# enclosures and double sided tape..



## mantis shadow (Apr 21, 2008)

came in this afternoon to find my friend looking like he had, had a bad shed and looked realy crooked and hunched up.

on closer inspection of container i saw that he hadnt shed but a small strip of double sided tape that was holding some material in place had become exposed and he was stuck to it length ways.

i had a second look and realised his abdomen was also stuck to the tape, his legs i could free no problems aswell as his arms, but his abdomen already had a split in it and the end of the abdomen had also split releasing some of insides.

he is still alive but has got a tiny bit of tape left on him, the sorry thing is he was due to shed again anytime so if he haddnt split his abdomen he might have been able to shed last bit off, but as he has split it that bad only one thing left to do but i just cant close the door..  

i feel so gutted as him and his missus were what got me back into mantid keeping this time round after stopping about 8 or 9years ago.

ive managed to nurse him back from 3 to 3 3/4 legs and spent alot of time over him and gurtrude since dec and have learnt alot about G asians through them.

there is one up side to it i guess, just checked his missus and the same thing has happened to a bit of cloth in her enclosure but she wasnt anywhere near it, so she has been taken straight out and she is fine (thankfully).

im going to post this on enclosure discussion board also as i dont want anyone else to have to through this same thing, i have used d-sided tape on many occasions but this is the first time ive had any problems, but i am now going to invest in another glue gun as this seems a much safer bet, all my other enclosures with Dst in are going to be change this afternoon so it will never happen again.

rip bob my friend.

(pic in avatar/profile is bob and his shadow at L1 which gave me idea for nickname)


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## darkspeed (Apr 21, 2008)

Very sorry to hear that  

Glue guns are awesome. There are so many quick easy things you can make for this hobby with a glue gun and a little imagination. If you keep mantids for any reason, go buy one now.


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## mantis shadow (Apr 21, 2008)

DARKSPEED said:


> Very sorry to hear that  Glue guns are awesome. There are so many quick easy things you can make for this hobby with a glue gun and a little imagination. If you keep mantids for any reason, go buy one now.


used to have one when i used to keep mantis before but broke a while ago and been meaning to get another, but def going to buy another now this has happened.

silly thing is a glue gun only costs about 2 or 3 times the cost of a roll dst, but was only thing in house i could use at time and didnt have cash to buy g-gun.

well all dst is now out of any enclosures it was in, so touch wood ill be able sort glue gun soon and also a male for poor gurtrude.


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## OGIGA (Apr 21, 2008)

I get glue guns for $1 at Dollar Tree or 99 cents at the 99 cents store. It's cheap (over here) and it's a must-have.


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## mantis shadow (Apr 21, 2008)

cheapest ive seen recently is around £3.00 ($6.00 ish) which is not bad as comes with loads of glue sticks, stand and cleaning tool.

will go out and get one over next few days, as wish id done it before now, but we learn by our mistakes i guess.


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## OGIGA (Apr 21, 2008)

Wow, what an expensive glue gun! Well, I guess it come with a lot of goodies. The glue guns for $1 here only come with the gun and sometimes 2 gluesticks. I can buy a pack of 25 glue sticks for another $1.

Oh yeah, This is the low-power glue gun that's 10 watts. You won't get seriously injured with these. Be really careful with the high-power glue guns!


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## mr nick (Apr 23, 2008)

Aquarium silicone sealer is also as safe as houses,i prefer this to the glue gun method as im not too sure about the glue leaching toxins when exposed to (sprayed) water..


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## OGIGA (Apr 23, 2008)

I guess the aquarium silicone works too. The glue, at least the glue that I use, doesn't seem to ever harm anything. It doesn't smell like anything and doesn't react with water. All it ever does is melt when heated (or darken and burn when exposed to flame). I feel completely safe about it.

Anyway, I guess it's up to you. I just like the hot glue because it hardens faster and it's so much cheaper, especially when you have a lot of things you want to glue together.


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