Polyspilota aeruginosa (Madagascan Marbled Mantis)

Appearance

This rather large mantis is green as nymphs but take on a grayish marbled color as adults. The inside of their arms feature a prominent black spot with a blue hue in the upper arm.

Sexing

Adult females are larger and more built than the slender adult males. Males have longer antennas and wings. And after the 3rd molt, you may be able to count the bottom abdomen segments to determine their sex…males will have 8 and females will have 6. Females grow up to 8 cm long while males stop at 6-7cm.

Accommodation

This species of mantis will survive in fair conditions. It’s best to keep it around 20-26 C (68-78.8 F). Depending on where you live, room temperature may be best. Overheating could kill the mantis.

Warmer temperature speeds up the metabolism of the mantis and will shorten its life span…and in contrast, cooler temperature slows its metabolism and lengthens the life span, but both extremes could kill it. Humidity should be around 60%. This could be achieved by spraying or watering the substrate a few times a week. The main purpose of humidity is to help the mantis molt…too much humidity will cripple the mantis during molts, and too little will hinder it from emerging from the old skin…just make sure it doesn’t get too dry or too damp.

Caging

This species is quite large. Give it plenty of space to roam and to molt. The suggested height is usually 3x the mantis’ length and 2x for the width and length dimensions. They require sticks and leaves for perching and to hang from for molting and catching insects.

Feeding

This species eats very well. They are not picky. Crickets and mealworms are the best food for them, but you can feed them anything else that will fit in its claws. It’s recommended that the size of the feeder insect does not exceed 1/3 the mantis’ length. Do not offer them poisonous insects or wasps or bees as these could seriously harm the mantis. To feed them, you can either drop the food inside the tank and if the mantis is hungry, it’ll go after the prey…or you can feed them by hand: use a pair of tweezers to hold the cricket and wave it in front of the mantis, if it’s hungry, it will turn its head to stare directly at the insect and will snatch it from the tweezers…or you may need to pierce the insect and put it to the mantis’ mouth and if it likes the taste, it’ll grab on to it and begin to feed. Do not overfeed them, overfeeding will shorten their life span also. Feed them as much as it will eat in one day and do not feed it for another 2 days. As for watering, mantises get their water from their prey so no additional watering is needed except from spraying the tank…and occasionally, a mantis will drink off of droplets from a branch or a side of the tank.

Molting

A mantis will stop eating a few days prior to its molt. Do not be alarmed if one day your mantis is chowing down on a cricket and the next it refuses its food, it’s simply getting ready to shed its skin. Mantises molt every 2-3 weeks as babies and the time in between each molt increases as they get older…so their last molt into adulthood can sometimes take as long as 3-4 weeks. It takes about 8 molts for females and about 7 for males. That’s why males tend to mature earlier than females and they also die faster. During molts, it is vital that you do not disturb them. The mantis will hang upside down from a branch or the screen lid and will sometimes shake or spasm violently. Then after a while, it worms out of its old skin and will hang out to dry. Once it’s dried, it will resume eating and being its normal self. Unlike other cryptic species, this species will not have a hard time getting out of its skin.

Reproduction

Pair up a male and a female 2 weeks after their last molt and if they are ready, the male will try to climb on the female to initiate breeding. Be sure that both sexes are well fed prior to mating. And before mating, it is advised to give the female a food item to busy herself with while the male tries to mate with her. After wards, he will run away, leaving the female to make the eggs. Feed her as much as she will eat during this time and she will lay about 6 oothecae.

Ootheca

About 100-150 babies will hatch out of each ootheca within 6 weeks if kept at a steady temperature of 30-35 C (86-95 F) and 70% humidity. Feed the babies fruit flies on the second day and they can be kept together until their 2nd molt. Then separate them to prevent cannibalism. Spray the young nymphs once a day and reduce to a few times a week after their 3rd molt.