Baby Chinese Mantids (Praying Mantis)

in #nature7 years ago (edited)

A little over a week ago a friend brought me four Chinese mantids (the proper plural term for mantis) after an ootheca (egg sac) hatched in her home.
This is a larger species of mantis, but as newborns they are smaller than a pinky nail.
We obtained some fruit flies for them to eat, which is pretty much the only thing you can get for them that is small enough at that stage in their life. They started devouring them on the first day.

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Within a week they had all successfully had their first molt and were double their original size overnight. I placed them in larger containers. These jars will suffice for now until they gain a bit more size, and then I have something a bit more grandiose for them eventually.

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I've named them; Proxima Midnight, Supergiant, Corvus Glaive, and The Ebony Maw.

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They are always hungry. I'll keep you updated as they grow into larger predators.

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