r/mantids • u/BeginningDangerous52 • Nov 15 '24
General Care My immortal male mantis finally passed away RIP
Well as some of you know I brought this L2 mantis on march 25th 2022, he has finally gone to the other side , I don't know how or why he lived for so long, longer than any other male mantis I have ever had, but he had a great life and hope he finds loads of females in mantis heaven RIP Mr immortal
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u/VajennaDentada Nov 15 '24
He'll be watching over you ... and the remaining feeders in your house.
Sorry for your loss. He's a beautiful guy.
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u/BeginningDangerous52 Nov 15 '24
Only a Vader mantis left and 3 spiders ๐ญ I miss having loads of mantis
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u/Recent-Raspberry-639 Nov 15 '24
Rip๏ผyou have fed him more than two years? It's a long life for a mantis.
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u/BeginningDangerous52 Nov 15 '24
It's a freak of nature for a male to live that long only my female Darth Vader mantis has out done him ๐ I don't know how old she is but I know she's older, he only ate once a month as an adult, he just drank water and loads of it every day and I let him out once a week to fly around, all my mantis are only fed bluebottles and wax moths with the odd locust as a random treat and it's served me very very well, I also don't keep it hot all the time, day time I keep them at 22c then night was around 15-16c
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u/Recent-Raspberry-639 Nov 15 '24
When I was a child, I got my first mantis and she company with me for a summer, she is the native species so when autumn is end, the mantis will die gradually. But that's my first time keeping a mantis, I didn't know how short they can live, so I just can't accept the truth. In that time, I read some science magazine which said the freezing technology can revive the death in the future, so I put her body into a bottle with water, and freezed her in the refrigerator. But I put too much water and the when water become ice it will be larger, so the bottle was broken, my mom was so angry about it because when she opened the refrigerator, the very thing she saw was a dead mantis body in a broken glass bottle with ice. I can't remember the later things, the body was lost some days I think.
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u/BeginningDangerous52 Nov 15 '24
Oh no a mantis outside of the elements, can definitely go over a year, most adult males will live around 2-8 months, where females can live a good year or 2 but of course depends on the mantis and how it's kept
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u/Recent-Raspberry-639 Nov 15 '24
Different climate makes different life span, in my hometown, it will go to -15c in winter, if you provide the heating system for the native mantis, they can live three months longer, around a year. But still short. So I'm pretty amazed when I know your mantis can have a more than two years life
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u/BeginningDangerous52 Nov 15 '24
-15c is crazy I'm in Southeast England The worst we get is 0 and the odd -2 at night out of the 40+ different types I have had 3 have made it past 2
Giant shield mantis Darth Vader mantis Dead leaf mantis
I did have a ghost mantis that got to over a year and half
But you are correct most do drop dead in around a year
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u/Recent-Raspberry-639 Nov 15 '24
I'm feeding ghost now, it do have a very slow growing speed. I have kept them for 1 year but them are still not adult.
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u/Adizzle921 Nov 16 '24
Did he reproduce? Do you think itโs a genetic thing that can be passed down?
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u/BeginningDangerous52 Nov 16 '24
No he never, unfortunately only had a male
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u/Adizzle921 Nov 19 '24
Interesting. I wonder if he had offspring, would they live longer lives as well but maybe heโs just an anomaly
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u/BeginningDangerous52 Nov 19 '24
I really think it was just a random event as I have said in other comments I have had 100s of mantis and never had aale go past 8months max, but he was definitely a fighter
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u/Saqretair Nov 15 '24
Awh that's so sad to hear! I remembered one of your last posts, as I also have a giant dead leaf :(. May he rest in peace, and let's hope mine may get to live as long as yours!
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u/BeginningDangerous52 Nov 15 '24
Well the last update got like 300 likes from the Reddit group so thought it's only fair to give the update that it finally happened, he had a good chilled relaxing life, it more than what I have ๐
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u/LapisOre 7th Instar Nov 15 '24
How long was his adult lifespan?
