# Some pics from the mantid house



## Rick

Just a few pics from the inside of my mini greenhouse. It houses about 25 egyptian mantids.


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## stevesm

Starting to turn green  Nice setup!


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## CockroachYet

-Looks great :!: is a mantis oasis, which dimensions have the enclosure? best regards. Roberto.


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## Rick

It's 61" H x35" W.


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## Jenn

Thats a great big house for them. You must have some happy mantids.


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## dannyboy

fantastic im hoping to do the same in the future


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## Rick

Had to move my own post... :roll:


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## Jwonni

do they stay on the plants or do you get em at the top hanging off the plastic roof

Also great looking setup and good choice of plant looks to give lots of option on where to go


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## Rick

> do they stay on the plants or do you get em at the top hanging off the plastic roofAlso great looking setup and good choice of plant looks to give lots of option on where to go


Mostly on the plants or the support bars. It's just an experiment to house a bunch of mantids and let them be. They are breeding and laying ooths on their own.

I keep all others in the normal deli cups and aquariums.


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## OGIGA

> Mostly on the plants or the support bars. It's just an experiment to house a bunch of mantids and let them be. They are breeding and laying ooths on their own.


They are breeding and laying ooths already or are you expecting them to do so later?


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## Rick

> Mostly on the plants or the support bars. It's just an experiment to house a bunch of mantids and let them be. They are breeding and laying ooths on their own.
> 
> 
> 
> They are breeding and laying ooths already or are you expecting them to do so later?
Click to expand...

They are now. Only thing I do is mist and feed them.


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## Jwonni

whats feeding like do you just use flies and add a large number every few days or is there all sorts crawling round in there


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## Rick

Bluebottles. Throw a bunch of them in there every other day.


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## OGIGA

> Mostly on the plants or the support bars. It's just an experiment to house a bunch of mantids and let them be. They are breeding and laying ooths on their own.
> 
> 
> 
> They are breeding and laying ooths already or are you expecting them to do so later?
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> They are now. Only thing I do is mist and feed them.
Click to expand...

That's great! Now I want to make a thing like that too. How many mantises do you think are in there now?


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## Rick

> Mostly on the plants or the support bars. It's just an experiment to house a bunch of mantids and let them be. They are breeding and laying ooths on their own.
> 
> 
> 
> They are breeding and laying ooths already or are you expecting them to do so later?
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> They are now. Only thing I do is mist and feed them.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> That's great! Now I want to make a thing like that too. How many mantises do you think are in there now?
Click to expand...

About 25. I can count about four ooths. These live together well with little to no cannibilism.


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## OGIGA

What did you start with? Just ooths in there?


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## Rick

> What did you start with? Just ooths in there?


L3 nymphs.


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## OGIGA

Ah. How many? (Or how many didn't make it?)


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## Rick

> Ah. How many? (Or how many didn't make it?)


Probably only a few more than what is in there now. Found these don't eat each other too much.


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## yen_saw

> About 25. I can count about four ooths. These live together well with little to no cannibilism.


i experienced heavy casualty when keeping many adults of this species together, with the male go out first, but i have many (30) of them in a foot cube net cage. This proof that larger living space reduces cannibalism greatly.


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## OGIGA

Any update, Rick?


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## Rick

> Any update, Rick?


There are bunch of ooths in there that are now hatching. I removed all the adults.


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## OGIGA

Awesome. Now I really want to make something like that.


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## AFK

very cool!

question: have you found that ventilation is no longer an issue with this setup?


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## Rick

> very cool!question: have you found that ventilation is no longer an issue with this setup?


No issues. I open it almost daily.


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## Rick

I put in an ooths worth of Hierodula membranacea to replace the others. The egyptian ooths have been hatching which provides food for the others.


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## OGIGA

Poor Egyptians. How many Egyptian ooths did you end up with?


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## Rick

> Poor Egyptians. How many Egyptian ooths did you end up with?


10 at least. Sold some of them.


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## sk8erkho

What other mantis live communally like those little guys? Living in an apartment does not really afford you the luxury of having a million little 32oz. cups and betta tanks spread all over your living room!!!! Imagine the expressions on my company's faces when they enter the room!!! :shock: So something along those lines kind of adds a bit of an exotic touch to the whole deal!! Great job!!


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## OGIGA

I want to make a mantis house as well, but I don't think it's going to be in my apartment. House mates will probably kill me.


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## Butterfly

I just bought a really neat cage that I can only assume was for a snake or a lizard, Its quite tall with 2 sides and the bottom being glass, and the remaining sides and top screen. The top screen slides out one way and the front has a screen that slides up to about halfway. Im thinking of putting in a nice big plant and maiking it a mantis house. It was originally goign to be an outside cage for my Sulcata Tortoise but I dont really want to leave a partial glass tank on its side in the yard, and itd be much cooler for some Mantids even though its so big.

(It's not as big as Rick's so now I'm pretty sure Im ok!)


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## Asa

> What did you start with? Just ooths in there?
> 
> 
> 
> L3 nymphs.
Click to expand...

And they were able to find their food?! :?


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## Rick

> What did you start with? Just ooths in there?
> 
> 
> 
> L3 nymphs.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> And they were able to find their food?! :?
Click to expand...

