Mantis keeping

Crickets and cockroaches of various types can be bought at the Kondratyevsky market (also known as Polyustrovsky, m. 'Lenin Square', exit to the square, buses 106, 107 and others); to the left of the main entrance, on the second floor under a canopy /where birds, guinea pigs, snakes, etc./. The market is open only on Saturdays, Sundays and public holidays, until 16: 00. By the way, sellers do not always bring food insects to the market, it is better to agree with them in advance what types and how much.

Until about mid-October, various insects for food can (and, in my opinion, even better) be caught outside the city. "Monotonous" crickets and cockroaches they still have to eat all winter.

I will be happy to take one M. religiosa library.

P.S. Looking for male tree mantis Hierodula tenuidentata, for half the offspring or in exchange for a female.

This post was edited by Boris - 06.09.2006 19: 03

There were no crickets at the Kondratyevsky market on Sunday... I can give you the library: I already have two of them =) And they are not going to stop there. How can I contact you?
Oddly enough, my females don't tend to eat my males. Couples live happily together. But the females fight among themselves even through the glass of aquariums.

A bit off-topic - does anyone know how to safely put an insect to sleep for a while? It is necessary to make a mantis photo set for 3D modeling, but it is not given.

And where in nature to look for a tree mantis? I didn't find it in Crimea. Is he really in the photos?
True, I even had to run 150 kilometers for the sake of my 10 religions...

A bit off-topic - does anyone know how to safely put an insect to sleep for a while? It is necessary to make a mantis photo set for 3D modeling, but it is not given.

As far as I know, bumblebees are "put to sleep" with carbon dioxide, then they "wake up".

This post was edited by Bad Den - 07.09.2006 10: 20

And where in nature to look for a tree mantis? I didn't find it in Crimea. Is he really in the photos?
True, I even had to run 150 kilometers for the sake of my 10 religions...

In the Crimea, it is not even there - it is too dry. We live in the Tuapse-Sochi area, where the humidity is high.

As far as I know, bumblebees are "put to sleep" with carbon dioxide, then they "wake up".

Exactly, bumblebees were euthanized by UG, mantises were not tried. Alternatively, you can freeze it in the refrigerator, but do not freeze it.

Instead of putting it to sleep, you can try to shoot the mantis in its usual motionless-suspended form, turn the photos over. On a horizontal surface, you can give a larger insect (a song grasshopper, for example); then it will take five or even ten minutes to shoot until it eats.
You haven't registered yet, so I can't send you a private message. Write to me l / s, or register and I will write to you.

Here, I registered.
Unfortunately, it won't work as usual. I need full references, but how can I get him to open his wings and show me how they work?
I think I can handle a praying mantis with two hands and tweezers, but I need something else to take pictures with... On Saturday, we'll try to torment him together. If it doesn't work out, put it in the refrigerator. Are there still singing grasshoppers in nature? I'm thinking of going to the country for game, but I don't want to do it just for the flies and small fillies.

 
I need full references, but how can I get him to open his wings and show me how they work?

Freeze it or wait for it to recline itself...

If it dies, it will lose its color and texture almost immediately. Tested on akrids. so only live

You can safely put it to sleep with chloroform vapors. Put a piece of rubber soaked in it (chloroform is well absorbed into the rubber, which makes it swell) or cotton wool in a jar with an insect for 10-15 seconds, until the animal falls asleep. Then pull out and remove. You can't leave it in the bank - it will die. After a few (3-5) minutes, it starts to move. Often, it is better not to repeat this procedure with a single copy.
This is how we put fruit flies to sleep for counting.

This post was edited by Boris - 08.09.2006 19: 07

2 DmitryBurkow: it seems to me that the simplest and most easily feasible way to temporarily immobilize a praying mantis at home is to act on it with carbon dioxide. Chloroform, of course, is good, and the hassle with it is less, but it is not so easy to get it. Carbon dioxide can also be obtained by using fairly cheap reagents from the nearest grocery store: You will only need ordinary baking soda, and some organic acid - for example, citric or acetic acid. Next, I will try to explain what I would do if I were faced with the task of temporarily "putting down" a praying mantis: I would take a half-liter plastic bottle, in the cork of which I would make a hole, in diameter equal to the thickness of the tube from the dropper. In this hole, you need to fix this very tube, carefully sealing the entry point of the tube, for example, with plasticine. I would put the mantis in a mayonnaise jar, or any other small container, closed with a lid with a hole made in it with a diameter obviously larger than the thickness of the tube from the dropper. This hole does not need to be sealed. In a plastic bottle, you need to pour soda - I can't say exactly how much, but I think that three tablespoons should be enough. Soda should be filled with the most concentrated aqueous solution of organic acid (the essence of using a solution of high concentration is that in this way we will reduce the loss of carbon dioxide, which is perfectly soluble in water - in a diluted solution, water can sorb everything that needs to be sent to the container to the praying mantis), for example, very good for this a saturated solution of citric acid is suitable for this purpose, because when using concentrated vinegar, we risk "poisoning" the praying mantis with acid vapors, and lemongrass is non-volatile. Then we tightly fasten the cork with a tube to the bottle with the gas that is rapidly released in it, and lower the other end of the tube through the hole in the lid into the container with the praying mantis. All that remains is to wait: carbon dioxide will soon displace air from the jar with the praying mantis (since it is heavier than air), and after a while the praying mantis will "fall asleep". I don't even take it upon myself to specify the approximate time of exposure, I think that it will be possible to choose it experimentally, or maybe someone from more experienced people will tell me. In any case, you should not overexpose the insect in a CO2 atmosphere, as there is a risk of simply killing it

