Mantis keeping

Community and Forum → Insects breeding → Mantis keeping

Pages: 1 ...10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18... 27

31.08.2009 15:34, Enterprise

Something strange is happening, I regularly catch grasshoppers, but she has not eaten for 3 days, just hangs at the top, and when a grasshopper crawls up, she pulls away and throws it off the lid. Maybe it's because the grasshopper is big? I found a place where there are not only such ordinary ones, but also such large ones, as thick as a finger, half a finger long, loud singing (I sent two of them to a small terrarium in the punishment cell and under a pillow, so that it was less audible). Also, is it nomral that one such large grasshopper first bit off its big jumping leg and ate it, and then attacked another small grasshopper and also ate it? I thought grasshoppers were herbivores. And it's like a male was, he has 8 segments on the abdomen. In any case, something happens to the praying mantis, it doesn't pay any attention to the little ones at all, when they climb on it(on the back, on the abdomen), it doesn't react in any way. And constantly climbs up if it accidentally flew down.
Some photos -
user posted image

It is still there for the big ones, that is, the fear of other big ones is incomprehensible.
user posted image

Next to it is the remains of a leg that was eaten by another large grasshopper. user posted image

This post was edited by Enterprise - 08/31/2009 15: 51

05.09.2009 11:39, Enterprise

Ahhh, I just woke up, got out of bed, looked into the terrarium, everything seems to be fine.. I blew a small fan into one of the lattices and then I saw that the praying mantis was very thin! I think, really! Rodilaaa! I attached an ooteka so that you won't see it right away! Immediately began to eat, I think this is the "prenatal" indicators-the female evades the abdominal part in size and stops eating, almost. And then ... bang. The female is alive, the ootheca is large and white. Photo below.. So, now there are important questions-when they hatch, will it be in a gap or fixed closer to the summer? When to hatch, what to feed, whether it is necessary to drop off the mother after that, otherwise she will also eat them. Will they not fit through the ventilation grate, 2 mm approximately holes in it in width.
Now the female eats hard, hmm, even very hard

17.09.2009 10:15, Renoiro

BUTTERFLY, I myself have no experience with ooteks yet, so you'd better google it and read it here in the topic earlier. The main thing is that for" local "mantises, the trigger for leaving the ooteka is the end of the" cold period", i.e. they need frost in winter, keeping them in the house all the time is not an option. At the same time, it would be nice to guess so that they come out by the time the grub can be obtained.
I decided for myself as follows. If the praying mantis is local, then somehow they can withstand our conditions. Therefore, I will keep it on the balcony, and the temperature drops gradually, and not immediately, which seems to be more correct. And in order not to freeze in severe frosts, I will transfer it to the refrigerator for the time of very negative temperatures.

29.09.2009 21:39, Morfey

alexalex, first specify who your male or female partner is. It is not difficult to determine this in an adult. The body of males consists of eight segments, while females have six segments. This is clearly visible if you look at the abdomen. Plus, as a rule, males have much longer whiskers, and females have short ones.
Males die first in autumn. They have mated and, evolutionarily, apparently, they are no longer needed for further existence. Females die later - they still need to lay their eggs in the ootheca.
Also keep in mind that some insects need a certain period after molting until they start eating.
And the temperature regime and other microclimatic parameters are also important, low temperatures are associated with a drop in appetite.
Maybe it's especially the food. Have you changed it? Sometimes, having got used to one food, the insect becomes picky and refuses to eat other food.

This post was edited by Morfey - 09/29/2009 21: 41