Taxonomy;
Class: Insecta Order: Mantodea Family: Sibyllidae Genus: Sibylla Species: pretiosa
Origin;
Sibylla pretiosa (Cryptic Mantis) can be found throughout Southern and Eastern Africa, as far South as the Western Cape in South Africa and up through the East as far as Somalia and Ethiopia, giving it a wide range of terrain, climates, and habitats. This range makes it an attractive first mantis for the hobbyist and has become a staple in many people’s collections.
It is mostly found in scrubland amongst the low bushes of the African prairie, tolerating its species more than most other praying mantises. True to its wide range of habitats, it may also be found in suburban gardens, coastlands, and plains.
Description;
Long, thin, spindly legs, slim, long body sporting green or brown wings when adult with a “love-heart” crest in the centre of the forehead. This is a medium-sized mantis with females reaching 2.5 inches in length (5-7 cm), with males being slightly smaller and slimmer. It appears to have a nervous disposition due to its “shake”, an involuntary movement thought to imitate the fluttering of a leaf in the breeze, allowing pretiosa to hide in plain sight among the tops of bushes and strike at flying prey as it passes.
Diet;
In the wild, pretiosa will sit atop bushes and pick off flies, mosquitoes, and other flying insects. It is also an opportunist hunter and will happily attack and eat any other insect or larvae it might find on its travels, including caterpillars, beetle larvae, and spiders. It is a very aggressive hunter, and if it believes it can hold on to it, it will hunt it.
In captivity, small prey such as small red runner roaches (Shelfordella lateralis), small locusts (Schistocerca gregaria), flies (green, blue, or house), and wax moths (Galleria mellonella) are adequate feeders that supply the proteins required for a healthy mantis.
Feeding (mantis in general);
Praying mantis do not eat on your regime, temperatures affect an insect’s metabolism greatly, which dictates their requirement for nourishment. Viewing their abdomen is the best and only intelligent way to decide if your mantis requires food. Overfeeding a mantis can result in abdominal ruptures and death, so it is always best to gauge your mantis’s hunger level by its girth. A flat-bodied mantis needs feeding. If you can see the membrane between the segments on the underside of the abdomen, then the mantis is full, and you should wait before offering more.
It is normally best to feed some foods, such as locusts and cockroaches, with tongs one at a time rather than allowing them to roam their enclosure. Any food not eaten after several hours will need to be removed. The mantis could wish to moult or be full and become stressed with uneaten food flying/ crawling around.
Please, remember, males do not eat as much as females once they attain adulthood and may go weeks without, and at times refuse food entirely. This is perfectly normal. Females need more food because fertile or not, they still produce an ootheca, which they develop inside their bodies, made from the proteins they consume.
Temperatures and Humidity;
pretiosa are extremely versatile as far as these go, and can tolerate temperatures from 18- 30 °C without concern. A good average between the two is the best option. Keeping them at 25 °C should keep your mantis happy and healthy and give it a healthy growth rate. If you keep your pretiosa at the low end of tolerance, it will affect its growth, and also affect the ability to create the correct humidity to allow for moulting. A drop in temperature to their lowest tolerance is acceptable during the nighttime.
Spraying the interior side of the enclosure once or twice a day at this temperature will provide a reasonable humidity for moulting and a drinking option for your mantis. The ideal method of heating your enclosure is keeping the ambient temperature of the room correct, but it may also be attained by using a heat mat at the rear/ side of the enclosure.
Ideal humidity levels for this species (I find) are between 60-70%
Enclosure;
Googling the enclosure size for any mantis will give you the same result every time. 3 x the length of the mantis = height of the enclosure, 2 x = width of the enclosure. This would be adequate if it were an empty tank, but as I’m sure you will be placing substrates inside, this may affect the moulting ability of your mantis, so I would always suggest 4x the length and not 3x
These sizes work out for every mantis at any age, thus making the answer easy for all. Before your mantis gains adult size, avoid decorating or planting out your enclosure too heavily. i.e., you shouldn’t have anything in the way when moulting is underway.
Mantises also require a mesh lid so they may hook on and hang from the top when they moult. If this is not provided, your mantis will attempt to moult in places that could result in a bad moult, which often results in death or missing limbs, or other external or internal damage.
Breeding;
This is probably the easiest mantis to breed of all, and requires very little interference from humans to help it happen. Adult females are mature after 2-3 weeks from their last moult (more if possible) and males within 8-10 days. Providing both are well fed, then mating should occur by default once placed together. When pairing mantis, it is always wise, no matter the species, to hover over them with a child’s paintbrush (or finger in the case of pretiosa) to part them if the female becomes nasty and attempts to take the male as a snack.
If the female persists in attacking a male, then it is best to part them and wait several days before trying the pair again, and ensure she is well fed.
Males may take quite a while to build up the courage to mount a female and may only do so if she is already occupied with food. If she is ready to mate, she will not be needed and will allow the male to mount her without any resistance. Once a male has already mated, he will be much faster with the next female he is offered, and in most cases, will hop right on her back.
It is quite rare for a female to kill/ eat the male once mating is completed if she is well fed. Connection can take 20 minutes or 3-4 hours. Before connection, the male can be mounted on her back for a long period of time, attempting to clasp so that he can insert.
Pairing Sibylla pretiosa (YouTube)
Laying;
After mating (if well fed), the female will lay an ootheca (mantis egg case) between 5-10 days and then every 7-15 days for the rest of her life. pretiosa is an extremely prolific mantis, and a fertile female will keep laying if food is available regularly.
Females are not picky about where they lay, from the sides of the enclosure to the mesh lid, on plants, decorations, or sticks. They will not lay an ootheca on the floor of the enclosure.
Ootheca care and hatching;
When the ootheca are laid, they can be removed and placed in 32 oz pots, tacked to a mesh lid (as above) using a small amount of superglue or even BlueTac.
The bottom of the pot can contain 1/2″ (1-2 cm) of cocoa fibre, sphagnum moss, and be dampened regularly, keeping the temperature in the pot at 25- 30 °C will see your ooth hatch within 4-6 weeks of the date laid. Each ooth will hold an average of 25 nymphs that emerge very thirsty, and a very fine spray should be skimmed across the top of the mesh to allow them to drink. Do NOT spray into the pot, so that it may cause large droplets on the inside, as your new nymphs may drown.
Nymph Care;
Contrary to popular belief (and Google), nymphs do not emerge hungry and hunting; they emerge soft and will avoid confrontation at all costs until they dry out. This will normally take 2-3 days, and only then will they require an external source of food. There is no rush to pot this species up separately, and they may be left in the pot together for several more days if fed and watered.
D. melanogaster (small fruit flies) are the best food of choice at this age, after their first moult, the food size may be increased to D. hydei (standard fruit flies) if available.
I would advise keeping this species separate after 5 days, but not because they will cannibalise each other, but because they’re a fast, clumsy species that can knock off other moulting individuals and kill or damage them.
To “pot up” nymphs, you can use 4-oz (120 ml) source pots and lids with a mesh top. Cutting the centre of the lid out to allow airflow and trapping the mesh between the pot and the lid. Make-up pads are commonly used at the bottom of the pot to soak up excess moisture when sprayed, which in turn provides humidity.
Life-Cycle;
Males, 12 months, females, 12-16 months
Sybilla pretiosa photograph; Richard Adams, Studio 9, Author; Simon Griffiths, The Mantis Garden
YouTube videos are provided with express permission of TheMantisGarden YouTube Channel
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