# Praying Mantis



## bigstick120 (Mar 8, 2005)

Found this guy hanging out on my deck a few weeks ago. Smallest praying mantis I have ever seen. It was only have 2" long. A week later I saw his grandaddy when mowing, about 8", didnt get any photos of him though.



















The eyes follow you!









I see you!









There are a few more on my site if you are interested, hit the link in my signature.


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## houseofcards (Feb 16, 2005)

Those are great shots. Love the last one. I also enjoyed the Muir Woods pics on your site.


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## HeyPK (Jan 23, 2004)

The little one is _Tenodera aridifolia sinensis_, a nymph, probably 4th instar. It is behind schedule for middle August. I don't know if it is going to make it to adulthood (8th instar) before it gets too cold. They have lots of personality. The big one you saw couldn't be 8 inches. Four inches at the most, and _Tenodera aridifolia sinensis_ is the largest mantis species in the U.S. Nice pictures!


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## Zapins (Jul 28, 2004)

Love the pictures!

You can raise mantises as pets pretty easily. I caught an adult female in late autumn and kept it in a 2.5g tank with soil that I watered every day and a screen mesh over the top. I kept her for 3 months and fed her on crickets. She laid 2 ootheca (egg pods) and then died of old age (they only live 1 season).

The egg pods hatched a few weeks later, but I was on holiday when they did so they died without food 

Very easy to care for just make sure the moisture is good (like in an emersed setup).

Also, try increasing your F stop to around 9-11 and use the flash to brighten the picture with maybe 1/100-200 shutter speed. The higher F stop increases the depth of field you get and it gives you a great black background which makes the mantis pop out even more. Try put the mantis in a position where there is nothing behind it for at least 3 feet (that way you get the black background).

I'll look for some pics of my mantis from back in the day.

Also, maybe the torso is 4" long but if they stretch their claws out they can reach close to 8 inches. They are pretty huge bugs. I love them.


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## joshvito (Apr 6, 2009)

This one was hanging on the outside of my lfs. 

















TFCEC Member
Tropical Fish Club of Erie County


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## HeyPK (Jan 23, 2004)

Josh, Your mantis is an adult female _Mantis religiosa_, an European import. This species is a grasshopper specialist, exploiting dense populations of grasshoppers.


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## Zapins (Jul 28, 2004)

Wow, very cool. Do you have any side shots of it?

Are there any native mantises in CA?


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## asukawashere (Mar 11, 2009)

Mantis religiosa is actually the state bug of CT. At this time I'm more or less convinced the state DEP is out of its mind, seeing as we've now declared invasive bugs as state icons and U.S. native plants as banned invasives. But they are very, very cool bugs


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## HeyPK (Jan 23, 2004)

Mantis religiosa exploits dense populations of grasshoppers and can reduce numbers dramatically. I don't think anybody gets upset about that. Females gain up to 5 times their initial adult weight and they crank out large egg cases. A field teeming with grasshoppers develops in a couple of years a large population of religiosa. Then the hopper population crashes and I don't know what happens to the mantids. They either leave or starve. Females can fly quite well before they start producing eggs, so maybe they leave.

There are several California species. Stagmomantis californica is the one most people see. There are also several small ground mantid species in the desert.


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## Zapins (Jul 28, 2004)

You have inspired me. I'm going out hunting mantids tomorrow I think... Going to do a photo shoot of any I find.


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## Zapins (Jul 28, 2004)

Posted some pics of my old mantis http://www.aquaticplantcentral.com/forumapc/photography/80609-praying-mantis-shots.html#post606443


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