# Tell everyone a little about yourself/post a pic if you want



## Rick

I am 28 years old, grew up in the midwest (Illinois), been interested in mantids about my whole life. At 18 I joined the Army and did about eight years. In addition to mantids I have turtles, couple cats, and of course all of the feeder insects. Pic is futher down.


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## Rick

Guess everyone on here is shy. Mantis community is small and it is nice to attach a face to the name a know a little about the people you talk to on here.


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## looseyfur

the infamous looseyfur.

http://www.arachnoboards.com/ab/showthread...ghlight=pitbull

:| :|  :roll: :x :x :x


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## Rick

Somebody finally posted in this and I deleted everything in my post earlier.


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## looseyfur

shrug.....

at least I was there for you man.

rock on.

:twisted:


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## BrianS

Leah, do you remember me now?  

Any for the rest of you that don't know, I live in Southern Missouri close to Springfield. I mostly keep scorpions and tarantulas but I have also kept alot of mantids in the past (none of the exotic species). I don't have any mantids at the moment but I do have many many Chinese Mantid ooths that I will hatch out this Spring/Summer.


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## Leah

Yep, sure do!


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## Jesse

Sorry, I don't have any pics, otherwise I might have posted. Anyway, I am 26, I am a grad student in entomology at Purdue University. I grew up in Binghamton, NY and moved to Indiana to major in entomology. I have been interested in inverts all of my life. I kept mantids(T. sinensis and M. religiosa)on and off throughout my life. I didn't dive into exotic mantids until about 4 years ago (S. lineola). I also keep 16 species of tarantulas and 1 cat.


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## Sheldon Johnson

Hey Brian, nice janday, i got a sun! Although im not sure if he's staying... various problems at home with him  

Im 18 doing my degree in IT... Thats about it. Sorry no picture.


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## dino

My name is Dino I grew up in New York Queens ( guess that makes me a yankee  ) When I turned 9 I started to raise mantids. When I turned 13 I found out about the forum and joined. I live in North Carolina. My favorite food is Japeneese food.Hobby's are racing my friends in bike contests, reading about scorpions tarantulas and mantids, looking around on the internet, fishing, watching animal planet ( my favorite show on there is animal face-off )writing, taking pictures on my camera, reading about ancient creatures ( like the Mothman ) buying exotic bugs, going out in the woods and finding things, making my own bookmarks and swimming. straight "B" student ( I admit it I sometimes don't do so hot on test grades. ) When I get older I am planing to be a Geoligist. Have a twin brother named Arnold. My pets are a cockatiel bird named Paulie, Tailess whip scorpion called Carnivore, A male ( red ) betta named Killer I called him this because once I put a guppie in the tank to see what would happen because I had read that male bettas are very aggresive and that guppie was no more :shock: , 2 spiny flower mantids, 4 red arm mantids, a puppie named spike, a male hamster ( can not think of a name for him yet ), a green anole lizard named Predator and about 8 Chinese mantids. One thing I hate is mowing the backyard and lawn. But after a while you get used to it. Going on to the 7th grade. Last my favorite sport is Kickball.


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## Ian

Well, I am Ian Batten, and I am 14 (please note I am not 79 like I added on the other post) and I rearing and breeding mantids, and other inverts, (spiders, cockroaches, beetles) I also have an aray of reptiles. I have a lot of chameleons, or which my female yemen has just laid a clutch of eggs. I have 3 leopard geckos, and a tortoise. Got 12 spur thighed tortoise eggs incubating, should have a hatch in a couple of weeks.

Please feel free to have a look through my photoalbum

http://photobucket.com/albums/v724/reptilelover

I am always taking snaps of my herps and insects, mainly closeups. I am also working on a new mantis website, should be up and running in the next few weeks.