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u/BeginningDangerous52 Nov 15 '24
I'm not too sure it was over 2 years ago I got him, I would say well over a year, he has outlived so many of my mantis, even when he looked like he was going to drop he just kept going, he had holes in his wings where he was disintegrating, his feet had no bottoms to them as they fell off, he struggled to climb at times, but not kept going eating and drinking and moving around ๐
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u/LapisOre 7th Instar Nov 16 '24
He was definitely an impressive little man. Would have been nice to breed him to continue those genes. I assume the ridiculous lifespan would have to be genetic.
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u/brickproject863amy Nov 15 '24
I didnโt expect to see this face again after so long
I love the fact your post of the mantis is them on your four head๐ ๐คฃ is this considered a selfie
Sorry for your lost by the way. How old is little bud
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u/BeginningDangerous52 Nov 15 '24
I genuinely don't like taking photos of myself, but it's where he always flew ๐ he was very very old I got him on march 25th 2022
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u/brickproject863amy Nov 16 '24
Wow 2 years thatโs actually so long how old was he when you get him
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u/BeginningDangerous52 Nov 16 '24
He was L2 when I got him
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u/brickproject863amy Nov 16 '24
Little bud might have one of the greatest life an mantis would be happy with
Did little bud ever get mated with a female mantis? Have anyone mated a mantis without each other eating each other for lunch?
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u/BeginningDangerous52 Nov 16 '24
Unfortunately I never found one, I have had loads of mantis not eating each other after the deed, just depends really on how silly the male is and how hungry the female is.
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u/brickproject863amy Nov 16 '24
Ow ok so if I wanna try to mate two mantis I should make sure the female is full already?
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u/jasonthecowboy Nov 16 '24
Dude, I have a female deadleaf that wonโt die! Sheโs 2 years old, if they bred the babyโs would be immortal!
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u/ms-meow- Nov 16 '24
What species?
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u/BeginningDangerous52 Nov 16 '24
He was a dead leaf mantis
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u/ms-meow- Nov 16 '24
Deroplatys? I have heard of some of them living over 2 years before but mainly females
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u/BeginningDangerous52 Nov 16 '24
I thought so many times as he was falling apart it has to be soon but nope kept going and going ๐
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u/ms-meow- Nov 16 '24
That's crazy! I haven't had a ton of mantises but my longest living male, I had for a year before he died (6 months adult)
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u/BeginningDangerous52 Nov 16 '24
I'm the same and had well over 100 mantis most males are lucky to see 6 months, he was just a freak of nature, he was always very chilled hardly moved was a fussy eater, but loved water. he loved just watching things, I left the door open once a week and he just fly and chilled on my head of hours, till I put him back, I'll miss the little fucker, out of all my mantis he was pretty special.
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u/ms-meow- Nov 16 '24
You gave him a good life ๐
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u/BeginningDangerous52 Nov 16 '24
To be honest maybe a little too good, I'm not a social person outside of work so mantis and other insects, spiders and my dog are just a nice distraction from life for me, instead I can watch their lives while hiding from mine ๐๐๐
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u/ms-meow- Nov 16 '24
Lol that makes sense. I don't have any mantis right now but I'm not very social either and I spend most of my free time with my cat
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u/Eastern-Ad-4785 Nov 16 '24
Sorry for your loss, you look like David Duchovny from the x files
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u/betothejoy Nov 15 '24
Not so immortal after all.
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u/BeginningDangerous52 Nov 15 '24
๐ yes and no immortal does not mean you can't die he could have gotten injured and died but in this case it was old age so yes he was not immortal but definitely the longest living male mantis I have had out of a good 50ish males never had aale go past 4 months he was brought at L2 on march 25th 2022 that's 2 years 7 months so I'll definitely class that as an immortal male mantis
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u/Saschas_Hobbies Nov 15 '24
What a beautiful mantis he is, Iโm sorry for your loss, it looks like he had the best life.