New bugs!!!

[Truffs1178]

Here are some giant leaf insect eggs I just bought. They're due to hatch in three months. And here are some baby flower mantids and Egyptian mantids I also just bought. They hatched a week ago. I'm going to breed these once they're fully grown. I bought 8 flower mantids and 6 Egyptian mantids. They are being heated to about 25-30 degrees Celsius so they grow faster and healthier. I find that mantids kept at room temp often die randomly, get shedding problems, plus they take ages to grow. I find keeping them at temperatures their species is used to in the wild works better and gives them more energy, but you have to feed them more often.

Im going to keep updating this thread over a few months to show you guys how they are doing, what hatches and how successful the breeding is going. Enjoy.

[Delivor]

Great work! the mantids are so small

[JeffreH]

Awesome Jack! Congrats!

I'll hold you to the updates! Looking forward to them = )

[Truffs1178]

Great work! the mantids are so small

Thank you. I have to be really gentle with them and am only feeding them fruit flys at the minute. I could also give them micro crickets but I think fruit flys are better.

[Truffs1178]

Another cool thing about this species of leaf insect is that there are no males kept in captivity. All are female and lay eggs without mating. All these eggs will hatch out to be exact copies of the mother. There are Phyllium philippinicus and Phyllium siccifolium males kept in captivity but no on can find any Phyllium giganteum males in captivity.

[Delivor]

Another cool thing about this species of leaf insect is that there are no males kept in captivity. All are female and lay eggs without mating. All these eggs will hatch out to be exact copies of the mother. There are Phyllium philippinicus and Phyllium siccifolium males kept in captivity but no on can find any Phyllium giganteum males in captivity.

Thats what I love so much about certan phasmid species. You dont need to do anything and they will breed!
Cant wait for the updates! =)

[Truffs1178]

I just hope they will hatch first! They were pretty cheap though so I could get more.

[Mentat]

Those Flower Mantids are tiny! Looking forward to watching them grow !

[Truffs1178]

One of the Asian flower mantids just shed. It's still tiny and there's barely a difference but its definitely a tiny bit bigger.

[Truffs1178]

Now 12 have shed! They are growing fast and I've only had them a few days. Here's a video of one of the flower mantids eating a fruit fly. Tell me what you guys think of the little guy.

http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=zjsacpT...ture=c4-feed-u

[Delivor]

Wow really cool!
Thats why mantids are my fave insects, there feeding way is so amazing!

[Truffs1178]

Wow really cool!
Thats why mantids are my fave insects, there feeding way is so amazing!

Sure is! This one and the others will look like yours one day.

[Monza geckos]

Mantids are really awesome to watch grow as the food items get bigger and more diverse

[Truffs1178]

I'll be feeding them as diverse a diet as possible. Roaches, crickets, locusts, mealworms, pachnoda grubs, waxworms etc

[Monza geckos]

Really but the Egyptian mantids only get bout 3.5 inches surely a pachnodas too big

[Monza geckos]

What species you got at the mo

[Truffs1178]

Currently just indian flower and Egyptian. When I said pachnoda I just meant mantids in general. I'm going to get a larger species like giant Asian mantids soon.

[Truffs1178]

Started a fruit fly culture to feed the babies. It's just mashed bananas with moist cotton wool. The maggots/larvae of the flys eat the bananas and the adult flys lay eggs in the moist cotton wool. It's pretty cool how fast they breed but I guess you have to if your lifespan from egg to adult is only about 10 days.

[Mentat]

The video is pretty cool; that FF is pretty big and Mantis had no issues about taking it down !

[Truffs1178]

The video is pretty cool; that FF is pretty big and Mantis had no issues about taking it down !

And since fruit flys don't have biting mouthparts they can't injure the mantids which is lucky. Last year a baby locust that was in my giant african mantid enclosure at the mantis nymph! The nymph was shedding and was vulnerable but I didn't realize the locust was still in with it.