Cheers,

Ian


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## Oneida

Hmmm

Ok My name is Joshua, i am 32 and off and on have keep mantids for some 22 years now, mostly off than on, though i do have 3 l2 chinese mantids

I've lived in michigan all my life, but come oct i am moving to sunny san diego, where i will be an EMT/Firefighter, and work on getting my wild life biology degree

the rest of my life is rather boring, i have a bird *loud and annoying* a cat *not mine really* and a bearded dragon of about 4 years old, i love photography, and any contact sport, once i get to cali, i will start boxing again

sorry dont have a pic, im workin gon it


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## Rick

Wow. Brought this thread back from the dead.


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## yen_saw

Howdy! I'm Yen. Living in Houston but originally from Malaysia. I like aquatic animals but ending up keeping mantids  together with my 8-yr old son. My wife been asking me to quit this hobby saying i'm too old for this ... bummer!! :?

If i can choose the king of insect, Praying mantis is the one!!


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## Macano

Ok, I'll play. But no pics, I don't post pics of myself on the net :twisted: I'm 29, married, live in northern Utah, and I'm a pilot for a regional airline. Mantids are just one of my many other hobbies. I'm an avid hiker. I hike like a madman. I like to fly (duh) and I take many, many photographs. I estimate I have over 10,000 photos spanning many dvd's. You can see a small sample of some of my pics at http://photobucket.com/albums/v315/Interloper/ I also like to travel, and computers are a "down time" hobby of mine. Sadly, I'm going to have to cut back very soon on my mantid hobby as my schedule is becoming insanely busy. But I hope to always keep at least one or two mantids.


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## Rick

> Howdy! I'm Yen. Living in Houston but originally from Malaysia. I like aquatic animals but ending up keeping mantids  together with my 8-yr old son. My wife been asking me to quit this hobby saying i'm too old for this ... bummer!! :? If i can choose the king of insect, Praying mantis is the one!!


No such thing as too old for any hobby.


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## Samzo

Seeing as everyones doing it.. I'm Sam from Devon, England. I'm 14 and new to exotic animals  Although when I go to Gibraltar (south of spain) I catch african mantids and then release them back before I leave. I have a puppy called Ace but have had numerous other animals in the past..

Not really as interesting as some other people lol


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## Joe

My names Joe, i'm 15 gonna be 16 in a week. i've been keeping mantids for about 8 years, kept common mantids for 6 years and exotics for 2 years.

Joe


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## ellroy

Well, my name is Alan, I'm 29 and I'm studying a Zoology degree at the mo (mature student!!). Kept a couple of mantids and tons of herps before and I've just finished a 2 week entomology field trip which has got me back into bugs.

I'm hoping to set up a group of a few different species for breeding and to study hence all my recent posts.

Particularly interested in the cryptic looking mantids eg, Dead leaf, Ghost, Violin and Flower mantids......gotta spend my student loan on something!!!!


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## chun

Alan, where are you studying zoology? I'm going to start a zoology BSC in october at bristol university...can't wait!


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## micheleinvirginia

Hi Im Michele  

I live in Southeast Virginia on a "farm". I have a husband, 2 boys, 3 dogs, 2 cats, a bunny, an iguana (with free run of the house) 2 cornsnakes, several eggs due to hatch next month, 3 rats (not food, they are pets) a 55 gallon of tropical fish and a 30 gallon of snails and fancy guppies. I think thats it besides the 1 Chinese mantis I found outside on Fathers Day. He molted the day after we found him and again this morning so I took some pics to post.

As a kid I lived on a fairly wooded lot in Maine and searched every day for bugs and snakes. I remember having a pet mantis as a kid and I would feed it crickets I caught outside. He never ate the bodies, just snapped the head off and held it like a bowl and drank out of it. I also kept monarch caterpillars and raised them into cocoons and let them go as butterflies.

My interest in snakes carried into my adulthood and we became breeders. Ive had as many as 45 at a time.

Anyone with a fishtank interested in trading ooths for snail eggs please let me know.


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## ibanez_freak

hey,

Yeah no pics (kinda dodgey I think). But I am 16, and I collect mantis, trying to start breeding them eventually aswell. I spend the rest of my time skating, snowboarding (on a dry ski slope) and heading out to crazy house parties during the weekend. Yeah, and I live in the UK (scotland!!!!)

