Fauna Belalang sentadu

Cara Memelihara Praying Mantis

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Praying Mantis merupakan salah satu serangga yang paling eksotis, dia juga mempunyai nama lain yaitu congcorang atau belalang sentadu atau walang kekek, Ada lebih dari 2400 spesies praying mantis di seluruh dunia, belalang sembah juga termasuk kategori serangga predator, bisa dikatakan mereka adalah pembasmi hama alami, karena dia hewan karnivora yang sering memakan serangga kecil seperti jangkrik, belalang bahkan congcorang juga bisa memangsa tikus, kadal, ular, burung kecil, dan juga katak.

Praying mantis juga bisa dijadikan hewan peliharaan yang unik, dia juga termasuk serangga yang paling populer untuk dijadikan peliharaan di mancanegara, bahkan di indonesia pun sudah cukup banyak yang memeliharanya, peternak praying mantis juga sudah mulai bermunculan di indonesia, seperti peternak orchid mantis atau belalang angrek, karena tubuhnya yang mirip angrek, maka dia dapat dengan mudah berkamuflase di antara bunga anggrek untuk mengelabui mangsanya.

Berikut adalah cara pemeliharaan dasar praying mantis.

Tempat
Untuk wadah atau tempat bisa menggunakan toples plastik yang agak tinggi yang sudah diberi lubang kecil sebanyak banyaknya di bagian tutup dan samping toples, bisa juga menggunakan pet house yang dijual di pet shop atau toko ikan hias. lebih bagus lagi jika menggunakan aquarium jenis akrilik 40x30 dan disesuaikan dengan habitat aslinya.

Alas
Untuk alas sebaiknya gunakan cocopeat, atau bisa juga serutan kayu yang biasa digunakan untuk hamster (jangan langsung dipakai, bersihkan dengan air terlebih dahulu secara ber ulang ulang), atau bisa juga menggunakan dedaunan kering yang sudah dibersihkan.

Dekorasi
Letakan ranting kering untuk dia memanjat, bersihkan terlebih dahulu.

Pakan
Untuk makanannya bisa dikasih 1 jangkrik untuk 2 sampai 3 hari sekali untuk Mantis dewasa, sedangkan untuk mantis yang masih kecil bisa dikasih makan lalat buah, atau ulat hongkong.

Tempat Air
Tempat air bisa menggunakan tutup botol air mineral, atau apapun yang bisa menampung air, juga sediakan spray air, semprotkan air di dinding toples atau dedaunan di terarium mantis untuk dia minum, (jangan terlalu lembab).

Molting
Belalang sembah juga memiliki masa molt atau ganti kulit, jadi mantis tidak akan makan untuk beberapa hari sebelum molting, dan dia akan diam saja, jadi jangan diganggu, setelah selesai molting, jangan ada jangkrik yang bersama mantis, karena jangkrik bisa memangsa mantis yang kulitnya masih lunak.

Karakter
Cukup jinak, bisa di letakan di atas tangan, tidak menggigit, tapi kalau yang sudah dewasa bisa terbang


Peringatan
Jangan mengambil mantis yang ada di alam secara berlebihan, karena mantis adalah termasuk hewan yang menguntungkan petani, atau pembasmi hama alami, usahakan untuk mengembang biakannya, ada juga yang berternak mantis dan sengaja dilepas ke alam sebagai pembasmi hama alami

Source

 

10 Fascinating Facts About Praying Mantids
Interesting Behaviors and Traits of the Praying Mantis
By Debbie Hadley

The word mantis comes from the Greek mantikos, for soothsayer or prophet. Indeed, these insects do look spiritual and mysterious, especially when their forelegs are clasped together as if they're in prayer. Take the mystery out of these creatures by learning these 10 fascinating facts about praying mantids.

1. Most praying mantids live in the tropics.
Of approximately 2,000 species of mantids described to date, almost all of them inhabit the tropics. Only 18 native species are known from the entire North American continent. Also, about 80% of all members of the order Mantodea belong to a single family, the Mantidae.

2. In the U.S., the mantids we see most often are exotic species.
For better or worse, the mantids we commonly encounter in many parts of the U.S. are introduced species, not native ones. The Chinese mantis (Tenodera aridifolia) was introduced near Philadelphia, PA about 80 years ago. This large mantid can measure up to 100 mm in length, and is abundant in some northern areas of the U.S. The European mantid, Mantis religiosa is pale green, and about half the size of the Chinese mantid at maturity. This species is well established in most of the eastern U.S., since its introduction near Rochester, NY nearly a century ago.

3. Mantids are unique among insects in their ability to turn their heads a full 180 degrees.
Try to sneak up on a praying mantis, and you may be startled when it looks over its shoulder at you. No other insect can do so. Praying mantids have a flexible joint between the head and prothorax that enables them to swivel their heads. This ability, along with their rather humanoid faces and long, grasping forelegs, endears them to even the most entomophobic people among us.

4. Mantids are closely related to cockroaches and termites.
These three seemingly different insects – mantids, termites, and cockroaches – are believed to descend from a common ancestor. In fact, some entomologists group these insects in a superorder (Dictyoptera), due to their close evolutionary relationships.

