Search results

I was just wondering if anyone here in the mantis community is into vulture culture: the collection of dead things and other nonliving biological material, such as taxidermy, bones, fur, mummified remains, eggshells, wet specimens, etc. It's a hobby I've just started getting into, mainly because...

My male H. membranacea is dying of old age. There's nothing I can do about it, I just wanted to write a little memorial to him. He moulted into adulthood five and a half months ago, and I've had him a total of nine months, which is a pretty good run for a male of his species. He's been slowly...

I've decided I need more baby mantises in my life, and so I've been shopping around online, gathering resources at home, and thinking about it a lot. I found a site where I can buy a giant rainforest mantis (fell in love with those guys first time I ever saw one), which is a little expensive...

Hi everyone! I've been on hiatus for the past two months, because George has been thriving and I've been pretty busy with other stuff (school, mostly). Over that time, I've been giving him lots of love and honey treats, got him a new terrarium to live out his days in (complete with a fungus gnat...

Yesterday, I spotted a bleary shadow sitting against my house, and I impulsively just plucked it off the wall. It turned out to be a juvenile Mediterranean house gecko with a regrown tail, and the size and tail lead me to believe it's a gecko I've met before. (Last year, a friend of the family...

George is definitely going to molt today or tomorrow, and it's her last one! I'm really excited about this, but I'm also stressing myself out a lot... if it goes well and she comes out healthy, I will have succeeded in raising her, but if anything goes wrong the effects will be permanent. I've...

I went to a reptile store with my dad today just to kill time; it's a neat place- we got to pet the water monitor, and they're somehow selling an African crested porcupine. Anyway, I came back home with a new scorpion! She's an Asian forest scorpion, a little bit on the small side, and the...

I hate crickets: they're messy, they stink when you keep them in large numbers, they cannibalize, and they're just generally horrible disease-burritos and I don't want my mantis eating them. Mealworms are an extremely convenient food source because they are easy to raise, and I've solved the...

Yesterday, I accidentally knocked George's cage off the counter and onto the floor. There appeared to be no damage (to the mantis, that is- I was completely mortified); she was still just happily munching away at a cricket, despite having been tipped sideways all of a sudden. Closer inspection...

Ever since I switched from paper towels to coconut fiber substrate, the mold problems have been endless. At first, I was keeping my jars as damp as I usually do, but several days later there was mold sprouting everywhere. So, I switched it out, reduced the amount of misting I do, and then mold...

Two weeks ago, I bought a coconut substrate block and put it in a crate outside to expand. I didn't need all of it, so I left the rest out in the elements for a week and a half. Mold started growing in my spider's cage, so I dumped everything out and changed the substrate. This morning, grass...

I've always wondered about the cognitive abilities of most animals, from dogs to chickens to earthworms, and especially mantids and other insects. In terms of their ability to learn and solve problems, animals such as fish and invertebrates are often either not taken seriously or simply ignored...

My giant Asian mantis molted a few days ago. I actually caught her in the act and watched it happen, which was neat, and she came out a lovely greenish tan with brown legs. I've heard this species can change color between molts, so this didn't worry me one bit... ...except that was several days...

Like the title says, I just want to know whether or not people get attached to their mantids. I know a lot of people just think of them as decorations, a way to spend their time, or even the way they would think of a really neat toy- all of which are perfectly understandable- but I've also heard...

  My little brother decided he wanted a pet praying mantis, so we researched together for about two months, until my dad and I decided to surprise him for Christmas. We got a pair of L3ish giant Asian nymphs from bugsincyberspace.com, and we're really enjoying them. He decided that one would be...

My presumed L3 giant Asian mantis just molted last night. I'm thinking it wasn't humid enough for him, though, and he came out with only five legs. It's just a walking leg he lost, thank goodness, although I haven't checked him for other damage yet. My question is: do they regenerate their...

I'm new to mantis keeping (my L3 giant Asian mantids are supposed to come in the mail today), so sorry if this is a dumb question, but it's better to be safe than sorry, right? :D Is it okay to leave fruit flies in their container when the mantids are molting? Also, I know that adult crickets...