Breeding mantids?

[Kristen99]

I would love to get some info from someone who had kept and raised up/ bread mantids.. I have done some research but would love to see how and if it is worth my time to try and breed and keep the nymphs to feed off to my chameleon and once some are grown breed. I have read that you need to keep them separated and for the nymphs a good food source is fruit flys. At what point should I separate them and how do you house them either together or separate? How many should I keep and not feed off for breeding purposes.

 

[Matt Vanilla Gorilla]

I have tried it once but it is time consuming and it takes up a lot of space. I personally did not feel that it was worth the time, space and energy that i pUT in to it. I can breed many more juicy silkworms with less effort and in a shorter time while using much less space in my chameleon room. Just my 2 cents.

 

[Kristen99]

Thank you and I agree I have been trying to get as much info as possible and with more research I also think it may be a waste of time.. I have yet to try silk worms I was successfully breeding Dubai roches and stoked on that but my kids are young and have allergies already and they seemed to be escaping somehow and I had to move allll my furniture and cleaned everything and I freaked out a bit. I hate crickets point blank so I'm running low on options.. ya know.. I would love to find something I can breed to be a staple for my chameleon and not consume my life.

 

[CJ's Exotics]

Thank you and I agree I have been trying to get as much info as possible and with more research I also think it may be a waste of time.. I have yet to try silk worms I was successfully breeding Dubai roches and stoked on that but my kids are young and have allergies already and they seemed to be escaping somehow and I had to move allll my furniture and cleaned everything and I freaked out a bit. I hate crickets point blank so I'm running low on options.. ya know.. I would love to find something I can breed to be a staple for my chameleon and not consume my life.

I hate, *strongly dislike*, crickets! I have heard that mantids are a lot of work and time consuming. Indian Stick Insects are parthenogenic, what about those? I personally would breed mantids if it was a hobby.

 

[Kristen99]

I have 4 ootheca's so I may try it and see if I am at all successful I have the time and space and don't mind spending some $ on a better feeder I'm thinking of getting a shelving system in the reptile room and storing them in separate containers with some eco earth and branches cleaned of course it may work and if not I can use the containers for other feeders I think I'll start small maybe save about 10 male and female and see how it goes if nothing else's it will be a good learning experience for the kids and myself. We shall see I haven't really looked into sticks but I will for sure I'm up for anything except the crickets!

 

[CJ's Exotics]

Indian Sticks are really easy! They are all female! It is reportedly said that males do exist, but very rarely.

 

[NickTide]

With the price of ooths on eBay, it can't be worth it. Think about how many bugs you would need to raise to feed to the mantids, each in a separate container. Figure you are going to have to feed at least 2 grams to get I gram of mantis... but it could easily be 5 or 10 grams.

Even if you were breeding crickets to feed to the mantis, the food you put into the crickets, to put into the mantis would cost you more than buying ooths.