers ago. She was massive, and had some bad problems with her final molt. Went on to live another five months, though.

Yeah bad molts are a bit touch and go, this is the first minor one ive had though.

How did you sex her? I have another who is always only a few days behind, currently sub-adult, maybe if he turns out to be a man-mantis..!

In that last picture, did you notice how her terminal segment has a vertical slit in it? That's the genital opening. Males have two small structures that look like cerci located between the true cerci.

Also, females are generally larger than males and have smaller antennae. Females will also have wider abdomens shaped like () where males are shaped like ||. Males are more likely to fly, as well.

I see... Thanks for your help. I'll check the sub-adult tomorrow and see whats going on there, probably resulting in confusion and a picture posted for you to check lol

But thanks!

IHeartMantids wrote:

In that last picture, did you notice how her terminal segment has a vertical slit in it? That's the genital opening. Males have two small structures that look like cerci located between the true cerci.

Also, females are generally larger than males and have smaller antennae. Females will also have wider abdomens shaped like () where males are shaped like ||. Males are more likely to fly, as well.

I think im going to start calling you the bug guru lol

After going on a hike with me, most people tell me I should be a guide.

ive no idea lol

Bug booty! Woohoo! haha

How long do these guys live?

I remember being young and having caught a mantis before. We put him in a 10 GAL tank with a screen lid. Well.. She decided to make a egg sac thingy (not sure what it's called) at the top and sometime later a bunch of babies were crawling ALL over! It was pretty cool, as I was pretty young (around 8-9 I'd say), and never had experienced something like that before.

I don't even need to see the genitals to tell you that's a female. Notice the parentheses-shaped abdomen? Males will have a straight and narrow one.

By the way, take a look at the wing pads -- she's going to molt ANY day now.

Jaeger, very few mantids live longer than 10 months. I heard the "record" was 11 months, but also that some ghost mantids may live for over a year. I had a giant Indian (H. grandis) survive about 10 months. Most temperate species hatch in June or July and die by the first freeze.

Oh, and the egg mass is called an ootheca. Same name as the things cockroaches make.

its a shame mantids dont live to long. i guess there isnt really any point in keeping them if you arent going to breed.

Yeah she molt last night, molted fine i'll take a picture soon. She did her wings properly as well and can hold them flat against her back.

I had a male female pair of ghost mantids.. Unfortunately the female copped it. I find they eat a lot less and seem to grow so much slower than most mantids.

I am yet to breed but I still keep mantids. For the more normal ones the price reflects their lifespan (I just got 3 peacock mantids for ten quid) but even so, african mantids are a lot of fun and very cheap!

Is the abdomen shape a reliable method for all mantids or just certain species? I checked this morning and their back ends look the same, as well as antenna length.

I don't have the ambition to breed mantids -- lots of tiny babies that can only handle fruit flies for several weeks. The orchid mantis I had was worth the money, but she died a couple of weeks ago.

IHeartMantids wrote:

I don't have the ambition to breed mantids -- lots of tiny babies that can only handle fruit flies for several weeks. The orchid mantis I had was worth the money, but she died a couple of weeks ago.

We've been looking for orchid mantids, we found one for 30 quid. If I could find a pair id have them though