#sphodromantis

[mostlymantis]

cardamom molted to subadult so I was wrong about how many instars she was. anyways she’s huge and she wants to get on my phone really bad.

[mostlymantis]

she’s LITERALLY so cute im gonna scream and cry and throw up she is everything to me

[mostlymantis]

cardamom i3-i6 (i refers to instar, or the number of molts an insect has had in its lifetime. l can also be used but it stands for larval and mantis nymphs are not technically larvae as they do not undergo a metamorphosis into adulthood) september 27-november 12. she doesn’t hate me even though i had to amputate her leg after she injured it ;_; shes’s like a daughter to me

[mostlymantis]

Meet my mantises!

Cardamom ♀ Sphodromantis Kersteni - i6 poss subadult

Cardamom is my baby my cinnamon apple my everything. She has three legs due to somehow getting her leg caught on a plastic plant and twisting it (I believe this is a freak accident and, in general, plastic plants are safe to use). She is also in my icon!

Cinnamon ♀ Creobroter Apicalis - i6 or 7 presub or subadult

Tiny, fiesty, stunning. Cinnamon is only about 1.5 inches long even though she is almost an adult. Creobroter species tend to be small, but the Creobroter Gemmatus I kept in the past was larger than her.

Gummy ♂ Hierodula Majuscula - i4

He is rude and he does not like me but he is Very cute, the most classically alien looking of my mantises. I am hoping that with some handling he will become more tame as he will be very large as an adult (possibly up to 4in long).

Dogwood ♀ Popa Spurca - i4

She's stic. Can I make it anymore obvious?

Ash, Maple, Hazel ♀ Phyllocrania Paradoxa - i4

Sumac, Cypress ♂ Phyllocrania Paradoxa - i4

I'm not putting pics of all of them here but here are the two boys. I love all of them, ghost mantises are really fun and beautiful and easy to keep, albeit the males are finicky to feed. I am going to breed them once they reach adulthood and may have babies available to purchase in the future.

[spw-art]

little man angry

[spw-art]

Little man recovering very well from his injuries

[spw-art]

This little beast is Sal. He had a really bad molt right after I got him and he’s been recovering surprisingly well! I have not posted his story here yet and I think I should, I’m so proud of him.

Here he is fucked up. (He fell into my hand I did not grab him)

Here he is sipping honey water

And then I have some really depressing pictures of him trying to hang onto some mesh which I won’t put here. Here’s him drinking some more water instead.

The bad molt crippled him (really fucked up his back leg and some of his little grabbers) and he won’t be able to walk very well ever again, but that’s okay! He’s doing well. Here he is having a meal.

And here he is having another meal that he grabbed all by himself!

And in a reblog there will be a video of him attacking Walter White.

[mantismonarch]

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“Ladies and gentlemen, we got ‘em” Sphodromantis gastrica (African mantis) adult female destroys phone. #sphodromantisgastrica #sphodromantis #africanmantis #prayingmantis #mantodea #mantis #nature #wildlife #animals #insects #bugs #science #entomology #exotic #pets #aliens #photography #mantismonarch #predator #mantismonday https://www.instagram.com/p/BzG22c2B9NB/?igshid=1r7foqf4k9m8o