# Ever Think Its a Hassel?



## DeadInTheBasement (Oct 15, 2009)

i myself find mantid keeping quite a hassel and rarely ever have more than just a couple mantids at a time now days. and actually none at all right now  

i do enjoy having them but i just dont have the time anymore....mostly because of my mini zoo of other critters i have hanging about and even though they are my favorite insect i always find they are getting left out(but not as much as the fishies do :lol: )

any time i think about getting a new mantid i weigh the pros and the cons and until now the cons have outweighed the pros! but only because winter is about the strike and ill have time to be bored therefore have time to fiddle with mantids!

i myself think of most animals the same way i think of plants(that isnt really a bad thing i dont think) they show no emotions toward us but fear except for the expectional animals of course. in my mind each of my pets is ranked to an order which depends how much attention they recieve not including my monthly phases where i just got to add this one animal to my list they will get there time in the spot light until i snap back to reality

how much of a pain is it for everyone else to decide to add more mantids to there collection or not?

to all those curious off the top of my head here is my list at the moment

the ones highlighted in red are taken better care of then children.....well maybe not consideirng most people dont leave there children in fences or put them in a cage for part of the day....but for animals they are treated pretty well  

African Grey Parrot

Nigerian Boer Goat mix

Nigerian Pygmy Goat mix

Sugar Glider

Green Water Dragon

Green Iguana

Black Ratsnake

Black Mexican Kingsnake

Some Reticulated Pythons

Red Tail Boa Constrictor

Ball Python

Mata Mata Turtle

12 Chickens!

2 goldfish

1 Betta fish

9 Emperor Scorpions

1 Mystery Scorpion

9 Black Widow Spiders

3 Dogs(great for coyote control  )

3 couch sized Pigs!

and NO MANTIDS  

im hopefully adding a very large amount of salamanders to my list soon  followed by some mantids if i get the cash....  

anyways i was bored and thought id make a dead thread to add to my post count considering ive been a member since 06 and kids who have been here 4 months probably have a higher post count than me :blink: 

.and to think i had hopes of getting Emu Rheas and Ostriches this winter......who knows still might find a way  

PS. i know the topic title is spelled wrong but o well


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## cloud jaguar (Oct 15, 2009)

Wow, you are practically Dr. Doolittle! I could not even imagine having that many pets - it would be a full time job. You must have much energy and skill to take care of so many creatures!


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## Rick (Oct 15, 2009)

You have far too many animals. I thought I was bad with two turtles, uromastyx, two cats, mantids, and a dog.


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## bassist (Oct 15, 2009)

Rick said:


> You have far too many animals. I thought I was bad with two turtles, uromastyx, two cats, mantids, and a dog.


He's had more than just that list lol.


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## hibiscusmile (Oct 15, 2009)

haha, Dr. Doo! good one Martin! I just have hubby and dog and mantis and feeders.... then theres the .... naw thats it, I don't feel to good today, so really did not want to get up and realllllllly don't wanna go feed and pack!


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## revmdn (Oct 15, 2009)

Yeah, that's a lot of animals.


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## ismart (Oct 15, 2009)

I cant see how just a couple of mantids at this point are going to make any difference with all that you already have.

You really have way to many animals to take care of. I'm sure your social life has been greatly affected by all these animals. Does anybody help you with any of them?


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## Katnapper (Oct 15, 2009)

I do find the more pets I have (cats, mantids, fish), the less time I'm able to spend and enjoy each of them.  Maybe you have a pet addiction, hehe! :lol:


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## vera_renczi (Oct 15, 2009)

Where do you live? I'm guessing somewhere with a lot of land, haha. And according to the profile, he's 17 so I'm sure he has help guys :lol:


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## Rick (Oct 15, 2009)

I get bogged down with what I have, I couldn't imagine keeping that many animals. If I won the lottery and could stay home all day it wouldn't be a big deal.


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## wero626 (Oct 15, 2009)

OHHH MY GOSH how do you do it honeslty thats so many pets you must really love them.... I have a handle full of pets to no where near as many as yours and i sometimes have a hard schedule trying to feed them haha your wallet must be hurting from all those pets huh? :lol:


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## DeadInTheBasement (Oct 15, 2009)

yeah my list has been way bigger. ive had about pretty much everything out there probably but once i get tired of it and no longer need something ill usually switch it out....stuff that isnt really social anymals of course stuff like chameleons, geckos bugs and snakes.

and my therapist says its because i like to have control over things is why i have them!(maybe should not have said this) :lol: 

i have no help raising any of them except the dogs and my dad pays for everything for the pigs....they are what takes up most of my time unfortunately but when it gets cold outside the slaughter house willt take care of that for me  

i pay for most of the food for all of my animals except the dogs piggies and chickens

with not much time left the problem with amntids is THE JARS JARS JARS sooooooooo many JARS!....i have plans on trying out keeping them socially...which will be the only way ill be able to find time to take care of them..

i do live in the country and have lots of land and my propert has 5 houses on it and 3 are even empty lol so i have plenty of space  

i forgot one! but i wont see him again until spring cause he is in my pond i dug its a vicious mean ole snapping turtle i feed her strangers who are foolish enough to trespass


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## kamakiri (Oct 19, 2009)

DeadInTheBasement said:


> the ones highlighted in red are taken better care of then children.....well maybe not consideirng most people dont leave there children in fences or put them in a cage for part of the day....but for animals they are treated pretty well  African Grey Parrot
> 
> Nigerian Boer Goat mix
> 
> Nigerian Pygmy Goat mix


Well, and African Grey is worth more than most children...  Can you tell, that I don't have any?  

