# Hi all



## Gremlin (Sep 16, 2022)

I'm from Minnesota have 3 cats, 2 large dogs a 90, pound female malamute/lab mix Kayla, and Willow a true mutt dna test says she's 7 things but mainly German shepherd/great Pyrenees/pitbull. 
I'm new to mantis but when buying predatory mites for my 200+ houseplants I saw they had Chinese ootheca. Always wanting to try a mantis I got there 2 pack. Right now there almost a inch and im down to around 50-60. I have been keeping them together in a large mesh butterfly cage I had. Also put some plants obviously they do eat each other. I have melanogaster flies, trying to find some hydei and also planning on ordering some fly larvae. 

Anyone try usmantis bottle fly culture kit? 

I'm in the process of creating a large 28"x32" x 5' high terrarium. Will have the whole greatstuff/moss/cork bark background, maybe a running waterfall type thing (haven't decided). It will be heavily planted. The whole purpose was for the plants wasn't really thinking of putting any critters besides ladybugs isopods and springtails. But now I'm wondering would there be any mantis that would work in there? It would hopefully be around 60-80% humidity, room temp maybe a little higher because of grow lights. 
Would the terrarium work for Chinese mantis or is it too big?


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## Introvertebrate (Sep 16, 2022)

I'd save that nice terrarium for plants. Mantises do best when kept individually in relatively small enclosures, so they can easily find their food. You can also monitor their eating habits more closely. A fly in that big terrarium might get eaten today, it might get eaten tomorrow, or it might never get eaten.


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## The Wolven (Sep 16, 2022)

Please do not purchase from USmantis. They are a known scammer and have a bad reputation in the hobby for a reason. TheMantisPlace has their own containers to hatch out pupae as far as I know. She does sell a different bottlefly that is smaller than what a lot of people buy. I don't know about culturing them, but you could probably research it.

You will have to feed your mantis in a smaller container if you want to keep him/her in that larger terrarium.


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## Gremlin (Sep 16, 2022)

The Wolven said:


> Please do not purchase from USmantis. They are a known scammer and have a bad reputation in the hobby for a reason. TheMantisPlace has their own containers to hatch out pupae as far as I know. She does sell a different bottlefly that is smaller than what a lot of people buy. I don't know about culturing them, but you could probably research it.
> 
> You will have to feed your mantis in a smaller container if you want to keep him/her in that larger terrarium.


Thanks I actually just placed a order from mantis place and they also have a housefly culturing medium.
I think I'll just keep plants in the terrarium for now. Maybe do some amphibians or larger insects in it later on


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## agent A (Sep 17, 2022)

Gremlin said:


> I'm from Minnesota have 3 cats, 2 large dogs a 90, pound female malamute/lab mix Kayla, and Willow a true mutt dna test says she's 7 things but mainly German shepherd/great Pyrenees/pitbull.
> I'm new to mantis but when buying predatory mites for my 200+ houseplants I saw they had Chinese ootheca. Always wanting to try a mantis I got there 2 pack. Right now there almost a inch and im down to around 50-60. I have been keeping them together in a large mesh butterfly cage I had. Also put some plants obviously they do eat each other. I have melanogaster flies, trying to find some hydei and also planning on ordering some fly larvae.
> 
> Anyone try usmantis bottle fly culture kit?
> ...


I LOVE GREAT PYRENESES!!
what species of houseplants? I have too many ferns and orchids!
I'm gonna try not to get bothered by the bad grammar in your post but it is hurting me!
chinese mantis hatchlings should get _Drosophila hydei _for food. For these large species, I set up large net cages that aren't over-packed with nymphs (50-75 max). I put in a live plant and some bamboo stakes across the ceiling with excelsior hanging down so they have tons of perches. I mist daily and I leave an open ff culture or 2 in the cage
expect some initial mortality and a bunch of issues with that first molt, but the several dozen survivors generally do very well after

I do NOT recommend culturing bottleflies indoors. Houseflies, yes that's fine, but not bottleflies. bottleflies require animal protein (I have tried culturing them on plant proteins and it just didn't work. they grew super slowly and failed to pupate) to develop. You know what that means! EL STINKO! Trust me, you are better off culturing them in a protected area outdoors. Honestly, you're better off just ordering the maggots from Rebecca or Rainbow Mealworms (they each sell a different bottlefly species)

that terrarium sounds cool, but it may be too wet for a chinese mantis. while habitat generalists, they probably won't thrive that close to a water source. the dynamics of such a habitat foster mold and other things not too good for a mantis. be careful with isopods too in that setup


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## hibiscusmile (Sep 18, 2022)

I let some springtails in a isopod setup and they are over running it, bad mistake.


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## agent A (Sep 18, 2022)

hibiscusmile said:


> I let some springtails in a isopod setup and they are over running it, bad mistake.


what you wanna do is let the top half of the substrate get really dry. the isopods will burrow away and the majority of the springtails will die


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## hibiscusmile (Sep 19, 2022)

how to know if its still wet enough lower for the isop? Also still put in food while letting it dry out?


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## agent A (Sep 19, 2022)

hibiscusmile said:


> how to know if its still wet enough lower for the isop? Also still put in food while letting it dry out?


what I do is i leave the bin open for like 4 days. that usually does the trick, just finger the substrate each day


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