Mantis question.

pannaking22

Arachnoemperor
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Nov 25, 2011
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They should be able to get down by themselves. I believe that would be L1, but I'd wait for someone more knowledgeable with mantids to chime in.
 

basin79

ArachnoGod
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I thought L1 was when they'd had their initial shed? Could well be wrong though as I buy L4+ and have had no experience with ooths hatching.
 

Spidermolt

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May 29, 2015
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I use to breed mantids a few years back, L1 (1st instar) are newborn nymphs and then after their 1st molt they're L2, then L3, etc. and you don't see them for sale at that size because they're sooo fragile.

They'll be able to climb down easily but I'd put a little more mesh in there so they're not all crammed together. one easy thing to do is to place a stick reaching to the top with several branching points in there and then hang a few cut up pieces of bug net from the top down.
 

basin79

ArachnoGod
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I use to breed mantids a few years back, L1 (1st instar) are newborn nymphs and then after their 1st molt they're L2, then L3, etc. and you don't see them for sale at that size because they're sooo fragile.

They'll be able to climb down easily but I'd put a little more mesh in there so they're not all crammed together. one easy thing to do is to place a stick reaching to the top with several branching points in there and then hang a few cut up pieces of bug net from the top down.
Thank you for that.
 

Spidermolt

Arachnoknight
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May 29, 2015
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I don't have any mantids at the moment so I just threw this together a few minutes ago just to give you an idea of what I was talking about.

unnamedggfbd.jpg
 

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Ranitomeya

Arachnoknight
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Oct 11, 2012
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When they first hatch out, they are not considered first instars and must molt to become a first instar. That larva-like form with their legs hanging back is not a true instar and is just a necessary stage between hatching from the egg and becoming a free-moving first instar. If they were to hatch out as first instars, they would be malformed by having to squeeze and crawl through the narrow passageways of the ootheca, so they hold off on having articulated extremities until they are free of the ootheca.

Do not put mesh too close to the ootheca or else they will be deformed as they hang and molt into their first instar against it. If the mesh size is large enough, some of them may even get stuck in it as they hang partway through the mesh and molt.
 
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