If it dies, it will lose its color and texture almost immediately. Tested on akrids. so only live

No, mantises lose their color quite slowly, and even then very slightly, not at all like straight-winged ones. The wings, for example, will remain the same.

In the Crimea, it is not even there - it is too dry. We live in the Tuapse-Sochi area, where the humidity is high.

Correction: in the Crimea, it is still there, in the wet valleys between the mountains.

Newly released nymphs of the first age, at 25 rubles/piece.

This post was edited by Boris - 11/30/2007 20: 48

are they only sold in St. Petersburg?

Yes.

what should I feed them?

You can feed it to flies. Only the flies must be alive and mobile, otherwise he will not notice them and will not eat.

In an extreme case (when there is absolutely nothing), you can feed a bloodworm - tear the larva and anoint the face of the praying mantis with its blood, it begins to clean and, with some probability, begins to eat. But this is very dreary, you have to shove the bloodworm in his face for a long time and persistently, while he tastes the bloodworm. Initially, he does not perceive it as a food object, throws it out and defends himself in every possible way. This strange method can help out in winter, when there is no other food at hand.

Tyk in winter, our praying mantises seem to die on their own?

Our local praying mantis stayed with me until mid-November. But at the expense of winter, this is already coolly said. Probably not about the Russian representatives we are talking about. Please clarify the situation dear Brandashmyg!

Our people will die. Males are on their own, around the first days of October, and females after oviposition. Before death, they become sluggish and lose caution. For example, last year I shot a male on September 20 right in the middle of the sidewalk, and he died at night.

Some mantises overwinter in the larval stage. In addition, at home, mantises can hatch in the middle of winter, if the ooteka is not sent for wintering. That's why the moth is needed - for the young. All this applies to our praying mantises, but it may be different for tropical ones.

Our local praying mantis stayed with me until mid-November. But at the expense of winter, this is already coolly said. Probably not about the Russian representatives we are talking about. Clear up the situation dear Brandashmyg!

Yes, of course I meant tropical animals. According to the well-known law, they always fall into the hands at the moment when there is nothing to feed them! It is better to use a bloodworm in the most extreme case, after all, the food is not optimal, and it is dangerous-it seems (I did not check it myself, this is at the level of rumors) larvae can accumulate all sorts of rubbish from the silt of reservoirs where they live - so many aquarists do not like it (the bloodworm) very much.

It is better to use a bloodworm in the most extreme case, after all, the food is not optimal, and it is dangerous-it seems (I did not check it myself, this is at the level of rumors) larvae can accumulate all sorts of rubbish from the silt of reservoirs where they live - so many aquarists do not like it (the bloodworm) very much.

Yes, this phenomenon occurs. In my opinion, it is easier to buy live maggots, in a week - live flies.

In the larval stage? Is this an empusa?

Yeah

The fact that the moth is harmful, at least for M. religiosa, has already been verified. The L3-4 nymphs fed to them died the very next day.

Feed them with bloodworms? What kind of perversion is this? Buy crickets or cockroaches!

The fact that the moth is harmful, at least for M. religiosa, has already been verified. The L3-4 nymphs fed to them died the very next day.

Well, you're the one who's really unlucky. On the other hand, when growing mantis larvae, the waste is usually always very large, not less than half. Or was I just unlucky?

In my growing experience, when feeding crickets (brownies, bananas) or drosophila, for the entire period before reaching the imago stage, about one or two nymphs out of ten die, and most often during moults they cannot get out of the skin.
Maybe it's the bloodworm after all.

