Five weeks ago, we found 9 baby praying mantids in Robert's closet. About 20 more hatched out over the next week or so while I struggled to find food for them. Even after I found food, a couple have died every few days. Last week, we were down to 9 again and there was a HUGE size differential between some of them. I'm pretty sure 4-5 were female (big!) and the rest were male (small!). Today, I'm down to 4 huge mantids. Well, huge is relative, because they're about half an inch long. Maybe 3/4ths of an inch for the biggest.
I'm calling them all "she."
It's hard to tell how all the males ended up dying over the last couple days, but I can tell that some of them were consumed (i.e only head and legs left).
When your natural instinct is to pounce on and eat anything that's smaller than you, you might end up hurting the ones you love, y'know? Erk.
They're certainly growing and they're starting to change colors. They're a little greenish. I added a few more natural items into their container, thinking they could probably use some hiding places from each other. The crickets appreciate it, to be sure :) Here's a video I took of the mantis ladies in their enclosure. I had just dumped in a fresh batch of crickets and the girls wasted no time filling their bellies. One mantis, in particular, caught an especially "large" cricket for her size. I was too late to record the pounce, but you can see their little wrestling match as she tries to get a good grip with her spear-like front arms. The mantis eventually wins (not shown). If my awesome commentary drives you nuts (like it does me), feel free to watch the video in mute. You won't hurt my feelings :)
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So cool about the mantids! I can't wait to see them when they're really big.
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