The Giant Shield Mantis - Rhombodera kirbyi
This morning I found one of my stick insect terrariums had exploded with fruit flies, probably brought in on their food branches and hatching with the higher temperatures. What to do? Mantis nymphs! Ideal size to deal with such a pest. This video is of the shield mantis, but after several flies, I swapped them out for other species.
This beautiful species comes from Timor/ Indonesia in the South Pacific and likes lots of warmth and humidity.
Budwing Mantis - Parasphendale affinis
The budwing nymphs are past the fruit flies, this one is munching on a medium-sized cricket.
The Giant Asian Mantis - Heirodula papua
This GAM is almost 4 weeks old and hasn't shed at all yet. She has damaged front limbs and I've been hand-feeding her small crickets and honey. Hopefully, she will survive as we have already given her a name - Jessica, and made her a nice home-from-home terrarium.
And here she is eating honey off my wife's finger.
South-East Asian dead leaf mantis - D. lobata
If they've ever been to Thailand you may have encountered this guy, sitting on your veranda, waiting for dinner to fly by. Super quick little mantid, this one is around 3rd instar.
Artemis hunting on the forest floor
This is Artemis, one of my giant shield mantids hunting on the "forest" floor. The forest floor is actually an independent bioactive garden that is set up for photographing and videoing insects.