Giant African mantis

[Nicolle Lindsey]

She is sphodromantis lineola. (Sp?)

 

[The Mantis Menagerie]

I like to give my mantids small crickets or red runners. Flies are such a pain to work with and as long as you feed your crickets right there's no problem using them. Also, there are many mantis species in Africa, so maybe you should use scientific names so we know exactly what you're talking about

Pet-store crickets killed half of my mantis collection this year. I haven't had any issues with banded crickets (Gryllodes sigillatus).

It is almost universally understood in the mantis hobby that "giant African mantis" refers to a species in the genus Sphodromantis. More specific common names that are used in reference to unrelated species, such as "devil's flower mantis," should be replaced with scientific names.

 

[Nicolle Lindsey]

I bought some small banded crickets for my girl. She ate one but that was it. Now I have about 19 crickets in a keeper. Probably will try again in a few days

 

[Greasylake]

Pet-store crickets killed half of my mantis collection this year

I haven't had that problem, but I can see it happening with one of the chain pet stores. I'm not sure why banded crickets would be fine and not regular crickets, as the only concerns I've heard of people having were with the cricket's diets.

 

[The Mantis Menagerie]

The argument is that since banded cricket are a different species, they do not vector the same pathogens as Acheta domestica. As I understand it, the whole reason Gryllodes sigillatus is available in the first place is because it is more resistant to the diseases that killed off many Acheta domestica farms.

 

[KevinsWither]

I've fed mines in the past regular crickets and they seem to do well. Although it varies inbetween various petsmart stores.

 

[The Mantis Menagerie]

I was doing fine for a while, but that batch was bad.

 

[KevinsWither]

But I recommend making your own cultures of feeder insects, a variety of them! Banded crickets, roaches, silverfish, etc.

 

[The Mantis Menagerie]

I do not have much space. I have roach colonies, but they are not prolific enough to use continuously. My attempts at cricket colonies keep failing. My most recent failure resulted in baby crickets escaping, somehow finding food in my butterfly enclosure, and then thriving in the corners of the enclosure for months. I eventually killed them all, but I wish I knew how to properly raise feeder crickets as my frogs prefer them over roaches. My main complaint with crickets is the smell. I know there must be some way to keep them from reeking since I have come across people raising crickets with minimal smell. So far, I have not figured out the key difference between their setups and mine.

 

[Introvertebrate]

..............I know there must be some way to keep them from reeking since I have come across people raising crickets with minimal smell. So far, I have not figured out the key difference between their setups and mine.

Have you seen their setups firsthand? It might just be internet folklore.

 

[The Mantis Menagerie]

Have you seen their setups firsthand? It might just be internet folklore.

I have seen (and smelled) them first hand. The best cricket colony I have seen is at the insectarium where I volunteer. It obviously doesn't smell perfect, but it is far better than any of my cricket colonies.

 

[Introvertebrate]

Interesting. I suspect that cricket colonies require almost daily intervention to keep them clean and remove dead ones. Not that the results aren’t worth it.

 

[Nicolle Lindsey]

Hmm. Interesting discussion about crickets. I will keep this in mind when I attempt breeding them when I get my own place. Just updating you guys. She is going to molt. She ignored the fruit flies today. They were crawling on her and she had no reaction so I removed them. This is the first day of denting her food. She ate a cricket 3 days ago. How long do you guys think it will be before she molts?

 

[KevinsWither]

I would say too that making sure the crickets aren't eating their own feces is a thing.

 

[Nicolle Lindsey]

She finally molted. Now she's l4. Whoo! My question now is how long after molting should I provide food?

 

[Greasylake]

She finally molted. Now she's l4. Whoo! My question now is how long after molting should I provide food?

Mantis don't take long to harden, 2 days or so should be enough.

 

[Ratmosphere]

I would order house fly pupae. They hatch in a few days and are great for a mantis that size. Mantisplace.com usually has them in stock. A last resort would be small crickets.