#i treated her to some dubia roaches to try lol

[bigweldindustries]

Two new babies, a ghost mantis (phyllocrania paradoxia) on the left and a stagmomantis (unknown species from Veracruz) on the right! They've settled in well and both have already had a good munch on some fruit flies!

I didn't post about it because it made me really upset but Moxley had an accident their first moult with me - I won't go into specifics because it was kind of fucking awful but regrettably the injuries they sustained ended their life. Mismoults happen, sometimes mantises fall whilst moulting which causes injury as they're soft immediately after moulting and need time for their exoskeleton to harden, and whilst I'm well aware it's just a horrible accident that can happen regardless of what you do I still feel kind of fucking awful over it.

That said I deal with death best if I have something else to preoccupy myself with and care for - and my mantis breeder was running a deal for two mystery mantises 💖 Absolutely delighted by these two - it's about time I raised a ghost (they're probably the second most ubiquitous species after orchids, everyone loves the funny little wobbly goths) and back when I got Arty (my sphodromantis lineola) at the beginning of the year I was torn between that species and a stagmomantis limbata, so I'm very excited to have a stagmomantis at last! (although admittedly I would have been equally delighted with anything 💀 I just really love mantises)

Taking name suggestions for the Ghost - the stagmomantis I have named Crayola <3