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OctoberRainne — Luna.Slurpie.Straw.Series
Published: 2012-08-24 05:31:44 +0000 UTC; Views: 584; Favourites: 27; Downloads: 0
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Description
Luna my hopefully prego adult female Hierodula Multispina,just basic edits,I'll hit it with some more later,lots more of these as well
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Comments: 36
Congratulations! This work has been included in our latest Friday Feature!
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How do you get the background to be black like that?
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I use mostly card stock/scrap booking papers for the mantis shoots,the new blacks are from a shiney glossy black paper I think it came as a wedding kit,you can find them at Walmart in books or by color at Michaels,the gloss really helps bounce the light but you have to watch out that the lights in the room reflect into the shot at some angles as well,hope that helps
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Ooh I see, cool, thanks for the info
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Oh very nice!See,the colors are much brightfull with a black background.Good work dear!
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Thanxx this is metallic shiney paper still,no matter what I do with fabric it gets texture or wrinkles in it,so we're still on paper til I have more room to place backdrops farther back behind the subject,right now I shoot the small stuff on a desk so there is little space
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Awesome!A lot of guess and try but at the end,the result is here!
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Thanxx
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Beautiful girl! My boy died recently, so it's nice to see such a stunning picture.
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Sorry to hear that,I have one male of this species left and he is barely intact,so I know what that is like 
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Aww she's soo beautiful
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Thanxx,hoping she is
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Great shot as always. A truly beautiful creature. Nice details and colors.
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Thanxx,she is my current new muse,while I'm waiting for some others to grow up
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Awesome!
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Right now I have 8 but I've had 13+ at one time lol adn may be having babies soon which could be a hundred+ at first
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Awesome! What do you feed them?
I feed mine bugs from my back yard (don't worry, no pesticides or anything... my landlord doesn't do anything around here, haha! It's like a jungle!) I also feed them crickets sometimes - I read it's better to keep the crickets in a clean container with food and water which would 'rinse' out the cricket and make it healthier for the mantid (if the crickets are store bought).
I hope one is having babies, that'd be sweet!
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Mine mostly eat flies,that I buy,but they also get baby meal worms and baby crickets. Mine don't like wild food but I think that's cuz they are spoiled lol I try butterflies,moths ect. and they fight me with them. If the cricket isn't really small then I mash them up a bit or seperate the head off and then hand it to them in pieces,just cuz the big crickets get really big front jaws and can hurt the mantis,but as long as they aren't afraid to go after it,then most will eat anything you put in,i just won't risk mine losing any parts cuz I shoot them soo much. You can give crickets moisture and slices of potatoe or store bought meal for them,but i honestly don't know if it matters much,but the fatter the feeder,the nicer the mantid will fill out
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Are they regular flies or fruit flies, the ones you buy your mantids? Meal worms and crickets? Interesting. Lol, that's funny that yours are picky, now. I love how mantids adapt. Mine won't eat butterflies or moths either, for some reason. Maybe because there's too much dust on them? I feed mine big crickets, even grasshoppers (which Majesty is eating right now lol). The grasshopper kicked her in the face a couple times but its immobile, now, and she didn't ever stop holding on to it so I figured it didn't bother her so much. She's actually eating that particular leg right now, haha! (You know how mantids chew the leg off the body then eat the leg, if its not too prickly? It looks like Majesty's eating beef jerky lol)Majesty so far has lost one foot, and there's another foot that never grew and is still tiny. It seems Majesty has been okay with the crickets, probably because it's not ALL I feed her.
Will mantids eat themselves to death? I see Majesty's abdomen is swollen and huge right now and it sometimes worries me. Lol.
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I start them all out on bought big fruit flies and then I buy Blue Bottles which are those bigger flies with the metallic look to them in the sunlight,and thats what everyone loves here,theyre big slow dumb flies and I even pluck off the wings for some of the smaller mantids,and yeah mine do not like anything fluffy lol as long as they are able to surprise grab big prey they do fine,its when they get the insects mouth parts to theirs or on a leg before it dies that worries me. Females are huge lol never stop eating because they make their ooths regardless of if there are babies in it or not,so if shes looking nice and prego like I know mine are then shes probably getting ready to create and lay the ooth,and she should lay atleast 2 even if shes never mated,so feed her as much as she wants,and if she stops eating for a week then she should be ready to lay it. The male mantids actually eat themselves its really sad,i've learned now that next time after I mate a male i need to preserve him,because they start eating off legs and wings,even if you feed them,and get eye bruising ect. from flying like maniacs
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oh sweet.
That is a good thing to worry about. I tend to be a bit less involved. Deliberately so. I feel the mantid will be stronger if I let her fend for herself. I figure if she grabbed it and started eating it, then she can handle it. Though that is only my opinion and I also clearly understand your point of view. If I saw something biting Majesty, I'd definitely save her, but she hasn't yet run into that problem.
Oh its just cause she's female? Okay, good, lol. Seriously, she's so fat, her abdomen drags when she walks, so I tend to put her on stuff so she's vertical or upside down, lol.
Majesty is actually getting skinnier though, she hasn't eaten for a couple days, I think she's satisfied for now lol. I'll try to feed her again today, see what she does. That's interesting that they still lay oothecas even if they haven't mated. Similar to chickens, who lay eggs which are not fertile when they haven't mated.
Thats terrible that some males actually eat themselves... I wonder why? Does this mean they've lost their minds? Do you know why that happens?
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I'm not sure why the males eat themselves but adult mantids dont live long anyways,they live to eat,mate then die off,I think they get soo weak and nit picky that they just start picking apart themselves,but not sure,if you find a foamy casing in her cage then she will have laid her ooth,sounds like shes ready as well,still waiting on mine tho lol keeps eating then not
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How long would you say an adult mantid lives?
Dang, those poor male mantids.
She's actually showing an interest in food again, so I don't think she'll be having an ootheca quite yet.
You have to be really patient to deal with mantids, everything takes quite a while, doesn't it? Lol.
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Mantids live a total of 4-12+ months,usually takes several months to become an adult and then they live a few more months after that,females do much better and live much longer though,Luna has been an adult for about two months so far and hasn't even laid her first ooth so it is a lot of time lol
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Oh females live longer? Good! lol she still didnt lay her ootheca? Come on already! lol that is a good sign though that she will live longer
Majesty is a month past adulthood and didnt lay hers, either. And she ate a cricket yesterday. Lol
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Same with Luna she keeps faking me out lol,she eats a lot then stops then does it again and no ooth in between yet. I've heard fertilized ooths take longer so hoping that is why but who knows
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Lol that's funny. Oh maybe then that's why it's taking longer which is a good sign, lol.
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Thanxx,we need to go steal some more slurpie straws! I've grown to really like her and her colors,and she is the easiest one I've ever had to work with when she looks at cam that is
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