5. Praying mantids overwinter as eggs in temperate regions.
The female praying mantis deposits her eggs on a twig or stem in the fall, and then protects them with a Styrofoam-like substance she secretes from her body. This forms a protective egg case, or ootheca, in which her offspring will develop over the winter. Mantid egg cases are easy to spot in the winter, when leaves have fallen from shrubs and trees. But be forewarned! If you bring a mantid ootheca into your warm home in late winter or early spring, you will probably find a few hundred teeny, tiny praying mantids crawling around your house soon after.

6. Female mantids sometimes eat their mates.
Yes, it's true, female praying mantids do cannibalize their *** partners. In some instances, she'll even behead the poor chap before they've consummated their relationship. As it turns out, a male mantid is an even better lover when his brain, which controls inhibition, is detached from his abdominal ganglion, which controls the actual act of copulation. But most instances of sexual suicide in mantids occur in the confines of a laboratory setting. In the wild, scientists believe the male partner gets munched on less than 30% of the time.

7. Mantids use specialized front legs to capture prey.
The praying mantis is so named because when waiting for prey, it holds its front legs in an upright position, as if they are folded in prayer. Don't be fooled by its angelic pose, however, because the mantid is a deadly predator. If a bee or fly happens to land within its reach, the praying mantis will extend its arms with lightning quick speed, and grab the hapless insect. Sharp spines line the mantid's raptorial forelegs, enabling it to grasp the prey tightly as it eats. Some larger mantids catch and eat lizards, frogs, and even birds. Who says bugs are at the bottom of the food chain?!

8. Mantids are relatively young, in terms of evolutionary time.
The earliest fossil mantids date from the Cretaceous Period, and are between 146-66 million years old. These primitive mantid specimens lack certain traits found in the mantids that live today. They don't have the elongate pronotum, or extended neck, of modern-day mantids and they lack spines on their forelegs.

9. Praying mantids do prey on other insects, but are not necessarily beneficial insects.
Praying mantids can and will consume lots of other invertebrates in your garden. It's important to note, however, that mantids don't discriminate between good bugs and bad bugs when looking for meals. A praying mantis is just as likely to eat a native bee that's pollinating your plants as it is to eat a caterpillar pest. Garden supply companies often sell the egg cases of Chinese mantids, touting them as a biological control for your garden, but these predators may do as much harm as good in the end.

10. Mantids have binocular vision, but only one ear.
A praying mantis has two large, compound eyes that work together to help it decipher visual cues. But strangely, the praying mantis has just a single ear, located on the underside of its belly, just forward of its hind legs. This means the mantid cannot discriminate the direction of sound, nor its frequency. What it can do is detect ultrasound, or sound produced by echolocating bats. Studies have shown that praying mantids are quite good at evading bats. A mantis in flight will essentially stop, drop, and roll in midair, dive bombing away from the hungry predator. Not all mantids have an ear, and those that don't are typically flightless, so they don't have to flee flying predators like bats.

more at http://insects.about.com/od/roachesandmantids/a/10-Fascinating-Facts-About-Praying-Mantids.htm

 

[h=1]WHAT ARE THE STAGES OF THE PRAYING MANTIS' LIFE CYCLE?[/h]​

Praying mantises are insects with triangular-shaped heads, and with a stance that make them seem to be praying. The mantises are predators that feed on a wide variety of insects such as the moths, grasshoppers, crickets and flies. They have different body colors depending on their habitat that range from green to pink, with the majority being pea green to brown. The camouflage makes it easy for a mantis to hunt its prey. The typical lifespan of a praying mantis is six months, which can extend to a year.


[h=2]Eggs[/h]
This stage occurs just before winter. The adult female praying mantis lays 100 to 400 eggs after fertilization. The eggs are laid safely on a firm leaf or stem with a liquid that hardens to be a protective sac structure known as ootheca. The ootheca is a protective casing (very hard and able to survive extreme weather changes) in which the eggs will stay throughout the winter. In mid-spring when the temperatures are warm, the nymphs will hatch when the egg cases crack.


[h=2]Nymphs[/h]
Initially, the hatched nymphs stay around the egg casing for a while. It's during this period that the mantis try to feed on each other. After spreading out, they will begin to hunt for small insects such as fruit flies. Nymphs undergo a series of repeated stages of growth in their development known as instars. At each stage, the nymphs shed off their exoskeleton through a process called molting to allow development of body segments leading to an increase in body size. Molting takes place about six times before they can begin the next stage life. Nymphs are vulnerable as prey to other large predators such as the bats, birds and spiders, and not all nymphs survive this stage.


[h=2]Adolescents[/h]
Adolescent mantises are larger in size than nymphs. They shed their exoskeletons occasionally, a feature that differentiates them from adult mantises. Mantises tend to be sluggish before they molt and will rarely feed during this period. Molting increases their vulnerability as prey as it takes a few hours and the mantis remains at one place. The molting process ends at the beginning of summer, when it has grown to be a mature adult.


[h=2]Adult[/h]
Full-grown mantises are normally between 1 to 6 inches in length, and are different in size depending on their species. Female mantises can be distinguished from males as they have heavier abdomens. In addition to small insects, mantises will prey on small nesting birds, mice, lizards and tree frogs. Praying mantises have an interesting behavior when they mate in that the female eats the head of the male mantis as it reduces his *** drive. After mating she feeds on the rest of male’s body. The female mantis usually dies after laying eggs.

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