A couple of months ago tiny Chinese mantids overran my house, having hatched unexpectedly from an ootheca that was supposed to stay dormant until spring. Last night the first female of the batch successfully molted into adulthood (the first male had his imaginal molt three days earlier), thus completing the cycle that started when I adopted “Florimonde”, an old Chinese mantis that had flown into a friend’s house in Cambridge last fall.
Insect molts are one of the most amazing spectacles of the natural world and I don’t think I will ever tire of watching these incredible transformations. And although I didn’t get much sleep last night (she did not begin her molt until 6 AM), it was definitely worth it.
The Smaller Majority 
Cool! Nice photos of all the instars as well. What did you feed them to keep them going this long?
We feed them flies and crickets. In the summer months we pilfer insects from my garden to augment their diet. They don’t last particularly long, we just have a steady parade of mantids coming into our house.
Great work!