Yeah, why wouldn't they? You have to feed a little more than normal to make sure they get enough.


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## Asa

> What did you start with? Just ooths in there?
> 
> 
> 
> L3 nymphs.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> And they were able to find their food?! :?
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Yeah, why wouldn't they? You have to feed a little more than normal to make sure they get enough.
Click to expand...

Maybe mine are just stupid (what I'm inclined to think) but they can't find their food unless its stuck right under their nose. I had a few L3 instars who's small cage was littered in live fruitflies. It died of starvation, it was emaciated. It was European, I never have any luck at all with them.


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## Rick

If they can find food in the wild they can find it in there. It now houses a bunch of h. mem. I also have no luck with european mantids. I hatched an ooth and now only have one male left who just matured and he came out with messed up wings and a leg that's not right.


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## Asa

I've got to get me an Ooth.


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## Black*Fox

My family might kill me if I try taking the whole house over for my pets again. (And by the way; I found that garter snakes just love Christmas Trees!) So my mantids will have to make do with a small 2 1/2 gal. fish tank. I only plan to keep one or at most three in there at a time, but I may have to start saving up the deli cups.


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## Asa

> My family might kill me if I try taking the whole house over for my pets again. (And by the way; I found that garter snakes just love Christmas Trees!) So my mantids will have to make do with a small 2 1/2 gal. fish tank. I only plan to keep one or at most three in there at a time, but I may have to start saving up the deli cups.


Mantids like Christmas trees too. I found a bunch of Chinese in the one I got.


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## buddhistsoldier88

> My family might kill me if I try taking the whole house over for my pets again. (And by the way; I found that garter snakes just love Christmas Trees!) So my mantids will have to make do with a small 2 1/2 gal. fish tank. I only plan to keep one or at most three in there at a time, but I may have to start saving up the deli cups.


LOL thats great!

Rick you might wanna try a more aggressive and larger species such as Chinese or Giant Asian... Just an idea...


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## Rick

> My family might kill me if I try taking the whole house over for my pets again. (And by the way; I found that garter snakes just love Christmas Trees!) So my mantids will have to make do with a small 2 1/2 gal. fish tank. I only plan to keep one or at most three in there at a time, but I may have to start saving up the deli cups.
> 
> 
> 
> LOL thats great!
> 
> Rick you might wanna try a more aggressive and larger species such as Chinese or Giant Asian... Just an idea...
Click to expand...

What do you mean? I have kept both of those on more than one occasion.


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## buddhistsoldier88

> My family might kill me if I try taking the whole house over for my pets again. (And by the way; I found that garter snakes just love Christmas Trees!) So my mantids will have to make do with a small 2 1/2 gal. fish tank. I only plan to keep one or at most three in there at a time, but I may have to start saving up the deli cups.
> 
> 
> 
> LOL thats great!
> 
> Rick you might wanna try a more aggressive and larger species such as Chinese or Giant Asian... Just an idea...
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> What do you mean? I have kept both of those on more than one occasion.
Click to expand...

I mean in the same set up as the miomantis. See how ell a more aggressive species takes to a small colony..


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## Rick

> My family might kill me if I try taking the whole house over for my pets again. (And by the way; I found that garter snakes just love Christmas Trees!) So my mantids will have to make do with a small 2 1/2 gal. fish tank. I only plan to keep one or at most three in there at a time, but I may have to start saving up the deli cups.
> 
> 
> 
> LOL thats great!
> 
> Rick you might wanna try a more aggressive and larger species such as Chinese or Giant Asian... Just an idea...
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> What do you mean? I have kept both of those on more than one occasion.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> I mean in the same set up as the miomantis. See how ell a more aggressive species takes to a small colony..
Click to expand...

If you read the whole thread you would of read where I did replace the miomantis with h. mem. About 12 of them lived in there till adulthood and then I sold them off. It's empty right now.


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## buddhistsoldier88

> My family might kill me if I try taking the whole house over for my pets again. (And by the way; I found that garter snakes just love Christmas Trees!) So my mantids will have to make do with a small 2 1/2 gal. fish tank. I only plan to keep one or at most three in there at a time, but I may have to start saving up the deli cups.
> 
> 
> 
> LOL thats great!
> 
> Rick you might wanna try a more aggressive and larger species such as Chinese or Giant Asian... Just an idea...
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> What do you mean? I have kept both of those on more than one occasion.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> I mean in the same set up as the miomantis. See how ell a more aggressive species takes to a small colony..
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> If you read the whole thread you would of read where I did replace the miomantis with h. mem. About 12 of them lived in there till adulthood and then I sold them off. It's empty right now.
Click to expand...

Whoops! Missed that... Sorry mate!


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## hibiscusmile

tsk,,,tsk... my europeans are mating as we speak...hhhheeeee


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## matt020593

What do you do about heating Rick?

Thanks


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## macro junkie

my guees is his room is 70f min so he dont need heating..

Rick - any updates.new pics?hows it going with that? u still got it set up?


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## Rick

Tore it down a few months ago. I sold everything in there to Yen. I pulled out about 10 adult H. Mems. It worked better with the small mantids. I don't use any heating for mantids really. I started using a small closet that houses a water heater for some as it stays warm in there.


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