# Raising a baby praying mantis



## Ariel (Aug 2, 2009)

Friday while I was working, I work at a local pet clinic doing kennel work, I went out a door I usually don't, the one that opens from the breakroom by chance, and when  I walked out onto the small patio I found a baby praying mantis. 
Well I love bugs, and I thought I'd bring him home with me and raise him into adulthood then release him, its what i've done in previous years with species of butterflies and moths, (still looking for catipillers!) 

He's maybe just over an inch in length and I'm feeding him a single pantry moth a day and a few flightless fruitflies, which I don't like, cause they get out. 

I'm just asking for tips and ideas for raising him, he's a fast little guy!

Here he is:


----------



## whitewolf (Aug 2, 2009)

sent you a pm on info I was given awhile back hope it helps. All the pretty colors and neat habbits careful they are addicting too. They are fun I love my two.


----------



## Ariel (Aug 2, 2009)

yes, thank you very much for the info. ^^

oh my, I think I'm already catching the tarantula bug, I don't need to be addicted to mantids too XD


----------



## biomarine2000 (Aug 6, 2009)

Could you post the info?  I'd like to have it also.


----------



## Ariel (Aug 7, 2009)

for anyone who would like an update on this little guy. He molted sometime over night and has tripled in size!!! I've transfered him from the box I had him in to a masons jar with some soil, some leaved from a house plant, and a stick. He wasn't to happy to no longer beable to climb on the walls at first.  he kind of threw a fit. 

here's the shed skin:






and here he is:






he gripping the edge of the glass that sticks out, other than that he can hang onto the walls.


----------



## cacoseraph (Aug 7, 2009)

please don't release it when you are done with it


presumably you are not wild catching it's food?  well, using petstore or other cultured feeders means there is a chance you are infecting the predator with a non-native bug sickness (yes, bugs get sick =P ).   even if you are feeding it WC prey if you have other exotics or feed other stuff from cultured prey the chance exists.  some of the bug pathogens are truly insane and would be devastating if introduced into the wrong area


one thing that SUCKS about bug pathogens is that not all of them are fatal and easily noticeable.  a lot of them just make the bugs less fit or mess up their breeding or what not.

some can even change boys to girls, make offsprings predominantly or totally female, or in some special cases make females parthenogenic (make babies without mating)


anyhow, it would take someone much better informed and smarter than myself to design how to safely (in say, 99.99% of cases) release bugs back into nature 





oh, and i fully think that the majority of the time bugs probably could be released back into nature with no ill affects.... but a small chance multiplied by total devastation still equals too big of a risk, to me.   i really wanted to do reintroduction work until i realized how hard it would be :/


----------



## Ariel (Aug 7, 2009)

well I only fed it cultured flightless fruitflies once, then I stopped cause they were just nasty to work with. other than that i've been feeding him the seed moths (that come on the bird food) that are around my house and whatever small moth I could catch outside. Other than that I have two tarantulas I've fed a cricket each since the mantis came into my possession, and neither of them lasted very long.  

If you truely think it's a risk, maybe I shouldn't, but now I feel bad, that'll be one less mantis out there to have little mantis babies


----------



## cacoseraph (Aug 7, 2009)

odds are its an introduced species and shouldn't be here anyways


----------



## Ariel (Aug 7, 2009)

you're probably right, but I still feel a little guilty. Oh well, I guess I'll just have my pretty green companion for al little longer.


----------



## cacoseraph (Aug 7, 2009)

well, think of it this way


you *could* be saving thousands of mantids and other bugs by *not* releasing it


----------



## Ariel (Aug 7, 2009)

yeah, I guess thats true.


----------



## BrianWI (Aug 12, 2009)

We have hatches of mantids by our farm, will be hundreds if not thousands for a few short days. They tend to eat each other and everything else eats them too. I have saved a few dozen at times, raised them in mason jars and released them w/ no ill effect. I figure getting them bigger before putting them back out means more survive as adults are very rare. I leave out some fruit and collect the fruit flies that gather to feed to the really small young ones. Then flies and such as they get older, then out in my garden they go.


----------



## Ariel (Aug 14, 2009)

I tried flightless fruitflies but they were just gross, and they got out and wondered my room, so I've been feeding him, especially as he got bigger, pantry "seed" moths that get into our house via bird food for our many winged companions. 

I acctually have an update on this little fellow, so I might as well post it  I got a video and some awesome pics.

He's getting alot bigger and he's gone from that peridoh green to brown with a notable striped pattern on its grasping arms. at this point I think he is about 1.5 inches now. 













here's a short video of him with his latest meal.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DVMM0zITpeE


----------



## Eclipse (Aug 14, 2009)

Just so you know, you have a female  If you count the segments on its abdomen in the 3rd pic you'll find that it has 6 segments which mean it's a female. 7 or more then it's male. You'll have to count the segments from the underside though because the top has like... 10. 


Oh and for future references once she becomes an adult she will lay an eggcase called an "oothecae" or ooth for short. Mated or not, she'll produce a couple of ooths, but they will not hatch if shes not mated.

Hope I helped


----------



## Ariel (Aug 14, 2009)

Eclipse said:


> Just so you know, you have a female  If you count the segments on its abdomen in the 3rd pic you'll find that it has 6 segments which mean it's a female. 7 or more then it's male. You'll have to count the segments from the underside though because the top has like... 10.
> 
> 
> Oh and for future references once she becomes an adult she will lay an eggcase called an "oothecae" or ooth for short. Mated or not, she'll produce a couple of ooths, but they will not hatch if shes not mated.
> ...


female huh? awesome, now I can name her. LOL.  I'm still not sure weather or not if I'll release her. I'd like to but I am worried about what cacoseraph said.  

