I’ve been planning on getting these for a few weeks. I noticed these at an expo today for a good price so I decided to get them.
I housed the mantises in a 32 oz deli cup (I plan on upgrading them to a large amac box when they get bigger). In these pictures the first and last are the female and the middle three are the male. In the last 2 pictures they are in a 1 oz deli cup, so I estimate they are about 1/4"-3/8" long (so likely L2-L3 instar). Since the female is a light color she might end up molting soon.
The enclosure is a 32 oz deli cup with a vented lid (this one has lots of small holes from Josh’s Frogs, a fabric lid would work just as well or better). When they get to their last molt or two I’ll move them to a 4" x 4" x 7" amac box (with air holes and a modified lid for them to climb on). I added 1-2" of substrate with springtails (to eat poop and dead fruit flies). As you can see in the picture I added small pieces of bamboo, cork bark, and leaves to provide perches and cover. When I feed them I’m going to add about 5-10 fruit flies in each container. When they get bigger (after another couple molts) I’ll feed them bottle flies. I’m going to avoid feeding crickets since they can contain bacteria that dissolves the mantis.
They are very fun to watch eat. They’re supposed to eat by waiting but they chased some of the food. They’re surprisingly fast too. I took pictures but it’s very hard to see them since it’s through the plastic.
I’m feeding them Melanogaster flightless fruit flies. Hydei wingless fruit flies might be a better choice but I don’t have them on hand and the ones I have work just fine. When they get a bit bigger I’ll start experimenting with which flies (bottle fly, housefly, etc.) work best.
Small mealworms and small silkworms are great, too, mine would grab them from the tongs. Very cool species, @erie-herps, looking forward to seeing them grow!
I think the female has molted before but I just saw her molt a few days ago. They also both got big enough for me to find tiny dubias. I would’ve fed mealworms but I didn’t have any.
I look forward to hearing of their progress! I love mantises but don’t know much about their captive care.
