Nice to know there's a glimmer of hope.

@Surfpirate I know!! It's so depressing. It turns out to be a similar situation with Betta fish--the male is accused of killing the after she's spawned & he's "done with her." Creepy, right? As it turns out, the father fish is a fierce guardian of his egg nest & just doesn't want ANYONE around it. But in a small tank the poor mother can't flee far enough away to avoid being seen as a threat to the eggs, so he kills her as he would any other fish who would not leave his nursery area.

In mantid husbandry it is well known to try to stuff the female before mating.
Not always a guarantee but people who keep them should know this. They make fascinating pets. I'd love a violin mantis one day, but am content to admire them on youtube et al as they are not without maintenance, particularly exotics.

@Qualia Wow, that is super interesting!

@Carin check out precarious666 on youtube. Fantastic videos and there are FB groups devoted to selling and keeping properly various species of mantids. They really are amazing creatures and make the coolest pets....

I hear you.

He should keep offering to do more chores. Kind of like Sheherazade.

Hey, hey, hey - Who's doing most of the heavy lifting here?