Praying Mantises??

[sandrachameleon]

Not to thread jack but i bought three ooths. two im doing the paper bag deal in a critter keeper. I put the other on an azalea plant in my moms yard. no she dosnt use pesticides. she has loads of aphids eating her azaleas. do you think they will remain there? I want to have a costant supply through the summer.

I release them every year to help with bug control in the garden. It works a charm. But they stake out some territory each, spreading out (and eating each other if they get to close). If you want them for feeders, keep them inside individually.

 

[sandrachameleon]

thread jackin here, um whats the paper bag thing

Exelcior

I prefer larger containers, with branches and plants.

 

[LVmama]

I raise mantis for my son, they are difficult to use for feeders (much harder than worms or roaches, I do those too).

If you use a kritter keeper to start, use fabric paper towel to keep them from escaping, they can hang from it and you can continually spray it for moisture.

After a shed or two, they should be separated into dixie cups or other plastic cups are fine, still covered with the fabric paper towel, use a rubber band to keep in place. Keep them in a window with sun, or outside for natural sun is best, especially when they are bigger.

Start feeding with the wingless fruit flies, then the flightless, then small crickets up to the big ones. always spraying or wet paper towel. (You can teach them to drink from a spoon or your finger!)

I am pretty diligent with care, and you still get a good percentage of die off, some can't shed, some can't eat. Guess that's why so many hatch.

For the time and effort and all the separating, they can be a pain. Roaches are easier with a much better survival rate and faster feeding time. I like that you can get good gutload with them too.

I hope some of this helps! Good Luck!!

 

[xanthoman]

i have raised and kept mantis that exact same way, except the paper towel gets really fragile when wet, so i switched to those blue cloth paper shop towels from hd for about $2 roll, but it is a good way to keep them. this year i am doing the paper bag thing (2 ooths), but only cause my 10 g is already in use for breeding cricks. heres a great thing about chinese mantis nymphs, if you are hatching in a paper bag you dont need to have a container until they hatch because if they are by a window when they hatch, 99% will head for the window, making it a lot easier than you would think to round them up. they are easy to coax using bamboo skewers lol /edit/ i agree with lvmama , mantis are a hassle in terms of raising them as feeder, there is nothing to them when they are first born and keeping the losses low can be a lot of work. you have to get them to at least a month old to be a viable feeder, or you might as well be feeding fruit flies. successfully raising 100-200+ mantis requires a lot of careful and meticulous care. its not likeraising a tub of roaches where they will just take care of themselves, it requires a lot of baby sitting, at least until you have done it several times. jmo