# Newbie, and a question



## RedElectric (Jul 9, 2009)

Hi Everyone.  

Firstly thank you to everyone who created and contributes to this forum it's a really great place, I can see I will probably spend a lot of time on here

soo..

Basically I have been fascinated by mantids for a long time, and finally ready to get my first one. I wanted something pretty large, and also one I can tame to degree to get it to walk onto my hand etc, and sit on my desk etc so I can take pics.

through researching, I think I am going to go for a Giant african, or Asian (if I can find one)

but something is worrying me a bit.

I've been monitoring the room temp in my lounge for the last few days, and it drops to about 68F-65F of a night, so I'm wondering if this may be too cold? as I expect it will be even cooler in winter.

Soo..

_*Does anyone know if it's possible to get a heatpad that runs of a battery of some sort? I've searched but can't seem to find one.*_

I was thinking also of lining the inside of the jar/tank with some of that thin polystyrene to contain the heat, and also maybe act as a good climimg surface for the mantis,

Any thoughts, ideas, suggestions etc would be greatly welcomed

Many Thanks

Martin


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## Emile.Wilson (Jul 9, 2009)

I bought a heat pad with a cord at a local drug store you should try checking there.


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## Katnapper (Jul 9, 2009)

You could also check out heat tape or heat lamps. Lots of herp shops have all kinds... online and brick-and-mortar stores.  Best of luck!


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## hibiscusmile (Jul 9, 2009)

Welcome


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## bassist (Jul 9, 2009)

It's dropped to about 60 F in my room at night usually does have not had any problems at all.

Also

Welcome from California


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## revmdn (Jul 9, 2009)

Welcome to the forum.


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## dbcgeno (Jul 10, 2009)

Welcome indeed!

I only just joined myself. Sounds like you've done your homework and have an exciting time ahead of you.


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## Rick (Jul 10, 2009)

Welcome. You can't train mantids and room temperatures are usually fine so no heat pad needed unless your room is very cold.


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## RedElectric (Jul 10, 2009)

Thank You everyone, for the welcome and the replies  and the useful info..

'I am taking everything on board and hope to learn as much as I can, you know I had a re-occuring sort of desire to keep a mantis for years, but somehow never quite got round to it, but this time it came back much stronger, and now I just have to have one' I just never realised there was so many different types.

so far I've narrowed my first mantis down to..

Giant African (as I heard they are slighty tamer than the Asian?)

Giant Asian

Congo Mantis (this is the one I think I may go for, the one that seems to stand out for some reason) but none of the online stores seem to have any,

I've pretty much got all the kit now, just need the bug...

though I'm sure I will probably have plenty more questions along the way.

thanks!

Martin


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## Rick (Jul 10, 2009)

Redelectric said:


> Thank You everyone, for the welcome and the replies  and the useful info..'I am taking everything on board and hope to learn as much as I can, you know I had a re-occuring sort of desire to keep a mantis for years, but somehow never quite got round to it, but this time it came back much stronger, and now I just have to have one' I just never realised there was so many different types.
> 
> so far I've narrowed my first mantis down to..
> 
> ...


Not sure what you mean by tamer. Mantids cannot be tamed. Some may be more jumpy than others but the larger they are the calmer they seem to be in my experience. Please be sure to use the search to try and answer your questions.


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## RedElectric (Jul 10, 2009)

Hi Rick..

Thanks. I think what I mean is one that will adapt to human contact more easily.. I want to keep a photo journal of his development, and also be able to let him walk onto my hand, and sort of sit on my desk type of thing. It's a great opportunity to learn more, and also practice my macro photography too.. I read that some species will adapt/accept human contact much more readily than others..

I have used the search, (I still am, spending as much time as I can reading through all the threads, so glad I found this place.

that's interesting what you say about the larger species too. I'm still lurking here and trying to decide which one to get.

I will update my post when I've finally decided

Thanks again

M


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## Rick (Jul 10, 2009)

Redelectric said:


> Hi Rick..Thanks. I think what I mean is one that will adapt to human contact more easily.. I want to keep a photo journal of his development, and also be able to let him walk onto my hand, and sort of sit on my desk type of thing. It's a great opportunity to learn more, and also practice my macro photography too.. I read that some species will adapt/accept human contact much more readily than others..
> 
> I have used the search, (I still am, spending as much time as I can reading through all the threads, so glad I found this place.
> 
> ...


Don't believe everything you read. Here on mantidforum you can believe most of what you read. I wouldn't say any actually adapt to human contact but some are more prone to stay calm instead of jumping/flying around. I firmly believe these are look don't touch type of pets and actually believe too much handling is bad for them.


