# Does anyone own a praying mantis?



## Linford (Oct 26, 2006)

Hi guys, just wondering how many of you own a pet praying mantis or have kept a wild one before? If so and got photographs then post em up...

Here is mine, a Mantis Religiosa 'European Praying Mantis'. Its currently about 3" long and lives in a width 7", length 11" and height 20" tank, heated and fully decorated...enjoy!









My 'European Praying Mantis'...
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and his tank (new picture)...
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Thanks for viewing


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## Winkyee (Feb 17, 2003)

They are so cool..


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## Linford (Oct 26, 2006)

Thank you. Im a bit disappointed after finding out that he will proberly only live for about a year. I will really miss him as he has been a fantastic specimin and pet. I intend on making a few feeding vidios of him....eating dead pinky's, crickets, hoppers, moths etc... which i will post up soon.

Anyone elso got a praying mantis they would like to show off...?


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## CLUSTER ONE (Aug 2, 2006)

get a couple and try to get them to breed?


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## skool_uo (Jul 28, 2006)

i dont own them but my buddies little bro caught like three this summer and kept them. he successfully got them to breed and he now has an egg cacoon waiting for spring to hatch its pretty amazing


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## wayne the pain (Mar 30, 2004)

my old guy


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## Linford (Oct 26, 2006)

Wow, what a wonderful mantis specimin? what species is that and how old is he? It is very nice.









Answering shark_boy's question... I do not want to mate him yet with another mantis as the females have a tendancy to kill the males afterwards, and I dont want to risk loosing him. I will allow him to mate though when he is fasting for about the last month or so of his lifespan expectancy, just so he can potentially keep his 'seed' going. lol.

Thanks for all of your replys guys.


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## SERRAPYGO (Feb 4, 2003)

Cool mantis' 
I found this girl this fall...or she found me rather.


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## eiji (Sep 16, 2006)

nice pics... dont they ever flew off your hands??


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## Winkyee (Feb 17, 2003)

Heres one I found a couple years ago.

View attachment 128358


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## wayne the pain (Mar 30, 2004)

Linford said:


> Wow, what a wonderful mantis specimin? what species is that and how old is he? It is very nice.


its a rhombodera basilis, long gone now


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## Linford (Oct 26, 2006)

Serrapygo your praying mantis that you found is extremely nice with brilliant and clear colourations. A very good and lucky find indeed, well done!







.

Winkyee that is a excellent photograph of a wild praying mantis, looks like a screen shot from a HD insect TV program. Do you take photographs of animals for a living as you are clearly very good at this skill...







real top notch!

fish lover  I have never owned a mantis that has flown before. Even though they appear to be equipped for flight with their wings tucked under their body shells... well looks like it to me lol, I had always thought they could'nt fly. Hany of you had experiences with flying praying mantis'?

wayne the pain I am very sorry to hear that bad news as it was a beautiful looking mantis... sorry for your loss.

Thanks for all of your replys and photographs guys, and remember to post some more if you have the chance.


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## Linford (Oct 26, 2006)

My praying mantis is now starting to shed its skin (yay, growing again) so I will post some more pictures during the transaction to get some transformation photographs.


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## black_piranha (Jan 12, 2006)

ive probably had over 30 mantis'. all wild caught and i remember catching i think 3 different varients. most caught was the commom chinese mantis and the two other i dont know of. one looked like a flowery and the other one dark greyish/brown and blended well on a tree. ive also been able to breed a pair or 2 of chinese mantis'.

definitely one of the most unique insects of this world.


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## Linford (Oct 26, 2006)

Hi guys. First off I am very sorry that you all lost your photographs of praying mantis's within this topic after the unsucsessful upgrade installment by admin... I have re-attached my former photographs (on the topics original post).

Yes! as expected my Mantis Religiosa 'European Praying Mantis' has shed its skin for the last and final time, and in the process grown four dam large wings! He is extremely big compared to the last time I posted a picture on this topic of him, bellow is the most recent photographs of him to-date, enjoy;

Four months ago...
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Today...
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Thank you for your time and please do post some more of your Praying Mantis's.


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## Linford (Oct 26, 2006)

Oh yes, another quick question... as my praying mantis is on his part of the life cycle, how long will he live for after his last 'winged' skin shed?

Thanks guys.


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