I also play guitar for my band (which is currently falling apart) and like to listen to loadsa punk rock music.

Hey Every one!!!

Cameron.

p.s. saw GREEN DAY 2 weeks ago!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!


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## Ian

I ENVY YOU CAM!!!!! My mate came back, said she was loving it!!!!

Chun, I am hoping to study vetinary in bristol uni, a few yeears to go yet, but that is what I am aiming for. Am getting work experience in bristol zoo, so, its hardly gunna be work, more free admission  

Cheers,

Ian


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## PseudoDave

Looks like we're all aiming high  

Next year i'm taking a Life Sciences degree, I have two major interest areas, Biology and Astro-biology, best of luck to everyone taking themselves places :!:


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## Rick

Great pics michele! :wink:


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## DMJ

Well, my name is David I live in San Diego CA where I was born and raised. I been keeping mantids for about 2 years now on and off. I'm 20 years old and work at Sea World San Diego where I operate a ride, I will be going to school this August to take some EMT classes in hopes to become a firefighter. Heres a pic of me hope it shows up


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## Rick

Since this post came back I will put a new pic of me up. This is me at Hunting Island, SC. The hat is the same one I wore in Afghanistan in 02.


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## dino

I would post a pick of myself, but I don't know how to put pics on the forum. I am registered on photo bucket and every time I want tol log in it says I was never accounted :?


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## Ian

dino, create a new account, sign up with a new username4 and passwords, and then directly uplaod the images from your PC onto your account. Great pic rick :lol: 

Cheers,

Ian

p.s- michelle, what species did that egg sack come from in your pic??


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## Rick

> I would post a pick of myself, but I don't know how to put pics on the forum. I am registered on photo bucket and every time I want tol log in it says I was never accounted :?


It's ok.


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## dino

Thanks Ian I will try.


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## micheleinvirginia

Meeooww Rick you are HOT :twisted:


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## micheleinvirginia

> p.s- michelle, what species did that egg sack come from in your pic??


Hey Ian,

That was laid by a Blue Brig of mine. They start off brown and turn blue within a week or 2. They really are white shells with a dark brown or almost black body, and the color looks like a greyish blue thru the shell.

I have started checking my tank every morning for eggs (they come out of the water and deposit them) and I remove and flush them  I have WAY too many babies and cant take on any more. Water changes, keeping the quality up, 2 daily feedings, power outages, filter slime...

making me really enjoy the ease of the mantids.

The only real drawback Im finding so far are all the little feeder bugs I have in my house now!


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## Rick

> Meeooww Rick you are HOT :twisted:


  Right back at ya. :wink:


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## Ian

great michelle, good luck with all of those, you must have your hands full  

So, rick and michelle, whens the wedding?

Cheers,

Ian


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## yen_saw

Ian, shhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh :wink:


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## Ian




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## chun

> I ENVY YOU CAM!!!!! My mate came back, said she was loving it!!!! Chun, I am hoping to study vetinary in bristol uni, a few yeears to go yet, but that is what I am aiming for. Am getting work experience in bristol zoo, so, its hardly gunna be work, more free admission
> 
> Cheers,
> 
> Ian


you've gotta work pretttyyyyyyy hard for that, it's veryvery very very competitive (if you don't know that already). My parents, college, friends and family are trying to get me to do vetenary science, but i really couldn't see myself stuck in a surgery for the rest of my life...prefer to do something more exciting, preferably research/conservation in another country...UK is not the nicest place to live in, with young kids lacking discipline, respect and morals...it's quite a scary place to live in ( especially what happened in london yesterday!!!!, thank god none of my loved ones were affected by it, but my condolensce and best wishes to those who have lost love ones)

Oh yeah, i won't be accepted to vetenary college mainly because i didn't have enough work experience....my mom is trying to convince me to get a 1st degree honor in zoology and do a foundation veterinary science course...another 5 years of education after 3 years of degreee....hmmmmmmmmm


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## yen_saw

Hey Chun, glad to hear that you are ok.

Can you send me an e-mail to [email protected], i have a few questions to ask you. Thanks!


