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REPTILES :

- Snakes

- Lizards

- Turtles-Tortoises

AMPHIBIANS

INSECTS :

- Beetles

- Others bugs

- Mantids

- Butterflies

- Phasmids

ARTHROPODS :

- Tarantulas

- Scorpions

- Millipedes

Mantids

Creoboter meleagris
Une petite toilette ;-)

MâleMâleMâle FemelleFemelleFemelle

Deroplatys dessicata
MâleMâleMâle
Empusa pennata
Hymenopus coronatus
Femelle
Mantes SP Indonésie
Parasphendale agrionina
Phyllocrania paradoxa

Empuses

Adulte phase bruneAdulte phase bruneJuvénile phase noireAdulte phase verteOothèque

FemelleFemelleMâleMâleMâleMâle

Pseudocreoboter wahlbergi
Sphrodomantis centralis
FemelleFemelleMâle
Sphrodomantis gastrica
BBAdulteAdulte Oothéque (nid d'oeufs)

BREAKFAST ? ;-)

Sphrodomantis meridionalis
Stagmomantis imbrica
Mating african mantids
Theopropus elegans
Gongylus gongylodesBB mantes nouveau-né

Breeding Mantids?

(Translation by Eric Becker ) Thanks a lot !!!

 

  • Mantids should be raised in individual terrariums because they are generally cannibals. There are a few exceptions (such as Phyllocrania nymphs and Gongylus) to this general rule.

    For breeding, if you lack a terrarium, you can use a bottle cut in 2 and closed with a piece of netting or screen. The volume of the bottle will depend on the age and size of the mantis. For the bigger varieties sorts as Sphrodomantis, a terrarium of 15x15x20 is useful (common 10 gallon aquariums are excellent). The height is crucial for allowing the mantids to molt.

    At mating time, a terrarium is needed to provide a more spacious environment in which the male can court comfortably… and make a hasty escape if necessary. Despite hearsay, male mantids are not always eaten; in fact, if the female is well-fed, he’s usually in no danger whatsoever.

    For heating and humidity it is necessary to refer to your insect’s country of origin. Temperatures of 20 - 26°C (68 - 78°F) are an acceptable range. As for humidity, you can lightly mist the terrarium daily with a spray-bottle. The mantid will drink by absorbing droplets. 70% humidity seems satisfactory on average.

    Also needed are branches of foliage of some sort (plastic or alive) that are 2 to 3 times the size of your insect to allow proper metamorphosis. If there’s insufficient room to molt it will not be able to extricate itself from its former skin, which might prove fatal - at best, it could emerge somewhat misshapen or minus one leg…

    Mantids eat live prey: fruit-flies and greenflies for the youngest, then house-flies, crickets, roaches, mealworms, etc....

    In warmer seasons, you can use a bug net to collect the "plankton of fields" - mantids will eat just about any bug it can capture, and will appreciate the variety and freshness of your outdoor meals! The only critters not recommended for mantid consumption are larger/more aggressive spiders and insects, and snails/slugs.

    For mating, you really only need to make sure of two things: that you have a male/female pair in the first place, and that the female is extremely well-fed.

    To differentiate (sex) them, it is rather easy: the male is slim and often possesses bigger antennae. The female is more round and typically significantly bigger. Furthermore, the male possesses 8 segments on the bottom of the belly, the just female 6.

    After the male approaches and jumps on the back of the female to fertilize her, it will likely be necessary to remove him (always remove the male after 2 days, mated or not). You can then put him down in another female’s terrarium to mate again or back in his own. When handling, please be sure not to pinch or squeeze him; instead, gently hold both the male and female by the thorax to provide an impetus for them to separate.

    The female lays an ootheca (egg case) in the terrarium, usually on a branch or in a corner. Oothecas can contain up to 300 babies, depending on species, who will emerge at the end of 3 to 6 months. Most female mantids lay more than one ootheca but these will contain fewer and fewer eggs as they are laid.

     

    After their birth, the babies (nymphs) are identical to the parents but without wings: some species do not even have wings at all in any point of their life-cycle.

    To maintain the new nymphs, you have a couple options:

    · You can separate them individually in small bowls (such as see-thru deli cups, yogurt cups, etc.)

    · You can leave them together through the first few stages so that the weakest are killed naturally by cannibalization. As harsh as it sounds, this is a good way to ensure that inferior specimens are ‘weeded out’. There is a second advantage to this technique as well: you can put a fruit-fly culture directly in with them to make feeding all those nymphs easier.

    Certain species are extremely sensitive to inbreeding and require you to find parents outside your breeding group to provide a fresh influx of genes. If not fulfilled, the ootheca will be increasingly sterile. In the long run, this will result in deformity and more fragile animals.

    If you would like to begin breeding mantids, we particularly recommend Sphrodomantis. They are large, hardy, and reproduce well.

    We wish you good luck breeding!!! ;o)  

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