Keeping and Breeding Tarachodula panterina

[Smotzer]

This will be my general growth dairy and breeding thread for the group of Tarachodula panterina, Panther Mantis / Mantids, I plan to breed as I start back into the mantid side of things after a ≈3yr break! Hopefully I remember to do one of these for each species I work with because I have plans to work with some awesome species within the next year!!

Group of 0.0.5 L2 Tarachodula panterina
I have a lot going on with school so I’m starting with a smaller groups as I’m also adding another 2 species before too long. I’ve had good success with smaller breeding groups in the past!


Healthy and spunky and named for fun after some scatergories answers last night on game night, plus Hat cause my partner found naming a mantis Hat was hilarious

Hat-



Frog-


Oi, Pompah! -



Heirloom Tomato-



Slueth-


Hat getting some engagement after wanting to switch out the delicup to a clearer on!

I’m super excited to work with this species as I find them amazing and of course found of small invert species that are quite adept hunters! Thanks if you end up following along!

Feeding day tomorrow!

 

[viper69]

Is that adult on finger?

 

[Tarantulafeets]

I love mantids and all, but... something about this species in particular just creeps me out. Still cool though.

 

[Smotzer]

Is that adult on finger?

No these are L2, but the adults stay around 1.75-2in so fairly small! One of the perks of this species!

 

[Smotzer]

I love mantids and all, but... something about this species in particular just creeps me out. Still cool though.

I get that they’re very unique being some of the branch perching species that are much squatter and they’re heads are entirely too big for their little bodies. To me that’s one of the things I love most about them though!

 

[Smotzer]

All ate about 5 D. hydei! Such aggressive hunters who have a high percentage of missed strikes per prey it seems at this stage!

 

[paumotu]

Best of luck! Setups look sufficient to house them for hteir entire lifespan, just with an adjustment to stick size of course as time goes on.

 

[viper69]

No these are L2, but the adults stay around 1.75-2in so fairly small! One of the perks of this species!

very cool!!

 

[Smotzer]

Best of luck! Setups look sufficient to house them for hteir entire lifespan, just with an adjustment to stick size of course as time goes on.

For sure these should work for their lifespan but have some bigger enclosures I’m making in case I feel like giving the adults more room! And I’ve got the sticks for when they’re larger already ready!

very cool!!

Thanks man! You should get some mantids! Are there any species you like? We’ve never talked about it before!

 

[Hisserdude]

Very nice, one of my favorite mantids. Hope you can breed them!

 

[Smotzer]

Very nice, one of my favorite mantids. Hope you can breed them!

Obviously one of my favorites too!! And thanks hope it goes well for me too! We need more of them around!

 

[Smotzer]

Il drop photos in later on but all molted to L3 and then to L4. Little bit of growth diary!

9/22/22
- Slueth molted to L3
9/27/22
- Hat molted to L3
9/29-9/30/22
-Heirloom Tomato & Frog molted to L3
10/25/22
Slueth molted to L4
11/1/22
-Frog molted to L4
11/3/22
- Hat molted to L4
11/6/22
-Heirloom Tomato molted to L4

 

[ThisMeansWAR]

Awesome! I recently got into mantids myself. I have only kept tarantulas previously and was hesitant to get mantids at first. To be honest I felt that it was too gruesome to watch the feeding when the predator doesn't have any venom. But after getting my first two I was hooked. I purchased three new mantids last week and one of them was a quirky little pantherina. It's hard to find proper information on these so it's great to see other keepers try their hand at them. Your setups look great and the pantherinas seem very comfortable (especially the guy upside down in a 45 degree angle). I also purchased a proper macro photography rig so that I can get up close and personal. Here's my little guy named "Bark":



If I may ask a question: Do they molt on the side of the bark in the position seen in my photo? Or do they move to somewhere more perchy and hang vertically?