Choeradodis sp.

[Sarkhan42]

Well, it finally happened. I finally am going to be receiving exactly 3 choeradodis nymphs sometime this week, and I am absolutely over the moon about it! I’ve been after these since I was a little kid, they’ve been a huge dream of mine.

What I’ve heard as to care is that they require a pretty high constant humidity, and do poorly in well ventilated mesh cages do to their inability to retain the humidity they need. They apparently also require walls or foliage they can cling to and rest on, as they seldom rest upside down apart from molting. Any other tips for their care are greatly appreciated, I can use any advantages I can get.

And of course as always, I’ll update this thread with photos as they arrive

 

[ToxoHP]

Hi there, I've basically never posted here but I'll give a little background to myself, I'm a breeder of rare exotic praying mantids, including your Choeradodis. Just so I'm not some random guy, I have hatched Choeradodis myself and raised a fair few to adult.

Not sure who you purchased them from, I'm assuming Moritz Kusche? Choeradodis are incredibly tricky. They require very high humdiity (Ooths hatch at 99% humidity), very high air flow and very picky on food. After all the years I have kept mantids, Choeradodis have to be the bitchiest species I know, and I have kept many species people believe are very hard. I do kind of have an issue with Moritz selling to people who don't have the experience or knowledge (not saying you don't at all).

As they get larger, they require foliage with large leaves, as that is how they blend in. They also prefer crawling pray, such as grasshoppers and other mantids (fruitflies are fine at L1/L2).

I just want you to realise if they don't make it and you believe you did everything right, then don't blame yourself. Any other questions, let me know.

All else I can say is, GOOD LUCK!

 

[Sarkhan42]

Hi there, I've basically never posted here but I'll give a little background to myself, I'm a breeder of rare exotic praying mantids, including your Choeradodis. Just so I'm not some random guy, I have hatched Choeradodis myself and raised a fair few to adult.

Not sure who you purchased them from, I'm assuming Moritz Kusche? Choeradodis are incredibly tricky. They require very high humdiity (Ooths hatch at 99% humidity), very high air flow and very picky on food. After all the years I have kept mantids, Choeradodis have to be the bitchiest species I know, and I have kept many species people believe are very hard. I do kind of have an issue with Moritz selling to people who don't have the experience or knowledge (not saying you don't at all).

As they get larger, they require foliage with large leaves, as that is how they blend in. They also prefer crawling pray, such as grasshoppers and other mantids (fruitflies are fine at L1/L2).

I just want you to realise if they don't make it and you believe you did everything right, then don't blame yourself. Any other questions, let me know.

All else I can say is, GOOD LUCK!

Thanks so much for your post, there’s a lot of fantastic content in it. I think I recognize your profile picture from facebook, so no worries on trying to make clear your credibility

I’ve got plenty of invert rearing and mantis rearing experience with a variety of species, but it does sound quite daunting. I’m definitely attempting to gather as much information as I can to help these little ones succeed.

I’m actually not receiving them from the vendor you stated. I’m in the US funny enough, as rare as they are out here.

Is there a particular temperature range you keep them successfully at? Just wondering if I’ll need to provide supplemental heating or if I’ll need to keep them in a different room to maintain correct conditions.

 

[ToxoHP]

You’re in the US with Choeradodis nymphs? Jesus I don’t even wanna know the price you paid.

As for temperate, I keep mine at 24-28 in the day, then down to 18 at night. Day time should be 80% humidity, night should be 99%.

Also, were you told what species it was? Choeradodis rhombicollis is the easiest and is so much less stress than others.

If you send photos, I can ID them. My guess is that it is either C. rhombicollis or C. rhomboidea.

 

[Sarkhan42]

You’re in the US with Choeradodis nymphs? Jesus I don’t even wanna know the price you paid.

As for temperate, I keep mine at 24-28 in the day, then down to 18 at night. Day time should be 80% humidity, night should be 99%.

Also, were you told what species it was? Choeradodis rhombicollis is the easiest and is so much less stress than others.

If you send photos, I can ID them. My guess is that it is either C. rhombicollis or C. rhomboidea.

The seller received them as simply choeradodis sp, so I’ll be sure to post pictures for ID. I also won them in an auction so the price was actually excellent, I got incredibly lucky. I’ve dealt with the seller on multiple occasions before and they’ve been nothing but excellent as well, otherwise I would be far more skeptical.

