CHINESE PRAYING MANTIS ~ T SINENSIS SPECIES
This is the Chinese Praying Mantis ( T Sinensis species ) Unlike the live Bark Mantis, Carolina mantis, California Mantis, European Mantis, and other live praying mantis speciemens offered for sale here at livemantis.com, this mantis is not exactly perfect for raising indoors. The chinese praying mantis grows too long for the containers offered at livemantis.com You would have to create a 10X 10 inch custom container for this species.This species grows to about 4 to 4.5 inches long. The Chinese T Sinensis Praying Mantis species will grow to adulthood in as little as ten weeks and will be ready to mate 10 days after wings develope (which means that they have matured full adulthood). The females are capable of producing as many as 15 or 20 egg cases with proper care. Instructions for raising the mantids for the purpose of producing beneficial insects are located below.
A very friendly mantis but also a large mantis at 4.5 inches long! Notice the wings on this T Sinensis mantis species, both male and female wings are equal to the length of the abdomen. With most other mantis speceis' the female has wings that extend only half way down the abdomen as you will see on the next page.
The males are smaller than the females. The female has six segments on the abdomen, the male has 8 segments. The male looks puny compared to the female.
The female does not always eat the male. This male mated with 3 other females and never lost his head.
Most hobbyists want the smaller mantids, but if you want a large mantis, this is the one for you! The only larger species in the U.S. is the Brunners Stick Mantis at 7 inches long! You will see the stick mantis, keep viewing the gallery
MORE PRAYING MANTIS PICTURES ~ OTHER MANTIS SPECIES'
Some mantids look really strange as you will see! See other mantis species picture links below the Chinese Mantis Care Instructions.
BASIC CARE INSTRUCTIONS FOR THE T SINENSIS CHINESE PRAYING MANTIS
Basic Care instructions for raising chinese Praying mantids:
Keep mantids seperate untill breeding time. Mantids will attack each other, so keep them seperate untill it is time for them to mate!
1. You will need a plastic or glass container for each mantis. Rubbermaid containers are inexpensive and work just fine. The size of the container should be at least 10 to 15 inches high and 10 inches across. There should be one 2x2 inch hole in the container, covered with mesh or thin fabric.
2. You will need to place a SMALL amount of artificial vine or sreen inside, keep that to a limit so the container is not cluttered, avoid too much clutter inside the container. No real plants are required. The artificial vine should be mounted with hot glue or crazy glue to the floor of the enclosure and then to the side at the top. This will be a perching spot for the mantis, although they spend alot of time hanging upside down from the container lid.
3.You will need a brand new never before used spray mist bottle. Never use any bottle that has contained other than water, or you will kill the mantids! Use purified or distilled water. Spray mist the inside of the mantis enclosures once per day, make sure that you do not create puddles, condensation should dry up within 30 to 45 minutes, if not, add another vent covered with nylon stock material to prevent escape of the feeder insects.
4. MANTIS FOOD : Baby mantids need USDA approved wingless fruit flies. The fruit flies are very inexpensive and require no care at all. Some pet stores offer wingless fruit flies, if your local pet store does not offer them, See the link at the bottom of this page on where to purchase 32 ounce USDA approved wingless fruit flies. USDA approved wingless fruit flies are offered in 32 ounce self sustaining cultures. Wingless fruit fly cultures last for about 6 weeks and are a continuous source of food. One culture is enough to feed up to 20 or more mantids for about 6 weeks (mantids will only eat these for about the first 3 or 4 weeks, according to the temperature the mantids are kept at, see details below. The mantids will be ready for small crickets or silkworms in a few weeks, as soon as the mantids are able to tackle and eat a small cricket, feed silkworms to them in addition to or instead of fruit flies. I do not suggest that you feed your mantis only crickets! In fact, avoid crickets when possible. Fruit flies for baby mantids, silkworms for larger mantids! Silkworms can not harm a mantis, crickets can kill a mantis!
FEEDING PROCEDURES : When the mantids are babies, offer them about 3 or 4 fruit flies per day. While you are feeding the fruit flies to them, there is no risk of harm to the mantids during a molt, this will help you to learn when the mantids will molt, that way you will know when to remove crickets during a molt (see more details below) Feed the mantis about 3 or 4 crickets or silkworms per day. When you notice that all the feeder insects have disapeared, place more into the enclosure. Be careful with crickets, they can injure or kill a mantis during the molt/shedding phase. Make sure the mantis is eating them within 24 hours or so. If not, allow them to eat all crickets before placing more, if the crickets are in the container for more than one days, remove them as the mantis is in molt phase (see more on mantis molting below) Again, it is best to feed the larger mantids silkworms!
