# Hello everyone



## dataduffy (Sep 4, 2010)

Hi Everyone.

This is my first post, from a complete new start to the hobby, so I appologise for the dumb questions in advance.  

My name is John, and I am originally from the UK; however I have been living in China for the last 10 years or so.

I used to keep snakes in the UK, but the lack of good petshops for supplies in China meant that I gave that hobby up.

Where I live in China has an abundance of mantis (What is the correct plural?? :huh: ). Last week I found a large adult. You can't really tell from the pics, but he/she did measure just over 15cm from head to tail. I read as much as I could over the week regarding them. I also found a juvenile that is much smaller. (Cant fly)

We do not have pet supply shops in the area that cover this, so I was feeding them grasshoppers that I collected outside.

I will be going on a business trip for a couple of weeks, and really don't have things setup here for them, so I released them this morning. My wife and daughter seem ok with this new found fascination, however this stops at collecting grasshoppers for me while I am away.

Looking about, I can generally find a mantis is 15 to 20 minutes, so I plan on finding more after I come back and start properly. This gives me a chance to setup things correctly.

A few questions for you all, if you don't mind:

What species are these? (As Ive said, where I live they are everywhere - Obvious answer would be Chinese, but a bit more info would help)

Are wild grasshoppers fine? (I guess so.)

How much do they eat? (Dumb question again, but the adult just kept on eating and eating)

Can you recommend any good books about care, housing etc?

Sorry for so many questions and I appologise if this post is in the wrong place.

These creatures truly are fascinating; apparently so aware of their surroundings. I am quite surprised how addicted I have become in a week!

Thanks in advance,

John


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## Jesskb (Sep 5, 2010)

Welcome to the forum JohnD  

I would guess it's a Chinese mantis, but my Chinese mantises don't have a black line on them, so I'll let someone else identify it for sure. Wild grasshoppers are fine, that's what I feed all of mine  of course that's assuming that there are no pesticides used in the area where you collect them. I feed my adult mantises every few days, and I feed the nymphs every day. This book http://www.amazon.com/Praying-Mantids-Keeping-Aliens-McMonigle/dp/0980240115/ref=sr_1_5?ie=UTF8&amp;s=books&amp;qid=1283665508&amp;sr=8-5 is highly recommended. Hope I've helped

welcome to the addiction  

-Jess


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## thegothicrainbow (Sep 5, 2010)

Hello and welcome to the forum and the hobby!


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## ismart (Sep 5, 2010)

Welcome to the forum!  It looks like some sort of Tenodera?


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## Rick (Sep 5, 2010)

Welcome John. The correct plural is mantids.

It appears you have a chinese mantis there, that is the common name. The latin name is Tenodora sinensis. I am pretty sure it is Tenodera, however I have never seen sinensis with that black line on the wings. When I lived in Korea I found them everywhere and they looked just like the ones here. No black line.


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## nickyp0 (Sep 5, 2010)

welcome to the forum


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## angelofdeathzz (Sep 5, 2010)

Welcome,glad you found us .


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## dataduffy (Sep 5, 2010)

Thanks everyone for the warm welcome and the info.


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## Seattle79 (Sep 5, 2010)

Welcome to the Forum. Nice looking Mantis you got there. I like the black line on your Mantis.

-Kevin


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## hibiscusmile (Sep 5, 2010)

Welcome JohnD!


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