ok im gonna make a MANTIS THREAD mute this if u dont wanna see it

here r ghost mantids (phyllocrania paradoxia) the males are total sweethearts and this is a good beginner species!

i love these guys so much! they can range in color mostly from green to brown and sometimes yellow ! you can tell their gender mostly from their head leaf shape but sometimes its hard to tell! fun fact. "phyllocrania" means leaf head

also theyre good to keep on marijuana plants to eat the bad bugs. mantids are good in general but 1. they camouflage well and 2. they have very relaxed temp + humidity needs

these are orchid mantids (hymenopus coronatus) nd they are STUNNING. theyre very sought after so theyre usually espensive. their native habitat are malaysian rainforests, so they have high temp and humidity needs

after L5, sexual dimorphism becomes VERY prominent. the bigger one is a female and the smaller one is a male. when orchids just become l5, you can tell gender by collar color and petal shape. as they continue to molt, size difference becomes apparent

at l1, when they first hatch, they mimic assassin bugs! when they molt for the first time (l2) thats when they get their white color!