5. CONTROL SPEED OF MANTIS GROWTH WITH VARYING TEMPERATURE LEVELS!
Lower temps 55 to 72 degrees F = Slow Mantis growth, the mantids will eat less and grow slower. For this just keep them at room temperature. Higher temps 74 to 85 degrees = FAST Mantis growth! This is easy to acheive with a regular lamp and a thermometer. The temps inside the housing enclosure will rise when an office swivel arm office lamp is placed near the container. Place a thermometer inside the enclosure and adjust the distance away from the container to bring the temperature up to about 75 to 85 degrees F. If you are using plastic containers, make sure you do not get the lamp too close! Plastic is flamable, make sure your lamp is secure and kept a safe distance away from the lamp! at 75 to 85 degrees F the mantids will eat more and grow to adults in about ten weeks, then, they will breed and produce the viable mantis eggs you know will hatch! The female will beging laying eggs about 10 days after breeding, then she will produce one egg every 7 to 10 days thereafter.
MOLT PHASE / SHEDDING ~ As mantids grow, they outgrow the exoskeleton. Mantids will stop eating suddenlly when entering the molt phase. Make sure to keep spray misting the container once or twice per day, be careful not to move the container and do not distrub the mantis during the molt, do not dismount the mantis or you may cause a mismolt which will cause deformation or death of the mantis! When mantids enter molt phase, they will suddenly stop eating. At that time, you will notice the same amount of food you placed into the container at the most recent feeding. If the mantis has not eaten the food insects within a day or so, stop adding food and remove the crickets as they can kill a mantis during molt. It is important for the mantis to be able to get to the top of the housing enclosure, to get away from the crickets during a molt. Crickets can not climb rubbermaid plastic, make sure that the perch does not reach all the way to the top of the mantis enclosure. Make the perch close enough for the mantis to get to the top but not close enough for the crickets to make it to the top, experiment with this and you will get it right. Fruit flies pose no threat to a manits. Crickets can harm a molting mantis. If the mantis does not eat at least one cricket within 24 hours after you place them into the container, remove all crickets and place no more food in the container untill you see a lighter colored, slightly larger mantis in the container. Silkworms and fruit flies are safe, they can be left in the container even when the mantis is in molt phase. After the mantis completes the molt you will find the spent exoskeleton at the top, on the floor or the side of the container. After this, wait 24 hours, then place the food insects into the container and the mantids will begin to eat again.
BREEDING T SINENSIS PRAYING MANTIS INSECTS : Once the male and the female both have wings, they are mature. Wait 10 to 14 days after the wings appear to introduce the male and female. First, make sure that you feed both the female and the male very well prior to introducing them for mating. Feed both mantids all they will eat. Females produce pheremones, so the male may just sit still and refuse food if he is sensing the female mantis. His antennas will stick straight up, he will seem to be in a trance. For this reason, you should keep the male in a seperate room untill you are ready to place the mantis together for mating. It is best to offer one more cricket to the female (after she has eaten two) If she will accept the cricket, introduce the male while she is eating the third cricket. If she refuses food, she is full and pairing them up is fine at that point. Place the male behind the female and coax him to mount on her back. Some males are hesitant, so the coaxing is a good idea. Some males waste no time and readily mount and breed. If the male runs away, try once more, if he runs away again, wait a few more days, then repeat the steps above. The male will stay on the females back for hours, maybe a day or two in some cases. Check on them once in a while. When the male is dismounted, replace him into his housing enclosure. Make sure to mate the mantids in a room with closed windows and doors. The room should not have much clutter so you can find the male, he will escape the female and hide from her after mating. After the first five eggs are layed, remate the male and female mantids to assure viable eggs. Remate them after every five eggs for best results.
