# New mantid enthusiasts from Toronto area



## hysteresis (Oct 10, 2018)

Hey all!  Thanks for having us. 

We're new to mantids. We found a male European in our yard and kept him for 6 weeks. He died Thanksgiving Monday (CND Thanksgiving).

We've learned from our mistake - be more careful with the the feeding and care of feeder crickets. Guh! No carrots. 

Anyways, thanks for accepting the join request. I hope to find another mantis before it's too cold (just a few day left), or meet someone on here with nymphs or adults for sale, but that's for another post. 

Thank you! 

(The photo below was taken Oct 3rd. He was pretty! ?)


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## Synapze (Oct 10, 2018)

Welcome! Sorry you lost such a fine looking specimen.


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## hysteresis (Oct 10, 2018)

Synapze said:


> Welcome! Sorry you lost such a fine looking specimen.


@Synapze ... Thank you very much!

We were lucky to have have him. 

I really thought he'd live on through spring. Super hungry! 

We're going to be very very careful with feeder insects next time.


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## ausar318 (Oct 10, 2018)

What a magnificent mantis! Let me warn you, though. Now that you’ve joined this forum, you have been infected with the mantis virus. Early symptoms are simple: appreciation for the elegance of mantids, maybe catching a wild one from time to time. Then, all the sudden, the symptoms will become severe. You’ll become obsessed with mantids, get 20 of them, and live happily ever after!

Im just kidding, of course! This really is an amazing place to connect with some pretty awesome people, though. Welcome!


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## Mantis Lady (Oct 10, 2018)

ausar318 said:


> What a magnificent mantis! Let me warn you, though. Now that you’ve joined this forum, you have been infected with the mantis virus. Early symptoms are simple: appreciation for the elegance of mantids, maybe catching a wild one from time to time. Then, all the sudden, the symptoms will become severe. You’ll become obsessed with mantids, get 20 of them, and live happily ever after! ﻿


Hhahahaah so true?

@hysteresis welcome  

Aww, sad you lost your mantis. He was beautiful. good luck with choosing your new mantis. Mantids are great insects


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## Rick (Oct 10, 2018)

Welcome


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## hysteresis (Oct 10, 2018)

@ausar318... Don't I know it. Six weeks that ended too soon.

How can I go on without a mantis?

I'm seriously considering an ooth. I was hoping to do that later on, but may just need to start now.

Everywhere I go... everywhere I look... any random motion in the grass... I expect to see one perched!

Thanks very much for the warm welcome!


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## hysteresis (Oct 10, 2018)

Thank you, @Little Mantis!

Hopefully we'll find or acquire another one, or maybe twenty. LoL.  

My sons and I loved to watch him eat. At feedings, my youngest would say "Go get him, little guy."


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## hysteresis (Oct 10, 2018)

Thank you very much, @Rick!


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## Graceface (Oct 10, 2018)

Welcome!


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## hysteresis (Oct 10, 2018)

Wow all!

As a newcomer, I've been nosing through some amazing threads. I know I've barely nicked the surface.

What a dumb-dumb I was for not getting in here back when we first caught our little guy out back (my 6 year old son named him Mantissy).  ?

The depth to this hobby and the scope of your posts are eye-opening:


Fruit fly dispensing apparatus...

Feeder cricket-feeding experiments...

The enclosure building magnum opus...

Mantids as feeders? ?



The more I read, the deeper this gets, and the more I consider.

Again, this place is amazing. Thank you!


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## MantisGirl13 (Oct 11, 2018)

Welcome to the forum!! Your mantis was a male, and he died from old age, not any mistakes you made. 6 weeks is pretty good for an adult male European. He was beautiful! 

- MantisGirl13


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## hysteresis (Oct 11, 2018)

Hi @MantisGirl13! Thank you. 

I'm so new that I wouldn't even know. 

I knew enough to identify him as a male European. That's it. 

