# How to make a mantis enclosure out of a beta tank



## Mantids4fun (Mar 30, 2015)

First of all I would like to thank everyone for welcoming me to this forum.

Now this could work with a wide variety of containers, but I used these. I bought them at Walmart for under $5.





 ( http://www.walmart.c...c-Pets/17248150 )

I also got some silk green and white flowers, ( _Chosen for the mantids adult color_) and some sphagnum moss. I also had some screen from an old patio door, and a hot glue gun.

First I hot glued the plants in. (I cut them to fit in there, mostly retaining the flower parts.)





Then I added some Sphagnum moss.





Then I hot glued the screen on the air vents at the top.



These are all of the enclosures I made for my 5 spiny flower mantises. If it is too small for your adult mantis, it is easy to simply do the same thing with a much bigger enclosure.













I hope you enjoyed! This is a super easy way to make a nice looking enclosure, however you might have to put them in a separate container for feeding time until they get bigger.


----------



## PrayingMantisPets (Mar 30, 2015)

i would put screen on the whole entire top.


----------



## CosbyArt (Mar 30, 2015)

PrayingMantisPets said:


> i would put screen on the whole entire top.


Indeed, much better for molting and climbing too


----------



## Mantids4fun (Mar 30, 2015)

I would have, but there were some bumps and ridges to work around, and I was mainly doing it to make sure he didn't get out.


----------



## Mantids4fun (Mar 30, 2015)

I'll try putting it across the whole top next time.


----------



## Bloodtkr (Mar 31, 2015)

I looked for those beta tanks at the walmarts here...none carry them and they aren't available with the free ship to store deal. I can only have them shipped to my house for another $5 ; (


----------



## Rick (Mar 31, 2015)

Thanks for the write-up. I see multiple issues here however. The tank itself is a good design and will work for mantids but the lid could benefit from having more screened area as others have mentioned. Mantids will tend to hang from the lid in most circumstances and this fact often makes cage decorations like you have here pointless other than for aesthetic reasons. In my experience less is better when it comes to cage decorations. What you're showing here, while it looks nice, takes up a lot of space and could interfere with a molting mantis. I would only include these types of decorations when housing small nymphs. B)


----------



## LAME (Apr 1, 2015)

Here my theory on the build:

What if...

You take a fresh razor blade and cut out those transparent notches from the betta tank. Thus making it a smooth surface. For the lid id either do it one of two other ways:

1. Stretch out a sheet of mesh and hot glue directly to the bottom of the lid. Thus making your flat screen lid/molting surface.

2. Cut out your own larger window from the top part of the lid. Take a screen mesh and fashion your mesh screen. (larger window = better ventilation.)

I was thinking you could also cut out a small window on the side faced walls of the tank? Assuming you have access to a dremel (typo??...)

@Rick: I completely agree with "less is better...", but only when it comes to mantids younger than adult. Personally ill keep them with a stick or two until adulthood is breached. Afterwards I try to build a nice home for the adults to live out the remaining of their lives in.


----------



## Mantids4fun (Apr 1, 2015)

Thanks for adjusting my ideas, next time I will try to incorporate them.


----------

