Rhombodera stalii and Hymenopus coronatus update

I am so excited that my female orchid (Hymenopus coronatus) molted to L5 last night. She has been put in the warm condition (28C) since I figured out her sex and the rest males are kept in cold place to slow down their metabolism so the males are 2 instar behind as they are all L3 right now.

Rhombodera stalli
I have 4 female but only 1 male! That was a terrible new i am not sure whether he could mate all 4 female i may trade with other friends on mantidforum to get some extra males.

They are all L5 and probably some will molt to L6 in 2 days

                                      very beautiful orange :)

Orthodera novaezealandiae and relationship with Choeradodis?

Orthodera novaezealandiae (Common name New Zealand flower mantis ), with a very narrow shield, is considered to be the relative sp of Choeradodis from South america and Asiadodis from Southern Asian rain forest. Orthedera sp nymphs had almost exact same behavior with juvenile Hooded mantis. My friend Wuchao, who is of the authors of Chinese mantis book, is assuming that Orthodera and Choeradodinae are developed from one genus and he is trying to proof it by using molecular genetic testing. The pair that I received will be sent to him for the test after they pass away)

Rhombodera Stalli's molting and branch for hanging

Happy new year to all !

Today on of my rhombodera stalli L3 nymph molted into L4. some people said that I have a magic branch for all my mantis' to shed their skin. Well that is true because I do use a single branch for my mantis to hang up and observe them.

 

Some breeders may want to use too many branches or screen wires to ensure the success of molting. again this is not mandatory. Yes a very rough surface can make mantis easier stick on it, however, sometime mantis only use the tiny hook(claws) on their legs to grab the surface and that may not stable enough during the molting. That's why some breeders respond that though they had provided a perfect substrate yet the mantis still dropped down during molting.

 

When the mantis molt on the "magic branch" (let me call it this lol), in order to crab it tightly, they will use the whole tarsus to crab the slender branch. It forms a big hook shape thus it is way more stable than the claws.

Net house, Empusa pennata's threatening and some photo update

When I recall my childhood memories, I remember my grandpa had made a lot of net cages for me to keep the mantis he caught from the roof ( In china, some people make their exterior roofs as farms). My grandpa is getting older and older, probably someday he will forget what he did for me, but I will always remember.

I already have a large warm enclosure to keep all my mantis warm but still i would like to make a another one. The reason is that since all my mantis are growing bigger, some of them are about to be prepared for mating in couple of weeks.
Deroplatys lobatas and Empusa pennatas, all the female start to call and the gentlemen have been adult for 1 week. I am going to let them make first attempt next week so a large space is definitely needed.

the small box inside is another net cage i made( for fun only, and can be used for laying ooth)

The plastic cover is to maintain the heat inside to keep the space warm when necessary, I got this trick from Xiaoyu (The professional mantis breeder from China)

cute empusa's threatening, one of his antennas was hurt by a violin mantis(Gongylus gongylodes) accidentally :(

  

below are some recent photos,enjoy :)

  

Orchid mantis ( Hymenopusa coronatus) From L1 to L2, sex and condition.

Orchid mantis (Hymenopus coronatus)

I was a little bit hesitated before purchasing the orchid mantises from the forum.
    First, I had already kept this specie last year ( no offspring produced, all were sold as I mentioned in my previous thread) and I thought I have got pretty enough information about orchids.

    Second issue was I could have grab some ootheccas from my friends in China and bring them to the states or I could wait till them to ship me the ooths.

    Also it will be at high risk to keep young nymphs as the guy on the mantidforum was selling L1 nymph, which was easily to get dehydrate and die instantly during shipping.

    I convinced myself at the end and received them perfectly. As I pointed out, L1 nymphs are very sensitive to the environment(humidity and temperature). In the wild, orchid mantis(Hymenopus coronatus)can be found in rain forest of South Asia. The temperature of the habitat rarely exceed 30C (86F), in the night it will drop to as low as 18C （64F）， the humidity is usually around 70% to 95%. Therefore a regular mist is very necessary. The reason why it is risky to keep L1 nymphs in the winter is that in order to maintain the humidity and temperature, it will be very likely that you lost ventilation (another very important factor for keeping mantis).

    According to my experience, although orchid mantises live in very wet surrounding, however it is not necessary to keep their containers too wet because that will increase the chance of infection. All we have to do is make sure the orchid babies do not get dehydrated——drink enough water daily. The nymphs are very easy to lost water so make sure let them drink at least once a day. This can be done by misting them once or twice a day( make sure the water drops evaporate completely in 1 hour).

    For the food, it is better to choose flying insects such as moths, flies and fruit flies. The common food that pet stores offer are crickets and mealworms, which contain high level cholesterol and fat that are very harmful to orchid mantis. The flying insect carry less fat and cholesterol but high level protein, carbohydrate and other nutrient. Therefore it is the best option to offer your mantis fly insects, they can be purchased from online store (pupae,larva, fruit fly culture).


   Seems like i have been talking general information too much.
 
   I received 6 nymphs on Dec 4th and now there are only 4 left due to my fault. I kept the container too hot ( over 30C) so I lost 2 of them, that was a bit frustrating since I had never lost a single orchid until this time. Nevertheless, this case is still a very good lecture for me ( it's ok to keep them cool but do not ever over heat them!). I took care very carefully with the rest 4 orchid and hopefully I could get at least one pair in the end. I have tried several time to sex L1 nymphs though it is very unlikely to observe the difference of their genitals. I could see a little but still, it is only assumption :(, I was not sure the difference occurs upon genders of individuals.

   After they turn to L2 stage, they are much more easy to take care of .Their body and restore more water thus I dont have to concern their dehydration. I have 3 nymphs molted to L2 on Dec 20 and the last one molted on Dec 23. I tried some macro shots on their abdomen and finally I can differentiate their genders :)

Female abdomen

Male abdomen

Here are some shots :D

Praying mantis

Eventually I decide to create the English version blog for my praying mantis recording.
I have been keeping these little aliens since I was in the kindergarten (around 5), which means I am already in this hobby for more than 16 years as I currently just passed my 22nd birthday.

Things keep changing, I once told my friends that no matter how busy I would be, I would never give up tracking mantis but I failed in the beginning of this year. I was overloaded by the school work and seemed to have some health issue therefore I sent/sold all the mantis that I was keeping and left the hobby in April.Nevertheless, I returned hobby in the August and got to know some extremely nice and professional guys ( UU and Xiaoyu, thanks to Zmonster),who are very adimirable and knowledgeable.

I started re-collecting some nice species that I kept before and still, continuing seeking Hooded mantis ( Choeradodis sp from mid/south America). The journey will never end, the story will always continue.

Rhombodera stalli L3 nymph

Jason
Dec 24, 2013