Here in Ontario Canada, I can't imagine ooths (in the wild) would 'hatch' until late May / early June. Can't Europeans live longer than 6 months? 

Anyway yeh, RIP little guy. 

But a very cool thing happened today. 

WE FOUND ANOTHER MANTIS!

At work this time. A female by the looks. Another European because of the 'eye' markings under the raptorial arms???

Am I right? Here is she is, hanging out with my wife. ?

Those brown marks along side her abdomen. Could that be distention because she's ready to lay her ooth? 

Thanks again!


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## Mantis Lady (Oct 11, 2018)

Lucky you  you found another one. By the looks of it,  your new mantis is female. And you gave her a nice warm home to live. think soon with will be to cold to live for mantids

Keep her ooths if she lays some. Maybe they will be fertile.


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## MantisGirl13 (Oct 11, 2018)

Ooh, yay! Congratulations! She will love longer than your male did with proper care. She is definitely a female European mantis.

- MantisGirl13


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## hysteresis (Jan 2, 2019)

Wow, hey?

We look back after a few months.  So many of us come in the same way.  We found a mantis this or that.

Then we obsess, speculate, calculate.  What did we do?  What do we do?

We get a bit more comfortable, and throw caution to the wind.  Then the hook sets!  We buy bugs here, there, left right and center.

Our tables have cricket legs on them. Bits of dubia guts. FF don't bother us anymore. Not in the least bit.

This has been an amazing ride so far. Thanks all!


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## hysteresis (Jan 2, 2019)

I really want Lola religiosa's ooth to be fertile and hatch me some nymphs. It's likely a stretch, I know.

I'd like to keep a dozen and feed 'em lots, and keep 'em warm. See what _Mantis religiosa_ can look like.

I mean, they're the most prolific species on the planet. That has to mean something.

Funny how we ignore the top, in favour of the exotic.


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## MantisGirl13 (Jan 2, 2019)

hysteresis said:


> Our tables have cricket legs on them. Bits of dubia guts. FF don't bother us anymore. Not in the least bit.


So true!!! Lol   

I hope that Lola's ooth is fertile!

- MantisGirl13


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## hysteresis (Jan 2, 2019)

hysteresis said:


> Our tables have cricket legs on them. Bits of dubia guts. FF don't bother us anymore. Not in the least bit.


Funny anecdote I don't remember sharing, but it's about the Guinea Pigs, Penny and Panda.

They were so tiny when we got them. I put one into each side pocket of my zip up sweater, and lounged around a bit.  Hours later, I had my hands in-pocket and I felt something tiny tiny, like a piece of play doh.  We'll, I was taking to my wife so I was naturally more into our conversation rather than into analyzing what i was feeling in there.

Then, it struck me.

I pulled out a tiny piece of poop.


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## MantisGirl13 (Jan 2, 2019)

hysteresis said:


> Funny anecdote I don't remember sharing, but it's about the Guinea Pigs, Penny and Panda.
> 
> They were so tiny when we got them. I put one into each side pocket of my zip up sweater, and lounged around a bit.  Hours later, I had my hands in-pocket and I felt something tiny tiny, like a piece of play doh.  We'll, I was taking to my wife so I was naturally more into our conversation rather than into analyzing what i was feeling in there.
> 
> ...


LOL   

- MantisGirl13


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## hibiscusmile (Jan 23, 2019)

Welcome Toronto


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## hysteresis (Jan 23, 2019)

hibiscusmile said:


> Welcome Toronto


Ahahaha! 

Thankya! Great to be here.

Im up to 17 mantises now. Always on the prowl for more!


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## hibiscusmile (Jan 26, 2019)

Goodness, see doctor for this addition before it gets worse!


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## hysteresis (Jan 26, 2019)

hibiscusmile said:


> Goodness, see doctor for this addiction before it gets worse!


LoL. I just chased a link of yours back almost 12 years ago. I saw that bug room.   I suppose you can spot 'em when you see 'em coming.

