# Most indispensable tool/device for keeping mantids?



## cloud jaguar (Jul 23, 2009)

Sure we all have an arsenal of odd and interesting looking tools and devices which are helpful in the keeping of mantids; some are necessary and some are luxuries - and perhaps some just look weird and have no practical purpose at all.

I was thinking about what the most indispensable of these is and I have settled upon this: 11" foreceps. The reason is i really dislike touching turds and dead bugs and slimy skins and other nasty bits which accumulate. The 'biohazards ' kind of creep me out so i really like the old tongs. Perhaps the best use of them for me is to walk around outside at dusk and grab spiders (which i especially hate) from the comfort of their webs and pop them into the 32 oz mantid pots!

What do you think is the most indespensable tool or device for mantid keeping and why?


----------



## bassist (Jul 23, 2009)

Deli cups I use them to catch bugs outside I just close the lid and cup over the insect/arachnid and done have it easy to catch lots of food like wasps, bees, and other insects that can sting/bite if they get loose. I also keep all of my mantids in them along with other bugs such as some spiders I don't want to use as mantis food.


----------



## hibiscusmile (Jul 23, 2009)

yea forceps! gotta be it an I totally agree with you on the use. Also next in line would be the bamboo skewers, awesome for moving most mantis!


----------



## Emile.Wilson (Jul 23, 2009)

forceps and deli cups hard choice to chose one of them


----------



## [email protected] (Jul 23, 2009)

My test tube i used it for fruit flies so easy to get them out of those pots and in to the mantis container but just before i left it fell and shattered, so now i am out my most indispensable tool!!!! :angry:


----------



## charleyandbecky (Jul 23, 2009)

My most-used tool is actually a little cardboard cup with a lid. I used it to "prepare" food. I select the food and put it in this cardboard cup while opening the enclosures. That way, I already have the food selected and ready to go once the enclosure opens. I'm quite sure my mantids love seeing their "room service tray." I also use it outside to catch insects, and take it with me every time I go to the mailbox in case I spot a mantis. Silly little item, I know...but I use it just about more than anything.

Rebecca


----------



## yen_saw (Jul 23, 2009)

Go tweezers!


----------



## a1_collection (Jul 23, 2009)

I use BioQuip's fine point swiss style forceps and many sizes of the regular ones. I have curved ones also. For emergency molt situations i have a pair of fine point dissecting scissors and teasing needle to cut the old skin away from the mantid. I use these tools also to set insects in my collection.


----------



## revmdn (Jul 23, 2009)

I like my hands best. ^_^


----------



## Zephyr (Jul 23, 2009)

Forceps or tweezers. Absolute necessity for any animal enthusiast.


----------



## yeatzee (Jul 23, 2009)

A cage  :lol:


----------



## PhilinYuma (Jul 24, 2009)

revmdn said:


> I like my hands best. ^_^


Me too! Especially right thumb and index finger. Great for: Pulling out the feeding hole bung and placing in yr palm. Picking up squirmy crix and stunned flies, picking up nymphs when I don't want to play the finger game and I've misplaced my paintbrush (again). Removing frass (I also misplace my forceps). Misting pots. Prying open pot lids. Not holding bees.

The best thing is that I almost never misplace them. :lol: 

Yen: It looks as though you have enough stuff there to perform brain surgery!


----------



## Katnapper (Jul 24, 2009)

Yep, forceps are definitely indispensable to me too!

12x12 Net cages - I don't know what I'd do without them!

Water spray bottles - I use every day.

Chopsticks - Essential mantis wrangling tool (especially nymphs).

Vacuum cleaner - Sucks up all the dry "stuff" in the bug room that I don't want to touch (dead flies of all types, cricket pieces, wings, legs, poo, etc.

OK... I know you said "one" essential item. Sorry... I need them all!!! :lol: 

Edit: Had to mention... great topic/thread!


----------



## d17oug18 (Jul 24, 2009)

ill go with deli cups and bamboo sticks, or for that matter(any cage). i have one for every small pet i own =P


----------



## lil jay (Jul 24, 2009)

revmdn said:


> I like my hands best. ^_^


yh just use your hands lol


----------



## revmdn (Jul 24, 2009)

After changing poopy diapers, I'm really not scared of touching "gross" stuff anymore.


----------



## Rick (Jul 24, 2009)

Deli cups or the long tweezers.


----------



## yen_saw (Jul 24, 2009)

PhilinYuma said:


> Yen: It looks as though you have enough stuff there to perform brain surgery!


 :lol: actually i just like to keep extra so it is easier to find one if i need it "urgently". My bugroom is very untidy sometimes :mellow: and this most indispensable tool always seems to elude me when i need them the most :lol:


----------



## Katnapper (Jul 24, 2009)

revmdn said:


> After changing poopy diapers, I'm really not scared of touching "gross" stuff anymore.


