Mantis keeping

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yegor, 27.08.2005 0:25

Fellow entomologists!

Although this is not the most entomological forum in the world, but (despite/because of) I wonder a) whether there are many entomologists on molbiol b) how to keep mantises: catch, transport, keep, feed. I'm not going to breed, just hold and watch as the flies catch hotsa. I'll be very grateful.

A friend of entomologists.

Comments

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27.08.2005 22:33, yegor

It seemed to me that maggot flies, which are sold together with sawdust, and not rotting meat, are quite dry? And they also fly to the light, that is, they will sit in a jar on a "corpse", but how will the praying mantis catch them?
How is it that maggot flies are dry? You will get flies from them, if the larvae are alive and well, do not doubt.With rotting meat, I think it's safer.
Why don't you want to feed with tweezers?

This is what one terrariumist told me about flies, saying that the liquid inside such flies is less than normal.

With tweezers, you can probably feed, but I'm interested in just observing the natural hunting behavior.

Are there any other content tweaks? And then it's a pity-I'll catch them, bring them back, and they'll die...

30.08.2005 15:31, yegor

Here you need to decide what is meant by the term "juiciness".The water content in the plasma of the hemolymph(it is variable in the range of 75-90%) or the fat body(it is variable during the individual life of the insect).

Do you like cakes? Here there are dry cakes (waffle), and there are juicy (soaked, with cream).

In more detail, when a certain reptile eats a fly, then in the first case the latter crunches and it seems that it is empty inside (maybe the intestines are not filled), and in the latter case the first one slurps loudly, and the last one from all the cracks is rushing. To say that all this is a hemolymph - I will not risk it. Here is an alternative view of the fly!

"Which [fly] should I choose to fit all four of us?"

And most importantly-how many of them do you need per day? And how much by the way the mantis can not eat finally? Especially if, as you wrote, it is not specially watered? I know from the news that a person is only seven days old. By the way, I don't mean the time until he dies (the praying mantis), but the time during which the process is still reversible. That is, say, after a hunger strike, they gave him a fly, and he is still eager and able to catch it himself?

02.09.2005 15:56, Tigran Oganesov

Flies "from the window" and grown from maggots can be characterized at least by the type (biological, not visual), as well as by the conditions of development. At the same time, mantises are happy to eat

, And in general, it is better to feed flies to mantises of the family Empusidae, they just specialize in flies. And other mantises will be happy to eat any creature that fits the size (crickets, grasshoppers, cockroaches-all at the checkout)

Very small pilgrims are usually grown on fruit flies and aphids.
I kept a total of about 10 species and quite a long time, but not a single mantis died of obesity - if they are full, they simply do not catch prey.
Further, any mantises should be kept strictly separate, cannibalism is more than developed in them, even in gracile empusa.
Keep them in small cages, you can in plastic bottles, the main thing is to have something to sit on - all sorts of sticks, twigs, leaves (depending on the type). The conditions are different, some like humidity, others like dryness, here it happens in any way.
Yes, as far as I know, mantises don't have parthenogenesis (at least not in the species I kept).

Likes: 3

03.09.2005 19:28, Dracus

Related question: How much living space does an older mantis larva need for molting to be successful? I often come across larvae of interesting species (unfortunately, I don't always come to collect them in the right season), but so far I haven't been able to get an adult out of them. It was always kept in a three-liter bottle with twigs and a constant influx of food (empuz with their regime did not have to be kept yet). However, each time the molt ended unsuccessfully: either the praying mantis did not get out of the skin, or it died soon after, without spreading its wings. I got the idea that all these things come from the limited volume of the jar, i.e. the praying mantis somehow feels like there are walls around it. Is this the case, or is there another reason for all these cases?
Speaking of food, I never fed the adults flies, they were excellent consumers of skates and other small fillies.

