# Newbie



## Tha Dragon (Jan 29, 2010)

Hi There Guy's and Girl's,

My name is Jimmy "Tha Dragon" van Sichem

i'm 27 years old,

i live in the Caribbean,Netherlands Antilles/Curacao

My hobbies are fishing,swimming,Street-Racing,very interested in exotic animals. Looking to get an Chameleon to but i need to research a bit more for that one.

I have never seen a praying mantis close (like in my hand) but a saw some pictures of this beautiful insect and i got very interested in caring or keeping one but here in Curacao i don't know if we have them here in the wild but i really want 1 or 2 to start my own pretty insect farm.

and i was surfing and i found this site and it looked interesting so i decided to become a member of this site to see if i could get someone to help me to get one of these guy's for my own.

Jimmy "Tha Dragon" van Sichem


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## revmdn (Jan 29, 2010)

Welcome to the forum.


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## Rick (Jan 29, 2010)

Welcome.


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## hibiscusmile (Jan 29, 2010)

Wow ! welcome Jimmy! from OHIO! whats your weather like right now? It's snowing and zero here!


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## Katnapper (Jan 29, 2010)

Hello Jimmy, and welcome to the forum... nice to have you here.  You'll find lots of information here about what you'll need to know to successfully keep some of these very interesting and lovely creatures yourself! I suggest doing your research by browsing through past forum threads, and gathering information that way. When you feel ready to adopt a few mantids of your own, there are several places to look. You can look in the classifieds section and see what other forum members have for sale, or go to Mantisplace.com or Bugsincyberspace.com. Best of luck to you, and I hope you find keeping and caring for mantids is a great hobby for you!


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## PhilinYuma (Jan 29, 2010)

Welcome from Yuma, AZ


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## Tha Dragon (Jan 29, 2010)

hibiscusmile said:


> Wow ! welcome Jimmy! from OHIO! whats your weather like right now? It's snowing and zero here!


Hi hibiscusmile,

It's normally sunny here in Curacao but these days it's just raining a bit. but we have a very tropical climate here.

Jimmy "Tha Dragon" van Sichem


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## hibiscusmile (Jan 29, 2010)

Oh! warm huh! I like the cold so sorry, w  e cannot change houses!


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## Opivy (Jan 29, 2010)

I'm down to trade houses! I'm jealous =0


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## ismart (Jan 30, 2010)

Welcome to the forum!


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## Peter Clausen (Jan 30, 2010)

Hi Jimmy,

I bet your island has some pretty amazing bugs. I'd love to hear what you see down there. Do you ever go over to the mainland and look for bugs?

Welcome!


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## agent A (Jan 30, 2010)

welcome from cold Connecticut!!!!


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## [email protected] (Jan 30, 2010)

Welcome


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## Tha Dragon (Jan 31, 2010)

Peter said:


> Hi Jimmy,I bet your island has some pretty amazing bugs. I'd love to hear what you see down there. Do you ever go over to the mainland and look for bugs?
> 
> Welcome!


Hi Peter,

i read your Mantis caresheet helped me allot to prepare for my first Mantis and i think i'm gonna order one next month.I'm doing my research to see what i need to import then to the Netherlands Antilles/Curacao. but i wanted to know if i order 1 how am i going to get it in Egg stage or a Small Mantis? cause if it's in Egg stage it would be easier i think bu i'll do my research and let you know. and i have an P.O. Box in the states so they could ship it to there and i'll receive it here so that's settled i think.

and about the Bug we have here,here is a site to see what we have here for bugs:Bugs of Curacao

Thanks in advance

Jimmy "Tha Dragon" van Sichem


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## Tha Dragon (Feb 2, 2010)

Peter said:


> Hi Jimmy,I bet your island has some pretty amazing bugs. I'd love to hear what you see down there. Do you ever go over to the mainland and look for bugs?
> 
> Welcome!


Hi Peter,

Did you have a look at the site that i send you?

and for my surpise we have them here but i have never seen one here but this sunday i'll begin a Naturalist lessons here in curacao and i'll take a good look to see if could get one or know where to find one.

if you see on the site you'll see a pciture of it could you please let me know wich species it is?