The post was edited by Boris - 09.04.2007 22: 04

Dear experts. Tell me, please, where in Moscow you can get fruit flies? I've already applied to Tropicarium – but it's not there now. Nymphs of the tree mantis of the 1st age have nothing to feed. Maybe someone has connections with the Department of Genetics of Moscow State University or Timiryazevka? Or maybe someone breeds them? In this case, give (or sell) I need 100 pieces. I will be very grateful (I can give about twenty larvae or edema). I really want to feed adults of both sexes this year.

Nikolay! Buy three stale apples, or a few rotten ones. Cut them into large chunks. Put it all in a large half-open bag and leave it for a day or two. I think there will be no need to buy fruit flies.
Instead of apples, you can use pears, plums, grapes and some other fruits.

So after all, you can do it yourself - sour a couple of apples and that's it!

Come on, they don't self-incense, they don't usually start up at the end of winter and spring, they don't exist...

Thank you for your advice. But I fully share Sealor's view that fruit flies cannot self-generate in rotting fruit (provided that they have not previously laid eggs). Still cool for fruit flies. Although in products from supermarkets-maybe. And I put apples and pears on them. They drink juice from the cut surface (perhaps even eat some amount of fiber). Maybe it will give them a little longer life. However, the stool from fruit becomes liquid (and this is clearly not the norm). Shredding maggots is a dreary task. But they grab it much more readily than the same bloodworm (from which, as it seems to me, there is a reduction in the number of livestock - but this still needs to be checked).

Nikolai, fruit flies easily "self-generate". Actually, apples were needed for their appearance.

Nymphs of the tree mantis of the 1st age have nothing to feed.

They can easily be fed with cut crickets or cockroaches. I'm sorry if the actions I described seem repulsive, but in the absence of adequate food, this is the only way to keep the mantis nymphs alive.
The artificial feeding method is based on the fact that mantises can detect food not only visually - by movement, but also by smell.

In the insect being fed, you need to cut off the legs, wings and crush the nerve ganglia (head and thoracic) with tweezers. Having cut off a piece of such weight that the praying mantis is able to hold it in the air, you need to bring it to the "face" of the pet with tweezers. The movement should be as slow as possible, otherwise the praying mantis will perceive it as a threat. It is very good if a drop of liquid appears on the edge of the piece - then it identifies the object as food faster and starts eating more willingly. Sensing something edible nearby, the praying mantis first aims its antennae, then, after 5-10 seconds, it moves forward as if uncertainly, moving its tentacles until it touches the food with them. Then he begins to eat, and after another ten seconds he grabs a piece with his front legs.

I used cricket nymphs of 1-1. 5 cm in size (the cover of older adults is already too hard for L1), and adult banana cockroaches (Panchlora nivea).

About a month ago, I suckled 20 L1 tree mantis nymphs in this way, now they are in the fourth stage.

>someone has connections with the msu department of genetics

I have no connections, but there are usually a lot of extra fruit flies, the probability that they are there is more than 50%. At the entrance, explain where you are going - they will write down your passport there - and that's it. It is convenient to put flies in polyeth. package-they fly to the light. As for self-generation, I confirm it, but this process goes better in the 2nd half of the year, and in the spring-not so much. Still, if you are lucky, you can collect aphids on the undergrowth or branches of poplar and bird cherry, but I'm afraid it's too early. About small mosquitoes from flower pots (gallica), too, do not forget.

How many times a day do L1 nymphs need to be fed for their normal development? Last year, they could eat 3 galleys at a time (this year, as luck would have it, they are not in one pot – apparently their population was then completely exterminated by me). Is it enough to feed them once a day? I don't have any cricket or cockroach larvae yet. I'll get it – I'll definitely try it! While I feed cut maggots. I moisten a piece of maggot with water and bring it directly under the lip and jaw palps. So the tasting process goes faster (and you can drink less often). However, from the experience of feeding L5-L6 larvae, I noticed that for normal digestion, you need more chitin than it is available in the maggot (perhaps its pieces are needed for smaller grinding of tissues in the pyloric part of the stomach). So I fed the fly first, and then the maggots. This reasoning is given because several nymphs have died. Before death, the following symptoms were observed: the larva began to move slowly, then simultaneous convulsive contractions of the walking legs were observed, after which the larva died. How can this be caused? Is it an infection (for example, bacteria from the intestines of maggots)? In the control group, which I feed with bloodworms, I did not observe such symptoms (there the larvae just quietly bend, and the mortality rate is even higher by 10 pcs., although these data cannot be considered statistically reliable). Pears are lying down… They're rotting… Francesco Redi would have been surprised (or rather, he would have turned over in his grave). But now it's getting colder just not to the point (and female fruit flies do not curl over pears). I'll try to go to the Department of Genetics at Moscow State University.