Hello again,
Time for another update on my Chinese Mantids. They are growing very fast. They are almost 3 inches long now. I have 5 left, the others were given away and some were canabilized. I can't believe how friendly they are. They just sit on my hand watching me watch them.
An amazing thing has happened to their color. They all have turned brown, except for a lighter tan stripe down their backs. They were housed in individual 2 gallon jars that have just brown sticks in them no green at all. To see if their color was genetic or environmental adapted to I put two of them into a jar that cotains only green plastic plants. I want to see if they turn green after a molt.
I have had one other interesting thing happen. In their last molt two of them had a little trouble. On one a hind leg is slightly deformed. A litttle short. I think this happened because the shed was stuck to his leg and after struggling it broke off, taking part of his leg. I did not witness it but the other mantis that had trouble shedding had his molt stuch to the same rear leg. I has to take him out, gently pull the shed off. This left a leg that was 3 times the size of a normal leg. I then pinched off the leg to about the right length. It is bent slighty at an angle. He is now able to run around normally.
Any ideas why this happened? Humidity is excellent. I actually very lighty list a small part of their container daily. Just enough to leave several large water drops on the side and a little on the bottom. The jars are covered with a coffee filter so the water evaporates within an hour or so. I do this to water the crickets in their jars. If not water the crickets die in a little over a day. Speaking of cricketts, the manids are now eating bewteen 2 - 3 cricketts a day.
I must say I love keeping mantids. Thanks to Yen I have some African Grass Mantids coming next week. I can't wait.
Any coments are greatly appreciated.
Tom
Time for another update on my Chinese Mantids. They are growing very fast. They are almost 3 inches long now. I have 5 left, the others were given away and some were canabilized. I can't believe how friendly they are. They just sit on my hand watching me watch them.
An amazing thing has happened to their color. They all have turned brown, except for a lighter tan stripe down their backs. They were housed in individual 2 gallon jars that have just brown sticks in them no green at all. To see if their color was genetic or environmental adapted to I put two of them into a jar that cotains only green plastic plants. I want to see if they turn green after a molt.
I have had one other interesting thing happen. In their last molt two of them had a little trouble. On one a hind leg is slightly deformed. A litttle short. I think this happened because the shed was stuck to his leg and after struggling it broke off, taking part of his leg. I did not witness it but the other mantis that had trouble shedding had his molt stuch to the same rear leg. I has to take him out, gently pull the shed off. This left a leg that was 3 times the size of a normal leg. I then pinched off the leg to about the right length. It is bent slighty at an angle. He is now able to run around normally.
Any ideas why this happened? Humidity is excellent. I actually very lighty list a small part of their container daily. Just enough to leave several large water drops on the side and a little on the bottom. The jars are covered with a coffee filter so the water evaporates within an hour or so. I do this to water the crickets in their jars. If not water the crickets die in a little over a day. Speaking of cricketts, the manids are now eating bewteen 2 - 3 cricketts a day.
I must say I love keeping mantids. Thanks to Yen I have some African Grass Mantids coming next week. I can't wait.
Any coments are greatly appreciated.
Tom