Martin, I've changed a few poopy diapers in my time, and I'm still scared!  



yen_saw said:


> :lol: actually i just like to keep extra so it is easier to find one if i need it "urgently". My bugroom is very untidy sometimes :mellow: and this most indispensable tool always seems to elude me when i need them the most :lol:


I agree and have the same problem, Yen.  I have 3 pairs of the long forceps and one shorter (like a large tweezers), and they're always moving about everywhere. I do notice I "find" one or two when I go to lay another pair down in the same place though sometimes! :lol:


----------



## ismart (Jul 24, 2009)

My net is my best tool. Sure my neighbors think i'm a fruit cake fairy running around my yard with a butterfly net, but it saves me money on feeders.


----------



## Katnapper (Jul 24, 2009)

ismart said:


> Sure my neighbors think i'm a fruit cake fairy running around my yard with a butterfly net,


 :lol: Gotta love ya, Paul! ^_^


----------



## ABbuggin (Jul 24, 2009)

ismart said:


> My net is my best tool. Sure my neighbors think i'm a fruit cake fairy running around my yard with a butterfly net, but it saves me money on feeders.


Your not alone! :lol: 

In term of most importance to me:

1.) 11in. forceps (just like Yen, I have at least 8 different ones)

2.) deli cups

3.) my fly transferring contraption that works very well  

4.) my little vials, great for holding feeders

5.) bamboo skewers


----------



## Krissim Klaw (Jul 24, 2009)

A sense of humor, for those moments like when your mantis falls off the side of your TV and you have to fish her out of a two inch gap with the end of a 2 foot bamboo net and then spend the next 15 minutes trying to pick her new coat of dust and cobwebs off.


----------



## hibiscusmile (Jul 24, 2009)

ismart said:


> My net is my best tool. Sure my neighbors think i'm a fruit cake fairy running around my yard with a butterfly net, but it saves me money on feeders.


Wish I could see that :lol:


----------



## hibiscusmile (Jul 24, 2009)

Krissim Klaw said:


> A sense of humor, for those moments like when your mantis falls off the side of your TV and you have to fish her out of a two inch gap with the end of a 2 foot bamboo net and then spend the next 15 minutes trying to pick her new coat of dust and cobwebs off.


Thats why mine are not kept in living room, they would never be clean again!


----------



## planetq (Jul 24, 2009)

I use small water color brushes, with honey.

I just dip the water color brush in honey, then gently tap on the back of the fly (they stick right to it like glue)

and then feed the mantis.

It works well because the mantis gets a natural sugar coat of honey.

Minkyu


----------



## Krissim Klaw (Jul 25, 2009)

Katnapper said:


> Chopsticks - Essential mantis wrangling tool (especially nymphs).


Lawls I would have never thought of using chopsticks to move a mantis but thanks for the tip. Normally I use my hands with no problems, but I got a couple of large cages with tons of stuff in them that can result in it being a pain to try and get to a mantis out. Just tried using some freebee wooden chopsticks left over from take out Chinese food, and boy did that simplify things. Much faster and easier than playing yoga master by warping my hands around sticks and plants without knocking them down while simultaneously trying to get at my bugs. :lol:


----------



## Katnapper (Jul 25, 2009)

Krissim Klaw said:


> Lawls I would have never thought of using chopsticks to move a mantis but thanks for the tip. Normally I use my hands with no problems, but I got a couple of large cages with tons of stuff in them that can result in it being a pain to try and get to a mantis out. Just tried using some freebee wooden chopsticks left over from take out Chinese food, and boy did that simplify things. Much faster and easier than playing yoga master by warping my hands around sticks and plants without knocking them down while simultaneously trying to get at my bugs. :lol:


Hehe... I'm glad it helped!  I don't know what I'd do without mine.  

Have to tell you guys this...






I have a bunch of chopsticks all around in the bug room. I only had a few at first, and I kept getting frustrated at never having one when or where I needed it. We happened to have a family get-together at a Chinese restaurant, and I asked all my relatives to each pick up a pair for me, as I didn't want to seem strange or greedy grabbing a handful myself. :lol: It was so funny afterward out in the parking lot... here are my aunts, uncles, grandma, nieces, brother, mom, all handing over pairs of chopsticks to me and my son (he wanted to be the designated "collector"). My 2 nieces and son each took more than pair  , and we ended up with almost 30 pairs of chopsticks that day.



I'm good now!


----------



## yeatzee (Jul 26, 2009)

Way to work the system! lol


----------



## Katnapper (Jul 26, 2009)

yeatzee said:


> Way to work the system! lol


We did leave a very nice pooled tip at least... so hopefully they weren't too awfully upset when/if they noticed the inventory in their chopstick bin was greatly reduced!


----------



## massaman (Jul 26, 2009)

the best tool would have to be the mind and both hands because these are what helps out the most without these there would be nothing really!


----------