Apparently I have my eyes wide open though, because I'm picking up more mantises next week.


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## hibiscusmile (Jan 29, 2019)

lol


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## hysteresis (Jan 29, 2019)

I must say, my shelf is looking epic. It'll be a while before I get a whole room.


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## MantisGirl13 (Jan 29, 2019)

hysteresis said:


> I must say, my shelf is looking epic. It'll be a while before I get a whole room.


I wish I had a whole room! At least I have more than one shelf...

- MantisGirl13


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## hysteresis (Jan 29, 2019)

MantisGirl13 said:


> I wish I had a whole room! At least I have more than one shelf...
> 
> - MantisGirl13


Humble beginnings


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## MantisGirl13 (Jan 29, 2019)

hysteresis said:


> Humble beginnings


Lol   

- MantisGirl13


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## hysteresis (Jan 31, 2019)

MantisGirl13 said:


> I wish I had a whole room! At least I have more than one shelf...
> 
> - MantisGirl13


My shelf is getting full. I have the two mesh cubes for the gongys. I'll throw them in after a molt or two.


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## MantisGirl13 (Jan 31, 2019)

That's a beautiful setup! No matter how hard I try, I can't get my shelves to look neat and tidy! Don't 'throw' the gongys into the net cages please! Just let them walk in or jump in.   

- MantisGirl13


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## hysteresis (Jan 31, 2019)

MantisGirl13 said:


> Don't 'throw' the gongys into the net cages please! Just let them walk in or jump in.
> 
> - MantisGirl13


I thought a 'flick' off my finger would be more appropriate.


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## MantisGirl13 (Jan 31, 2019)

hysteresis said:


> I thought a 'flick' off my finger would be more appropriate.


Lol   

- MantisGirl13


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## hysteresis (Mar 19, 2019)

Fun to bounce around topics sometimes. 

So... sometimes I feel like calling my mantises MY BIRDS. That leads one to think.

Keeping mantises isn't that different from keeping birds. But mantises are *definitely* dark side.

Teh widdle birds whistle, and hop around. Splash at bath time and nuzzle ya' after a snack.

Mantises are* all* gore. We feed them live prey and watch them render it helpless, eating it alive. My golden can *RIP *its prey apart with raptorials alone! What kind of person am I? LOL!

That difference aside, we keep birds. Little cages. 

That is all.


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## hysteresis (Mar 19, 2019)

@omar morsy  @Aristalochia

Quail aside, are you still keeping birds?


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## MantisGirl13 (Mar 20, 2019)

hysteresis said:


> Fun to bounce around topics sometimes.
> 
> So... sometimes I feel like calling my mantises MY BIRDS. That leads one to think.
> 
> ...


What?!? 

(That was really random lol)

- MantisGirl13


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## hysteresis (Mar 20, 2019)

TOTALLY random, hey? 

Day off work today. Car shopping for the missus.


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## hysteresis (Mar 20, 2019)

We bought her a Passat.

She really liked it.


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## Charoozz520 (Mar 21, 2019)

hysteresis said:


> Fun to bounce around topics sometimes.
> 
> So... sometimes I feel like calling my mantises MY BIRDS. That leads one to think.
> 
> ...


This gave me a good chuckle @hysteresis I'll say mantis aren't that different from keeping lizards.

The widdle geckos boop and bop and walk around on their little feetsies until they spot prey, then they are gore gore gore, chasing them and biting them down, shaking them until they subdue or rip apart.


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## hysteresis (Mar 21, 2019)

@Charoozz520 have we seen teh widdle birdsies hop hoppity hop over to a worm and rip it apart?


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## Charoozz520 (Mar 21, 2019)

@hysteresis unfortunately living in New York City, we usually only see coo-coo pigeons fighting over bread crumbs


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## hysteresis (Mar 21, 2019)

Toronto is huge too, but we live in suburbia.

✌


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