u/squishyfeet4

I was realllllly skeptical these guys would go after the Dubai roaches. My local store sells them in three sizes. We got small. And they are small ish.

I also modified the mantis home so it doesn’t have anything the roach can bury itself in and hide from the mantis.

I was absolutely not keen on holding the roach with tweezers either to start a feed. Knowing my luck, I’d drop the fella and it would be lost forever in my home.

Then I waited. Hunger finally took over the i4 mantis # 5 and # 6, and they both ate their Dubai roach. Their struggle was interesting to watch. Yet I am happy to observe their success! They have very filled abdomens.

#1- #4, they all have shown significant more hesitation. I’ll prolly finish off the hydei population with those ones.

I am happy to see them plump!

This took easily over 48 hrs. Lots of movement leading up to the final moment that lead me to believe something was happening. Yesterday was a frustrating day. The heat has not helped. They are in a fully shaded area too.

I observed them make their lasso and anchor. However that was not filmed. It was a neat process.

But the way the body thins, and narrows while slowly doing an accordion motion only really notable through Timelapse and then with the translucency between the segments that happens and then it transitions to an opaqueness beneath the skin in the very final hour. And of course, the final movements of the chrysalis as it hardens and sets.

Cool observations, indeed.

I hope these rescued caterpillars now turned chrysalis make it in this high heat to become butterflies!!

Also fun fact, the chrysalis wiggle when you brush against them lightly.

I hope you enjoy. I have no dill for my recipes. And I have learned to strongly dislike groundhogs, forever. For a first species encounter, this was a doozy.

I find it interesting how he attempted to keep his poop ejection aimed away from his pathway. Like, it’s an attempt to projectile poop on an angle vs straight down the stick. How very interesting.

Hope you enjoy!

I have learned quickly when they are ready to molt you need to put them in a container with literally nothing because if they’re in anything with anything else in the way, they will try with every fiber of their being to MESS IT UP

He literally dove into the shallow end: ie he hung too low and hit his head on the bottom, barley a third out and stopped being able to push himself out, and on top of that he was wedged weirdly against the wall too!

Thankfully this ding dong had his feet gripped properly……

Edit: tap video to open full screen view.

I didn’t manage to capture any more molts, sadly.

However you see the lovely diarrhea phase just prior to chrysalis formation here! How neat! It’s not a full view. Just a partial view but it’s still a cool observation!!

Also. The chonky dude who’s wondering crazy through this compressed clip is not ready yet. He’s, erm, confused? lol. He settled on a different plant in the bin that’s not in camera view and ended up eating parsley. But he definitely got his morning steps in.

Hope you enjoy!

This is #6. He is the third to molt. And I realize I have to rename them now I feel like.

Tentative measurement seems to be an inch in length finally. I have to wait for him to dry before I touch him. These are Chinese mantis fyi.

Hoping the rest molt really well. I think #2 will be next. We have 5 left. All six have managed to survive.

I was not able to capture a molt today. Not sure if one happened. Blame iPhone difficulties 🤣

Also. The caterpillars are slow to migrate to greener pastures. This Timelapse was over a 4-5 hour time frame. Super compressed. So, post editing (limited capabilities here) was a little awkward. It turned into stop motion feels. lol.

No evidence of any one getting ready to make a chrysalis despite the MASSIVE amount of food they eat. My own home grown supplemented with store bought. My groundhog attacks did not help the supply v demand issue.

Hope you enjoy!

Is it true:

1. That basil will grow roots from clippings? (Circled in red)

2. That tomato stalks will grow roots from clippings?) (circled in purple)

3. That these two make great companions in your garden?

4. And can I really grow my cherry tomato’s hanging upside down with basil on top?

Context: I am a brand new noob to this hobby and I’ve gone down a bit of a rabbit hole.

I know nothing about lavender other than it’s purple and smells good. Why does these two brands look so vastly different? Noob here who wants to learn!

Edit: thank you for the reward! Thank you very much!

Catching them in the act is super hard. lol. Battery life on my phone is a problem and then raining while it’s charging is a problem. So then we got them moved to a shady spot outside because well, electronics and rain don’t mix well together.

Hope you enjoy! I missed the first part right as he was flailing around like a ding dong to shake off his top cap. But I got the rest.

This took about 10 minutes real time. Compressed to 1:24 minutes.

I was curious into growing some lavender to help discourage ground hogs while also looking pretty.

I read that lavender regrows in spring, after winter if you plant it in the ground.

I’m learning. And I also know this maaay be a futile attempt. But live and learn!

Glimpse into the secret lives of caterpillars. These guys I stumbled upon at ACE hardware store garden section. First time I’ve interacted with these guys. Today I learned they’ll eat the dying brown parts of the dill. I assumed they’d only eat the green parts. Nope. They will eat some of the stalk. But they don’t seem to mow it all the way down.

One is definitely a green ish hue with a tinge of brown. While the other one is a full on all brown. They’re Chinese mantis for reference that I am observing their life cycle for the first time. They are L3 eating some fruit flies by the way! Derpy hunters!

Also my iPhone macro zoom stinks. I heard android macro zoom is way better. lol

New to this hobby this year. And boy is the learning curve brutal.

I am thankful my ONE cherry tomato plant is achieving!!! Very excited even though it will be a small harvest!

*Hydei, I can’t fix title. Oops

I started with melanogaster ones with my L1s

Then moved onto hydei for my L2 who turned into L3s.

And during this couple of weeks, the hydei population has turned over twice. When I first bought the hydei supply from the reptile pet store, it had a lot of “food” in the plastic soup container. Like a solid 4-5 inches of that creamy tan paste. And I thought to my self, dang that’s a lot, why so much?

Well that same on container is still going. The original population was all eaten and then I waited a week and watched the life cycle replenish itself and emerge and WOW. Math is mathing right now!!

I split the new population into two containers to manage them better. They go crazy when I get them out to feed the L3s.

I have a butt ton of them. It seems the L3s can eat 2-4 comfortably. They are a nice size where I can see their abdomen be rounded compared to the L1 size abdomen and guessing.

Once they are L4s I will probably have to find a new food source.

So. Yeah. That $12 container. Well worth it!