Accommodation:
keep these at 30 C (86 F) in the day time. An additional heating source
may be used to achieve the desired temperature. At night, the temperature
can be reduced to 20 C (68 F) to lengthen their lifespan. Keep their
humidity maintained at around 70%.
Caging:
their cage should be well ventilated. They're rather long for their
size and will need some space to crawl around. The general rule for
caging is 3x the mantis' length for the height and 2x for the width
and length dimensions. This species will spend most of its time hanging
upside down so plenty of perches will be necessary. They are not an
aggressive species and can be housed together with plenty of food.
Feeding: this species eats tiny prey. Hatchlings will
readily tackle small fruit flies and larger nymphs can be fed large
fruit flies and eventually house flies and crickets. They are capable
of hunting for themselves so no hand feeding is required. They are not
prone to overfeeding so extra food in the tank can be left in there
with no negative consequences. As for watering, mist nymphs lightly
every other day and two to three times a week for adults.
Molting:
a mantis will stop eating a few days prior to its molt. Mantises molt
about every 1.5-2 weeks as babies and the time in between each molt
increases as they get older…so their last molt into adulthood
can sometimes take as long as 3 weeks. It takes about 8 molts for females
and about 7 for males. During molting, it is vital that you do not disturb
them and also make sure that the humidity is at a safe level…the
suggested level is fine. The mantis will hang upside down from a branch
or the screen lid and will sometimes shake or spasm violently. Then
after a while, it worms out of its old skin and will hang out to dry.
Once it's dried, it will resume eating and being its normal self. Note
that height is very important since they are quite long and need the
extra space.
Reproduction:
this species can be easy to breed due to its docile nature. After 2
weeks since their last molt, introduce the female into the male's enclosure
near him...if they were raised together, leave them to themselves and
they will mate when the time is right for both sexes. A mature male
will respond quickly. It could take hours before the male does anything
though. He will jump on her back and grab her thorax. After a while
of holding on (this could take hours), the male will bend his abdomen
down to connect with hers and mating will commence. Once they are finished,
the male will dismount and life will resume like before.
Ootheca:
after two weeks or so, the females will be depositing her oothecae.
The average number of oothecae lain is unsure. After 6-7 weeks of incubation
at 30 C (86 F) and 70% humidity, the nymphs (not sure how many) will
hatch out from each one. These can be reared together for easy feeding.
Then they can be removed after a while if need be. These can be fed
on fruit flies a day or two after hatching. Then continue to care for
them as this care sheet suggests.
Additional
Notes: I received 10 nymphs...I believe they're L3 nymphs.
They are about 1 inch long. One recently molted successfully to L4...it
is now about 1.5 inches long.
I would like to thank Evan for his wonderful caresheet! You can see more at mantisphotos.com