09.09.2005 18:54, Tigran Oganesov

to Dzanat
If there was a real abdominal tear, then most likely he ran into something. I repeat, I have not seen a single praying mantis burst from overeating. Solpugs (phalanges) do not feel full, because their metabolism is very fast. Here they can burst from food-I saw it myself.
In nature, in winter, mantises, of course, "sleep". But in captivity, they can do without this completely. And if you suddenly have fifty little gluttons hatched in the middle of winter, then I advise you to contact your genetic brothers for fruit flies, and there are no problems breeding them.

to Dracus
Actually, three liters should be enough. The problem may be a lack of humidity or, conversely, over-water content. Humidity quite strongly affects the molt. It all depends on the species and its native habitat. Unfortunately, death during molting is a frequent problem, this is the most "narrow" place
in the content of any insects, so they must be provided with suitable housing conditions. If it is possible to provide the praying mantis with a more spacious "apartment" - do it and do not forget to put all sorts of twigs-sticks so that the praying mantis has something to hold on to when molting (and in life in general)

to stask
Commit-commit, especially when they are young

, but in general, their guidance system is very good - mantises have binocular vision and know exactly at what distance the prey is located.
And so that the female does not eat the male, it needs to be properly fattened, then with a high probability it will spare him

19.09.2005 11:50, Tigran Oganesov

to stask
In general, this is true. I don't remember the exact physiology right now, but a certain part of the male's "brain" really slows down the release (or maturation, I don't remember) of sperm . And when the female eats the head (and she always starts with it), the sperm begins to be released much more intensively and this increases the chances of fertilization (although with the head, the male completely fertilizes

. But, interestingly, this process is not turned into a mandatory ritual, i.e. the female may or may not eat the male. I think it depends on satiety, because when kept, a well-fed female will not eat the male. In any case, the legs of this phenomenon grow precisely from saturation, IMHO, they do not know their physiology

to PVOzerski
If you keep it in the dark , it almost always gets dark, but it doesn't seem to be in a transparent cage. And, in my opinion, there is no correlation with the time of day. I paid attention to this, but I didn't specifically study it. Intrigued

I'll catch a praying mantis today and do some surveillance. As soon as I find out, I'll unsubscribe.

11.10.2005 22:11, BO.

This summer I kept ordinary praying mantises on the windowsill.( observed four molts) I fed mostly krestoviki spiders. I was lucky, I observed mating and eating a male by a female.
After laying two oothecae, the female died three weeks later. The content was the same, just stopped eating .
Questions :
1. death of a female-has the program and kayak been completed? She stayed with me for about 6 months.
2. There is a desire to bring mantises out of the ootek in the spring . If you have any experience, please share it.

On http://photo.bov.com.ru my photos of insects. Many are undefined.
I will be glad to hear your comments.
P.S. Materials about praying mantises are not ready yet .I'll post it before the end of the month.
Sincerely VO.

19.12.2005 23:40, Gfdtk

Hello, everyone! Mantises have been living in my house since September.By external signs-females.
Until recently, there were 2 of them. But a couple of weeks ago, one of the females was tragically eaten by another.

I identified them as green Chinese praying mantises. Now I'm wondering if there are any live male praying mantises and where to really buy them? Or an ooteka, and how much it might cost..(I don't need many praying mantises. A couple is enough.

)) I also wonder how long the female who stayed with me can live..During all this time, it never shed..So I think she's already an old lady...

))
From my personal impressions, I can say that these are very original insects. Not a sound from the family. They do not cause any inconvenience to anyone..
I live in Moscow..

08.01.2006 3:43, Gfdtk

Lots of questions at once:
1. Do you have any photos/can you post them?
2. Where does the praying mantis come from?
3. Do you have wings?

There is no such type ("green Chinese"), at least not by that name. But who is interesting.

Yes, you're probably right. I said it wrong. It looks like Mantis Religiosa or Tenodera Aridifolia. In short, they are uniform such a green color.

Further answers in order..
1. There are photos in good quality, I post them, previously reduced.
2. I brought them from the south of Russia, and more specifically Lazarevskoye (a suburb of Sochi)
3. There are wings, legs and all that is necessary.