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## worldofmantis

my names chris carson and my site is ww.freewebs.com/worldofmantis

i have been breeding for about 4 years


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## Ian

yeah chun, I have been told that it is very hard to qualify for this area, but hey, I will give it a crack, and I am sure all my A grades will help  

I wish you luck anyway.

Cheers,

Ian


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## PseudoDave

If you don't try you don't know i guess


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## chun

PseudoDave, where are you doing your degree at the moment?

Ian, which A levels are you doing? I did biology, chemistry and art...strangely enough art was VERY VERY VERY difficult in comparison to the 2 sciences!

Yen, i've popped you a pm.

chun x


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## Ian

Hi Chun,

Well, I am not at that stage yet, I havent even done my GSCE's, however, I will almost certainly take biology and chemistry, and also, I will prob take history, as I am quite good at it  

Cheers,

Ian


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## gotmantids

My name's Cynthia, I'm 18, and I've been interested in mantids for about as long as I can remember. My family owns a factory in China (where I've lived for about 3 years off and on), where there is a lot more bug life than what you see in the US. I was introduced to exotic inverts while I was in the Orient, and I've raised mantids on and off since I was 8. I also used to collect exotic moths and butterflies (which I snuck in the US and are now framed).

Right now I have a dozen P. affinis, one d. dessicata, 2 p. paradoxa, 2 p. wahlbergii, and 2 s. lineola.

Take a look at my myspace.com account for pix:

www.myspace.com/thedarkage


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## Joe

well i'm 16 now and i got a pic of me below but with the rest of my family too, i'm on the far left with my fav JD's Mantids hat backwards(the tallest one)







Joe


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## Rick

Nice pic Joe. Scenery is beautiful.


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## Sheldon Johnson

Right im going to add to mine!

Im also 6ft 8" and have size 14 shoes. I am keeping my sun conure (if anyone has read my previous post) as things have settled down here  .

I agree with chun when he says England isnt a nice place to live. I have been attacked so many damn times i cant even count anymore, and the town i come from claims a street dubbed "take-away alley" as it contains only take-aways. This street has the highest violence rate per square foot in Britian!

As for a picture - this one always makes me laugh, i hope it does for all of you!






Its my pimp costume w/o the hat from hallowene!


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## Katie

I guess I'll also introduce myself.  My name's Katie, I'm 17, and I only got back into the hobby a couple of months ago. Once my mantids molt into adults I hope to start breeding them. Up until now I've wanted to become a veterinarian, but after shadowing at the vet's I am having second thoughts. Now I'm leaning more toward zoology and entomology, maybe wildlife biology. Whatever will let me have a career involving research/observation of wildlife. My other pets are 4 sugar gliders, 3 cockatiels, and a green iguana. I'm in the process of searching for other kinds of insects to have as pets, like stick insects. In my spare time I do art, writing (one novel published already, another on the way  ), and photography.

Me: http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v260/Lainyle/lairedhat.jpg

Some ballpoint art: http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v260/Lai...onbranchink.jpg

One of my gliders: http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v260/Lai...ykillsworms.jpg

Cockatiel: http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v260/Lai...floofychick.jpg

I don't have a website yet, but I should soon...


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## Ian

wow katie, some nice critters you have  Was that artwork yours?? If so, that is wonderful!!!

You are also a very purdy gal :lol: 

Cheers,

Ian


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## micheleinvirginia

Hey Katie, I know what you mean about having second thoughts. I went thru the same thing when I was 17. I went to a vocational school that sent us job training. One of my choices was the vets office. I love animals, but I saw too many things that broke my heart.

Your drawing of the sugar glider is awesome! You really have talent.


