# On the hunt for the largest mantid species available...



## spider (Nov 8, 2011)

I've been looking and reading around, but seem to have only found something on the Giant Asian mantid.


Am I wrong, or is this the largest mantid species available?


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## SEB (Nov 8, 2011)

I'm not sure but Rhombodera megaera gets pretty massive. It is up there as one of the largest.


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## Eclipse (Nov 8, 2011)

Idolomantis Diabolica (Devil's Flower Mantis) is the King of mantids.

One of the largest mantises by far, really expensive and very very rare, very few people own them. Their babies are born pretty big too. I had a chance to own 2 nymphs of them a long time ago. Someone was selling them for really cheap on a forum I was on. They're pretty hard to take care of but if you can get it to adulthood it is very rewarding. Sadly I wasn't able to get neither of them to adulthood... 



Picture provided by Scott Thompson

and if you check around youtube you can see that an L1 are big enough to eat house flies. Most mantids need to start off with fruit flies.
I would also like to add the fact that they are communal if well fed.

Reactions: Like 3


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## DaveM (Nov 9, 2011)

Wow, thanks Eclipse -- such a fantastic looking creature!


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## Travis K (Nov 10, 2011)

Eclipse, that is one impressive species.  Maybe one day I will venture into keeping mantids?  I hatched out an Ooth from the back yard with my kids once, but that was it.  We let the hatchlings go, but they were very cute.


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## Deroplatys (Nov 12, 2011)

Idolomantis seem to be coming more available, i myself got a young nymph, they need a heat lamp and a diet of just flying food such as blue bottles. I think people sometimes have trouble with hatching ooths.
There's a tonne of info here.

http://www.ukmantisforums.co.uk/breeding-nymph-care/733-idolomantis-diabolica-diary.html

Another truely giant mantis (there are several massive species either not in culture or either extremely rare) is Plistospilota guineensis, they can get large than Idolomantis and very bulky, they are really impressive mantids. Unfortunately they are very rare as breeding seems to be a major issue with them.

http://www.ukmantisforums.co.uk/showthread.php?t=9053&page=3&p=69661#post69661

Giant Asians are probably your best bet though, they are also pretty large and very easily available.


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## catfishrod69 (Nov 12, 2011)

Eclipse, that mantid is mindblowing...if only they were available and easy to care for...


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## SEB (Nov 12, 2011)

Here is a good place to buy them if you live in the US.

http://mantisplace.com/mantisforsale.html

They currently have Idolomantis Diabolica nymphs for sale for $45 a piece. Not terrible. She also has a very large selection of other mantids. For sheer size and ease of husbandry I would recommend the Giant Asian Mantis or Giant Shield Mantis. I kept a Giant Shield and it did very well with very little care and reached 9cm in length.

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catfishrod69 said:


> Eclipse, that mantid is mindblowing...if only they were available and easy to care for...


In fact I just noticed that Rebecca is also in Ohio. So Idolomantis Diabolica are closer to you than you think!


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## catfishrod69 (Nov 12, 2011)

thats cool...unfortunately i have never had luck with mantids...even local ones..i hatched some out, and they were eating very well, drinking well, but dropping like flies....1 of them made it to a molt, and molted well, then died the next day...maybe i will get one later on, and give it a try...





SEB said:


> Here is a good place to buy them if you live in the US.
> 
> http://mantisplace.com/mantisforsale.html
> 
> ...


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## Eclipse (Nov 15, 2011)

That's a really good site to buy mantids from if you are in the US and it has a pretty good selection, but they are a little pricey on there in my opinion. If you are here in the US then check out www.mantidforum.net you can find local dealers within the states and many of the members usually hook you up on prices and make sweet deals you can't miss. There's also that UK forum that Deroplatys posted but I don't really see much of a difference except that the UK site is just a lot funner to look at. Both forums are nice but the UK one is funner to look at. I recommend the mantidforum.net if your in the US. The UK one is for everywhere else pretty much.


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