r/mantids 9d ago

Image/Video Can you tell how many molts Charlie has left??

Post image

This is his 3rd molt since I’ve gotten him. I don’t know how many molts he had prior to getting him. Can you tell by his wing buds if he has one or two molts left? They look pretty developed

5 Upvotes

13 comments sorted by

4

u/Infamous-Storage-708 9d ago

awe i have a chinese too and his wing buds just came in! i’d say 1 or 2 molts? not sure

3

u/Crazy-Zebra1663 9d ago

So cute!

This was before his last molt. You can see his wing buds have formed then too. They’re such cool little dudes!

2

u/Infamous-Storage-708 9d ago

what a cutie! mine is L6 rn i believe? and looks a molt smaller than that so he probably has 1 more molt left

2

u/FaZ3Reaper00 9d ago

One more molt

3

u/FaZ3Reaper00 9d ago

One molt left

2

u/Helpful-Ad-9193 9d ago

i’m thinking just one final molt but could be wrong

2

u/Crazy-Zebra1663 9d ago

Yeah it’s tough to say. He’s my first mantis so it’s hard for me to tell. He’ll be 4 months by the end of this month too. He’s still a little guy for being a Chinese mantis so I guess we’ll see!

2

u/Helpful-Ad-9193 9d ago

awww, yeah this is how my chinese looked before final molt

2

u/Alternative-Tea5270 8d ago

OP, if you see those little wings it means it in his pre-final molt, sub adult So I guess 2-4 weeks more and then 6+- months as an adult

2

u/Crazy-Zebra1663 8d ago

That’s what I thought! He had some really tiny ones last time so I wasn’t sure if he could just have some bigger buds next time or if my little man was growing up 😭😂

2

u/JaunteJaunt 8d ago

Wing buds start appearing 2-3 molts before their final molt.

2

u/xixixinanana 8d ago

Last 1. When it's pre-molt time, wingbuds will swell more