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## worldofmantis

my last introduction was really weak.. so heres another. I started raising praying mantises when i was 9 years old. it was kinda a faze of my life i guiess because within a year i was onto something diferent. Well 2 years later i started back up again. I got my first mantis when i was 11. (your probably wondering i started when i was 9 i got my first mantis at 11?) well the explanation is i whent studying for about a eyar and a half on mantids. Got loads of info. Then i bought a ootheca wich was infertile. So i was on to buying live mantids. I bought my first mantis from reptile depot and it was a lv-3 spiny flower mantids.(only 1) I diddnt even have a heat lamp i just put it in a cage. Well during winter with no heat lamp it died in about 3 days. So how did i fail after 2 years of studying? The answer is i stufyed library videos and books wich are all about the life cycle and functions of the mantis. So I was off once more this time reading care sheets. Then bingo i bought 4 giant indian mantids from deshawn at lv-3. I diddnt even ask for them to be sexed. Well as it turns out they all lived to adullt hood but all were male =(. So once more I decided to give up. well2 more years later I have started up again this time buying 5 chinese mantis ootheca suggested by my man dino. They all have hatched And ive got lots of mantises then i decided to buy 5 lv-1 spiny flower mantids from yen saw. They will arrive this tuesday lol. I love any x game such as (bmx biking skatebording.) I like scateboarding better and i am getting pretty good. I also play lots and lots of paintball. I have a pet dog named buddy who is a registered astralian shepad that is justn a puppy onot even 1 year old. And a pet ferret named precious. Also two gerbils sunshine and rat. sunshine and rat got in a fight and rat is all bloddy so we removed sunshine from the 10 gal and fixed up rat the only way i know how. a big bloddy messs  I am a big deer hunter. My freinds think I am a dare devil. OH AND I AM RELATED TO KIT CARSON :lol: 

mind the spelling errors


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## breezes127

Since I am new here I will inform you about me. I am 25 yrs old, have a 7 yr old son named Clive. My name is Breanna, I am engaged to be married to my long time main man,lol. This my pic, sorry so big





I enjoy reading,cooking and anything that can hold my short attention span, I really enjoy animals and learing about them.  I work as a receptionist/AP/Order entry. Anything else you wanna know just ask me.


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## Joe

Nice pic breanna  what animals do you keep? i'm just wonderin.  

Joe


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## Ian

great pic brenna! Got any mantids or other animals at the mo?

Cheers,

Ian


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## breezes127

I have one white's tree frog name Larry, 1 adult female european mantis named Porky, 1 chinese mantis nypmh on the way here. In a month or so I would like to try my hand at another leo gecko (we had 1 last year die only after a month).


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## Rick

I have a whites tree frog too!


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## breezes127

> I have a whites tree frog too!


Larry is pretty neat but he doesn't do much while we are awake, on occasion I'll catch him at night hopping around he always looks like a deer caught in headlights when i do. :lol:


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## Rick

Yeah mine is buried during the day. He is quite active at night though. Lately he has been trying to escape every night. Guess it's breeding season because he hardly eats lately.


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## garbonzo13

For those of you who don't know me yet, my name is Greg. I live in S.W. Florida, and am 31. Just got into mantids recently but have always been a bug lover. Drives my wife nuts. See if I can post a pic..if it works this is me on a very bad day. :wink: IMG]http://i14.photobucket.com/albums/a336/krucann/me1.jpg Is this damn thing working :evil: .


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## Samzo

turn that frown upside down!


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## garbonzo13

So it works Samzo?


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## Samzo

i copied and pasted the url


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## Ian

Good pic :wink: I will agree, smileeeeeeeeeeeee!!


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## garbonzo13

Oh yeah Ian, here's that 3 foot Spiny tail iguana I caught after Hurricane Charlie when a herp farm closed down about 1/2 mile from where I worked. I figured instead of trying to move or relocate there herps, they just released them into the swamp.http://i14.photobucket.com/albums/a336/krucann/sunworship.jpg I am also trying to get new pic up but the camera is not cooperating with my P.C.


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## Ian

Wow, great pic!!! Was he tame? Looks like a beast, what a find!

