# Hello from Katnapper in Illinois



## Katnapper (Nov 1, 2008)

Hello everyone.  My name is Becky and I live in Bloomington, Illinois with my son, Jesse, and my recently acquired husband, Brad. I'm a union laborer (Local #362) who works construction... mainly road/heavy highway, but I sometimes do building/demo and asbestos abatement. Spring through late Fall is always busy for me. But I usually am laid off during the Winter season. I'm 42, and my parents are still wondering when I'm going to get a "real" job, as I do have a B.A. in English (writing) from Millikin University. But I still don't know what I want to be when I grow up!

I love nature... all kinds of plants, animals, rocks. I'm especially fond of cats (we have 9). If you'd like to see our kitties' family page it is here: http://www.catster.com/family/241739. We also have a 75 gallon freshwater community aquarium... that the cats enjoy also! And now we have mantises! And boy are the kitties curious about them, lol. I'm still trying to figure out where I'm going to keep them... an area where I'll be able to control and give them good environmental conditions, where I can readily see them and enjoy them, where it will be easy to tend to them, and where the cats can't get at them. Right now it's in the main floor bathroom.  I could never get away with it if we didn't have 3 more bathrooms that don't have wall-to-wall critters in them, lol. And my husband is an OTR (over-the-road) truck driver, who is only home on the weekends. But I need to move them to their own permanent space soon!

This is Lily (pic below), the lovingly remembered lady that introduced me to the world of mantids last year. I spotted her on the job site one day and took her home. Little did I know I'd just begun a journey with my new little friend that would alter my life. I bought my first Critter Keeper and took her everywhere I went (never know where you'll find lunch hopping or flying around!) Here she is after she laid her first and only ooth in September 2007. At that point, I'd begun putting her outside in one of my impatiens flower boxes, hopefully to attract a mate. I never did see any evidence she ever found one. And in the chaos of moving after we bought our new house this Spring, I forgot to take her ooth I'd had stashed in the bushes at the old house. So I guess I'll never know if it was fertile or not.

She died in late November, and I cried. But she sparked a rabid quest for information on these magnificent creatures, and eventually a new hobby. I'm now branching out into new species of mantis keeping and breeding (along with raising fruit flies and crickets for them).







This Fall, I've captured and kept about a dozen Stagmomantis Carolina (3 males now deceased, and the rest females - 2 green, the rest brown/grey). One of my brown females just died this evening too. But when the males were alive, I was breeding them to all of the females... and what a neat experience! Luckily only one of the males suffered a casualty from a liason... the loss of his left front arm. I also have another lonely Chinese female, captured as an adult, that has recently laid one ooth. She's so beautiful, friendly, and charming... but she doesn't seem to have anywhere near the appetite that Lily had. She also hates to be in her cage, so I frequently let her have the run of the bathroom (with the door always shut, of course). She never moves around very far, usually just perching on top of one of the Critter Keepers. But she seems so much happier and relaxed when she's out... and I can't stand her making those "puppy dog eyes" at me, and clawing at the lid when she's in. I swear she's learned how to manipulate me! :huh: 

I just purchased and received from Peter (Bugs in Cyberspace) 2 Ghost and 2 Giant Asian nymphs (that aren't so giant right now, lol). _Thanks, Peter, btw, they're great!_  And I've been collecting Carolina ooths from my girls at home, and also having luck lately finding wild laid Carolina ooths too!

I've been doing a lot of online research about my new hobby, forum lurking and tentative posting, and acquiring cages/containers and accessories, getting feeder cultures going, and doing a lot of thinking about breeding and raising them for pleasure. My husband's tolerant but not nearly as thrilled with it as I am. Hmmm.... maybe it has something to do with keeping them all (_and_ the tub of 1000 crickets, _and_ the 5 cultures of melano and d.hydei fruit flies) temporarily stuffed in the main floor bathroom where I've set up a heat lamp. I've learned he definitely doesn't like it when he goes in to use the bathroom and sees escapee crickets "all over the bathroom" (it was _only_ 2!!).  Unfortunately to him they are all just "bugs."

Now after writing a novel...  (I swear I didn't intend to write this much. I guess I'm just making up for not posting my intro before now, lol). Thank you for allowing me to be a member of this forum. I'm looking forward to learning much and being a part of the group, as I am besotted by these wonderful creatures!  

This is my husband, my son, and me.


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## hibiscusmile (Nov 1, 2008)

You guys are awesome looking! Welcome to the forum Kapnapper! From OHIO!, I took the time to read this, but a lot may take a day or two to get thru it! hhaa ha, cause its the weekend! They can be lazy! Yea, they break your heart when they claw at the containers! See u on the posts!


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## cloud jaguar (Nov 1, 2008)

Welcome to the forum Katnapper!


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## Rick (Nov 4, 2008)

Hey. I am originally from Illinois myself.


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