Lifespan

joe8421

Arachnosquire
Old Timer
Joined
Aug 23, 2005
Messages
92
hey Guys
i'm new here at the forum of insects ,i've kept scorpions for years ,their lifespan usually could reach +5years ,i like the arachi of long life, but i recently found that P.paradoxa is really really a graet nice creature , i really wanna get some ,but i search the lifespan of it on the net for a long time , not found ,could any one tell me?
 

Spaceman_Spiff

Arachnoknight
Old Timer
Joined
Sep 26, 2004
Messages
222
Hi,
I guess you mean the mantid Phyllocrania paradoxa!?
Mantids have a short livespan which hardly exceeds a year!

greets
Bernhard
 

joe8421

Arachnosquire
Old Timer
Joined
Aug 23, 2005
Messages
92
thank u for your help ,not more than one year ???
lol my god !!!!!it's too short ,that meas every year we have to breed succusfully ? if not we'll lose them forever?
 

Spaceman_Spiff

Arachnoknight
Old Timer
Joined
Sep 26, 2004
Messages
222
Yes, that sums it up!
Still mantid-keeping can be very rewarding, breeding and hatching is not hard, depending on the species, but it's a pain in the ... to feed the tiny nymphs.
If you have enough time and space and have always access to live-food like flies and fruit-flies, give it a try with one of the native species of your beautiful country!
 

joe8421

Arachnosquire
Old Timer
Joined
Aug 23, 2005
Messages
92
yes, u r right ,i'll collect some from the farm of graps nearby the next summer
 

Farom

Arachnoknight
Old Timer
Joined
Nov 25, 2004
Messages
165
Mantids in general dont live for much longer than a year as adults. P. paradoxa is an awesome species though, ive got a pair right now. Although feeding a large amount of nymphs can be a huge pain in the butt, it shouldnt be too hard to sell any that you dont want.

Thanks,
Andrew
 

luther

Arachnodemon
Old Timer
Joined
Apr 8, 2003
Messages
679
A nice thing about the Ghost Mantis is that its one of the few mantid species that you can keep as an adult without a cage and in groups. When we can get them my wife and I like to hang them on our house plants to keep the house fly and phorid fly poulation under control. You have to see these guys grab a blue bottle out of the air to believe the speed. They will stay wherever you hang them, like living christmas tree ornaments. My favourite mantis species.

Since they wont chase food you must make sure that the feeder insects come to them. I just put the mantids in a feeding tank overnight with a bunch of locusts or crickets every week to make sure they all get enough food.

They have a high temperature requirement too, so only keep them free roaming if you have a warm house.

Otherwise they seem pretty hardy. Get half a dozen!
 
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