Cheers,

Ian


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## garbonzo13

heck No!!!! he wasn't tame. That was the meanest frigin' critter I have ever dealt with. He was a tad sickly and I had him for about 3 weeks. When he decided to get out of dodge....he went. Talk about a mouthful of teeth, and that spiny tail really packs a whollup. He hit my forearm with his tail and split me open. Very interesting species though. I thought it was a cross between and aligator and an iguana when I first found it. Then I did some research and found it to be a spiny tail...at least that is what I think it was. Here's a close up, you can really see the tail spines.http://i14.photobucket.com/albums/a336/krucann/liz1.jpg


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## breezes127

> heck No!!!! he wasn't tame. That was the meanest frigin' critter I have ever dealt with. He was a tad sickly and I had him for about 3 weeks. When he decided to get out of dodge....he went. Talk about a mouthful of teeth, and that spiny tail really packs a whollup. He hit my forearm with his tail and split me open. Very interesting species though. I thought it was a cross between and aligator and an iguana when I first found it. Then I did some research and found it to be a spiny tail...at least that is what I think it was. Here's a close up, you can really see the tail spines.http://i14.photobucket.com/albums/a336/krucann/liz1.jpg


So what is it you do for a living? I have been trying to figure out what I would like to do for the rest of my life and would to do something animals. Too much schooling to be vet. So I would like ideas. :?:


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## yen_saw

Guess i should post my pic too. This is the family pic taken for 2004 X-mas. That's my wife Grace from Hong Kong, myself (the 34 year-old-getting-bold old man) from malaysia and Kenny who was born in Malaysia too in 1996.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v219/yen_saw/family.jpg


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## garbonzo13

@ Bree, believe it or not I work at a grocery store, we were located close to swampland because the company built next to a large community out in the stixs. At that time I was an Assistant produce manager, but burned out and stepped down, now I am trying to get to that position again....lol I always do things the hard way. @ Yen, nice family pic.


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## Ian

thats a very nice pic yen, I can see you pinning kenny down their to keep him still :wink:

Wow greg, sound like a very mean herp. I suppose when you approach, its a great time for the ig to use his spiny tail to his advantage, lol

Cheers,

Ian


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## garbonzo13

LOL Ian. I did like that critter though, just to bad I didn't know what I had my hands on ( as far a caring for it) when I got it. I could have easily spent a few hundred dollars on materials for a cage and lighting...good thing it did get away. :wink:


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## Executor of Fruit Flies

I'm 21. Lived most of my life in Virginia, but when I was 6-9 I lived in the Philippines. I like pets of all kinds, but my favorites are invertebrates of any kind. I'm currently keeping 13 patent leather beetles, 10 budwing mantises( couple at L4), and 6 spiny flower mantises(all still at L3). I hope to breed them. Here's me at my brother's wedding last month. I'm in the middle. My brother's at the left of the pic.

http://i9.photobucket.com/albums/a59/leech333/e51de4b3.jpg


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## worldofmantis

For those of you that know about my dog that learned to play tag heres a few pics of him. This was a year ago before he knew tag and was still a puppy. His hair looks a littl gray but thats just the flash on the camera. No up to dat pics of me yet though.

http://i15.photobucket.com/albums/a373/wor...46790_0_145.jpg and heres another

http://i15.photobucket.com/albums/a373/wor...45738_0_145.jpg


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## infinity

On that topic... I know from my experience, I had nicknames due to this hobby of mine... does/ did anyone else?!

come on, spill people!!!


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## Ian

em...would geek come into that :wink:

Cheers,

Ian


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## Samzo

> On that topic... I know from my experience, I had nicknames due to this hobby of mine... does/ did anyone else?!come on, spill people!!!


I get most abuse from my Dad lol like nerd and bugboy ...... I dont even look like a "nerd"


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## DMJ

Thats why I dont tell nobody lol. If you'd see me in the streets you'd never guess I collect mantis.


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## infinity

what is it?! do people email suggestions to everyone else in the country?! They're the same as mine were!


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## Ian

but when you merely mention the fact about the money you make from selling them, it turns into a different story, lol

Cheers,

Ian


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## Andrew

> but when you merely mention the fact about the money you make from selling them, it turns into a different story, lolCheers,
> 
> Ian


Thats exactly what I say when people find out that I breed bugs, lol.


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