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## agent A (Jul 10, 2009)

Rick said:


> I firmly believe these are look don't touch type of pets and actually believe too much handling is bad for them.


So does my mom! She says I manhandle things too much!


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## Rick (Jul 10, 2009)

agent A said:


> So does my mom! She says I manhandle things too much!


Listen to your mother.


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## Katnapper (Jul 10, 2009)

Rick said:


> Listen to your mother.


+1


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## Katnapper (Jul 10, 2009)

Rick said:


> Don't believe everything you read. Here on mantidforum you can believe most of what you read. I wouldn't say any actually adapt to human contact but some are more prone to stay calm instead of jumping/flying around. I firmly believe these are look don't touch type of pets and actually believe too much handling is bad for them.


I don't view handling them to be as off limits or detrimental as Rick does; but there's no doubt handling can be stressful, to some species (or certain individuals) more than others. Some don't mind it and actually seem to want you to hold them (I'm not kidding, Rick!!). I have a T. sinensis nymph who follows me repeatedly after putting him up on top of the net cages. He leans and reaches out with his raptorial forearms when I get close, wanting to jump on me. If I move away, he climbs down the cages and shelves to the table, navigating across all the junk, and repeatedly tries to get close to me. I can see you now, smirking and shaking your head, lol. But I'm not making this up, lol!!!

And I've had ones I've held who definitely seem not to want to be put down or back in their enclosures. Seriously!

But I've also had one who seemed to just drop down dead it was so scared of me. It was an H. bruneriana adult male. I reached into his net cage, and he fell from a normal upside down hanging position on the net ceiling, to the bottom of the cage, never to move again. At first I thought he was just playing dead... but he never got up or moved a hair... he was dead. The only other possiblitly rather than me scaring him suddenly to death, is the slim chance that he was dead already for some reason and just hanging on looking normal before I stuck my hand in there. But I never even touched him; and it was like he leaped down, then didn't move... so I believe I scared him to death.

I think you have to take into account, and just see how each mantis normally reacts when being (or attempting to be) handled. And I don't suggest overhandling them either. They may be needing to be left alone to molt. Or an adult female may need to be left alone to lay an ooth. You don't always know... but handling them at these times (which you have a greater chance of doing the more you handle them) can result in problems or even death.

So I say enjoy handling them! But not a substantial amount of the time.


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## -MK- (Jul 11, 2009)

Katnapper said:


> And I've had ones I've held who definitely seem not to want to be put down or back in their enclosures. Seriously!


Haha - mine never do! If I try to put them down onto some other surface (or especially into their cups) they always change direction and crawl back up my hand. I had an L3 just calmly sitting (almost lying down) on my hand the other day for about half an hour while I was typing on here. The tapping on the keys didn't seem to bother him one bit.  Only when it was time to go back in the cup did he start scampering around! :lol:


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## RedElectric (Jul 12, 2009)

I love these replies.. thanks for all the tips and stuff too, and the funny ones..  

and well, I finally made a decision and will be ordering tommorrow.

I decided to get a congo, I did want a male but they seem difficult to find..

I'm not really planning on handling it much, just really for when I need to clean the cage, and the occasional photo session etc, but I will let it adapt to its enviroment, and only come to my hand on it's own terms.. I want a happy and hopefully freindly bug!.. off to trawl through some more posts..

Cheers!

M


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## batsofchaos (Jul 13, 2009)

Some people like to believe mantids will emoblize there prey before consuming it. This is not true.

Insects don't have much in terms of thinky-parts, and generally-speaking if you place the behavior of insects within the confines of mammalian, or even vertebrate, behavior you come to off-base conclusions. Suggesting a mantis could warm up to people given time is putting them in the same mind-set as other pets like cats, dogs, or even mice, and is an inaccurate way to view them. Mantids will climb on humans because they don't or can't view them as either predators or prey (unless you make sudden movements that confuse the mantid into thinking your hand is food/trying to eat it). Your hand becomes a sturdy and desireable foot-hold. When you're trying to put a mantid back in its cage, it will often crawl further up your hand because it wants to be higher, not because it wants to be held longer. Mantids are cool-looking, fun to watch, and easy to care for and handle since they can't really hurt humans, but they are not mammals and anthropomorphizing them does not help in understanding their behaviour.

Redelectric, if you want to hold a mantid/need to move it for photographing and cage-cleaning, slowly put your hand in front of it with a fairly easy to climb incline. If the mantid reaches out and climbs up, great, if not you can coax them onto your hand by blowing on their backs or gently nudging them with your other hand.


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