Again, thanks for all your help!

 

[ToxoHP]

The seller received them as simply choeradodis sp, so I’ll be sure to post pictures for ID. I also won them in an auction so the price was actually excellent, I got incredibly lucky. I’ve dealt with the seller on multiple occasions before and they’ve been nothing but excellent as well, otherwise I would be far more skeptical.

Again, thanks for all your help!

Ahhhhhh you got them from Cheryl. Hmmmm... well I won’t go into seller drama or whatever, but auctioning off Choeradodis to random people isn’t the best thing to do, however it’s not something I wouldn’t see Cheryl doing lol.

Anyyywaayy, good luck with them.

 

[Sarkhan42]

Of course there was a “processing exception” at a USPS facility and so it didn’t get here today . No updates through tracking since yesterday either. Of course it had to happen with some of the most fragile inverts I’ve ever ordered.

 

[ToxoHP]

Of course there was a “processing exception” at a USPS facility and so it didn’t get here today . No updates through tracking since yesterday either. Of course it had to happen with some of the most fragile inverts I’ve ever ordered.

Damm that sucks. I wish I could be the bearer of better news, but whenever that's happened to me, I never got the package You may still get it though, hopefully in time.

 

[Sarkhan42]

By some stroke of luck they arrived at the post office for pickup this morning. Unfortunately I won’t be able to pick them up until I’m out of work, but I’m relieved that they’re here at least.

 

[Sarkhan42]

Well I’m blown away. Out of 6, not 3, 6, that were sent, 4 are healthy L2 nymphs, one is a healthy L1, and unfortunately one casualty. Pictures to come after I get more cups for the extra few.

 

[Sarkhan42]

 

[ToxoHP]

Damm man, well done! Make sure you cover the top with fine mesh.

 

[Sarkhan42]

Well, the one that was an instar behind molted but fell, however I managed to catch it quickly and prop him up to dry fast enough that he should be able to recover with some special attention. The rest outright refuse any food I’ve offered outside of pre killed pieces, but are doing very well and are lively.

 

[Sarkhan42]

They’re all doing fabulously well and have molted! Well, not all... Unfortunately the same one that fell before fell again, and is now down to 1 leg plus raptorials... still lively but I’m not quite sure if I’ll be able to get him to molt from here. I may need to set up some kind of a molting harness or at worst, let him go

 

[Sarkhan42]

Another update, unfortunately the one that Mis molted twice has passed. The others are doing fabulously well, and I’ve been able to sex one as female.

Some important things I’ve noticed with feeding- like Tox mentioned at first they were a massive pain to get eating. However, I began to realize that once I got them eating if I stayed out of their field of view, they’d eat the prey item in its entirety if they had room for it. Otherwise they spook incredibly easily and were primarily attentive to me. Their usual response to a threat is flatten out completely(see above) which basically means goodbye prey item.

Another thing is due to their body shape it can be a little
More difficult to tell if they’re full at early instars, or if they’re simply scared of prey. To circumvent this I’ve been feeding pre killed, however I’ll attach some pictures so it’s easier to get an idea of what’s full and what isn’t. It becomes far easier to tell the larger they get, but they had me personally worried at first so I figure it’s something worth noting for future keepers.

 

[Sarkhan42]

Choeradodis stalii perhaps? @ToxoHP

 

[ToxoHP]

View attachment 280687
Choeradodis stalii perhaps? @ToxoHP

Unfortunately not. Probably some local variety of C. rhomboidea

 

[Sarkhan42]

Positively stunning. Absolutely floored to have this beautiful female doing well.

 

[Sarkhan42]

Finally got an opportunity to sex them all while cleaning up cages, and it seems like I have 3 males and 1 female. A little bit of a bummer, but I’m glad I at least have both sexes! Working on feeding the female generously now, and regulating the intake of the males.

 

[ToxoHP]

View attachment 281362 View attachment 281363 View attachment 281364
Finally got an opportunity to sex them all while cleaning up cages, and it seems like I have 3 males and 1 female. A little bit of a bummer, but I’m glad I at least have both sexes! Working on feeding the female generously now, and regulating the intake of the males.

I’d say 1 female and 3 males is pretty ideal from my experience as long as you keep the female alive and treat her like a princess lol. The more males you have the better. The females like to munch on the males. Their diet in the wild mostly consists of grasshoppers and other mantids so be careful.

They’re looking gorgeous though, nice work.