I have too many to handle!

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Help! I don't know what to do. I have hundreds of nymphs to L4!

Last year I gave some away, sold some, and let many of them go in my backyard. I live in AZ and I don't think there was enough food for them outside in the heat. Only 1 of mine survived long enough to lay eggs. When those eggs hatched, and there was rain at the end of the summer, the mantids did very well. I took some adults inside when it got cold out.

Now I have tons again. (I did not think most of my ooths would hatch because all my adults got the black death from a bad batch of crickets. Most survived, and the ooths laid right after did not do well. However, once my adults were healthy again, they laid ooths that are all doing great right now).

I want to give them away for free to good homes. The main problem is that it is too hot to mail. I cannot afford to send overnight, and I do not know how to mail them either.

I did put an add on Craig's list, but I am not getting much interest. I don't know if that is because they are free (people don't value free things) or because I want people to pick them up and bring their own containers.

I love them so much and just want them to have a chance to survive. I know in nature, most of them would not survive here, but. . . I love them!

Any ideas?

 
If I was nearby I would pick them up and give them a loving home.

The only ideas I can think of is, if you can't sell them off or give them away, that maybe a local zoo, college, botanical garden, garden center, children's museum, pet shop, or something along those lines may be interested in having them. You may have to sell them on the idea on why it is in their benefit to have them or educate them on their care.

Otherwise, worse case scenario, is to set them free somewhere with the best chance of survival. I know, as you say, most would not survive, but then again many of them would. Good luck.

 
There are some helpful threads on shipping, so you might want to do a search in the forum to learn about packaging. Rather than overnight you can consider shipping with cold packs. Even if you are giving them away, it is typical to let the people getting them from you cover shipping costs.

 
I think a great idea would be to donate as many as you can to your local high schools. They can use them for study in certain classes like biology (I think). I'm actually gonna do the same thing myself and see if my high school won't take some for educational purposes.

 
Many good ideas. I really need to learn about shipping. I was scared to begin with. I should have shipped the ones that hatched early spring. Now that it is over 100 degrees, I'm really scared. At least I got some time before they get too big to figure it out.

Thank you!

 
well there are ways of shipping them (even in extreme heat like this) all you have to make sure to do is that they go to a location with cooler temperatures (most postal vehicles travel at night so less worry) I live in Virginia and I could take a few off your hands, PM me for shipping tips.

 
Here is another idea: Go around to places with flowering shrubs and put a couple on each shrub. If the mantises are native they will find plenty of food on flowering shrubs. This is what I do with extra native mantises and they tend to do incredibly well. Especially if you have an area with small shrubs, larger bushes and trees.

 

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