I was aware of the eggcases, i've had mantids before, even tried mating a pair once (she died before she laid her eggs) so I've done some reaserch. I didn't know about the segements though, thank you.


----------



## Ariel (Aug 15, 2009)

well we had a little accident today, I think she's ok, she really feasted afterwards so I'm sure she's fine 

theres a video, just be sure to read the story posted to the right of it. Poor girl, still has an apetite though. LOL

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cPK42NjJkQ8&feature=channel_page


----------



## mitchnast (Aug 15, 2009)

in my experience, when you raise a wild-caught mantis nymph on indian (seed) moths, and then petstore crickets, (done it myself)
they get more wobbly and handicapped with each molt. eventually they stop climbing, then cant stand up. If they make it to adulthood, they are pretty much just lying around waiting for you to hand them a lame cricket.
I don't know why, but i'll reckon it's a nutritional deficiency.


----------



## Ariel (Aug 15, 2009)

I usually don't feed her crickets and those will likely be the last. I was just having some bad luck finding the moths and I was already at the store to buy crickets for my Ts. the fall had nothing to do with poor nutrition from crickets, those two crickets she ate in the vid are her first and only crickets.


----------



## luther (Aug 16, 2009)

I've never had any problems feeding cultured insects to any of my mantids. They've all grown big and strong on them.  I would pay more attention to the humidity and particularly the air flow.  My Ghosts and Wandering Violins did very well just being hung from indoor window ledge plants.  They were able to choose their own diet


----------



## Ariel (Aug 16, 2009)

well thats good to know, I'm not to worried about humidity and such, its not an exotic one or anything, it's just a native one I happened upon, but thanks none the less for the advice.

and update on the little gal, she's completely rid of the broken leg and she's doing absolutely fine, eating great, moving just fine, and going back to her games of hiding behind the branch when she sees me approch. It's unbelievably cute.  Moves and hunts very well for missing a leg!


----------



## Tarantula_man94 (Aug 16, 2009)

off topic but mantises are freaking awsome


----------



## Ariel (Aug 16, 2009)

Tarantula_man94 said:


> off topic but mantises are freaking awsome


HAHA that they are


----------



## Bugs In Cyberspace (Aug 17, 2009)

Ariel,

I'm very sorry to read some of the comments in this growing thread. Stagmomantis carolina is native to your state and is surely what you have there. I'm rather shocked to see that everybody is going along with the idea that it might be non-native. 

You're doing great and there is no shame or concern in loving your native bug and releasing it if you so choose.

I may have misundertood a post way back on page one, but if anybody has concerns about what may be harbored in the guts of the millions+ pet store crickets raised and sold each year, we have a lot more to worry about than a native mantis that might eat one.

(By the way, I had the pleasure of collecting with Trace from the zoo in Omaha last month. He's an enthusiastic bug guy and the zoo there is real asset to the state!)


----------



## whitewolf (Aug 17, 2009)

Good to see your still having fun with it.

BIC: Just an FYI the baby bugwing I got from you finally got her wings lol. She even gave me a little nip on the finger for doing tank mantince the other day. Owch but how cute.


----------



## Ariel (Aug 17, 2009)

Bugs In Cyberspace said:


> Ariel,
> 
> I'm very sorry to read some of the comments in this growing thread. Stagmomantis carolina is native to your state and is surely what you have there. I'm rather shocked to see that everybody is going along with the idea that it might be non-native.
> 
> ...


I was pretty sure she was a native species, I did find her, like i said, and she looked like just a smaller, wingless version of all other mantids I'd seen in the past. I didn't think she was a non-native species. Thank you for clearing that up, and for the scientific name.

Thanks, I love doing it because it's a way for me to get closer to nature with out really damaging the population, since i release them when they've grown up. I've done this several times with monarchs, I acctually have two now, one thats cocooned and one that looks like its getting ready to, when they hatch I'll release them too. 

true enough owo If anything i'd be much more worried about my Ts than my little mantis, though i love her, my Ts are my babies! But I'm fairly sure they arn't doing much, if any, damage. I understand the concern since they're kept in a small area in huge groups, but still.

After I get my liecense (which will hopefully be soon with all of the set backs I've had D: ) I plan to get a job at the zoo, right now I work at a pet clinic, which I love, but I think zoo keeping is more my calling. I've probably met him, I mean I'm at the zoo every other week if not more (that is NOT a joke LOL) and I'm a bit on the chatty side and often get into conversations with the keepers.



whitewolf said:


> Good to see your still having fun with it.


thanks ^^ ya, she's a great little mantis. I'm just amazed how well she's doing after losing that leg!


----------



## Ariel (Aug 18, 2009)

Bugs In Cyberspace said:


> Stagmomantis carolina is native to your state and is surely what you have there.


I finally took the time to look at some pictures of this species, and I think you're correct. Especially noting the stripes on the grasping arms, I don't know how common that characteristic is in mantids, but it definately resembles my little girl.


----------



## Ariel (Aug 23, 2009)

Well, have a bit of a bad update about this girl. her grasping arms got stuck in her molt, and she felt. She's still alive, and I got her arms free but she hardened the way she landed so her neck is at an angle. its looking pretty bad.


----------

