Giant Asian mantis
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| Giant Asian mantis | ||||||||||||||
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| Hierodula membranacea Burmeister, 1838 |
The giant Asian mantis, Hierodula membranacea, is one of the largest in the mantid family. Its colours vary from green to yellow-green, or even brown to reddish-brown. They are similar to the giant Indian mantis and the giant Malaysian mantis. As the name suggests, they originate from south-east Asia. Male and female adults reach around 10 cm, excluding extended forelegs.
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[edit] As pets
[edit] Food
Giant Asian mantises in captivity will feed on basically any given insect, as they have a vigorous appetite. There are exceptions, such as wasps and ants, as these can deal harm to the mantid. This species is particularly cannibalistic, so it is wise to keep them separate as pets.
[edit] Water
Daily spraying/misting gives the mantis the water it needs to survive. However, a mantis will readily drink water offered to them.
[edit] Faunarium
The habitat for the mantis is mainly shrubs and tree areas. Set up of a faunarium should be in a similar way with small branches and leaves, which in turn can hold some moisture and keep humidity at a suitable level.
The floor of the faunarium should be covered in substrate. Bark chips are usually a good choice because they can hold a lot of moisture and they are organic. A layer around an inch thick should suffice.
[edit] Climate control
Naturally living in hot and humid climates, they should be maintained with a temperature of 22 C to 30 C (71.6 F to 86 F) with the humidity in the region of 60% to 70%. If the humidity is too high, this can lead to increased risk of disease.
[edit] Moulting
Mantises have a hard external skeleton called an exoskeleton. This means that as they grow, the skin will get tighter and tighter until it is finally shed. As they age, they will shed their exoskeleton several times until they reach adulthood.
The mantis should not be disturbed in any way during moulting. The mantis will not eat for a while before it sheds its skin. It also might not eat for a couple of days after the process either. When the mantis has reached adulthood it will no longer need to shed, and should have its wings after moulting the final time.
[edit] Jumping
This mantis can jump around twice its body length. When it is an adult, it will not need to jump since it will be able to fly, though adult females will still do this on occasion.
[edit] Handling
Mantids should not be picked up as they may attack your hand or can be injured. They can usually be handled by allowing it to crawl onto a hand. By placing your hand in front of the mantis in a vertical position, it should crawl to the top. Make sure to keep your hand away from your face and pointed upwards, or it will try to climb up your arm or leap.
[edit] Breeding
Sexual, very limited parthenogenesis abilities. A female can be identified from male by the fact that she has 6 abdominal segments, while males have 8. She also has a much larger abdomen.
[edit] Eggs
The adult female will lay several egg cases (called oothecae) over her life span. These are best removed to a separate container as mantis are cannibalistic. The oothecae are best suspended six to ten cm from the bottom of the container as the nymphs 'abseil' down a thin thread to the container floor when hatching. Hatching takes place around six to eight weeks later and up to 150 nymphs can be expected.
