# Just seeing if I am doing this right!



## DJ_deejay (Mar 8, 2012)

So... this is my first attempt at keeping mantids (used to manage a pet shop and came across a picture of an orchid mantis and fell in love...). These are "Blue Flash" at L1... is my enclosure too big? They are in 32oz cups with cloth lids and to avoid overcrowding the cup I opted for a single "perch" for them. I mist them once a day (3 or 4 squirts) and I try to throw in no more than 3 ff's at a time. I use paper towels cut to size for the bottom which I change about every other day. Just looking for a basic check up and to make sure I am doing this right!!!







I have five of the little buggers (better chance for a mating ratio) and even though they are in a window it gets indirect sunlight. I checked with a digital thermometer and it seems the temperature in the cups ranges from about 70 degrees at night to 80 at the highest during the day (I was paranoid I was going to bake them!!!). So here they are!






Next time I think I'm going to put the feeding hole in the top... stupid fruit flies and their inability to traverse a simple air tubing setup...

Also, if anyone has any ideas on how to get the fruit flies to take the long walk to their demise I'd live to hear it! I put the hole in their cup on top (my hole punch was perfect size for the air tubing), added a few rounds of black electric tape to each end to make sure the connections were secure and used a piece of tubing a little less than a foot long. Try as I might I get a bazillion flies gathering on their lid but none of them will even look at the millimeter of tubing hanging down... maybe it's the black electric tabe blocking out the light? ... also... will the mantids try to go in the tubing? They legs spread wider than the diameter of the tube but... I used to keep geckoes and they fit in some of the weirdest tiny places... Thanks for your time and feed back!!!


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## patrickfraser (Mar 8, 2012)

POOTER! POOTER!


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## Bryce08 (Mar 8, 2012)

the only problem really with having "too big of a cage" is just for feeding purposes in my opinion. blue flashes are pretty dang agressive toward food...so you most likely wont have a problem...plus sp. mantids seem to grow fast for me. but worst case you just use a seperate container to feed the little guy.


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## Precarious (Mar 8, 2012)

That's way more space than any L1 needs but may still be OK. More space just makes it harder for them to find food so I'd suggest being generous with the FFs. You'll get more dead in the bottom of the cup but it will help your babies find their dinner.

Nice cups, by the way.


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## patrickfraser (Mar 8, 2012)

I know, right? I feel like a mantis abuser. I have too many for deluxe accommodations. :lol:


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## happy1892 (Mar 8, 2012)

Precarious said:


> That's way more space than any L1 needs but may still be OK. More space just makes it harder for them to find food so I'd suggest being generous with the FFs. You'll get more dead in the bottom of the cup but it will help your babies find their dinner.
> 
> Nice cups, by the way.


I would put more fruit flies in there too. For me it is much easier to just tap the fruit flies into a 32oz container and then close the fruit fly culture container. Then I open the mantis's container a little and turn the container full of flies upside down and tap the container full of flies into the mantis's container. I might make a video for you.


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## Bryce08 (Mar 8, 2012)

happy1892 said:


> I would put more fruit flies in there too. For me it is much easier to just tap the fruit flies into a 32oz container and then close the fruit fly culture container. Then I open the mantis's container a little and turn the container full of flies upside down and tap the container full of flies into the mantis's container. I might make a video for you.


another one, this one for mantids

so generous


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## DJ_deejay (Mar 8, 2012)

Videos would be appreciated!!! Yeah... I didn't realize how big the cups really were until I put the mantids in, lol... mantid mansions. I try to throw in around... i dunno... 3 ff's a day, but I went a little crazy today and one ended up with like 7. I was worried I was stressing the poor guy out but he just hung out on the bottom of his leaf... like a boss. The ff's all stayed pretty much on the lid... might refrain from doing that again, tho lol. Since the cups are so big, should I mist twice a day do you think? And I don't worry too much about dead ff's. I'll just bump it up to cleaning once a day instead of every other day.

You guys are awesome and quick with feedback! Srsly, I figured I'd check back in after messing around with Terraria a bit, but I didn't expect this much help!

Pooter... sounds dirty, lol. No, but I've been thinking about it. I have some film canisters laying around from back in the day when I used to be awesome. Just need to pick up some panty hose.

Thanks for the helpz!!!

I'll draw you guys a picture when I get my tablet back next friday!

Until then here is a picture of an angler fish being... ya know... normal






It's a thank you fish  

Next time it will be a mantid I promise


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## Rick (Mar 9, 2012)

You're doing it right for the most part. You don't need to change the towel daily. You're just wasting towel and increasing the stress for the animals as well as increasing the chances of losing a mantis in the process. And you need to throw in more than 3 flies. With the amount of space they have the more food in there the better their chances of catching enough. I would throw in no less than 10 ff's every other day. But it doesn't need to be exact or anything. Keep an eye on the abdomen. It should be plump. If it isn't feed more or less depending on the abdomen size.


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## DJ_deejay (Mar 9, 2012)

I checked up on them this morning and it looks as if I lost one last night  

I checked, it doesn't appear to be a molt

infinite sadness...

Ok, Rick, I threw in like 10 to 12 of the ff's this morning and gave them an enthusiastic spray.

