If there are any entomologists out there that could help me, I would greatly appreciate it. I typically buy an egg "pod" from a local hardware store around this time of year and place it in a jar and without fail, a couple of weeks later out pop hundreds of baby mantids (manti?). I feed them on aphids and give them apple slices (I have found that they tend to drown in water) until they are big enough to release and then set them out to take care of business. I kept one last year in the jar, just to see it grow to maturity and fed it on crickets. It turned into a beautiful insect and late in the fall produced a small egg pod and then died. I refrigerated the egg pod and have now put it in a jar in the warmth. Am I wasting my time? I read somewhere that cockroaches can reproduce without the help of other cockroaches, does this apply to other insects too??
Hi As far as my books show you will need 1 of each sex but since there are over 2000 species ? You can check out http://www.easyinsects.co.uk/mantis/. regards
Thanks Doug for your input, I couldn't get that link to work though. Maybe I'll try googling mantids and see what comes up!
