# Hiya! W. Washington State



## artbilly (Jul 6, 2017)

Hello folks,

         My name is Arthur Billy, JR. But i prefer to go by—Art. I am 38 years old, and just now starting to do all of the stuff that i wished i could have done as kid, while doing it along side my kids. My hobbies are—training judo, training brazilian jiu jitsu, learning how to keep praying mantises, keeping ants as pets, raising dubia cockroaches, keeping carnivorous plants, fruit trees, learning about culturing FFs, messing around making formicariums for my ants with hydrostone, hiking, working with my dogs when i can, learning about living terrariums, watching instructionals on youtube,raising termites for feeders for my ants, and doing things outside with my kids. I am currently a recovering 'World of Warcraft' player. LOL right? idk, that game kind of dried up for me after WoTlK, but i played through the end of 'MoP'. I mess around on steam when i have time, but its kind of something i do when everything is hibernating, which could be remedied since there always seems to be mantid stuff to do year round if i want to be that involved. I have worked in the casino business for 23 years, so i am pretty big on customer service, as i have been in the table games department for almost 20 years now. I work at Quil Ceda Creek Casino as a table games supervisor/ shift manager, so i get to fill in sometimes when the bosses leave. I dont know that there is any greater catalyst for ambition for me more powerful than failure. I dont like being bad at things. So this is the beginning of my second year with praying mantises, since i didnt do so well with them last year. Double shields were my first mantises. This year i have 4 R. extensollis, and about 40 chinese mantises that hatched from ooths that i bought from 'Joshs Frogs'. That was fun, now to keep them alive. I will be getting a breeding pair of Double Shields here soon, as well as some membraeancea too. This year, my main goals are to get better at rearing nymphs, and getting them to adulthood. This is definitely a different ball game than keeping ants. I am do work for 'Ants Canada GAN Project'. I found them on youtube after a buddy of mine showed me his ant colonies that he began from just a single queen. That was a fun night exchanging FB messages. This hobby is pretty fun, my only headache is feeding nymphs FFs without wasting any. I get 2 FFs into the deli cup, and 10 onto the counter everytime i feed. I tried the vaseline trick, didnt work, tried olive oil, didnt work. Placing in the fridge, not so much, i actually killed a culture like that. I guess that's better than losing the culture to mites, a lil more humane i suppose. I am looking forward to getting into ghosts, spiny flower mantids, maybe even try tackling orchid flower mantises after i gain more bearing. I enjoy smaller species of ants because they are vicious eaters; i imagine the same is true for mantises. I am enjoying this hobby, and everyone involved seems to be pretty dang supportive, and positive towards each other. that is always refreshing to get a break from what could called "elitists" that i run into in other hobbies. I like the idea of hobbies needing to be just that—hobbies—not work. When selling, I am not trying to supplement my 401k with it, yet i do prefer to stick with hobbies that pay for themselves. In ants, i seem to give away far more than i sell. I am hoping that next year i can get back into ball pythons, leopard geckos, and tarantulas again. I am also hoping to get my polycarbonate greenhouse built to expand my carnivorous plant projects. oh, and I am hoping to get started in bee keeping, that'll be a huge help with my fruit trees. Anyhow, this hobby has been fun since i started; thank you for having me; and I look forward to getting to know as many of you as possible.

respectfully,

~art


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## CosbyArt (Jul 6, 2017)

Hello Art and welcome to the forum  

Lots of hobbies for sure, plenty of mantids, and a interesting job too.  For feeding fruit flies try my FF baster, it makes it much simpler and escaping flies a memory - I just updated the posts photo links.

I know what you mean about the elitists elsewhere, one of the worst I've seen is the Nikon camera forum. They would die if they found out I get my photos from a old Nikon DSLR D70 I got from eBay for about $40 recently, as they balked at my then relatively new D3100.

That is one great thing about exotic hobbies, everyone tends to try and help others here especially. If that is due to the requirements of making custom things for the hobby, as little is available or what exactly - it does though seem to usually draw the right people. Enjoy your stay and ask any questions you have.


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## Ocelotbren (Jul 6, 2017)

Welcome to the forum, it sounds like you keep yourself busy!


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## artbilly (Jul 6, 2017)

@CosbyArt, i forgot to mention photography. I have a Cannon T3i that i got for christmast about 5 years ago, and about 3 years ago, i took a college class just to learn how to use it. lol. now i either need to find my old notebook for it, or take a class again. lol. I have some macro lenses that i got for christmas, a tripod, a few handful of filters, a photoshop subscription for $10 a month that i was using for editting: black and white balance, adjusting color saturations, layers, sharpening. I preferred over exposing my photos a little bit to get more detail within the shadows of my photos, and then go back and darken with photoshop.


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## KatieQuake111 (Jul 6, 2017)

Welcome to the forum Art!


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## Teamonger (Jul 6, 2017)

Welcome! 

You sure are right about this place being a breath of fresh air after trudging through the toxic environments of most online "communities". Hope you enjoy your stay!

I am also a recovering Warcrack addict who played/raided from the very start in open beta and somehow held on til somewhere in the middle of WoD. Mantises honestly gave me my freedom in the form of a healthy hobby I loved and could waste all the time on! Mantises are way better then slightly higher numbers on a screen


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## Sarah K (Jul 6, 2017)

Welcome! Sounds like you are keeping yourself more than busy, but I am glad you are enjoying it all!


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## CosbyArt (Jul 6, 2017)

@artbilly Good to hear, it sounds like your all set then for photos of your pets - feel free to share photos in the photo section.  

Perhaps getting back to using the camera your remember more of what you learned. I'm the same way though, if I don't mess with something for several years I forget most of it - I think that is typically for most people too. To save you some money though you can try a guide book like this popular series on your camera model.


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## Zeppy44 (Jul 6, 2017)

Welcome to the forum, Art. Lots of very nice people. Hope you make some nice friends here.


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## Serle (Jul 6, 2017)

Outstanding Art , quite the resume......... Welcome .... S


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## Jessie (Jul 6, 2017)

Welcome to the group.


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## crabbypatty (Jul 7, 2017)

Welcome!


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