AFTER MATING THE MANTIDS : Place the female in her container, feed her all she will eat. Continue to spray mist every day. Make sure there are several small sticks mounted in the container at a 45 degree angle. This species lays a globular ootheca (mantis egg) They deposit them on a round or flat surface, so a round stick and a large sized popsicle stick should be provided. The mantis may end up laying the egg on the lid or the side of the container, this is fine, but you will have to remove the ootheca (egg case). Wait 24 hours after the egg is layed before touching it or removing it. If the egg is layed on a stick, simply remove the stick, if it is deposited on the side of the container or the lid, use a razor blade to get behind the egg and slowly detach it making sure not to puncture the ootheca or tear any away. This is not usually a problem as the eggs come loose from plastic or glass very easily. Flexible plastic can be manipulated to flex, the flex action will most likely cause the egg to spap off with no harm to the egg, try this flex method first if you use a plastic enclosure.
EGG STORAGE / EGG INCUBATION
If you use the lamp / high temp method, you will most likely have eggs in 11 weeks and 3 days! You will have the choice to hatch mantids indoors and care for them (100 to 300 baby mantids per egg!) This option is not desired if you do not wish to care for hundreds of baby mantids! To delay hatching, you will need to place the eggs inside a ventilated container (a small pill bottle or food container with 4 to 6 small pinholes puncture in the the lid or sides) Then, place the container in the crisper drawer of the refrigerator or in a building outside where the temps are 50 degrees or less. This will keep the eggs from hatching and keep them fresh and viable for hatching in early spring outdoors.
INCUBATION OF MANTIS EGGS :
OUTDOORS ~ If you wish to release all of the mantids outside, into your yard and garden, simply mount the egg onto a tree or shrub at least 2 feet off the ground. Make sure they get partial shade rather than full sun all day. Do this when the temps outside are constantly above 70 degrees day and night.
INDOORS ~ You will need a 32 ounce container with a ventilated lid (I offer mantis hatching containers in my other auctions). Place one small section of artificial vine inside the container for the baby mantids to perch on after they hatch. (If you purchase my containers when you need them, they already have a wooden perch covered with nylon screen) Spray mist the inside of the container (LIGHTLY) with purified or distilled water once every two to three days, dont overdo it, you can easily kill a mantis egg when you follow the advice I have seen given elsewhere. Mount the egg inside the container in the same position you found it in after the femlae laid the egg. If the egg is on a stick, mount the stick to the wall or lid of the container. If the egg is not on a stick, use an adhesive strip mount the egg on the smooth side to the container, do not cover or black any other surface of the egg other than the smooth section where it was connected to the mother mantis' contianer. Ootheca on sticks will not have a smooth suface, mount the stick rather than the egg in this scenario. Keep the container in a room that is at least70 degrees. The egg will hatch in about 30 days, some eggs take longer, some eggs continue to hatch after the intitial burst hatch. Do not spray the egg directly. Many people advise to spray the egg daily, they are wrong! Doing so will likely cause mold that will kill the egg! Spray mist the inside of the container, not daily, once every two to three days or even just once per week and they are fine. Do not use heat lamps! When misting, make sure that you do not create puddles! Condensation on the side of the contianer is fine as long as it evaporates the same day. If the humidity level is low in your home, place a small dish of water right beside the container, that will raise the humidity enough as long as you spray mist inside the container once per week and remember, no puddles. Once the mantids have hatched, seperate them in groups of ten inside 16 or 20 oucne cups with lids, punch small pinholes in the cups with a needle or pin, punch about 12 to 20 pinholes in each cup around the sides of the middle section of the cups. Spray mist them very lightly once per day. Make sure to have small wingless fruit flies ready for baby mantids as food for about the first 2 or 3 weeks, then small crickets will be the diet for them. Increase the size of crickets as the mantids grow, make sure to remove crickets when mantids stop eating for more than two days, the mantids are in molt phase when they stop eating. Crickets will chew on a mantis that is in molt phase as they are defensless untill 24 hours after they shed. You will see a light colored mantis and most likely find the spent skin on the enclosure floor. Place food in for the mantis 24 hours after they shed.
Click here to view the Carolina Mantis / Stagmomantis Carolina Mantis Species
Click here to view the Grass Like Mantis / Species
Click here to view the European Mantis / Mantis Religiosa Mantis Species
Click here to view the Brunners Stick Mantis / Brunneria Borealis Mantis Species
Click here to view the Bark Mantis / G Grisea Mantis Species
Click here to view the California Mantis / Stagmomantis Californica Mantis Species
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