Thanks in advance


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## Peter Clausen (Feb 2, 2010)

Hi Jimmy,

A mantis photo from that Curacao nature site lists it as Mantis religiosa (European mantis), but I'm skeptical. It doesn't look like any M. religiosa male I've ever seen. I'm not sure what it might be.

http://naturacao.100megsdns.com/List8/mantis.html

I also really like your taki kanado (thread-legged assassin bugs).

You're probably better off receiving an egg case if the shipment is going to have to hop from one destination to another. I'm glad to read you are looking into the regulations. I don't advocate the import of tropical species into tropical locales.

If you have mantises on the island, you might get a sweep net and pass it through some tall grasses in various locations around the island.


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## agent A (Feb 2, 2010)

Peter, that mantis does not look at all like mantis religiosa. An L4 male is a lot "bulkier" than that. The one pictured is very thin, almost looks like a Miomantis to me, I'm thinking it's some Latin American species. Christian, help!!!


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## Opivy (Feb 3, 2010)

Way to misread what Peter wrote bro... Unless you were agreeing with him - You got a funny way of doing it.


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## Tha Dragon (Feb 3, 2010)

Peter said:


> Hi Jimmy,A mantis photo from that Curacao nature site lists it as Mantis religiosa (European mantis), but I'm skeptical. It doesn't look like any M. religiosa male I've ever seen. I'm not sure what it might be.
> 
> http://naturacao.100megsdns.com/List8/mantis.html
> 
> ...


Hi there Peter,

I am going to start working on my net-cage.

could you please advice me where on this forum i could get someone to order a egg case of(Giant Indian Mantis,African Mantis or Chinese Mantis.) from?

and if so i have an P.O. Box number in the states in Hollywood Florida, via that address i could get everything here.

Could you please give me some advice of when i order the egg sack what more i need?

Thanks in advance

Tha Dragon


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## Peter Clausen (Feb 4, 2010)

Chinese mantis oothecae (egg cases...spiders make sacs) are now becoming available at all the garden supply companies in the US. If you search Google for beneficial insects, mantises, pest control...keywords like that, you'll get some results. As for recommending a specific person to buy from, I will only direct you to our Breeder Feedback section and Classifieds sections here on the forum. If you see somebody offering something you want, be sure to look and see if they have a good record of feedback in the breeder feedback threads. Or, feel free to ask one of our admins for feedback on a particular member (using the private message/PM feature, please). We're all volunteers here (except me...I pay to work for Mantidforum), and we all enjoy helping out.


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## hibiscusmile (Feb 4, 2010)

The male in the pic looks like the Caffra I have, I will take pic later and post it and you can compare it. Don't know if I spelled it right.


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## hibiscusmile (Feb 4, 2010)

Here is the pic, who thinks they are the same? Lets hear it!


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## hibiscusmile (Feb 4, 2010)

Huh! nothin, guess I'll just go pick my nose :|


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## Katnapper (Feb 4, 2010)

hibiscusmile said:


> Huh! nothin, guess I'll just go pick my nose :|


 :lol:  I have no idea... so I'm not conjecturing!


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## hibiscusmile (Feb 5, 2010)

cute kookoo clock! Oh ps, I guess you guys are all sissys if not wanting to decide on if they are same mantis, huh... Sissies!



 OH~! did I ssay that? hahahha, Hibiscie silly! And most fun I've had all week!


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## Tha Dragon (Feb 5, 2010)

hibiscusmile said:


> Huh! nothin, guess I'll just go pick my nose :|


They look the same,but i have no exp. in watching them so i'll wait for another to respond to see if i'm correct.

Tha Dragon


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## ismart (Feb 5, 2010)

They look similar. hibiscusmile does your have any black markings on the inside of the raptorial arms?


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## hibiscusmile (Feb 5, 2010)

I am in Bugatorium now, will go lookie.....no they don't.


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## hibiscusmile (Feb 5, 2010)

I believe that is a shadow u r seeing Paul, not a mark if u were looking at the other pic.

I hope to mate these this coming week and have them in the hobby, very sleek and busy mantis, at least the males are, bery busy and always eating.


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