Praying Mantsperiment 2011. Are you in?

[mistersprinkles]

If you live in the northern half of the US or the southern 1/5th of Canada, in about 2 or 3 weeks, the baby Praying Mantis are going to hatch out.

I thought it'd be interesting to grow out an egg mass to adult, breed them, keep those egg masses, and overwinter them.

Who's in?

You need:
Crickets
Spray bottle
Smallish enclosure (mantises should be kept seperated, they don't need a huge amout of space individually) with ventillation. Keep out of direct sun. Room temperature is ok.

Basically, feed it, mist it so it can drink. That's it. Very easy to maintain. They need climbing surfaces.

YouTube - Praying Mantis Laying Ootheca - Egg Case

This is what the egg case looks like.
Make sure you position it inverted

YouTube - Praying Mantis Egg Case

The mantids are very tiny when they hatch and can only eat things like very small flies or pinhead crickets.

[RandyRhoads]

What was the point of this as far as an experiment? I'd love to keep them, awesome creatures. Are you talking about gathering their eggs and hatching? How would you go about that?

[mistersprinkles]

I don't think you have the annuals in Cali you probably have year rounders. They lay them on tall grass and reeds in the fall. You get your knees muddy in a field for an hour and find some . The experiment part is in propagating them.

[RandyRhoads]

Ah. I do see them pretty often in the summer. I didn't know it was so easy to house them. Think i'll snag one next time I see it...

[mistersprinkles]

They don't even run away. Make sure it's female or the egg laying part won't work. You'll also need a male. The females of all species are larger and more heavily bodied, especially in the thorax. If they are in the second last or last instar (moult) they will be noticeably fat.

Males are very skinny and light bodied. They can fly in most species while females usually can not due to their weight.

Once they mate, the female will attempt to eat the male. If you do catch them mating you can prevent this by keeping an eye on them and sliding a playing card between them as soon as the male attempts to 'de couple'. She'll try to eat him the second he disconnects.

They actually prefer the petstore crickets to their native prey which is usually gresshoppers as the crickets are juicier and softer bodied. Just make sure they have crickets and oxygen and they are misted daily that's all they need.

[RandyRhoads]

Can't wait to do this now. If they are the "year rounders" will they still be mating/laying around this time?

[stephanbakir]

Mantids and stick insects are illegal to own in Canada. 99% sure.

[mistersprinkles]

Originally Posted by stephanbakir

Mantids and stick insects are illegal to own in Canada. 99% sure.

What's your point?

If they are, that's quite idiotic, as mantids in North America exist as an introduced species due to rampant mantis gambling by asian migrant workers over the past three hundred years or so. Had they not been kept as pets and then released by people once they arrived here, we would have none.

Also, someone I know who has posted here was at one point keeping a large number of exotic 'diabolica' mantises, which were obtained with a cites permit.


As per the year rounders- what I've found is that in places where you have mantids all year round, you'll end up with varying stages of them all the time, so you can find an egg, a nymph, an adult, at the same time. If you can't find an egg case, you can find an adult pair and make your own egg case. win/win.

[vendettaseve]

Originally Posted by stephanbakir

Mantids and stick insects are illegal to own in Canada. 99% sure.

Google stuff before you post it please :P

They sell PMs as pets in Calgary, the insect not the government official, altho you can keep those too if you have enough money.


Edit: Altho it is not legal to import new species of them, you can keep local ones all you want.

[mistersprinkles]

Originally Posted by vendettaseve

the insect not the government official, altho you can keep those too if you have enough money.

I don't even want to think about how many crickets one of those would go through...

[mistersprinkles]

Anybody find one yet? I haven't been able to look as it has been pouring every day here since I posted this thread :*(.



Here's an entomologist explaining mantis care. Great videos.

YouTube - The Praying Mantis Life Cycle : Praying Mantis Diet

YouTube - The Praying Mantis Life Cycle : How to Hatch a Praying Mantis

YouTube - The Praying Mantis Life Cycle : Praying Mantis Mating Habits

YouTube - The Praying Mantis Life Cycle : Raising a Praying Mantis

[RandyRhoads]

The weather here is terrible. It's been raining for a few days.

[mistersprinkles]

FOUND TWO EGG CASES. Still intact. Should hatch in about 1 or 2 weeks. I got two in case anyone else on the forum in Toronto wants one? You can come pick it up. Easier than digging through a field and ruining your clothes yourself. Or I can direct you to a field.

PM me if interested. Will post pics of the cases later.

[mistersprinkles]

Here are the two egg cases. I put a needle through where it's just foam and there are no eggs. They're connected to a piece of cardboard, inverted, and about two inches from the bottom of the container.

If you're in the GTA and want a case or some babies please let me know.

[mistersprinkles]

Really? Nobody?