I fell in love with ghost mantises and am now the proud owner of two ghosts and a giant Asian mantis. This lil guy taph (short for taphonomy) has grown the most of the 3 of them and I’m just so happy to have them and watch them grow so I wanted to share :)

Hi, I’m currently on holiday and have been having my aunt to mist my mantids and feed them. She has a snake and knows a lot about mantids so I am not worried about husbandry issues while I am gone. She’s been calling me daily to let me know she’s been misting them and has fed one of my mantids that molted the day I left. I’ve only been gone for 5 days and she called me this morning about my spiny flower mantis. He was laying upside down and fully limp definitely dead. I told her not to worry cus I know her husbandry has been spot on tho I am confused on why he died. I don’t think it was old age as he has only been an adult for just over a month. I also fed him well on the day I left so I don’t think he starved as it’s only been 5 days. She was supposed to feed him today but hasn’t cus he’s dead. I’m not sure why he may have died cus everything seemed ideal. Does anyone know why he might have died?

Shes L4, I started goving her less food cause her belly not getting flat even after few days so I assumed she's full. But she dont molt yet so I start worrying. I spray walls in her ilclosure with water daily

My brother just broke my mantis's moults, I wanna hit him so badly (the instar you see is wrong)

Found this little guy in sri lanka and im unsure on the species anyone that can help?

wing buds are pretty big

Hey everyone! Just wanted to see it this was normal. My giant Asian mantis recently moulted into l5, so it’s a pretty big jump in size. She’s usually really good with eating but it’s been 4 days now since she moulted and she’s been refusing food. I’ve tried fruit flies but they are too small, I’ve tried meal worms and she’s terrified of them I’ve even tried presenting her with one cut in half she still wouldn’t take it and then again today I tried her with a cricket and she ran away from it which surprised me because she ate them no problem when she was l4. Another thing I’ve noticed is that she will go into hunting position but won’t strike or she will just do the defence strike with no grab. She’s still super energetic, alert and is climbing and grooming herself no problem. I’m currently waiting on her green bottles being dispatched but she needs to eat in the meantime before they get here. I’m really not sure on what to do.

Woke up to see that our other Orientalis (female) molted! I also noticed that my Sphodropoda quinquedens female molted. Once they rest they can move to bigger enclosures🫶

I think I count 8 segments but I'm not super confident in my abilities yet lol. Any help appreciated! :)

Hey everyone!! I recently got 2 mantids from different places. The first one I purchased at a reptile expo and the seller didn’t give me any ID or instar stage on the mantid (green one). The second one is a yunnan flower mantis but I don’t know her instar stage either. Any advice is appreciated!

Getting a Mantis here soon, in the medium to large range, do they eat enough to try and maintain a dubia colony or something like that or is it not high enough to keep the dubia colony population from exploding?

I found this cutie last Wednesday (a week ago). She molted on Saturday and today ate an entire housefly (took her 2 hours). Is that normal? When should I feed her next? TIA!

he got through his final moult now, and I need to figure out something that works better than letting him catch the free-roaming baby dubias in there by himself(since thong feeding tiny mealworms or roaches upside down isn't working out and he either can't grab it from me or freaks out). I know this is a pretty lazy post but if someone would just guide me to the masterthread or some youtube videos on this I'd really appreciate it please and thank you 🙏🙏

hi all 💚

i’m a first time mantis owner but not new to entomology (i’ve previously co-owned a tarantula and a vinegaroon with my ex).

before my mantis i used to light an aromatherapy candle every night as part of my going to bed routine. i’ve stopped out of caution but was wondering just how sensitive they are/if people have experience with this.

some modulating factors: he’s a spiny flower mantis, i currently keep him in my bedroom, at the other end of the room from my bed/candle, and the room is fairly large. i have central AC and good air circulation in my apartment, and i keep him by a slightly open window (he likes the extra heat/humidity). i also only use soy wax candles with essential oil derived fragrances bc i’m allergic to synthetic fragrance (and fwiw i don’t think that just because essential oils are “natural” that it means they’re more or less likely to harm the mantis).

i have the option to put him in a different room when i want to light a candle but the AC in my place is unbalanced so the other rooms are way colder (like even 10°F colder) he’d survive it but i imagine it’d be fairly disregulating if it was every night?

thanks for any insights :}

Just got these freshly laid locust eggs from a giant locust I caught, and the mantis just molted about a day ago. Is it safe to feed the eggs to the little guy?