I figure I'll cut back the cleaning to once a week (is that too long?)

Also, can the ff's stress them out?

And since I have to open my entire lid on each, what is now, every other day am I stressing them too much? I am more than willing to run out to grab a funnel and do some enclosure modifications right now... I will not lose another!

::stern declaration face::

If anyone has any ideas on what I did wrong with that guy or why he might have expired I would be very happy to hear it.

But on a high note, they all ate yesterday and appear to be very plump (I discern this from my years on mantid experience &lt;- sarcasm)


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## dlemmings (Mar 9, 2012)

"If anyone has any ideas on what I did wrong with that guy or why he might have expired I would be very happy to hear it."

for my limited experience I have lost a couple due to neglegence/error but I have also lost a couple for no known reason. in all I believe more nymphs survive to adulthood in the care of hobbyists than would in the wild and accept that some losses will occur.

by learning from the mistakes and successes of others we can minimize issues...So for myself I keep posting my questions and read posts of others.

everyone here is very encouraging and willing to help out so you are in the right place


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## DJ_deejay (Mar 9, 2012)

Thank you for some clarification. Is it possible my fruit flies are too large for the mantids? They are L1s and the fruit flies are D Hydei. I only ask because I saw one go for a kill and he didn't quite manage to grab it. He ate yesterday (that one is very aggressive, lol) and I've seen one or two flick them away but this one was a definate failed grab.


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## lunarstorm (Mar 9, 2012)

If the feeders are too large, they will run from it. And failed grabs happen at all stages, no biggie as long as they eventually succeed.


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## happy1892 (Mar 9, 2012)

My dad has the camera now. He is gone. Mantids seem to like to go over things. Cockroaches seem to like to go into cracks. If the tub is very wide they might go in.


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## happy1892 (Mar 9, 2012)

Here is a video I made. Fruit flies can be cultured on smashed apple. Look at this.


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## gripen (Mar 9, 2012)

Nice vid!


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## DJ_deejay (Mar 9, 2012)

Great vid! I need to work on my technique, lol. Ok, starting day after tomorrow I'm definately going to try this, wish me luck!!


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## Krissim Klaw (Mar 9, 2012)

Wow do people's mantises really have problems finding fruitflies in those little cups? I commonly use the net cubs for my nymphs and they never have problems finding their fruit flies and I don't need to put a ton in there either. :blink:


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## DJ_deejay (Mar 9, 2012)

SO EXCITED!!!! One of them is just finishing his molt to L2 and another one is beautifully perched next to his skin!!! YAYAYAY!!!!! That's 2 L2's now!!!


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## Rick (Mar 10, 2012)

I cut a hole in the side and plug it with a foam plug. I learned many years ago it was simply a pain to remove the lid each time to feed or water. I then can use a funnel to pour in flies.


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## DJ_deejay (Mar 10, 2012)

I'll be trying to see how this works out but I may end up investing in a funnel, honestly, lol. So I have 2 happy healthy L2's chilling in their enclosures today (YAY!) and both of them ate today (Double YAY!) so I must be doing something right! The other two I haven't seen eat since I pulled them out of the box Wednesday (both were nom-ing inside the shipping containers). I'm hoping this means I'll see them molt soon and become bigger, badder mantids. ::crossing fingers::

And yeah... so I also have a cat now... anyone in FL want a kitten, lol. Nah, I'm joking. I'm hoping Craigslist pulls through and I get someone to take her. Well anyways, at least I have 2 mantids that are doing well.


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## Mantiskid (Mar 29, 2012)

DJ_deejay said:


> I'll be trying to see how this works out but I may end up investing in a funnel, honestly, lol. So I have 2 happy healthy L2's chilling in their enclosures today (YAY!) and both of them ate today (Double YAY!) so I must be doing something right! The other two I haven't seen eat since I pulled them out of the box Wednesday (both were nom-ing inside the shipping containers). I'm hoping this means I'll see them molt soon and become bigger, badder mantids. ::crossing fingers::
> 
> And yeah... so I also have a cat now... anyone in FL want a kitten, lol. Nah, I'm joking. I'm hoping Craigslist pulls through and I get someone to take her. Well anyways, at least I have 2 mantids that are doing well.


Congrats on the molts! You can check out these two videos I made on housing mantids, if you want:

http://youtu.be/nDz3d0elkDM

http://youtu.be/jQLUBL2UEn8


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## DJ_deejay (Mar 30, 2012)

Those are great videos! I have a few exo-terra nanos left over from when I raised pygmy chameleons and I figured as soon as my sphodromantids grew a little bigger I'd spruce them up with some epiphytes and other pico plants. I do love putting together a terrarium  

Thanks for the info it is very useful!

Also... is 5 days between molts weird for "Blue Flash"? I had read somewhere that they tend to molt between 10 and 14 days apart but mine are shooting up like crazy!!! If anyone else has kept these I'd love to hear back.

3/7/12 Received 5 L1 "Blue Flash"

... time passes

3/28/12 First one molts to L5

I could post a more thorough log (I've been keeping notes!) but I don't think anyone's interested, lol


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## Mantiskid (Apr 3, 2012)

Umm...all my Mantids usually molt every month or so: 10-14 days sounds too short, and 5 days is CRAZY LOL!!


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