But I am impressed by the zoo you keep, which is about as long as the list of pets that I've had since childhood.

It does get to be a hassle when life takes over...a few mantises I gave away came back to me from a member here who has gotten too busy lately.  

I'm a little concerned about getting burnt out myself, with some of my experiments and breeding 'programs'...


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## bassist (Oct 19, 2009)

dead post EVERY pet you've ever owned I'm curious.


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## Ntsees (Oct 19, 2009)

DeadInTheBasement said:


> ...how much of a pain is it for everyone else to decide to add more mantids to there collection or not?....


Like what was stated already, time is an important factor for me. I can always add more to my collection but there are some negative effects I always face. Somehow, when I keep too many mantids, whether it's from the same species or from different species, the health of the mantids will be low because I don't have the time to make a full round to feed all of them. Because of that, I usually just keep a handful of one species.


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## DeadInTheBasement (Oct 19, 2009)

yes i must agree wth you kamakiri worth way more than any kid :lol: 

and bassist ill try to remember for you

hmmm ill attempt to go back to my child hood and just write then as a go back to terrible childhood memories  

4-12 box turtle out in a fence

california kingsnake

black mexican kingsnake

northern watersnake

6 asian vine snakes(both ahaetulla nasuta and ahaetulla prasina)

black racers

black ratsnakes

corn snakes

eastern milk snakes

veiled chameleons

crested geckos

tokay geckos

peafowl(indian blues, black shoulderd and pied)

lady amherst pheasant

red golden pheasant

reeves pheasant

more than over 50 chickens have passed by(2 days ago ALL of my current chicken were picked clean by probably a weasel or raccoon)

fire salamanders(those were the days)

red salamanders

eastern spotted newts

fire belly newts

spotted tail warty newts

chinese warty newts

cuban tree frogs

green treefrogs

golden ear frogs

american toads

fire belly toads

dragon agamas...i think there scientific name is something like japalura splendida

green anoles

brown anoles

fence lizards

chinese water dragons

hmm...

BUGGY TIME!

rusty thick tail scorpions babycurus MICHAELjacksoni...or just jacksoni

centuraoids vittatus

emperor scorpions

centuroids sculptus

a number of mystery species of scorps

red clawed scorpions

stripe knee tarantulas

rose hair tarantulas

who knows how many native true spiders

ghost mantids

violin mantids

miomantis

sybilla pretiosa

creobroter of some sort

chinese mantids

carolina mantids

native stick insects

native assassin bugs

native beetles

pretty much any fancy goldfish at some point

applesnails(i miss those damn you USDA)

rope fish

freshwater angelfish

and things i dont remember at this moment


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## sbugir (Oct 19, 2009)

:huh:


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## Emile.Wilson (Oct 19, 2009)

DeadInTheBasement said:


> yes i must agree wth you kamakiri worth way more than any kid :lol: and bassist ill try to remember for you
> 
> hmmm ill attempt to go back to my child hood and just write then as a go back to terrible childhood memories
> 
> ...


Eh, whatevs


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## idolomantis (Oct 19, 2009)

Seriously.....


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## DeadInTheBasement (Oct 19, 2009)

what can i say...i get bored easy and need things to keep me amused i even forgot a couple things

Rabbits(again this winter  )

guinea pigs

im always stocked up on feeder mice

fancy rats

savanah monitor

leopard geckos

other things i cant remember at the moment


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## PhilinYuma (Oct 19, 2009)

DeadInTheBasement said:


> yeah my list has been way bigger. ive had about pretty much everything out there probably but once i get tired of it and no longer need something ill usually switch it out....stuff that isnt really social anymals of course stuff like chameleons, geckos bugs and snakes.and my therapist says its because i like to have control over things is why i have them!(maybe should not have said this) :lol:


Maybe you should switch out yr therapist for a nice tank of triops!


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## DeadInTheBasement (Oct 19, 2009)

how dare you make me crave another weird aquatic critter! though i was thinking a saltwater setup and get a few horseshoe crabs but triops are kinda cheap minis of those...hahaha


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## kamakiri (Oct 20, 2009)

DeadInTheBasement said:


> how dare you make me crave another weird aquatic critter! though i was thinking a saltwater setup and get a few horseshoe crabs but triops are kinda cheap minis of those...hahaha


lol Triops are fun though. You should try it at least once.


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## cloud jaguar (Oct 23, 2009)

i think i want to try triops for my kid. of course i (or my wife) will probably end up cleaning them, just like the guinea pigs! :angry:


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## kamakiri (Oct 23, 2009)

Arkanis said:


> i think i want to try triops for my kid. of course i (or my wife) will probably end up cleaning them, just like the guinea pigs! :angry:


At least these aren't hard to clean. Dump or siphon dirty water in the sink or toilet...then put some back in.

There's a little more to it when they've died...or if you are trying to save the eggs for next time. I just let it all dry out...which isn't difficult here in CA. Pour in distilled water next time you want to start them up.


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